Youth & Government
After months of preparation, practice, and competitions, our mock legislature team FINALLY went to the Texas Youth & Government 2008 Conference!! We left Thursday morning (Jan. 31) by chartered bus so we could get to Austin in time for the opening ceremony that afternoon. Since I was in the House of Representatives, we held our meeting in the real chamber at the Capitol and elected our own Speaker of the House.
The next morning, I was downstairs at 8:45 to meet up with my team - which I couldn't find. I had to call Tommy, who informed me that we'd be chairing the Education committee. That would've been nice to know since we should've gone to a meeting the night before to discuss what we were supposed to do the next day. It went perfectly fine, since he and I had chaired committee meetings before, but I was SO not prepared (I felt so nervous while we were waiting to start that I couldn't finish my Pop-Tart).
Even though I was running the meeting, I still had to present my own bill. Basically, my bill was changing the English I curriculum so that it focused much more strongly on reading comprehension. Statistics show that only 30% of American 8th graders are considered "proficient" in reading and the SAT, ACT, and NAEP all show flat achievement rates over the past decade (despite efforts such as No Child Left Behind). I was so excited when it went through uncontested and was recommended by the committee.
MY BILL
2008 Bills for House, Senate and Hyde House
Bill: HB022
Committee: Education
Caption: AN ACT dedicating one-half of Texas high school English I curriculum courses to reading comprehension studies in order to increase students’ understanding of required non-fiction and fiction reading assignments.
Printed: Yes
01 Author: [me] Delegation: [my high school]
02
03 A BILL
04 To Be Entitled
05
06 AN ACT dedicating one-half of Texas high school English I curriculum courses to reading
07 comprehension studies in order to increase students' understanding of required non-fiction and
08 fiction reading assignments and declaring an emergency
09
10 Be it enacted by the YMCA Youth Legislature of Texas.
11
12 SECTION 1 - DEFINITIONS
13 Curriculum - the regular or a particular course of study in a school, college, etc. Reading
14 comprehension - the level of understanding of a passage or text. For normal reading rates
15 (around 200-220 words per minute) an acceptable level of comprehension is above 75%. Reading
16 comprehension can be improved by: Training the ability to self assess comprehension, actively
17 test comprehension using questionnaires, and by improving metacognition. Teaching conceptual
18 and linguistic knowledge is also advantageous.
19
20 SECTION 2 - PURPOSE
21 To improve reading comprehension early in high school with coursework focusing on techniques
22 to increase the amount of information students are able to comprehend from fiction and nonfiction
23 readings.
24
25 SECTION 3 - PROVISIONS
26 Students in English I courses would spend one-half of their coursework learning to read for
27 information and comprehension.
28
29 SECTION 4-PENALTIES
30 There are no penalties, however if this bill is not passed, students will continue to lose ground in
31 demanding high school classes and later in college because they do not understand what they are
32 reading.
33
34 SECTION 5 - EFFECTIVE DATE
35 This law shall become effective August I, 2008
36
37 SECTION 6 - REPEALER CLAUSE
38 All laws and parts of laws in conflict of this are hereby repealed to the extent of the conflict.
39
40 SECTION 7 - SEVERABILITY CLAUSE
41 If any portion of this Act shall be declared unconstitutional, it is the intent of this legislature that
42 the other portions of this Act shall remain in full force and effect.
43
44 SECTION 8 - EMERGENCY CLAUSE
45 The importance of this legislation and the crowded conditions of the calendar of both houses
46 create an imperative public necessity that the condition rule requiring that the bills be read on
47 three (3) separate days in each house be suspended and it is so suspended, and this Act shall take
48 effect on the date indicated and it is so enacted.
We spent Friday afternoon and all of Saturday in session in the House - I don't know know that I've ever had such a good time when I was working so hard. The most interesting part was that I learned so much about the different beliefs and perspectives of other teens my age. It was also the most disturbing.
The worst bill that I encountered was:
An act related to public displays of affection between two individuals of the same sex and declaring an emergency.
Section I. Definitions
Public Display of Affection - Any touching, kissing, or sexual activity of any kind in public.
Section II. Provisions
Any public display of affection between two individuals of the same sex is prohibited in the state of Texas.
Section III. Penalties
A. 1st offense shall equal a $1,000 fine and probation for one year.
B. 2nd offense shall equal a $5,000 fine, one week in jail, and probation for one year.
C. 3rd offense shall equal a $10,000 fine, one month in jail, and probation for one year.
Can you say, "What the hell?!"
YMCA Texas Youth & Government
The Golden Gavel
Sunday, February 3, 2008 | Volume 61, Issue 2
Same-Sex PDA Bill Hotly Contested in House
By: April Aguilera and Stacha Leslie
FORT WORTH
Legislature has been known in the past for revealing rather interesting bills and delivering heated debates. Legislative has now surpassed this standard with HB53 written by Justin Allen from the Fort Worth delegation. This bill will be the most controversial bill on the docket. This bill would outlaw forms of public display of affection between two individuals of the same sex.
After a brief experience in Judicial, Allen decided to broaden his horizons and join the Legislative program. After observing the bill process, Allen decided that HB53 was an interesting choice. As debate began, the strong opposition of a fellow delegate, Nolberto Zubia, became obvious.
Zubia expressed with great passion his feelings toward this topic and really wanted to end the homosexuality stigma and preconceived bias. Prior to presenting his own bill HB65, Zubia asked Youth Governor Dave Harris what he would do if HB65, Zubia's bill "regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage, were to come to the House floor. Harris indicated he would veto the bill, adding to Zubia's passion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion," Zubia states, "however, no opinion is greater than anyone else's."
As co-author for HB53, Ethan Hulme began to move toward previous questioning. After this decision neither delegate realized that this would end the debate period. Allen’s summation came to an abrupt halt and he felt that there were many important points left unsaid. Allen was disappointed in the fact that there might have been an assumption made towards discrimination against homosexuals.
"[This bill] wasn’t against homosexuals," Allen said. "It was about the dignity of our country and what is allowed. It was about keeping our youth from seeing things they were not ready to see."
"During debate, different referenced were used from online sources, books and newspapers. Zubia referred to the Bible and the kiss of Judas in the book of Luke.
Based on interpretation," Zubia said, "the Bible can go both ways. I can prove any point with the Bible."
As an example, Zubia believes that the Bible reveals Jesus supporting prostitution. Being a Christian himself, Allen believes the mentioned information to be "completely irrelevant," to this debate.
After both view points were presented the House denied the bill.
I enjoyed the debate, but personally felt passionate about getting this discriminatory bill denied. I don't even know why his teacher would have allowed him to present that kind of bill in the first place.
The conference was a great legislative experience and a good opportunity to get to know some of my school friends on a more personal level.
We returned home Sunday, Feb. 3, just in time for the Super Bowl.
(Click for photos)