‘Opt Out’ Military Recruitment Bill Heads to State Senate

‘Opt Out’ Military Recruitment Bill Heads to State Senate
By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor (06-27-06)

A California bill designed to inform high school students and their parents of their right to withhold contact information from military recruiters won Republican support in the state legislature last week but not nearly enough to survive a possible gubernatorial veto.

Mountain View Democratic Assemblymember Sally Lieber’s AB1778 Release of Student Contact Information bill—co-sponsored by Berkeley Assemblymember Loni Hancock—passed the State Senate Education Committee 9-1-1.

All of the committee’s eight Democrats supported the bill and the three Republicans split down the middle, with one voting in support, one voting against, and one senator’s vote recorded as “pass.” Staff members for Carlsbad Republican Senator Bill Morrow were not certain whether the senator abstained on the vote or was not present when the vote took place. Morrow is chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

The bill now goes to the full Senate.

Immediately following the Education Committee meeting, Lieber’s office issued a press advisory stating that the bill had passed “on a BIPARTISAN vote,” with the capital letters included in the advisory.

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=06-27-06&storyID=24487