BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1471
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 27, 2006
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Wilma Chan, Chair
SB 1471 (Kuehl) - As Amended: April 6, 2006
SENATE VOTE : 24-14
SUBJECT : Sex education programs: requirements.
SUMMARY : Enacts the California Community Sexual Health
Education Act. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires any program that provides instruction or information
to prevent adolescent or unintended pregnancy, or to prevent
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV, that is
conducted, operated, or administered by any state agency or is
funded directly or indirectly by the state, or receives any
financial assistance from state funds or funds administered by
a state agency to satisfy the following:
a) All information is required to be medically accurate,
current, and objective;
b) Individuals providing instruction or information on
pregnancy, sexuality, and sexually transmitted diseases are
required to know and use the most current scientific data
on human sexuality, human development, pregnancy, and STDs;
c) The program content is required to be age appropriate
for its targeted population;
d) The program is prohibited from teaching or promoting
religious doctrine;
e) The program is required to be culturally and
linguistically appropriate for its targeted populations;
and,
f) The program is prohibited from reflecting or promoting
bias against any person on the basis of disability, gender,
nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, or sexual
orientation, as defined in current law.
2)Requires the program, if it consists of instruction or
information that is delivered in a single session, to satisfy
all of the criteria in #1) above and:
a) If it is directed towards minors and addresses STDs,
include information that the only certain way to prevent
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STDs is to abstain from activities that have been proven to
transmit STDs;
b) If it is directed toward minors and addresses pregnancy
prevention, include information that the only certain way
to prevent unintended pregnancy is to abstain from sexual
intercourse;
c) If it addresses sexually transmitted diseases, provide
information about the effectiveness and safety of one or
more drugs or devices approved by the federal Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for reducing the risk of contracting
STDs; and,
d) If it addresses pregnancy prevention, provide
information about the effectiveness and safety of one or
more drugs or devices approved by the FDA for preventing
pregnancy.
3)Requires the program, if it consists of instruction or
information that is delivered in multiple sessions, to satisfy
all of the criteria in subdivision #1) above and paragraphs a)
and b) of #2) above and: provide information about skills for
refusing unwanted sexual activity and communicating with
sexual partners; and, provide information about the
effectiveness and safety of all drugs and devices approved by
the FDA for reducing the risk of contracting STDs, and
information on local resources for testing and treatment of
STDs. Requires the program, if it addresses pregnancy
prevention, to provide information about the effectiveness and
safety of all drugs and devices approved by the FDA for
preventing pregnancy, including, but not limited to, emergency
contraception.
4)Defines "age appropriate" as topics, messages, and teaching
methods suitable to particular ages or age groups of children
and adolescents, based on developing cognitive, emotional, and
behavioral capacity typical for the age or age group.
5)Defines "single session" program as a single presentation or
contact designed to provide awareness and information about
preventing pregnancy, or sexually transmitted diseases,
including outreach activities in which educators, outreach
workers, or youth peer educators provide oral or written
information to individuals during a single encounter.
6)Defines "multiple session" program as instruction or an
informational presentation about preventing pregnancy or
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sexually transmitted diseases that is provided to the same
audience over more than one session.
7)Defines "medically accurate" as verified or supported by
research conducted in compliance with scientific methods and
published in peer review journals, where appropriate, and
recognized as accurate and objective by professional
organizations and agencies with expertise in the relevant
field, including, but not limited to, the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Public
Health Association (APHA), the Society for Adolescent Medicine
(SAM), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
8)Requires an applicant, as a condition of receiving state funds
or state-administered funds for any program or activity
described in subdivisions # 1), # 2), and # 3) above to attest
in writing that its program complies with all conditions of
funding, including those enumerated in this bill.
9)Requires the applicant, if the program is conducted at a
publicly funded school, including charter schools, to indicate
in writing how the program fits in with the school's plan to
comply fully with the requirements of the California
Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education
Act.
10)Prohibits anything in this bill from being construed to limit
the requirements of the California Comprehensive Sexual Health
and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act, as specified.
11)Prohibits anything in this bill from applying to one-on-one
interactions between a health practitioner and his or her
patient in a clinical setting.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes and provides funding for DHS to administer various
programs related to women's health around adolescent
reproductive health and pregnancy prevention, maternal and
child health, disease prevention, detection, and treatment,
and domestic violence prevention. There are a variety of
funding sources for these programs, including federal funds,
state general fund, and tobacco tax revenue.
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2)Authorizes under the California Comprehensive Sexual Health
and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act, school districts to
provide comprehensive sexual health education, as defined, in
any kindergarten to grade 12, inclusive, and ensures that all
pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive HIV/AIDS
prevention education, as defined.
3)Enumerates various requirements for comprehensive sexual
health education and HIV/AIDS prevention education. Requires
a school district to notify the parent or guardian of a pupil
about instruction in comprehensive sexual health education and
HIV/AIDS prevention and empowers a parent or guardian to
excuse his or her pupil from all or part of that instruction.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee analysis:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09
Fund
DHS enforcement $ 400 $ 300 $ 300
General Fund
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author, programs that
include information about both contraception and abstinence
reduce rates of unintended pregnancies and STDs, while
abstinence-only programs have never been proven to be
effective. California, a national leader in promoting and
protecting reproductive health, is committed to comprehensive,
medically accurate sexual health education. Despite this
successful policy, scarce state dollars for teen pregnancy
prevention are funding programs and activities that do not
meet the basic, common sense guidelines that schools must
follow. Currently, no statutory standards exist for programs
outside of public schools. This bill expands upon SB 71
(Kuehl), Chapter 650, Statutes of 2003 and provides much
needed guidance to state agencies that fund or administer
community-based programs or public education campaigns, in
order to ensure that California has a consistent and effective
approach for preventing unintended pregnancies and STDs. This
bill applies basic standards that are now required in our
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schools to publicly funded sexual health programs in
California communities.
