booksbenji
05-14-06, 12:37 PM
:evilgrin:
May 12, 10:55 PM EDT
House approves bill barring funeral protests
AUSTIN (AP) -- Members of an anti-gay church would be barred from protesting funerals under a bill sent to Gov. Rick Perry on Friday.
The bill would make it a Class B misdemeanor to protest within 500 feet of the site of a funeral service from one hour before to one hour after a site is used for a service.
The House and Senate both approved the bill Friday.
The measure sponsored by state Rep. Brian McCall does not specifically mention the protests of Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas church group that claims that God is killing U.S. soldiers who fight for a country that tolerates homosexuality.
But the bill was designed with them in mind.
"The scars that are created to the families by this sort of behavior are scars that will not heal cleanly, and we can do something about it," said McCall, a Republican from Plano.
Governors in Oklahoma and Iowa have signed legislation making such protests illegal.
The Legislature also moved forward on a number of other bills on Friday, including ones involving hurricane damage, a $1 billion, near-zero emissions coal-powered plant and a Texas A&M University System pharmacy school.
Perry expanded the agenda of the 30-day special session on school finance after lawmakers made significant progress toward answering a Texas Supreme Court ruling that declared the current funding system unconstitutional. The court gave lawmakers until June 1 to devise a new plan.
© 2006 The Associated Press.
:yes: :devious:
May 12, 10:55 PM EDT
House approves bill barring funeral protests
AUSTIN (AP) -- Members of an anti-gay church would be barred from protesting funerals under a bill sent to Gov. Rick Perry on Friday.
The bill would make it a Class B misdemeanor to protest within 500 feet of the site of a funeral service from one hour before to one hour after a site is used for a service.
The House and Senate both approved the bill Friday.
The measure sponsored by state Rep. Brian McCall does not specifically mention the protests of Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas church group that claims that God is killing U.S. soldiers who fight for a country that tolerates homosexuality.
But the bill was designed with them in mind.
"The scars that are created to the families by this sort of behavior are scars that will not heal cleanly, and we can do something about it," said McCall, a Republican from Plano.
Governors in Oklahoma and Iowa have signed legislation making such protests illegal.
The Legislature also moved forward on a number of other bills on Friday, including ones involving hurricane damage, a $1 billion, near-zero emissions coal-powered plant and a Texas A&M University System pharmacy school.
Perry expanded the agenda of the 30-day special session on school finance after lawmakers made significant progress toward answering a Texas Supreme Court ruling that declared the current funding system unconstitutional. The court gave lawmakers until June 1 to devise a new plan.
© 2006 The Associated Press.
:yes: :devious: