UPDATE:
Senate Bill 1352 has been signed by Governor Little giving counselors and therapists the right to reject a client whose goals, outcomes, or behaviors conflict with the sincerely held religious, moral, or ethical principles of the counselor or therapist.
Lawmakers met up for day one of week 11 of this year's legislative session. They voted on many bills including some that put the whole chamber into debates.
- Over 20 bills were discussed by the Senate and the House.
- Senate Bill 1380 is aimed at providing more checks and balances in the current child and adult protection services by creating a new office to hold the services accountable as their main objective.
- Senate Bill 1352 allows counselors and therapists the right to deny services to someone who supports ideas that violate their own.
- HCR 25 is focused on keeping an age-appropriate Holocaust curriculum in schools.
- For more information on other bills passed in the State House click here.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
It's week 11 for this year's legislative session, and despite a long list of proposed legislation to go through lawmakers tell me they still hope to wrap things up on Friday. I'm your neighborhood reporter Alexander Huddleston at the state capitol, where a handful of bills moved to the governor's desk, including one that sparked debate centered around adding an office dedicated to reviewing cases involving children in state custody.
Several bills were discussed at the House on Monday, but one bill sparked into a 35-minute debate.
Senate Bill 1380 targets the current child and adult protection services in hopes of revamping and holding the organization more accountable, giving victims of abuse more of a voice. After going back and forth, the bill passed the House, with a final vote of 50 in favor, and 20 opposed.
Later in the session, the House discussed Senate Bill 1352 which allows counselors and therapists the right to “decline to provide services in support of objectives which violate their sincerely held principles without fear of loss of licensure or civil or criminal action.” That passed 59-9 with one absentee.
Meanwhile, the big talker over in the senate was HCR 25, a bipartisan bill aimed at teaching age-appropriate Holocaust education in schools. HCR 25 will now move onto the House after the Senate voted 34 in favor.
Now, several bills are headed to Governor Little's desk to be approved, however, dozens still remain in the House chambers waiting to be passed on.
