California and Federal Legislation

2011-2012 Legislative Session

Each year, there are bills that impact "life" issues both on the Federal and State levels. We provide a summary and status of some of those bills below.

This page was last updated January 31, 2012.

California Legislation - 2011 - 2012 Session
For Information on the bill please click on the bill number.
For the latest status of the bill, please click on the included status.

POSITION	NAME	KNOWN AS	SUMMARY	STATUS
Oppose	AB 4	Human Remains-hydrolysis.	Assembly sponsor calls this bill a “green alternative to cremation.” The measure would permit and regulate a process in which human remains are chemically dissolved instead of buried or cremated. The result is a sterile, coffee-colored liquid with the consistency of motor oil that can be safely poured down the drain. The California Bishops’ statement includes, “we believe that the human body, once alive and animated by an immortal soul, possesses a moral dignity which must be honored. The bone residue in resomation amounts to a chemical digestion and results in a radically different substance than cremated ashes, thereby creating a human and emotional distance from the remains rather than a reverence for them. While we do not believe that resomation is 'evil', we do find it to be a particularly casual -- and perhaps disrespectful -- disposition of human remains."	Held In Committee

Oppose	AB 190	Vehicle Code violation: additional penalty: spinal cord injury research:	This bill will impose an additional penalty of $3 upon every conviction for a violation of state or local traffic laws (except parking violations). The bill would require such penalties to be deposited with the county treasurer and transferred monthly to the spinal cord injury research fund within the University of California, for the purposes of additional funding to the experimentation upon and destruction of human embryos.	Held In Committee will become 2 year bill

Oppose	AB 433	Birth certificates: issuance:	Current law only allows for people who have surgically undergone a sex change to apply for a new birth certificate and a new name. This bill seeks to rewrite the biological history of living individuals by including clinical treatment such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to modify secondary sex characteristics and permanent hair removal for example for men seeking to become women without a surgical sex change.	Passed and signed by Governor.

Oppose	AB 499	Minors: medical care: consent.	This bill allows a minor who is 12 years of age or older to consent to medical care related to the prevention of a sexually transmitted disease, without parental notification. This bill has the consequence of usurping the parental rights to be involved in medical decisions and treatments for their children. A parent has the right to be involved in his or her child's medical care whether the care is of a smaller degree of seriousness like migraine treatment or far more serious like sexually transmitted diseases.	Passed and signed by Governor.

Oppose	AB 887	Gender.	This bill expands the definition of gender to also mean a person's gender identity and gender expression and would define gender expression as meaning a person's gender-related appearance and behavior whether or not it consistently matches with the person's natural sex. "Gender identity and expression" are placed alongside with other protected categories in our non-discrimination laws. It is an attempt to further create gender confusion in society by loosely defining and altering a person's natural sex through the codification of gender identity and expression as a protected class. For example, if one is born a male yet one believes, perceives, or expresses oneself as a female, then all laws must protect you as a female regardless of your actual gender.	Passed and signed by Governor.

Support	AB 1306	Abortion	This bill would require the person authorized to perform the abortion to provide complete and full information on the potential physiological and psychological impacts of an abortion, in both verbal and written form, to any woman seeking an abortion in order to obtain her informed consent to the abortion during a counseling session where only ver ified immediate relatives or legal guardians of the woman may join her in the counseling room. This bill would require any facility where an abortion is authorized to be performed and the emergency room of a general acute care hospital to post in common areas the telephone number of a nonprofit organization that provides services in support of the elimination of human trafficking.	Failed passage in committee

Support	AB 1348	Pupils-Parental Consent:	A parent has the right to be involved in his or her child's medical care whether the care is of a smaller degree of seriousness like migraine treatment or far more serious like sexually transmitted diseases. School authorities will no longer be able to excuse a minor pupil from school early without the written consent of the parent, including confidential medical examinations.	In Assembly now a 2 year bill


Oppose	SB 48	Instruction: prohibition of discriminatory content.	In addtion to anti-discrimatory teaching, instruction, materials, this bill mandates that school boards, textbooks, and teachers must hold up homosexuality, "same-sex marriages," bisexuality, cross-dressing, and sex-change operations as positive role models for children.	Passed both houses by party affiliation and signed by Governor.

Federal Legislation- 112th Congress (January 3, 2011 - January 3, 2013)

For Informaton on the bill, please click on the bill number.
For latest status of the bill, please click on the included status.

POSITION	NAME	KNOWN AS	SUMMARY	STATUS
Support	S. 1241 H.R. 2299	Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act	Requires abortionists to notify the minor's parent before performing an abortion on a minor from another state.	6/21/2011: In Committee. 8/25/2011: In Committee.
Support	S.314	Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act	Requires abortionists to provide information about the pain experienced by the fetus during an abortion.	2/11/2011: In Committee
Support	H.R. 3 S. 906	No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act	Prohibits the expenditure of funds authorized or appropriated by federal law. Such prohibitions shall not apply to an abortion if: (1) the pregnancy is the result of forcible rape or, if the pregnant woman is a minor, incest; or (2) the woman suffers from a physical disorder, injury, or illness, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, that would place her in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, as certified by a physician.	In Committee. 5/5/2011: In Committee

Support	H.R. 358 S. 877	Protect Life Act	Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to prohibit federal funds from being to used to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion services. Prohibits a federal agency or program to discriminate against any institutional or individual health care entity if it should refuse to undergo training in the performance of induced abortions, require or provide such training, or refer for such training.	In Committee. 5/4/2011: In Committee

Support	H.R. 361 S.165	Abortion Non-Discrimination Act of 2011	Primarily supported by the Alliance of Catholic Health Care organizations this bipartisan federal civil rights legislation that would protect all hospitals, clinics and health care workers from being forced to perform or support abortions in violation of their rights of conscience.	In Committee. 1/25/2011: In Committee
Support	H.R. 3805	Untrasound Informed Consent Act	Requires abortionists to perform ultrasound and show the woman before performing an abortion.	1/23/2012: In Committee
Support	H.R. 3541	Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act	Prohibits race-selection abortions and sex-selection abortions.	12/6/2011: In Committee
Support	H.R. 3130	Heartbeat Informed Concent Act	Requires abortionists to perform ultrasound, as well as make the child's heartbeat audible.	10/7/2011: In Committee
Support	H.R. 2059	Prohibition on Funding of UNFPA	Prohibits further funding of UNFPA, who is deeply involved in population control in China.	1/17/2012: In Committee
Support	H.R. 217	Abortion Provider Prohibition Act	Prohibits funds under Title X from going to hospitals that perform abortions.	2/1/2011: In Committee

UPDATE: Gender Identity – Gender Expression In June 2010, the U.S. State Department ruled that passport applicants may list their sex on their passport differently from their biological gender, whether or not they have had surgery. As an unanticipated consequence this has led individuals to introduce other legislation to bills that are called “Bathroom Bills.” Several states have these bills pending including Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming. These bills, if passed this legislative year, will allow men who say they are women to use women’s washrooms and locker rooms. This will also have the additional unanticipated consequences for housing, employment and organizations that provide these services.

For past sessions, please click on the legislative session below: