Two state legislatures showed themselves willing to step in to curtail practices that do not align with the beliefs of the state’s citizens. These actions certainly increase my opinion of them as places to live.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas General Assembly has voted to override Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of a bill that would ban certain medical treatments for transgender youth.
The vote came one day after the announcement of Hutchinson’s veto of HB1570, called the “SAFE Act” by its sponsors.
The vote in the Senate followed a quick vote by the Arkansas House. Both chambers originally passed the measure by wide margins.
The bill is now set to become state law 90 days after the end of the legislative session, which is currently scheduled for April 30.
During his weekly COVID-19 address, which was happening at the same time the debate and votes on the veto override, Hutchinson said he fully expected the legislature to reverse his decision.
When a conservative state has a RINO or at least a timid moderate as its governor it is comforting to see a legislature that takes its duties serious enough to defy him and quickly restore necessary legislation to their state.
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Boise, Idaho
… Immediately after the initiative vote, the House took up SB 1179, the budget for the state’s four-year colleges and universities for next year, and in a highly unusual move, its sponsor, Rep. Paul Amador, R-Coeur d’Alene, urged House members to defeat it.
“Folks, this budget was drafted approximately six weeks ago,” Amador said, “what’s feeling right now an eternity ago. I think we all recognize that the grounds of the game have potentially changed.” Amador said he no longer believed the budget bill, which passed the Senate 27-6 on March 17, was the right budget to pass, and said JFAC will draft a new version.
Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, decried “social justice or critical race theory” being taught on campus. “It’s a systemic problem at our universities, it’s baked into the curriculum and the campus culture,” he said.
Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley, told the House, “We had the president of BSU come and talk to us about how wonderful things were going on campus, and we all knew different. … It is unbelievable what the students of Idaho have been going through, and they have been pleading with us.”
Here we see a legislature pass good legislation but because of changes to the federal funding to their state colleges they defeated the bill and plan to increase the budget cuts to punish these schools for their social justice curriculum and policies. If more red states were as brave and intelligent as these examples we wouldn’t be as beleaguered as we currently find ourselves by the awful laws and institutions that assault us.