BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HEALTH
COMMITTEE ANALYSIS
Senator Sheila J . Kuehl, Chair
BILL NO: AB 629
A
AUTHOR: Brownley
B
AMENDED: April 16, 2007
HEARING DATE: June 27, 2007
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REFERRAL: Health & Education
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FISCAL: Appropriations
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CONSULTANT:
Diaz/Tadeo/cjt
SUBJECT
Sex education programs: requirements
SUMMARY
This bill would require sexual health education programs
that are funded or administered, directly or indirectly, by
the state, to provide information that is age appropriate,
medically accurate, current and objective, and to fulfill
other requirements as specified.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing law
Existing law, the Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS
Prevention Education Act, authorizes school districts to
offer age-appropriate comprehensive sexual health education
in kindergarten through grade 12. Commencing in grade
seven, a sexual health education program must offer
information on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs),
including HIV/AIDS, and their prevention, and information
on the prevention of unintended pregnancy, as specified.
Existing law requires instructional materials for a
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comprehensive sexual health education program to be age
appropriate, medically accurate, and objective. The
materials must be accessible to English learner pupils and
must not teach or promote religious doctrine, or bias
against any person on the basis of race or ethnicity,
gender, sexual orientation, or disability, as specified.
Existing law requires a school district to notify a parent
or guardian that his or her child will receive
comprehensive sexual health education and HIV/AIDS
prevention, and empowers a parent or guardian to excuse his
or her child from all or part of that instruction.
Existing law changes the name of the Department of Health
Services (DHS) to the Department of Health Care Services
(DHCS) and transfers certain public health responsibilities
to the newly established Department of Public Health (DPH)
as of July 1, 2007.
This bill:
This bill would require that any sexual health education
program conducted, operated, or administered by any state
agency, or that receives financial assistance from state
funds, adhere to the following:
Provides age appropriate, culturally and linguistically
appropriate, medically accurate, current, and objective
information, using the most current scientific data on
human sexuality, human development, pregnancy, and
sexually transmitted diseases;
Does not teach or promote religious doctrine, or promote
bias against any person on the basis of disability,
gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, or
sexual orientation;
Provides information about the effectiveness and safety
of at least one or more drug or device approved by the
Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of
pregnancy and for reducing the risk of contracting
sexually transmitted diseases. This information may be
included, but is not required, in programs directed
toward minors under the age of 12; and
For programs directed at minors, include information on
abstinence as the only certain way to prevent unintended
pregnancies, and that the only certain way to prevent
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is to abstain from
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activities that have been proven to transmit sexually
transmitted diseases.
This bill would exempt from these provisions, any program
offered by a school district, a county superintendent of
schools, or a community college district. The bill also
exempts from these provisions one-on-one interactions
between a health practitioner and his or her patient in a
clinical setting.
This bill would require an outside agency that is receiving
state funding, and that is teaching a sexual health
education program at a publicly funded school, to indicate
in writing that the program meets the requirements of the
California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS
Prevention Education Act. For the purposes of this bill, a
"publicly funded school" includes a charter school.
This bill states that compliance with these requirements
would be integrated into the grant monitoring and
compliance procedures of the state agency. This bill
authorizes a state agency to terminate the contract or take
other appropriate action if a grantee is not in compliance
with any requirements of this bill.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, there
will be an estimated one-time cost of $150,000 to DPH to
hire staff for oversight purposes and technical assistance.
There will be minor absorbable costs to DPH beyond the
first year of program implementation.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The author states that, although California has been the
national leader in protecting reproductive health by
adopting a comprehensive sex education curriculum,
state-funded programs are not currently required to operate
under consistent standards with what is required to be
taught in schools. According to the author, all
state-funded programs should provide medically accurate,
comprehensive, and bias-free information. AB 629 sets a
floor of basic standards for state-funded or administered
community-based sexual health education programs.
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Teen birth rate and STD prevention
A study by the Public Health Institute, "No Time for
Complacency: Teen Births in California 2006," found that,
although California has experienced a decrease in teen
birthrates statewide, rates remain high in Senate districts
primarily located in Los Angeles County, the Central
Valley, and the Imperial Valley. In addition, California's
teen birth rate is still four to ten times higher than
rates for France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan.
While abstinence is accepted as an effective way to prevent
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, several
studies have shown that abstinence-only education curricula
is ineffective, and that teaching about the effectiveness
of both abstinence and contraception has proven more
effective. A study commissioned by Congress, released this
year by Mathematica Policy Research Inc., concluded that
youth in abstinence-only programs were no more likely than
youth not participating in these programs to have abstained
from sex. Those who pledged to abstain, when compared to
non-pledgers, were less likely to use condoms or other
contraception if they had sex, and experienced similar
rates of sexually transmitted diseases when compared to
their counterparts.
California is one of a number of other states that has
continually rejected Title V, Section 510 of the Social
Security Act funds for abstinence-only programs. These
programs prohibit the dissemination of information on
contraception and their exclusive purpose is to teach that
a mutually faithful, monogamous relationship in the context
of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual
activity.
