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Committee advances bill to bar coerced speech in schools; legal precedents cited
Summary
The House Education Committee voted to add late-filed technical amendments and advance House Bill 1270, which would prohibit coercing speech from students, teachers, employees and contractors in public schools and LEAs; the committee cited federal court decisions in support.
House Bill 1270, carried by Representative David Cochran, cleared the House Education Committee after members adopted several amendments, including an untimely-filed technical correction, and voted to send the bill to the Finance Committee. The clerk recorded 14 ayes, 3 nays and 1 present-not-voting.
Cochran said the bill would protect students, teachers, employees and contractors in public schools and local education agencies (LEAs) from being forced to express speech that conflicts with their deeply held religious beliefs. He told members the bill is intended to prevent coerced speech while not preventing voluntary acknowledgment of another person’s chosen name or pronouns.
During debate Representative Revs and Mackenzie opposed the bill, arguing it would effectively compel some students to accept labels or identities and could stigmatize students who do not come from a “traditional” family. Cochran responded by citing recent federal court rulings he said support protections for employees and faculty who decline to use contested pronouns, including Merriweather v. Trustees of Shawnee State University, Rickard v. USD 475, and Garrity v. Jackson Local School District.
The committee adopted amendment 6982, a verbal legal/technical correction read into the record by counsel, and approved an untimely amendment (006982) for full inclusion. After the clerk announced the vote as 14 ayes, 3 nays, and 1 present-not-voting, the committee reported the bill to Finance.
Votes and next steps: the committee added the technical correction and advanced HB 1270 to Finance for further review and drafting alignment.
