Parents’-rights bill veto sustained

Friday, Feb. 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A controversial parents rights bill vetoed by Gov. Bob Miller isn't dead yet.

The 1995 veto was upheld in the Senate Thursday, but Sen. Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, who sponsored SB341, said she has a similar bill being drawn that could take care of many of the objections voiced Thursday. She said the chances of passage were good in the Senate.

In a mostly party-line vote, the Senate voted 12-9 Thursday to sustain the veto, falling short of the necessary 14, or two-thirds vote, needed to override the bill that intended to give parents more say in schools.

"We should applaud the senators who stood up to a highly vocal, but misguided faction that was pushing SB341," Miller said after the vote. "These senators have successfully defended the interests of Nevada children."

The governor said the bill, while it purported to protect the rights of parents to obtain school records, "would in fact have severely restricted school personnel from being able to protect students from child abuse."

When he vetoed the bill after the last legislative session, the governor never mentioned the child abuse issue, saying instead that the bill violated federal law, which now turns out to be wrong.

He said the bill would "create an impossible task for school professionals in dealing with the day-to-day administration and crisis."

The bill would have required the permission of a parent before a student could be questioned about such things as religious or political affiliation, sexual behaviors, appraisal of family members and mental problems of either the student or the parents. It would also give parents access to school records.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, in supporting the veto, agreed parents should have the right of access to student records, but she said the proposed state law would make it more difficult for teachers and school officials to discover and correct cases of child abuse by parents.

Sen. Mark James of Las Vegas, the lone Republican to join Democrats in voting to sustain the veto, said the bill would have a "chilling effect" on school officials who could be deterred in reporting cases of child abuse.

He said the bill would permit the questioning of students in serious cases but then the results would have to be reported to the parents, who may be the perpetrators.

Those who supported the governor's veto said they would vote for a new bill if the language was clarified to allow school officials to protect students who are suspected victims of abuse by parents.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said the bill enabled school officials to question students if they believed a "serious threat" existed. He said the law parallels the federal law and does not violate it.

Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, the only Democrat who joined Republicans trying to override the veto, said if the governor objected to the bill in 1995, he should have filed suit in federal court against the federal law which is the same.

Neal said the only difference was the state bill prohibited school officials from questioning students about religious issues, which is not in the federal law.

Parents rights groups such as Nevada Concerned Citizens of Las Vegas and Eagle Forum of Reno have waged a campaign to override the veto. After the vote Thursday, Janine Hansen of Eagle Forum, said there would be a new bill introduced this session.

She said the commitment of the Democrats to support the bill, if it was clarified, "is a good sign."

"They (Democrats) were just being partisan in support of the governor," whom Hansen accused of giving lip service to parental involvement in the schools.

O'Connell said her bill passed 21-0 in 1995 and then went through six additional re-writes in the Assembly and ended up in a conference committee on the final day of the session. The new bill will be more specific, she said, in what school teachers and others can ask students in cases of suspected child abuse.

Two other vetoes by Miller after the conclusion of the 1995 Legislature were also upheld.

The governor disapproved SB70, which would have permitted occupational licensing boards to avoid some fiscal controls placed on other state agencies, and SB501, which exempts the state Board of Sheep Commissioners and the Committee to Control Predatory Animals from paying the cost to retain the services of the attorney general's office.

The vote on SB70 was 13-8, with Neal joining Republicans in an unsuccessful attempt to override the veto. On SB501, it was only Republicans losing on a 12-9 vote.