Assembly Republicans Block Bill on AIDS Instruction for Students

Legiislation that would have required junior and senior high school students to begin receiving instruction in the fall in AIDS prevention was blocked Thursday by Assembly Republicans.

By a vote of 44 to 25--which was 10 short of the two-thirds majority needed--the Assembly rejected the AIDS education measure, thereby postponing the start of a state instruction program for teen-agers at least until next year.

“The vote here today is an indication that members of the Assembly, particularly the Republicans who are refusing to vote for this, do not believe AIDS is an emergency,” said Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), the author of the bill.

Assembly GOP Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale said many Republicans were opposed to the legislation because they are concerned that instruction about AIDS would give teen-agers “a how-to lesson in homosexual sex.”

Hart’s measure, which won the votes of just three Republican assemblymen, would require school districts to show a video on the transmission and prevention of acquired immune deficiency syndrome to students in 7th through 12th grades.

Under the bill, videos would stress abstinence from sexual intercourse as the primary way to keep from contracting the sexually transmitted disease. They would also discuss homosexual practices and intravenous drug use, the two most common ways the AIDS virus has been spread in the United States.

Parents would receive a written notice that the AIDS course would be given and those who wished would be able to withdraw their children from the class.

Under the bill, state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig and Health Services Director Kenneth W. Kizer would choose at least one video to be shown from about 20 that are now commercially available. Makers of the films include the Red Cross and the Walt Disney Co.

Hart said he will try again to win passage of the bill in August when the Legislature returns from its summer recess. Under an urgency clause now in the bill, the legislation would have taken effect immediately upon signing by the governor. But it needed to win a two-thirds vote in each house. By removing the emergency provision, Hart would need only a simple majority of 41 votes, but the bill would not take effect until Jan. 1.

Republican lawmakers argued that parents should have greater say in whether their children watch the video. They unsuccessfully sought to amend the bill so that school officials be required to obtain written permission from each parent before allowing their children to take part in the class. They also contended that the film should be selected by the state Board of Education, not Honig and Kizer.

“When this becomes a controversial issue in your district, you’ll wish you hadn’t voted for it,” Assemblyman Eric Seastrand (R-Salinas) told his fellow legislators.

Three Republicans--Assemblyman Stan Statham of Oak Run, Charles Bader of Pomona and William J. Filante, a physician from Greenbrae--broke ranks with their party, voted for the bill and urged their colleagues to do the same.

“If there is a disease out there that can take a life, especially the life of a young person, then we have a moral obligation to tell that young person how to prevent themselves from ever getting that disease,” said Statham, who carried the bill for Hart on the Assembly floor. “This is a terribly important bill and should be implemented in our school system as soon as possible.

Statham and other supporters of the bill pointed out that an estimated 300,000 Californians already have been exposed to the virus. An estimated 34,000 people in the state will die from AIDS by 1991.

Assemblyman Art Agnos (D-San Francisco), noting that one out of every four AIDS cases was contracted when the victim was a teen-ager, argued that education in the schools is critical in halting the spread of the disease.

Hart noted that the measure had been approved by the Senate on a bipartisan 32-4 vote, with conservatives such as Sen. H.L Richardson (R-Glendora) voting for the bill.