Legislature(2003 - 2004)
02/23/2004 02:49 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 269-PARENT ACCESS TO CHILD'S LIBRARY RECORDS
The committee took up SB 269.
MS. JACQUELINE TUPOU, Staff to Senator Green, presented the bill
on behalf of the sponsor and gave the following explanation:
Current state law says that parents have access to
their children's records for the public school
libraries, but it does not address public libraries.
So this bill clarifies that parents have access, not
only to public school libraries, they additionally
have access to public libraries. This issue has been
immensely logistically problematic ... [for example,
the parent of] an 8-year old son. She came to the
Senator, and her 8-year old son had put some books in
the children's section on hold, and they called the
mother and said 'well his books are ready to be picked
up' and she said, 'well, which one?' and they said,
'oh well we can't tell you that,' and she said 'you
can't tell me which book my 8-year old son has at the
library?' and they said, 'no, it's against
confidentiality.' And she was very surprised, so she
contacted the Senator. There is also an email in your
packet from Dianne Keller, who is the mayor of
Wasilla, and it discusses the situation where she owed
some fines for her son, and they wouldn't let her know
about the fines. This law, the way it currently is
written, leaves us with a situation where the parents
are responsible to pay the $67, and when they call and
say, 'what's this $67 for?' they say, 'well we can't
tell you, just write us a check.' So that's an
immensely problematic situation. And that came to the
Senator's attention.
An additional piece, you'll see also in your packet,
is an email from the Department of Education, and this
has become an immense problem - [regarding] the
parental access to their children's records - so much
that as a result of the 2002 Supreme Court decision,
they actually made an office, it's called the Family
Policy Compliance Office and it's just policing the
states that are not in compliance. And if you are not
in compliance then you will not receive federal funds
for your education programs. So this is an important
piece of legislation for us to pass today.
SENATOR GUESS asked if there was a need to worry about
emancipated minors.
MS. TUPOU responded that since "they don't have people that have
parental rights at that point that could call and access those,
... they're self taken care of."
MS. ANDREE McLEOD testified from Anchorage in favor of HB 269,
saying that she is a parent of a 21-year old. She stated this
addresses acrimonious public policy pertaining to children who
are under the age of 18. Public libraries, paid for with public
funds, are being permitted to withhold information from parents
about their minor children. A much deeper problem is to allow
librarians to do as they will, without censure. The Legislature
is constantly passing bills making parents more responsible for
children's behavior; public policy providing incentives for
better parenting is becoming more exact and more detailed. In
turn, parents have a moral obligation to raise their children
well. Ms. McLeod emphasized the importance of parental rights -
including obtaining information pertaining to their children -
to mitigate children's behavior, should it be less than good.
Parents are legally and completely responsible for their
children until the age of 18. She contended that at the very
least, parents do not need a publicly funded librarian
encroaching on their inherent and absolute parental rights.
Librarians violating those rights by not releasing children's
public library records to parents should be reproached and held
accountable.
SENATOR GUESS asked if this bill was necessary, not because
librarians were out of control, but because of currently
complying with the law, which says that those records can't be
released. She received confirmation this was correct.
VICE CHAIR GREEN ascertained that there was no further public
testimony and asked for the will of the committee.
SENATOR GUESS moved to report CSSB 269 (CRA) out of committee
with individual recommendations and the attached zero fiscal
note.
VICE CHAIR GREEN noted there was no objection, and it was so
ordered.
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