|
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
179 |
|
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011 |
|
|
|
STATE OF HAWAII |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
AFFIRMING THE PARENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND URGING MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO PROPOSE THE PARENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT TO THE STATES FOR RATIFICATION.
WHEREAS, the right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right protected by the United States Constitution as well as the Hawaii Constitution; and
WHEREAS, our nation has historically relied first and foremost on parents to meet the real and constant needs of our children; and
WHEREAS, the interests of our children are best served when parents are free to make childrearing decisions about education, religion, and other areas of a child's life without state interference; and
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) held that "This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition"; and
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in Troxel v. Granville (2000), however, produced six different opinions on the nature and enforceability of parental rights under the United States Constitution; and
WHEREAS, this decision has created confusion and ambiguity about the fundamental nature of parental rights in the laws and society of the several States; and
WHEREAS, Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan has introduced in the United States House of Representatives the following as an amendment to the United State Constitution to prevent the erosion of the long-standing American tradition of treating parental rights as fundamental rights:
"Section 1. The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.
Section 2. Neither 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.
Section 3. No 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." (Parental Rights Amendment; H.J. Res. 42, 2009);
and
WHEREAS, this amendment will add explicit text to the United States Constitution to protect in perpetuity the rights of parents as they are now enjoyed without substantive change to current State or federal law respecting these rights, including the preservation of the Supreme Court's tradition of upholding state laws against child abuse or neglect as representing a "governmental interest…of the highest order"; and
WHEREAS, this amendment will not impair the tradition of granting parental rights to any individual who has legal custody of a child, which may include other family members; and
WHEREAS, an enumeration of parental rights in the text of the Constitution will preserve them from being infringed upon by the shifting ideologies and interpretations of the United States Supreme Court; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, the Senate concurring, that these bodies hereby affirm the Parental Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution as presented to the United States Congress by Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these bodies urge the members of the United States Congress to propose the Parental Rights Amendment to the States for ratification; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to the Chief Clerk of each legislative body of each State.
|
|
OFFERED BY: |
_____________________________ |
|
|
|
|
Parental Rights Amendment; United States Constitution