School-clubs bill back up in air

The House and the Senate aren't seeing eye to eye on a controversial student clubs bill that could allow a school to deny a non-curricular club, like Gay-Straight Alliance.

After initially accepting the Senate's substitute bill earlier in the day, the House late Wednesday reconsidered the decision and voted not to accept the changes. The Senate must now either recede from amendments or send it to a conference committee made up of three members of each body.

The yo-yo history of HB236 had the House gutting it, the Senate restoring it to its original form, then the House concurring, then reconsidering on the same day.

The current incarnation of the measure sponsored by Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, would require parental consent for a student to join a non-curricular club, give parents the authority to view material distributed in a club 24 hours after a club meeting, require the school to appoint a faculty adviser and require clubs to establish bylaws, a budget, a statement of purpose and a name related to that purpose.

Earlier in the day, Tilton had told lawmakers that if they didn't concur with the Senate the bill would die. But during evening floor debate, Rep. Mel Brown, R-Coalville, made a motion to call the bill back, contending that it could go to a conference committee where House and Senate members could hammer out a compromise. Brown's motion passed by a voice vote.

As the pingpong match continues, critics of the clubs bill are lying low.

Equality Utah, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group that has lobbied against the bill, said though the measure is unnecessary, it did not threaten groups they represented.

"It's a bad bill because it may discourage kids from forming clubs, but gay-straight alliances are going to continue throughout the state as long as (the law) is applied correctly," said Will Carlson, policy and strategy coordinator for Equality Utah.

Under HB236, school officials could deny an application for a non-curricular club if they thought it necessary to "protect the physical, emotional and moral well-being of students."

The bill was passed in the House earlier this month in a watered-down form that would basically only require parental permission for a student to join a non-curricular club — something many districts already require.