The fallout from the Dover trial:

Oklahomans, don't miss the update below!

New threats also in Alabama.

New threats also in Mississippi.

Yet another Oklahoma bill.

A copycat "Academic Freedom" bill in Maryland.

Victory in Ohio and Utah!

A proposed antievolution amendment to the NV state constitution.

Oklahoma bill dies in committee.

Despite the absolute smackdown suffered by the Discovery Institute and Intelligent Design proponents in the Dover Panda trial -- or perhaps, due to the absolute smackdown suffered by the Discovery Institute and Intelligent Design proponents in the Dover Panda trial -- a handful of state legislators are trying to pass poorly veiled anti-evolution bills in their respective states. Instead of actively promoting the teaching of creationism, creation science, or intelligent design in public schools, these bills are designed to make it difficult to teach evolution; in reality, the bills simply make it difficult to teach science at all. These bills are similar to the one that AR Rep. Jim Holt proposed a few years ago and a recent one that failed in Florida.

• Oklahoma
• Utah
• Missouri

If you or family members reside in any of the above states, I encourage you to see that opinions are voiced to representatives to oppose these bills.

Here's what one person had to say about the Oklahoma bill:

I found this language particularly stupid:
"no student, in any public school shall be penalized in any way because the student may subscribe to a particular position on scientific views."
Ummm, ok, so then I subscribe to these particular scientific views:

• The acceleration due to gravity is 5m/s/s
• Melanin is the pigment used by plants for photosynthesis
• The specific gravity of water is 3
• The appendix is a vital organ. Without it you will die.

Or take a look at the Utah bill:
"... the Legislature desires to avoid the perception that all scientists agree on any one theory, or that the state endorses one theory over another."
99.85% of American biological scientists (and 99.9+% of biological scientists across the globe) accept evolutionary explanations, but there's no "agreement." This from a guy who works in a system where 50.0001% is good enough for him.

To understand the actual effect the bills would have, apply the principles to scientific concepts like gravity:
In Missouri, I would be able to tell my students that things seem to fall at 9.8m/s/s, but since I haven't performed the experiment of tossing Representative Cooper off of a 20-story cliff, any predictions I make about what might happen should be considered pretty iffy and unreliable. (I therefore, in the interest of science and knowledge, propose actually performing the experiment.)

Note that Rep. Cooper also previously proposed two bills that would have required equal treatment for evolution and ID; both bills died without being passed.

Trouble is also brewing in Ohio, and South Carolina has begun to flirt with danger as well.

A bill that proposed to incorporate Intelligent Design into Arkansas schools died in committee last year. I am not aware of any others in the state at this time.

If you would like to search for bogus legislation to oppose in your own state, try here.

Again, I encourage you to voice any displeasure with these bills to your representatives if applicable. I for one am pretty tired of these scientifically ignorant nutjobs trying to tell science teachers what is and what is not science. If for no other reason, do it to save your state's school system the cost of an inevitable trial that will deprive schools of much-needed funding.

If you would like to perform your responsibility of letting your elected officials know your views but do not know quite what to say, email me at gsavonarola(AT)yahoo(DOT)com, and I'll be happy to provide you with plenty of ammo for your respective bill.

-- MAT

Update: 19Jan2006

Yet another anti-evolution bill has been introduced in Oklahoma. This one specifically calls for allowing intelligent design in the classroom.

http://www2.lsb.state.ok.us/2005%2D06bills/hb/hb2526%5Fint.rtf

Surprisingly, this one is sponsored by a Democrat. (That same Democrat co-sponsored a 2000 bill to "ensure that the textbooks include acknowledgment that human life was created by one God of the Universe." Incredibly, this bill passed unanimously in the House.)

Notice how Section 2 is completely nullified by Section 3, which automatically declares that an emergency situation already exists and would put the bill into effect immediately after passage.

Again, I ask that Oklahomans write, call, and email their representatives to prevent this bill from passing. It will undoubtedly be challenged, and the Kitzmiller precedent will only strike it down. Passing this bill will ultimately result only in diverting school funds away from teaching.

-- MAT

Update: 21Jan2006

Identical bills have been introduced in both houses of the Alabama legislature. They are essentially the same as the "Academic Freedom" bills above.

NCSE page on both bills
House Bill 106 [.htm]
Senate Bill 45 [.htm]

-- MAT

Update: 23Jan2006

Two new bills in the Mississippi state legislature aim to authorize, defend, and/or require the teaching of Intelligent Design and creationism in schools.

NSCE page on HB 953; HB953 [.htm]
NSCE page on SB2427; SB2427 [.htm]

-- MAT

Update: 24Jan2006

Sadly, this is becoming a regular update chore...

Another cookie-cutter bill, this one pieced together entirely from other bills.

NCSE page on SB1959; SB1959 [.rtf]

As someone on iidb.org pointed out, now that ID has been shot down, there's a new "Certain Information" movement...

-- MAT

Update: 24Feb2006

An "Academic Freedom" bill in Maryland, with separate provisions for public schools and post-secondary institutions:

NCSE page on MD HB1531; MD HB1521 [.pdf]

-- MAT

Victory in Ohio and Utah!

Okay, so the Ohio news is a little old. The section of the state guidelines that required "critical analysis" of evolutionary theory (which was just a bunch of creationist pseudoscience) and included a "lesson plan" for that analysis was removed entirely. Read more here.

The antievolution bill presented by state Senator Buttars in Utah that is mentioned on this page has been defeated. Read more on NCSE's site.

-- MAT

A proposed amendment to the NV state constitution

Yeah yeah, so I'm a little late with this report:
Some guy in Nevada has started a petition to get an antievolution constitutional amendment on the next ballot in Nevada. This guy should be regarded as an expert, of course, since he has a Ph.D in biology  is a practicing scientist  knows a lot about evolutionary theory  is a masonry contractor....

News story
Copy of petition (.pdf)

-- MAT

Oklahoma bill dies in committee

--MAT