Message from Ron Prentice

• Senate Bills 543 and 906 Await the Governor’s Attention
• Pugno’s Assembly Race Faces STRONG Opposition
• New Worldview Resources – CrossExamine.com
• Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC

Senate Bills 543 and 906, along with hundreds of other bills,were submitted to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the end of August. The governor has three options of response: to veto, to sign into law, or to ignore, which also allows a bill to become law. SB 543 remained on the Assembly’s inactive list until the 11^th hour, when it was brought out from hiding and passed by the Legislature. SB 543 would allow minors as young as 12 years of age to receive mental health counseling without the knowledge or consent of their parents. This bill, authored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) targets adolescents struggling with gender identity confusion and would disallow parental involvement in their child’s traumatic circumstances.

SB 906, also authored by Sen. Leno, would create civil marriage as a new category and definition of marriage. Although civil marriage would not have the authoritative status of the current constitutional definition of marriage as passed by the people in Proposition 8, Leno counts on Prop 8 being overturned and is moving to place more than one definition into state law to sway uninformed voters. If you would like to give your opinions about SB 543 and SB 906 to Governor Schwarzenegger, link to CFC's site. 

Andy Pugno, General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com, is also his party’s nominee for the 5^th Assembly District race in Sacramento. The 5^th Assembly District’s voters decisively sided for Proposition 8, but Pugno’s campaign for California Assembly is facing significant challenges from homosexual activists and the California Medical Association. 

Because of Pugno’s successful work for the passage of Prop 8 and his participation in the legal defense of traditional marriage, those who oppose his beliefs are pulling out all the stops to defeat him in November. In fact, Equality California is hosting the Defeat Pugno town hall meeting tonight! 

Pugno’s opponent, Dr. Richard Pan, is a pediatrician whose Web site lists endorsements from numerous medical, union, and pro-gay organizations. Campaign contributions for Pan have been uncommonly strong for an Assembly district race, and a Web site entitled StopAndrewPugno has been created by the Stonewall Democrats of Sacramento. 

CrossExamine, a new Christian television program on the subject of worldviews, aired its first episode yesterday. A creation of Coral Ridge Ministries, CrossExamine is hosted by broadcaster John Rabe and Dr. Del Tackett, whom many know from their involvement with Focus on the Family’s Truth Project DVD series.

The goal of CrossExamine is to introduce everyday life experiences to the audience, and then to consider them “in the light of God’s word.” From the CrossExamine.com Web site, Dr. Tackett “sums up the heart of Cross Examine when he says, ‘It has been my belief and sense that the Lord is calling me to have a part, maybe a small part, in getting the body of Christ healthy and strong. And one of the areas that I think is critical is the embracing of a comprehensive systematic biblical worldview. The body of Christ needs to see all of life from the standpoint of God's truth and His desire to see all of life brought underneath the lordship of Christ.’"

This coming Friday through Sunday, thousands of people will be attending the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC. Sponsored by several organizations, including the Family Research Council, the American Family Association and the Heritage Foundation, the Values Voter Summit has become an annual event where conservative commentators, elected representatives, potential candidates and passionate citizens gather for reports on policy and strategy.

This year, I have the opportunity to participate as a panelist in a workshop entitled The Falsehood of the Inevitability of Same-Sex Marriage. While secular media and pro-homosexual organizations would have us believe that it is only a matter of time before same-sex marriage becomes law in the United States, there is no statistical evidence for such claims, with no change in research data in the past several years.

In addition to the Values Voter Summit, my journey to our nation’s Capital will also include meetings with numerous other state and national organization’s leadership.

Thank you for partnering with California Family Council!