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UPDATE: July 13, 2016

On Thursday, June 30, SB1146 passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote, 7 in favor, 2 in opposition, 1 abstaining. However, due to overwhelming concern and opposition to the bill, it was amended overnight before the judiciary hearing. While the amendments did raise serious additional concerns with this already problematic legislation, it proved that representatives do respond when significant attention and opposition is brought to an issue.

The legislature will be on recess the entire month of July. However, there will be ongoing efforts to amend the bill with the senator’s office. The bill will be heard by the Appropriations Committee on August 12.

If you have not done so already, please continue to contact your assembly member to voice your opposition to SB 1146.

Follow this link from the California Family Alliance to email Governer Brown and your representative:

www.stop1146.com

For more information on the bill:

www.californiafamily.org/tag/sb-1146/

June 18, 2016

A threatening and overreaching bill (Senate Bill 1146) is working its way through the California legislature. If passed as is, this bill would strip California’s faith-based colleges and universities of their religious liberty to educate students according to their faith convictions. As many as 42 faith-based institutions of higher education in California could be impacted.

The proposed legislation seeks to narrow a religious exemption in California only to those institutions of higher learning that prepare students for pastoral ministry. This functionally eliminates the religious liberty for students of all California faith-based colleges and universities who integrate spiritual life with the entire campus educational experience. Prayer or chapel services, spiritual formation groups, and ministry service are an integral part of the educational experience for faith-based campuses, and they are at risk if SB 1146 is passed. In addition, it would eliminate religious liberty in California higher education, as we know it today, and deprive tens of thousands of students of their access to a distinctly faith-based higher education.

Over the last several weeks negotiations have been taking place between the Association of California Colleges and Universities (AICCU) and Sen. Ricardo Lara’s offices regarding Section 1 of SB 1146. Unfortunately, we learned today that efforts to arrive at an agreeable compromise on the language of the bill have reached an impasse. Although amended language was inserted into the bill on June 13 to allow for religious activities, it still prohibits faith-based institutions from operating according to their mission and religious tenets.

We are asking our constituencies to do three things:

  1. Click here for a sample email that you can personalize and send to the Assembly Higher Education Committee before noon on Tuesday, June 21. Click here for a list of the members who sit on the Higher Education Committee. Every voice helps at this point.
  2. Pray for the Assembly Higher Education Committee hearing tomorrow, June 21, at 1:30 p.m. Pray that SB 1146 is held in committee and does not advance to the Judiciary Committee.
  3. Share this with your friends and family!

Your voice and your prayers matter to Providence and the other faith-based institutions in California at this important time in history.

http://www.californiafamily.org/2016/attack-on-california-religious-colleges-sb-1146/