AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION OF PENNSYLVANIA
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Education
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Homosexual Agenda
AFA of PA ACTION ALERT
June 9, 2009
1.) Gearing up for phone blitz re federal hate crimes bill.
2.) Graduation Tests
3.) Have you called your State Senator about the Marriage Protection Amendment?
1.) BE READY: A phone blitz into the Washington offices of U.S. Senators is planned for next Monday, June 15th. This is to lay an additional roadblock before the federal hate crimes bill -- S 909, which has been dubbed the Pedophile Protection Act because Democrats in the House refused to allow an amendment to be added that specifically forbid the protection of pedophiles if this becomes law. Why was this amendment necessary? Because the bill does not contain the definition of ‘sexual orientation’! Thus conceivably it could be used to protect all sexual orientations. Click here for a list.
2.) The history in Pennsylvania has been for the past 20 years, that despite schools recessing for the summer months, some of the most provocative and influential education legislation is passed with the omnibus school code bill which accompanies the state budget during the months of June and/or July annually. In the past, many reforms would get sneaked in which could not get passed throughout the year, as parents and taxpayers are clearly distracted and naturally focused on their schedules, kids, and their summer months of vacation.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education signed a $201 million contract with a Minnesota testing company for the implementation of graduation exams. However, they encountered one little problem ‘on the way to the school house.’ What they were doing had not been cleared by legislators in Harrisburg and on June 3rd the Senate Education Committee unanimously voted to block the contract.
Senator Jane Orie has introduced S.B. 281 which spells out that the Department of Education must get legislative approval before implementing, entering into contracts or expending any Treasury monies for the use of high school graduation tests.
3.) Senator John Eichelberger and his staff are working on the language of the Marriage Protection Amendment. He is still seeking co-sponsors of the bill. Currently these are the co-sponsors Senator Eichelberger has listed:
Yaw
Scarnati
Folmer
Brubaker
Robbins
Kasunic
Musto
Alloway
Corman
Gordner
White, D.
Erickson
If concerned, these are the steps you can take:
1.) If your State Senator is a member of the Senate Education Committee, please contact him or her and say ‘thanks,’ for voting to block the $201 million graduation test contract with the Minnesota company.
Senate Bill 281 was pulled from the Appropriation's Committee yesterday. We expect it to be placed on Tuesday’s agenda, but please contact Senator Jake Corman, Chair of Appropriations, by sending him an email encouraging him to run it on Tuesday and furthermore for his support at the following email address: jcorman@pasen.gov
2.) If your Senator’s name is not on the above list of co-sponsors of the Marriage Protection Amendment, please contact your Senator and ask him or her to step forward to protect traditional one man one woman marriage and be a co-sponsor of the bill. Click here for contact information. If you don’t know who your State Senator is, enter your nine-digit zip code or county in the upper right hand corner of this page.
Additionally, if you have not signed our petition in support of the Marriage Protection Amendment, please click here and forward this link to like-minded individuals in your address book. You can also download a petition to circulate, by clicking here.
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