Assembly OKs Classes on Gay Foster Children

The California Assembly passed a bill Monday to establish gay and lesbian sensitivity training for foster parents, but only after an acrimonious debate that exposed some of the cultural and political fissures regarding homosexuality that divide the state’s elected leadership.

Entering into the last two weeks of the legislative session, legislators also approved a measure that would strengthen state abortion law and allow nurses to prescribe so-called morning after drugs.

The day’s most impassioned debate, however, was over the foster care legislation.

Republicans decried the sensitivity training bill as a piece of social engineering that would move the state one step closer to sanctioning immorality.

Democrats brushed aside the attacks as narrow-minded and insensitive.

Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy (R-Monrovia) fired the opening salvo in the 30-minute debate with a plea to his colleagues to turn back the bill.

“It’s not OK to be gay,” he said, predicting that religious groups that are active in foster care programs will back away from supporting the system if the bill becomes law.

“You think you’ve got a foster care crisis now, pass this and see what happens,” he said.

Mountjoy’s remarks drew a sharp response from Assemblywoman Gloria McLeod (D-Chino). “Do you think it’s OK for gay and lesbian foster children to be thrown away? Is that what you want?” she asked.

The measure, AB 2651 by Assemblywoman Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), requires the state Department of Social Services to expand its foster parent education program to include sexual orientation sensitivity training.

Under the bill, state officials would be required to offer the training, but prospective foster parents could opt not to go through the portion that deals with sexual orientation.

The bill also mandates that the Department of Social Services recruit gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender adults to become foster parents to children with similar sexual orientations.

The Assembly passed the bill along party lines, 41 to 28, and it already has cleared the state Senate. As a result, all that is required for it to become law is Gov. Gray Davis’ signature. Davis has not taken a position on the measure, according to a spokeswoman.

Over the objections of Republicans, the Assembly’s Democratic majority also approved abortion legislation that puts state law in harmony with the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, and allows nurses to prescribe the “morning after” pill.

Abortion rights groups support the measure by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), arguing that it is time for the state’s abortion laws to mirror federal standards.

The bill would eliminate state laws that are inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision and would add language intended to incorporate that decision into the state code.

According to proponents, that would protect abortion rights in California if the U.S. Supreme Court were ever to roll back the standards established by Roe vs. Wade.

“The people of California have made it very clear .... This is a woman’s choice,” said Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), citing the electorate’s support for abortion rights.

But GOP legislators opposed to legalized abortion called it yet another step toward the legitimization of a court ruling, and a practice that they will never support.

“One of the proper roles of government is to protect those who can least protect themselves ... in this case, the unborn child in the womb,” said Assemblyman Bill Campbell (R-Villa Park).

Assemblyman Tim Leslie (R-Tahoe City) attempted to introduce an amendment to block the one provision that expands abortion law by letting nurses prescribe nonsurgical abortion drugs.

Only doctors can now prescribe the medication.

His effort was rebuffed by Democrats on a party line vote, and the measure passed, 44 to 23. It now goes to Davis, who is expected to sign it.

In other action Monday:

* Ending months of gridlock, the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee approved legislation requiring utilities to generate or acquire at least 20% of their electricity from wind and solar power or other forms of renewable energy.

Environmentalists hailed the passage of the measure, SB 1078 by Sen. Byron Sher (D-Stanford), which is one of their biggest priorities of the year.

It had been stuck in committee, where San Diego Gas & Electric and other large utilities had fought it with the help of committee Chairman Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles). Wright ultimately supported an amended version that requires the companies to increase their renewable energy portfolio by at least 1% a year.

* The Senate passed a bill by Senate Republican floor leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga that would authorize local jail and state prison officers to use reasonable force to extract DNA from felons who refuse to provide it voluntarily. The vote on the bill, SB 1242, was 39 to 0.

Currently, DNA from violent criminals such as murderers and rapists is required to be taken and filed in a law enforcement database.

However, the Department of Corrections estimates there are 300 hard-core convicts who refuse to give up their DNA, mostly from fear that it would expose their participation in other crimes, many of them unsolved for years.

Violent convicts must give at least two specimens of blood and a saliva swab. Use of reasonable force to obtain the DNA would be videotaped.

* The Senate approved legislation, SB 1670, by Sen. Jack Scott (D-Altadena) that would make it illegal to sell any gun safety mechanism that is not approved by the state Department of Justice.

Violators would be subject to a $500 fine for the first offense and a maximum $5,000 fine for a third or subsequent violation. The measure passed, 25 to 12.

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Times staff writer Carl Ingram contributed to this story.