Future uncertain for anti-bullying bill in Idaho
The future of an Idaho Senate bill proposed this year to strengthen the state’s anti-bullying laws is uncertain after a Feb. 23 hearing.
The bill, SB 1105, was the subject of an emotional two-hour Idaho Senate Education Committee public hearing that saw the likes of several parents, students and community leaders turn out to speak about the necessity of the legislation, which includes language calling for more education and training related to harassment and bullying issues.
The committee voted in favor of sending SB 1105 to the state’s “amending order” for revision. When or if it will return for a hearing this session is unclear. More about the committee’s decision and what could happen next can be found in a brief story here posted by The Spokesman-Review.
Amy Herzfeld, executive director of the Idaho Human Rights Education Center, attended the hearing and told me afterward that most of the testimony given weighed heavily in favor of passing the bill, which in its current draft does not include specific language about not bullying students because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, nor is it likely to.
“It does make the bill weaker, but it was done in an effort to appease its Republican co-sponsors,” Herzfeld said. “Obviously, though, we can’t talk about bullying in the mainstream without a link to LGBTQ kids.”
Among those who spoke at the hearing in favor of the bill, she said, were Krista Perry, co-chair of the Idaho Safe Schools Coalition; a teacher from Eagle High School who addressed the lack of anti-bullying training in schools; and a young man – a recent graduate of Sandpoint High School in northern Idaho – who gave a personal account of being bullied and harassed in school.
In the end, Herzfeld said the committee took issue with some of the bill’s wording, included this passage: “Harassment, intimidation or bullying includes, but is not limited to, incidents perpetrated against a student because of any actual or perceived differentiating characteristic or by association with a person who has or is perceived to have one or more of these characteristics.”
A proposed punishment included in the bill also did not sit well with committee members, Herzfeld said. It states: “A student or youth of school age found guilty of violating any provision of this section for the first or second time shall be found guilty of an infraction. Being found guilty of any provision of this section for a third time shall be a misdemeanor.”
Herzfeld said that while she was disappointed that the bill did not go to the Senate floor for a vote, she was pleased that it received a hearing, and encouraged to see language included requiring harassment and bullying training for all school personnel, parents and students.
Openly lesbian Democratic legislator Sen. Nicole LeFavour co-sponsored the bill. In January, she helped organize a weekend of “Safe Schools & Fair Employment” rallies and vigils across 11 Idaho cities attended by over 800 people with the intent of showing grassroots support for issues such as stronger anti-bullying legislation.
To read Senate Bill 1105 in its entirety, click here.
Steve Martin is Idaho’s Regional Development Organizer for Pride Foundation. Email Steve.
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