Calls Needed to Advance Parental Rights Bill in Hawai’i
On January 25, Representatives Pierick, Garcia, and Matsumoto introduced HB1393, an act Relating to Parental Rights. The bill guarantees the right of parents “to direct the upbringing, education, care, and welfare of the parent’s child” and prohibits the state or any agency or subdivision of the state from enacting “any rule, regulation, or law that infringes upon [these rights] “without demonstrating that the rule, regulation, or law is narrowly tailored to address a compelling governmental interest using the least restrictive means necessary.”
This is a terrific bill that will require that parental rights be treated as the fundamental constitutional rights that they are, as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in a consistent string of cases dating back 100 years to Meyer v. Nebraska (1923).
On January 30, HB1393 was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs (JHA).
Today, we are asking you to contact your member of the Hawaiian House of Representatives and ask them to support HB1393. If they are on the JHA Committee, ask them to call for a hearing and to vote the bill out of committee. If not, ask them to vote for the bill when it comes to the House floor.
Your message, which should be in your own words, can be as simple as this:
I am calling to ask my representative to support HB1393 Relating to Parental Rights. The vital role of a parent in the life of a child must be protected. It’s time for Hawaiian law to catch up with a hundred years of U.S. Supreme Court precedent and protect these rights with the respect they deserve. (If my representative is on the JLA Committee, I ask him or her to call for a hearing on HB1393 and to vote it out of committee.)
If you email your lawmaker, you might include this link to our video explaining why this legislation is so important: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cqRWQa6e28
Thank you for standing with us to protect children by empowering parents through common sense legislation like HB1393 in the Hawaiian House.
Sincerely,
Will Estrada
President