Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 04-03-2002, 11:31 AM

<a href="http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_1251-1300/sb_1280_bill_20020116_introduced.html" target="_blank">Senate Bill 1280</a>

Quote:

This bill would authorize religious organizations that meet specified standards to participate in the distribution of public benefits provided pursuant to specified programs. This bill would require state and local agencies to consider religious organizations on the same basis as other nongovernmental organizations to provide assistance under programs carried out by the governmental agencies.
This bill would require state and local governmental entities to provide to an individual who has an objection to the religious character of the organization from which he or she receives certain benefits with alternative assistance, and would require the appropriate state or local governmental entity to guarantee that notice of that requirement is provided to individuals who receive or apply for assistance under a program in which the religious entity is participating.

Toto · 04-07-2002, 11:13 PM

From the Americans United for Separation of Church and State Action Alert (note that AU is pro-religion and would probably favor a charitable choice bill along the lines that Senator Lieberman has proposed):

The Charitable Choice bill in the California State Legislature is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday, April 10th.

As Ann Mulligan (States Legislative Coordinator, AU Hdqtrs) has written previously, "SB 1280 is a HORRIBLE bill. It is a clone of HR 7 which passed the US House but was dead on arrival in the US Senate."

It is critical that the members of the committee hear from the people of California that this is a terrible bill that would provide state taxpayer dollars to religious organizations that would violate the First Amendment's Freedom of Religion principle; can be used to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion; would override state and local civil rights laws; authorize unilateral voucherization of programs; authorize new lawsuits against state and local government; not provide a "secular alternative" to program beneficiaries"; violate California's constitutional prohibition against providing public funds to an organizations controlled by a religion; and, require state funding of houses of worship in defiance of the California and U.S. constitutions.

Contact your State Senator and the members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and urge their opposition to SB 1280.

At this late date, it is best to send a fax to one or more committee members. You may send an email, but a fax is much more effective. ... You will find the addresses, telephone and fax numbers of each Committee member at the bottom of this email.
Murray Goldman

TALKING POINTS:

SENATOR HAYNES' SB 1280 IS NEARLY IDENTICAL TO THE PARTISAN "FAITH BASED" FEDERAL BILL, H.R. 7, THAT WAS REBUKED BY THE U.S. SENATE

Senator Haynes' "California Charitable Choice Act of 2002" is a near verbatim copy of discredited Federal "Faith Based" legislation, that was so partisan and extreme that even U.S. Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott admitted that Democrats were resisting it, some legitimately, because they felt it went too far in some areas. The Federal legislation that Haynes cannibalized, H.R. 7, is strongly opposed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a leader on Faith Based issues in the U.S. Congress.

THE HAYNES BILL OVERRIDES STATE AND LOCAL CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS

SB 1280 contains language that will override state and local civil rights, licensing, health and safety laws. For example, the state of California and local civil rights laws protect people from broader categories of discrimination including sexual orientation than Federal law. The Haynes bill would override any civil rights or health and safety laws that a religious entity claims interferes with its "internal governance" rules or its control over its religious beliefs. (Sec. 6628)

SB 1280 AUTHORIZES UNILATERAL VOUCHERIZATION OF PROGRAMS

The Haynes bill allows a department in state government to unilaterally convert a grant or direct funding program to a voucherized program, even if the underlying authorization does not permit voucherized assistance. This unprecedented move would allow longstanding grant programs to be converted to voucherized assistance without further legislative approval. This radical step was taken to allow religious organizations that want to proselytize beneficiaries in a program to do so. SB 1280 accomplishes this by allowing religious discrimination against a beneficiary during the program, when the government funding comes in the form of a voucher, certificate or other forms of indirect aid. Under SB 1280, a person seeking help through a voucher could be pressured, once they have been admitted to the government-funded program, to convert to another religion. (Sec. 6635)

