Senate panel approves Bible literacy bill

"I'm concerned we can't even get out of committee

before we start preaching"

about the values of the Bible.

---Tim Shaughnessy

The motivation is not to establish religion, but...

This from Bluegrass Politics:

One state senator cast a vote of “Amen” Thursday when the Senate Education Committee unanimously approved a bill to give public schools guidelines for teaching the Bible as an elective social studies course.

Another senator, Republican Elizabeth Tori of Elizabethtown, praised the Democratic sponsors of the bill, saying she believed “angels have sat down on your shoulders.”

But another warned that the state must proceed carefully with the bill and said teachers in public schools must be sure to teach, not preach, the Bible to students if the measure becomes law.

A large crowd made up mostly of school students from various Kentucky counties attended the committee meeting in which Democratic Sens. David Boswell of Owensboro and Julian Carroll of Frankfort presented Senate Bill 142.

Boswell, primary sponsor of the measure, said it would let the state Department of Education come up with regulations to guide public schools as they “teach students knowledge of biblical content, characters, poetry and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture.” ...

Carroll said the bill is not creating “a faith-based course,” but he contended that public schools have experienced problems such as shootings since the Bible was taken out of the classroom.

“We took the Bible out of the school but we put nothing back,” he said.

Carroll contended that the Bible can teach “life skills and values.”...

In voting for the bill, Sen. Vernie McGaha, R-Russell Springs, told Carroll that “preaching” might help public schools....

Thanks to Toni Konz for the quote.

Partner benefits bill killed

This from the Herald-Leader:

Would have prevented benefits at public universities

FRANKFORT --- A House committee killed a bill that would have prevented public universities and other government agencies from providing health insurance to unmarried domestic partners.

The House Health and Welfare Committee heard from Sen. Vernie McGaha, R-Russell Springs, who sponsored Senate Bill 112. Members asked few questions before voting 9 to 6 against the bill.

McGaha's bill would have prevented the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky from offering health benefits to the unmarried partners of their employees. Both universities offer health benefits to domestic partners. The bill would have allowed coverage for family members living with employees, such as grandparents or parents.

The committee deadlocked, 8 to 8, on a similar bill last year after three hearings.

Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, D-Lexington, said defeat of the bill was a victory for fairness and the right to buy health care. "Folks just want to have the ability to purchase health insurance for their loved ones," he said.

McGaha said the bill was necessary because of a 2004 constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between a man and a woman...