Alabama
Good bills die
The Alabama Legislature's 2002 session officially closed on April 17, effectively killing all bills that had not yet passed, including three that would have expanded parental rights.
House Bill 571 would have entitled parents to receive medical information about their children from almost any health care provider. Home School Legal Defense Association supported this bill as a good step toward the goal of parents being able to obtain medical information on their children in all circumstances.
H.B. 350 and Senate Bill 44 were companion bills that would have forced a court to consider the wishes of a parent in granting visitation of a child to a grandparent. The present law entitles grandparents to visitation if the court finds that it is in the best interest of the child, regardless of the parent's relationship to the grandparent seeking visitation and the child.
Although it is unfortunate that these bills did not pass this session, HSLDA will continue to lobby for parental rights legislation to be passed in future sessions of the Alabama General Assembly.
- Dewitt T. Black