HAYNES AUTHORIZES NEW LAWSUITS AGAINST THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

SB 1280 authorizes new lawsuits against city, county and the State government and their officials, available for religious organizations that believe that they were denied funding opportunities because of their religious character. Of course, this blatantly ignores current Supreme Court case law that prohibits the direct government funding of programs that cannot separate religious activity from the delivery of social services (which the Bush Justice Department even acknowledges.) This will put cities and state agencies in a legal Catch-22 --whatever decision a state agency, city or county makes about directly funding a house of worship directly will result in a wave of litigation. For example, if the city funds a pervasively religious program it will be sued for violating the Establishment Clause, and if the city decides not to fund the program over its pervasively religious nature, the city can be sued under SB1280 for examining the group;s religious character. (Sec. 6637)

NO REQUIREMENT OF A "SECULAR ALTERNATIVE"

SB 1280 does not even contain the requirement that a secular alternative always be available to a beneficiary who objects to the religious nature of a program. Instead, the bill now would permit people who object to a certain group's religious character to be steered to other religious groups until an unobjectionable alternative is found. (Sec. 6631)

HAYNES HIDES THE BALL ON THE CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION

While Haynes' bill references, in section 6626, Article 1 of the California Constitution, it suspiciously fails to mention Article 16, which basically renders much of his bill unconstitutional:

ARTICLE XVI. Public Finance

Sec. 5. Public funds; aid of religious purposes or institutions.
Neither the Legislature, nor any county, city and county, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall ever make an appropriation, or pay from any public fund whatever, or grant anything to or in aid of any religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian purpose, or help to support or sustain any school, college, university, hospital, or other institution controlled by any religious creed, church, or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or real estate ever be made by the state, or any city, city and county, town, or other municipal corporation for any religious creed, church, or sectarian purpose whatever; provided, that nothing in this section shall prevent the Legislature granting aid pursuant to Section 3 of Article XVI.

SB 1280 REQUIRES THE DIRECT FUNDING OF HOUSES OF WORSHIP IN DEFIANCE OF THE CALIFORNIA AND U.S. CONSTITUTIONS

By preventing government entities from reviewing an organization's "religious character" before giving out grants, it violates both the California and U.S. Constitutions, which require such a review. By mandating the eligibility of all religious entities -- even houses of worship and other pervasively religious entities -- the bill defies the federal and state Constitutions and will result in endless litigation.

* Bush Moves to Resurrect His Faith-Based Initiative, Jim VandeHei, Wall Street Journal, January 25, p. A20

Senate Health and Human Services Committee members:

Democrats

Deborah Ortiz, Committee Chair, District 6
State Capitol, Room 5114
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-7807
Fax (916) 323-2263
senator.oritz@sen.ca.gov

Sheila Kuehl, Dist. 23
State Capitol, Room 4032
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-1353
Fax (916) 324-4823
no e-mail

Richard Polanco, Dist. 22 (Senate Majority Leader)
State Capitol, Room 313
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-3456
Fax (916) 445-0413
senator.polanco@sen.ca.gov

Martha Escutia, Dist. 30
State Capitol, Room 5080
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 327-8315
Fax (916) 327-8755
senator.escutia@sen.ca.gov

John Vasconcellos, Dist. 13 (San Jose)
State Capitol, Room 5108
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-9740
Fax (916) 324-0283
Senator.Vasconcellos@sen.ca.gov

Liz Figueroa, Dist. 10 (Fremont)
State Capitol, Room 2057
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-6671
Fax (916) 327-2433
Senator.Figueroa@sen.ca.gov

Wes Chesbro, Dist. 02
State Capitol, Room 4081
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-3375
Fax (916) 323-6958
senator.chesbro@sen.ca.gov

Edward Vincent, Dist. 25
State Capitol, Room 5052
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-2104
Fax (916) 445-3712
no e-mail

Sen. Gloria Romero (D-CA 24th)
4062 State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-1418
Fax: (916) 445-0485
E-mail: gloria.romero@sen.ca.gov

Republicans

Ray Haynes , Dist 36 (Committee Co-Chair) (AUTHOR OF BILL) (His opinion will NOT change but he needs to hear that this is a bad bill and Californians OPPOSE IT!)
State Capitol, Room 2187
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-9781
Fax: (916) 447-9008
senator.haynes@sen.ca.gov

Jim Battin , Dist 37
State Capitol, Room 3074
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-5581
Jim.Battin@sen.ca.gov

Bill Morrow, Dist 38
State Capitol, Room 4048
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-3731