2)SB 71 . In 2004, SB 71 was signed into law by the Governor and
enacted the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and
HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act. The Act revises,
streamlines, clarifies, expands upon and deletes primarily
redundant or obsolete provisions of current law related to sex
and HIV/AIDS prevention education. Specifically, SB 71, among
other things:
a) Revises and simplifies the HIV/AIDS and sex education
parent notification requirements;
b) Authorizes school districts which provide sexual health
education to also provide in-service training for all
school personnel that provide this education, as specified;
c) Defines for purposes of this act a variety of terms
including "age appropriate", "comprehensive sexual health
education", "HIV/AIDS prevention education", "trained
instructors" and "medically accurate;" and,
d) Specifies legislative intent to encourage pupils to
communicate with their parents or guardians about human
sexuality and HIV/AIDS and to respect the rights of parents
or guardians to supervise their children's education on
these subjects.
3)TEEN BIRTHS . According to the Public Health Institute's (PHI)
" No Time for Complacency: Teen Births in California 2006 ,"
despite recent improvements, California's teen birth rate is
hardly exemplary. In 2004 more than 50,000 teens (4% of all
female teens aged 15 to 19) gave birth in California, and many
more became pregnant. PHI states that the tendency to use the
national teen birth rate as the comparative norm might be
encouraging policymakers and advocates to set California's
goal short of a more ambitious reduction that reflects our
true potential. Instead, it would be more inspiring to
compare California's teen birth rate to other industrialized
societies. California's teen birth rate is four to ten times
higher than rates for France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands,
and Japan. The report concluded by saying that it would be
naive to assume that there is any single solution to resolve
the complex issue of teen childbearing. Nevertheless, there
can be little doubt that California's unprecedented investment
in teen pregnancy prevention has contributed to its
achievement over the last decade of the largest decline in
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teen birth rates of all fifty states. Among the
recommendations of PHI are:
a) At a minimum, maintain all program services funding
aimed at reducing teen pregnancies and births, with annual
adjustments for inflation;
b) Require all state-funded or administered programs,
whether school- or community-based, to comply with the
provisions of SB 71 to provide comprehensive,
age-appropriate, and medically accurate information;
c) Provide for education on and enforcement of SB 71 in
terms of comprehensive, age-appropriate, and medically
accurate information in school-based sexuality education;
d) Begin discussion and development of a legislative
mandate for California public middle schools, high schools,
and alternative schools to teach research-based
comprehensive sexuality education;
e) Provide multi-level comprehensive sexuality education
and youth development programs, with school, parent, youth,
and community components working in synergy; and,
f) Review and monitor school polices and curricula to
assess compliance with SB 71 and bring these policies and
curricula into compliance as necessary.
4)SUPPORT . The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned
Parenthood Affiliates of California write that this bill
provides needed guidance to state agencies that fund or
administer community-based sexual health programs and that by
applying the basic standards that are now required in our
schools, this bill ensures a consistent, effective, and
medically accurate approach for preventing unintended
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases at a minimal cost
to the state. Latino Issues Forum states that California must
remain committed to providing quality, comprehensive sexuality
education by ensuring all programs provide medically accurate,
bias-free, and age-appropriate information. California School
Nurses Organization asserts that this bill ensures that
California sex education programs stress the importance of
abstinence while providing students with the medically
accurate information they need to prevent sexually transmitted
infections and unintended pregnancy. Physicians for
Reproductive Choice and Health state that research indicates
that comprehensive programs that promote abstinence while
providing medically-accurate information about contraception
are far more likely to prevent pregnancy and the spread of
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disease than abstinence-only education.
5)OPPOSE . The California Family Council writes that California
and federal laws already prohibit the promotion of religion in
public education and this bill is totally unnecessary. The
Capitol Resource Institute writes that this bill would subject
young students to sex education that would undoubtedly
conflict with parental rights and religious convictions.
Concerned Women for America asserts that our children need to
know the facts in order to make responsible choices and if
health and safety program administrators and educators are
intimidated into leaving important information out of the sex
education curriculum for fear of violating this bill, our
children and society will suffer greatly.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Civil Liberties Union (sponsor)
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California (sponsor)
ACCESS/Women's Health Rights Coalition
American Association of University Women
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Bienestar Human Services, Inc.
California Association of School Health Educators
California Commission on the Status of Women
California Latina's for Reproductive Justice
California Medical Association
California NOW
California PTA
California School Nurses Organization
Center for Research on Adolescent Health and Development
Friends of Project 10, Inc.
Lambda Letters Project
Latino Issues Forum
NARAL Pro-Choice California
National Association of Social Workers
Pharmacy Access Partnership
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health
Public Health Institute
Southern California HIV Advocacy Coalition
Two Individuals
Opposition
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California Family Council
Capitol Resource Institute
Concerned Women of America
One Individual
Analysis Prepared by : Melanie Moreno / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097