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Utah House rejects bill that would have required schools to stress origins-of-species instruction is not 'empirically proven fact'
Summary
After intense debate, the House amended then rejected Senate Bill 96, a proposal that would have required curriculum language stressing that instruction on the origins of species is not an empirically proven fact; proponents cited parental oversight and constitutional context, critics warned of legal exposure and singling out one theory.
The Utah House debated and then filed Senate Bill 96 on Feb. 27 after a lengthy and often-contentious floor debate about how public schools teach evolution and related material.
The original Senate language addressed instruction "regarding the origins of species" and included a preamble that the legislature did not intend to present any scientific theory, hypothesis or inference regarding origins as "empirically proven." Representative Farrin, the floor sponsor, said the bill sought to encourage critical analysis and to avoid presenting scientific inferences as settled empirical fact: "We…
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