______________________________
Ann Mulligan
State Legislative Coordinator
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
518 C Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
phone - 202-466-3234
fax - 202-466-2587
<a href="http://www.au.org" target="_blank">www.au.org</a>
<a href="http://capwiz.com/au/issues/bills/?type=ST" target="_blank">http://capwiz.com/au/issues/bills/?type=ST</a>

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04-07-2002, 11:13 PM	#2
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	From the Americans United for Separation of Church and State Action Alert (note that AU is pro-religion and would probably favor a charitable choice bill along the lines that Senator Lieberman has proposed): The Charitable Choice bill in the California State Legislature is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday, April 10th. As Ann Mulligan (States Legislative Coordinator, AU Hdqtrs) has written previously, "SB 1280 is a HORRIBLE bill. It is a clone of HR 7 which passed the US House but was dead on arrival in the US Senate." It is critical that the members of the committee hear from the people of California that this is a terrible bill that would provide state taxpayer dollars to religious organizations that would violate the First Amendment's Freedom of Religion principle; can be used to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion; would override state and local civil rights laws; authorize unilateral voucherization of programs; authorize new lawsuits against state and local government; not provide a "secular alternative" to program beneficiaries"; violate California's constitutional prohibition against providing public funds to an organizations controlled by a religion; and, require state funding of houses of worship in defiance of the California and U.S. constitutions. Contact your State Senator and the members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and urge their opposition to SB 1280. At this late date, it is best to send a fax to one or more committee members. You may send an email, but a fax is much more effective. ... You will find the addresses, telephone and fax numbers of each Committee member at the bottom of this email. Murray Goldman TALKING POINTS: SENATOR HAYNES' SB 1280 IS NEARLY IDENTICAL TO THE PARTISAN "FAITH BASED" FEDERAL BILL, H.R. 7, THAT WAS REBUKED BY THE U.S. SENATE Senator Haynes' "California Charitable Choice Act of 2002" is a near verbatim copy of discredited Federal "Faith Based" legislation, that was so partisan and extreme that even U.S. Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott admitted that Democrats were resisting it, some legitimately, because they felt it went too far in some areas. The Federal legislation that Haynes cannibalized, H.R. 7, is strongly opposed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a leader on Faith Based issues in the U.S. Congress. THE HAYNES BILL OVERRIDES STATE AND LOCAL CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS SB 1280 contains language that will override state and local civil rights, licensing, health and safety laws. For example, the state of California and local civil rights laws protect people from broader categories of discrimination including sexual orientation than Federal law. The Haynes bill would override any civil rights or health and safety laws that a religious entity claims interferes with its "internal governance" rules or its control over its religious beliefs. (Sec. 6628) SB 1280 AUTHORIZES UNILATERAL VOUCHERIZATION OF PROGRAMS The Haynes bill allows a department in state government to unilaterally convert a grant or direct funding program to a voucherized program, even if the underlying authorization does not permit voucherized assistance. This unprecedented move would allow longstanding grant programs to be converted to voucherized assistance without further legislative approval. This radical step was taken to allow religious organizations that want to proselytize beneficiaries in a program to do so. SB 1280 accomplishes this by allowing religious discrimination against a beneficiary during the program, when the government funding comes in the form of a voucher, certificate or other forms of indirect aid. Under SB 1280, a person seeking help through a voucher could be pressured, once they have been admitted to the government-funded program, to convert to another religion. (Sec. 6635) HAYNES AUTHORIZES NEW LAWSUITS AGAINST THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT SB 1280 authorizes new lawsuits against city, county and the State government and their officials, available for religious organizations that believe that they were denied funding opportunities because of their religious character. Of course, this blatantly ignores current Supreme Court case law that prohibits the direct government funding of programs that cannot separate religious activity from the delivery of social services (which the Bush Justice Department even acknowledges.) This will put cities and state agencies in a legal Catch-22 --whatever