Committee refers parental-rights bill to Education Policy after amendment adopting strict-scrutiny standard

The Minnesota House Committee on Children and Families voted to refer House File 22 to the Education Policy Committee after adopting an author amendment that adds a strict judicial standard for challenges to parental rights.

Representative Dawn Gilman, the bill’s author, opened the committee hearing and offered an A1 amendment. Committee members adopted the amendment before hearing public testimony. The amendment, as described at the hearing, “will add a standard of review that requires any violation of parental rights to satisfy the most stringent legal standards.”

House File 22, as presented by Representative Dawn Gilman, would codify a broad parental-rights statement into state law asserting that parents have the right to direct their children’s education, upbringing, religious training, health care and privacy "without government interference." Gilman said the bill does not create new rights but “recognizes the rights parents already have” and that it applies to public, charter, private and home education.

Supporters told the committee they want clearer statutory protections. Alicia Levisca, co-director of Minnesotans for Health and Parental Rights, said in written and oral testimony that families have faced inconsistent court interpretations since Troxell v. Granville and that the bill…