By CHEC Legislative Liaison Carolyn Martin

Blessed Day at the Capitol!

The Lord blessed us with great weather for the Day at the Capitol this year! Thank you for coming and supporting home education in Colorado. My heart was overjoyed by watching all the families who love the Lord fill the Capitol building.

Chief Justice Roy Moore is a true hero of the faith, and his humility and wisdom were an inspiration! I pray that we will take up our cross in the area to which we have been called, looking to men like Chief Justice Roy Moore as an example of how to do it with grace and truth.

Get the scoop on the day’s events on CHEC’s Facebook Page

Clarification of Immunization Exemption Form

Go to my last blog (here) to read more about this bill: SB17-250 Student Exemption from Immunization Requirements. It will be in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee tomorrow. Your Action Needed: Please let me know if you will be there.

Read the Bill Here

Disagreement or Discrimination?

If a baker, a photographer, or a florist chooses not to contract to provide goods or services for a same-sex wedding based on their moral conscience, is that discrimination or disagreement? As a business owner, are you ever allowed to refuse service to someone if they are a member of a protected class? Which is the higher order right – for one party to be free from offense or for one to have the ability to act according to his conscience?

These are the questions that are being raised in SB17-283 Clarify Discrimination and the Right to Disagree. This bill will be heard today, April 12th, at 1:30 pm in the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee. The hope is that it will make it to the floor of the Senate. Your Action Needed: Emails and phone calls are needed to encourage your senator to support this bill.

Read the Bill Here

Find Your Senator

Age of Consent: 15 or 10?

Currently, the age of consent for children to be able to consent to psychotherapy without a parent’s involvement is 15 years old. This bill would lower the age to 10 years old. While suicide is a growing problem among children as young as 10, taking away the right of parents to direct their child’s medical care is not the answer.

Ultimately, this bill would allow counselors to guide children toward certain ways of thinking and behaving without any parental involvement. The bill, HB17-1320, Age of Consent for Outpatient Psychotherapy for Minors, has not been scheduled for committee.

This bill has bi-partisan sponsorship. Please, pray that this bill will not make it through the Senate. Your Action Needed: If you have any experience with counselors and the age of consent, please contact me. Your story could make a difference!

Read the Bill Here

Trusting in the mighty power and grace of Jesus,
Carolyn Martin, CHEC Legislative Liaison

About the Author: Carolyn Martin

Carolyn Martin serves as CHEC’s Homeschool Legislative Liaison, working for you and other liberty-loving families to protect homeschool freedom, parental rights, and religious liberty at the state capitol. Subscribe to the CHEC blog for Carolyn’s regular updates here, learn more about legal issues in Colorado here, and donate to support Homeschool Freedom here. Contact Carolyn directly at carolyn@chec.org.