decision a state agency, city or county makes about directly funding a house of worship directly will result in a wave of litigation. For example, if the city funds a pervasively religious program it will be sued for violating the Establishment Clause, and if the city decides not to fund the program over its pervasively religious nature, the city can be sued under SB1280 for examining the group;s religious character. (Sec. 6637) NO REQUIREMENT OF A "SECULAR ALTERNATIVE" SB 1280 does not even contain the requirement that a secular alternative always be available to a beneficiary who objects to the religious nature of a program. Instead, the bill now would permit people who object to a certain group's religious character to be steered to other religious groups until an unobjectionable alternative is found. (Sec. 6631) HAYNES HIDES THE BALL ON THE CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION While Haynes' bill references, in section 6626, Article 1 of the California Constitution, it suspiciously fails to mention Article 16, which basically renders much of his bill unconstitutional: ARTICLE XVI. Public Finance Sec. 5. Public funds; aid of religious purposes or institutions. Neither the Legislature, nor any county, city and county, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall ever make an appropriation, or pay from any public fund whatever, or grant anything to or in aid of any religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian purpose, or help to support or sustain any school, college, university, hospital, or other institution controlled by any religious creed, church, or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or real estate ever be made by the state, or any city, city and county, town, or other municipal corporation for any religious creed, church, or sectarian purpose whatever; provided, that nothing in this section shall prevent the Legislature granting aid pursuant to Section 3 of Article XVI. SB 1280 REQUIRES THE DIRECT FUNDING OF HOUSES OF WORSHIP IN DEFIANCE OF THE CALIFORNIA AND U.S. CONSTITUTIONS By preventing government entities from reviewing an organization's "religious character" before giving out grants, it violates both the California and U.S. Constitutions, which require such a review. By mandating the eligibility of all religious entities -- even houses of worship and other pervasively religious entities -- the bill defies the federal and state Constitutions and will result in endless litigation. * Bush Moves to Resurrect His Faith-Based Initiative, Jim VandeHei, Wall Street Journal, January 25, p. A20 Senate Health and Human Services Committee members: Democrats Deborah Ortiz, Committee Chair, District 6 State Capitol, Room 5114 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 445-7807 Fax (916) 323-2263 senator.oritz@sen.ca.gov Sheila Kuehl, Dist. 23 State Capitol, Room 4032 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 445-1353 Fax (916) 324-4823 no e-mail Richard Polanco, Dist. 22 (Senate Majority Leader) State Capitol, Room 313 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 445-3456 Fax (916) 445-0413 senator.polanco@sen.ca.gov Martha Escutia, Dist. 30 State Capitol, Room 5080 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 327-8315 Fax (916) 327-8755 senator.escutia@sen.ca.gov John Vasconcellos, Dist. 13 (San Jose) State Capitol, Room 5108 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 445-9740 Fax (916) 324-0283 Senator.Vasconcellos@sen.ca.gov Liz Figueroa, Dist. 10 (Fremont) State Capitol, Room 2057 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 445-6671 Fax (916) 327-2433 Senator.Figueroa@sen.ca.gov Wes Chesbro, Dist. 02 State Capitol, Room 4081 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 445-3375 Fax (916) 323-6958 senator.chesbro@sen.ca.gov Edward Vincent, Dist. 25 State Capitol, Room 5052 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 445-2104 Fax (916) 445-3712 no e-mail Sen. Gloria Romero (D-CA 24th) 4062 State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-1418 Fax: (916) 445-0485 E-mail: gloria.romero@sen.ca.gov Republicans Ray Haynes , Dist 36 (Committee Co-Chair) (AUTHOR OF BILL) (His opinion will NOT change but he needs to hear that this is a bad bill and Californians OPPOSE IT!) State Capitol, Room 2187 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-9781 Fax: (916) 447-9008 senator.haynes@sen.ca.gov Jim Battin , Dist 37 State Capitol, Room 3074 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-5581 Jim.Battin@sen.ca.gov Bill Morrow, Dist 38 State Capitol, Room 4048 Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-3731 ______________________________ Ann Mulligan State Legislative Coordinator Americans United for Separation of Church and State 518 C Street, NE Washington, DC 20002 phone - 202-466-3234 fax - 202-466-2587 <a href="http://www.au.org" target="_blank">www.au.org</a> <a href="http://capwiz.com/au/issues/bills/?type=ST" target="_blank">http://capwiz.com/au/issues/bills/?type=ST</a>

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