Wednesday the Governor signed House Bill 2088, commonly known as the “Informed Consent” act, which is a first step bill protecting parental authority from government overreach.
Constituents from all across Arizona came to Representative Finchem with text that they asked to have enshrined into law, which would require parents receive notice about surveys that their children would be exposed to, the content of those surveys, who would receive the information and what would be done with the information collected.
Society has become data driven with an insatiable appetite to collect every scrap of information that can be collected from our children, using the public school system as the venue, and tests and surveys as the tools.
With the signing of this important acknowledgement of parental authority into law, school officials will be required to obtain the informed consent from parents or guardians before they can solicit a survey in our K‐12 schools. The obvious question is what is informed consent? Parents will have to be informed, told about every aspect of a proposed survey; and will have to give or withhold their consent before such a survey can be presented. Parents cannot be forced to give their consent and therein lays the affirmation of parental authority.
This legislation will not affect evaluations for health care, tests of skill and knowledge or the Arizona Youth Survey. The Arizona youth Survey is not a compulsory survey and is already consent driven.
Representative Finchem’ s statement is summed up simply, “There has been this notion put forward by some spokespersons from both the federal government and in the national news media those children somehow belong to the state, a possession of society. I reject that position and point to the lack of an enumerated power lacking in both the Arizona and United States Constitutions that gives the state or federal government the authority to usurp parental authority granted by Natures God.”
“For those members who voted against the bill, I am not sure if they objected to parents being informed, or parents giving their consent, or the idea that the upbringing of our children is the responsibility of parents and not the government. Regardless, in the State of Arizona we respect parental authority and will acknowledge it with respect and support.”