Thursday, June 11, 2009

Conservative veto call for expanded CPS powers growing louder

The outcry is growing against last minute amendments to SB 1440 expanding CPS authority to act without "good cause," the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported yesterday ("Groups urging Perry to veto bill that would increase CPS' power") in a story that incidentally quoted this Grits post on the topic. According to the Startlegram:

A coalition of conservative and libertarian groups is urging Gov. Rick Perry to veto a bill that would make it easier for Child Protective Services to remove children from a home while investigating possible abuse.

Groups including the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas, the Texas Home School Foundation and the Free Market Foundation have called on supporters to contact Perry’s office and request that he veto Senate Bill 1440.

At issue is an amendment addressing instances when a parent refuses to let a CPS worker inside to investigate an abuse or neglect allegation.

If the bill became law, a judge would be able to grant CPS a court order similar to a criminal search warrant, allowing a CPS worker to immediately enter the home and, if necessary, remove the child and secure medical and mental-health records as part of an investigation. It would be done without notifying the parent in advance.

"It seems like we’re throwing the Fourth Amendment under the bus," said Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Home School Coalition. "It completely undermines parental rights."

Our pal David Jennings over at the Lone Star Times dubbed SB 1440 the "Take Away Your Child Act." A staunch conservative and GOP activist, Jennings declared in the LST comment section, "I really hope he vetoes it. If he doesn’t, I’m not sure what I’ll do for the primary."

Are you listening, Governor Perry? These are your primary voters talking.

Click here to email or find a phone number for the Governor to request he veto SB 1440.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Naw, he isn't listening. The sound is dampened by rhetoric being screamed at him from the advocacy groups...

Informed Citizen said...

PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF TEXAS.
It is the new confederacy of the neo conservatives. YOU, and all other members of the public, are born into slavery. Along with all of your children. You are the PROPERTY of the entity known as THE STATE OF TEXAS. ---------
There no longer is any skin color based discrimination. The discriminating factor is whether or not your livelyhood is drawn from the public treasury.
Some of those born into slavery are elected, appointed, or hired to live at public expense. By doing so they become members of the class of overseers. They "take care" of the other PROPERTY (the Citizens) of THE STATE OF TEXAS. They are the new Royalty, the Nobile Class, in the new Feudalism operating on our Land of Texas.
But the illusion of personal autonomy, liberty, and justice has been carefully crafted so that the existence of this matrix is easily denied. A comfortable self-delusion keeps the property of THE STATE living in blissful ignorance. A few are not blind to reality and are calling for a veto of the Matrix. Do you think they will be succeessful?

Anonymous said...

CPS has enough power. If you have ever had to deal with them because someone got mad at you and decited to get even legally then you have no idea of what they are like, but that door swings both ways. You can turn around and come up with enough trash to report on the reporting party, it doesn't matter what you report cps will check it out. Your Tax Dollars at Work

Anonymous said...

5:37
That’s how it worked in nazi Poland. You got mad at someone you could snitch them off to the Gestapo and they disappeared. If you run across and polish holocaust survivors ask them how they feel about the Pollock’s. The cps could be Perry’s’ SS if he don’t veto this bill.
Sheldon