HBA-TYH H.R. 1000 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.R. 1000 By: Christian State Affairs 5/24/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE With regard to religious freedom, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights declares that the state has no right either to establish an official religion or to prohibit a person's freedom to worship according to the dictates of religious faith and individual conscience. While state-sponsored prayer in public schools has been prohibited, the right to participate in voluntary, student-initiated and student-led prayers in public schools also has been challenged in recent years, and those challenges have resulted in conflicting federal court rulings. Some courts, most notably the Fifth Circuit Court in Jones v. Clear Creek Independent School District (Jones II), have given recognition to the difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the establishment clause prohibits, and private speech expressing religious sentiments, which the free speech and free exercise clauses protect, and thus allowed student-led prayers at school functions such as graduation ceremonies. Other courts, most recently a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court in Doe v. Santa Fe Independent School District, have refused to give recognition to the difference and disallowed similar initiatives for voluntary student-led prayers, despite the fact that the Santa Fe district's policy was practically indistinguishable from the school policy upheld in the Jones II rulings. In this Texas case, the Santa Fe school district in Galveston County was sued by two parents who believed that prayers offered by students at graduation ceremonies and football games violated the First Amendment's establishment clause, and although the trial court sided with the school district and allowed student-led prayers on those occasions, two members of the appellate court agreed with the plaintiffs and disallowed the prayers. In response to this adverse appellate court decision, Attorney General John Cornyn and Governor George W. Bush filed an amicus brief supporting the students' right to gather in prayer; despite this intervention by the state, the full 16-member Fifth Circuit Court, meeting en banc, upheld the ban on prayers or any expression of religious belief at football games in a 9-7 decision. This ruling poses a two-fold dilemma for the individual and for the state: a citizen's basic freedom of religious expression is denied, and the state is placed in the untenable position of determining which religious viewpoints are appropriately nonsectarian and nonproselytizing and thus permissible. This resolution provides that the House of Representatives of the 76th Texas Legislature supports the right to voluntary, student-initiated prayer in public schools and the right to practice one's own religious faith without the interference of the state; that the house of representatives encourages the office of the attorney general to continue its efforts in support of the Santa Fe Independent School District and to litigate on behalf of this and other school districts across the state that face similar challenges to ensure that students' right to engage in voluntary prayer will not be abridged in the State of Texas; and that the chief clerk of the house forward an official copy of this resolution to the office of the attorney general. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this resolution does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS H.R. 1000 provides that the House of Representatives of the 76th Texas Legislature supports the right to voluntary, student-initiated prayer in public schools and the right to practice one's own religious faith without the interference of the state. Provides that the house of representatives encourages the office of the attorney general to continue its efforts in support of the Santa Fe Independent School District and to litigate on behalf of this and other school districts across the state that face similar challenges to ensure that students' right to engage in voluntary prayer will not be abridged in the State of Texas. Provides that the chief clerk of the house forward an official copy of this resolution to the office of the attorney general.