Changes to "Alaska Safe Children's Act" Receive More Criticism in Committee

Changes to a bill that would require education for children on sexual abuse and dating violence are receiving significant criticism from some of those who originally pushed for the measure.  The bill, known as the “Alaska Safe Children’s Act,” was the subject of a second hearing before the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.  KTNA’s Phillip Manning has more.

Originally, House Bill 44 was one of four introduced under the name ‘Erin’s Law.’  The bill was named for Erin Merryn, a survivor of child sexual abuse who has become a voice for victims and has made it her personal goal to have all fifty states require age-appropriate sexual abuse education in schools.  During the current special session of the Alaska Legislature, content from three other education bills has been added to House Bill 44, and the requirement for school districts to establish the curriculum has been removed.  On Wednesday, during a Senate Education Committee hearing, Erin Merryn called out Chairman Mike Dunleavy in a Tweet, saying:

“His gutted version is NOT #ERINSLAW he has made it optional any state can do it right now that way. #disappointed.”

Erin Merryn was not alone in her criticism of the changes.  Butch Moore, whose daughter Breanna was killed last summer, advocated for an addition to the bill dealing with dating violence, known as “Bree’s Law.”  In testimony before the committee on Wednesday, he criticized the new version, which includes provisions on parental rights and unfunded mandates for schools.

“Quit playing with it, please. Please pass it on the three page version.  Go back to it; retract your [committee substitute] version.”

Senator Lesil McGuire carried a version of the original bill in the Alaska Senate.  She says the rolling back of the requirement for sexual abuse curriculum on districts would not stop her from supporting the bill.

“If making it optional allows for the bill to pass, then I’m supportive of that, because I believe at a certain point the culture will begin to change and shift in a way that people come on board.”

What Senator McGuire says concerns her is the addition of content from three other bills, which she says may cause a loss of momentum for the combination of Erin’s Law and Bree’s Law, now called the “Alaska Safe Children’s Act.”

“It’s a good bill, and it should pass.  My concern is that it has been weighted down, now, with three other measures, which independently I might support, but I don’t know that they’ll be collectively supported.”

Senator Mike Dunleavy says he agrees that training children about sexual abuse and dating violence is crucial. At the end of Wednesday’s meeting, he reiterated that point, then defended the addition of the sections to House Bill 44 dealing with parents’ rights.

“I think the parental rights component is crucial.  I have a lot of constituents—and this is something that has not been discussed much, but I’ve had a lot of constituents call me who feel like they are no longer citizens of the State of Alaska or the United States, but that they are subjects of Alaska.”

House Bill 44 passed out of the Senate Education Committee without objection.  Its next hearing will be in the Senate Finance Committee.

Reporting from Talkeetna, I’m Phillip Manning.

KTNA attempted to contact Senator Dunleavy for a response, but did not receive one by deadline.