State-funded sex education programs
This bill would primarily affect state-funded programs
administered directly or indirectly by the DHS Office of
Family Planning (OFP), which currently has four different
types of community-based programs for teen pregnancy
prevention, and other programs for HIV/AIDS prevention that
are operated by DHS' Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control
Branch and the Office of AIDS Education and Prevention.
The four continuing outreach and education programs include
the Male Involvement Program, the Community Challenge
Grants Program (CCG), the TeenSMART Program, and the
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Information and Education Program. These programs are
provided with the goal of reducing teenage pregnancy and
STDs, promoting responsible parenting and the involvement
of the biological father, and providing enhanced
reproductive health care counseling and pregnancy
prevention education to equip teens at high risk for
pregnancy with the knowledge, understanding, and behavioral
skills necessary to make responsible decisions regarding
at-risk behavior. CCG, for example, includes 117
community-based grantees located throughout the state. A
majority of these types of programs are taught in either a
school setting or other community setting and service
historically underserved communities with high teen birth
rates.
OFP also administers family planning services which include
contraceptive methods, natural family planning, abstinence
methods, infertility management, preconception counseling,
maternal and fetal health counseling, and general
reproductive health care, including diagnosis and treatment
of infections and conditions, including cancer, that
threaten reproductive capability, and other services.
Related legislation
AB 708 (Huff), 2006-2007, requires DPH to develop and
implement an abstinence education program that would
maximize federal financial participation. This bill failed
passage in the Assembly Health Committee.
AB 1511 (Leno), 2006-2007, requires DPH to establish a
statewide continuing public education program, to encourage
parents to talk with their teens about sex and sexual
health to promote well-informed decision making by teens.
This bill is set to be heard in the Senate Health Committee
on June 27, 2007.
Previous legislation
SB 71 (Kuehl), Chapter 650, Statutes of 2003 enacted the
California Comprehensive Sexual Health Education and
HIV/AIDS Act, which requires sexual health education that
is taught in public schools kindergarten through grade 12,
inclusive, to be comprehensive, bias-free, medically
accurate, and age appropriate.
SB 1471 (Kuehl), 2005-2006, would have expanded upon SB 71
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(Kuehl) to provide further guidance for state-funded or
administered sexual health education programs to comply
with specified requirements. This bill was vetoed. The
veto message stated that this bill would impose
restrictions on community-based pregnancy prevention
programs and would encroach on local decision making.
Arguments in support
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Planned
Parenthood Affiliates of California, and the American
Association of University Women, the sponsors of this bill,
state that, although California has made great strides in
promoting comprehensive sex education, a significant
percentage of state-funded programs are providing biased,
incomplete, and medically inaccurate information, putting
young people's health at risk. The ACLU cites an analysis
showing that at least 25 percent of the CCG programs
sampled provided "abstinence-focused" instruction in public
school settings and included misleading information about
abortion, condom effectiveness, and STDs, and promoted bias
relating to sexual orientation. Supporters contend that
state-funded programs are directed to local communities
that have high rates of unintended pregnancies and sexually
transmitted diseases, which are the communities most in
need of accurate and effective information. Furthermore,
supporters state that health care costs due to teen
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases cost California
taxpayers $1.5 billion each year.
Arguments in opposition
Concerned Women for America of California (CWA) believes
that including information on the "effectiveness and
safety" of at least one contraceptive would discriminate
against parents who would expect schools to emphasize
abstinence. CWA further contends that no contraceptive or
STD-reducing device makes sex "safe" for teens. According
to CWA, the bill would need to include an opt-in provision
to provide for adequate parental notification.
Additionally, CWA expresses concerns that charter schools
would be impacted by this bill, resulting in less local
control over decision making and limiting parents' rights
to tailor their child's education.
PRIOR ACTIONS
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Assembly Health Committee:12-5 Pass
Assembly Appropriations: 12-5 Pass
Assembly Floor: 47-32 Pass
POSITIONS
Support: Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
(sponsor)
American Civil Liberties Union (sponsor)
American Association of University Women
(sponsor)
ACCESS/Women's Health Rights Coalition
Ally Action
American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, District IX
Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice
California Commission on the Status of Women
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
California Medical Association
California National Organization for Women
California Nurses Association
California Women Lawyers
Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality
Family Violence Law Center
Family Violence Prevention Fund
Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services,
Inc.
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
Los Angeles Free Clinics
NARAL Pro-Choice California
National Asian Pacific American Women's
Forum
National Sexuality Research Center
Pharmacy Access Partnership
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and
Health
Planned Parenthood, Shasta-Diablo
Planned Parenthood of San Diego & Riverside
Counties
Project 10, Inc.
Public Health Institute
Southern California HIV Advocacy Coalition
Women's Foundation of California
Oppose: Concerned Women for America of California
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