Bill Text: TX HCR38 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Urging Congress to propose and submit to the states for ratification the Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-04-30 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HCR38 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HCR38-Comm_Sub.html
83R5433 BPG-D | ||
By: Burkett, et al. | H.C.R. No. 38 |
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WHEREAS, The right of parents to direct the upbringing of | ||
their children is fundamental, and the interests of children are | ||
best served when parents are free to make decisions regarding their | ||
education, their religion, and other aspects of their lives without | ||
governmental interference; and | ||
WHEREAS, In its 1972 Wisconsin v. Yoder decision, the United | ||
States Supreme Court held that the "primary role of the parents in | ||
the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate | ||
as an enduring American tradition," yet the more recent Troxel v. | ||
Granville case resulted in a splintered six-way decision by the | ||
supreme court that has caused ambiguity about the rights of parents | ||
for courts at the state and federal levels; and | ||
WHEREAS, Moreover, the U.S. Senate may be poised to ratify | ||
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which | ||
would drastically alter the fundamental right of parents to direct | ||
the upbringing of their own children; international law can | ||
influence the supreme court's rulings, as illustrated in the 2005 | ||
decision Roper v. Simmons, raising the possibility that a future | ||
court might allow external authorities to erode the American | ||
tradition of treating parental rights as fundamental rights; and | ||
WHEREAS, The proposed Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. | ||
Constitution states that "[t]he liberty of parents to direct the | ||
upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right," | ||
that "[n]either the United States nor any state shall infringe upon | ||
this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as | ||
applied to the person is of the highest order and not otherwise | ||
served," and that "[n]o treaty may be adopted nor shall any source | ||
of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, | ||
or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article"; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Texas Legislature has affirmed the importance of | ||
parental rights in such statutes as Section 40.002(b)(2), Human | ||
Resources Code, which spells out the need for the Department of | ||
Family and Protective Services to "respect the fundamental right of | ||
parents to control the education and upbringing of their children," | ||
and Section 151.003, Family Code, which establishes the type of | ||
standard that should be instituted at the federal level by | ||
providing that "[a] state agency may not adopt rules or policies or | ||
take any other action that violates the fundamental right and duty | ||
of a parent to direct the upbringing of the parent's child"; and | ||
WHEREAS, Explicitly enumerating the rights of parents in the | ||
Constitution of the United States will protect these rights in | ||
perpetuity from the shifting ideologies and interpretations of the | ||
supreme court and from the threat of being placed under the | ||
jurisdiction of the international community, thereby preserving | ||
the cherished American tradition of entrusting parents to raise | ||
their own children; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to propose and | ||
submit to the states for ratification the Parental Rights Amendment | ||
to the United States Constitution; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |