State legislative attacks on evolution in science education since 2011: a rough guide

It took me a while to get around to this, and for obvious reasons; so many of these bills have been proposed since January 2011 that even writing up a brief list of them (with massive help from the NCSE's archives, of course) took a fairly long time to compile and edit. The following is a list of bills that either contains language attacking the teaching the Theory of Evolution (or that advocate "alternative theories" such as Intelligent Design) that have been proposed in state legislatures from January 2011 to the present; they also include information on who proposed the legislation, whether anthropocentric global warming (AGW)  or other scientific topics were also targeted and whether the bill has passed, was voted down or merely died in committee as a result of being tabled.

KENTUCKY House Bill 169; proposed by Tim Moore (R-26th district) on January 4, 2011; died in committee as of March 9th, 2011.

MISSOURI House Bill 195; proposed by Andrew Koenig (R-88th district) and 13 others on January 13th, 2011; died in the House Elementary and Secondary Education commitee as of May 13th, 2011.

OKLAHOMA SENATE BILL 554; prefiled by Josh Brecheen (R-6th district) on January 19th, 2011; died in committee on February 28th, 2011.

OKLAHOMA House Bill 1551; prefiled by Sally Kern (R-84th district) in January 2011; initially rejected in committee on February 22nd, 2011; reintroduced by Gus Blackwell (R-61st district) on February 20th, 2012; passed the House 56-12 on March 15th, 2012; died after being rejected by the Senate Education Committee. Bill also attacked academic discussion of AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning.

NEW MEXICO House Bill 302; introduced by Thomas A. Anderson (R-29th district) on February 1st, 2011;  died in committee on March 8th, 2011. Bill also attacked discussion of AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning.

TENNESSEE House Bill 368; introduced by Bill Dunn (R-16th district) on February 9th, 2011; passed the state House of Representatives by a 72-23 vote on March 16th, 2012; allowed to become law by Governor Bill Haslam without signature on April 10th, 2012. Bill also attacks discussion of AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning.

TENNESSEE Senate Bill 893; introduced by Bo Watson (R-11th district) on February 16th, 2011; passed the state Senate by a 24-8 vote on March 19th, 2012; allowed to become law by Governor Bill Haslam without signature on April 10th, 2012. Bill also attacks discussion of AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning.

FLORIDA Senate Bill 1854; introduced by Stephen R. Wise (R-5th district) on March 5th, 2011; died in committee on May 7th, 2011.

TEXAS House Bill 2454; introduced by Bill Zedler (R-96th district) and James White (R-12th district) on March 8th, 2011; died in the House Committee on Higher Education on May 30th, 2011.

NEW HAMPSHIRE House Bill 1148; prefiled by Jerry Bergevin (R-17th district) on December 21st, 2011; defeated 280-7 by House vote on March 16th, 2012. Also attempted to compel inclusion of the "political and ideological viewpoints (of  "theorists") and their position on the concept of atheism".

NEW HAMPSHIRE House Bill 1457; prefiled by Gary Hopper (R-7th district) and John Burt (R-7th district) on December 21st, 2011;  killed by voice vote in week previous to vote for HB 1148 above.

INDIANA Senate Bill 89; prefiled by Dennis Kruse (R-14th district) in December 2011; passed by the Senate by a 28-22 vote on January 30th, 2012; shelved by the House of Representatives in early February 2012.

MISSOURI HOUSE BILL 1227; introduced and sponsored by Rick Brattin (R-124th district) and five others on January 10th, 2012; died in committee on May 18th, 2012.

MISSOURI HOUSE BILL 1276; sponsored by Andrew Koenig (R-88th district) and 13 others on January 11th, 2012; died in committee on May 18th, 2012.

OKLAHOMA SENATE BILL 1742; prefiled in January 2012 by Josh Brecheen (R-6th district) in January 2012;  Bill also attacked AGW, abiogenesis and human cloning. Died in committee on March 1st, 2012.

ALABAMA HOUSE BILL 133; introduced on February 7th, 2012 by Blaine Galliher (R-30th district); died in committee on May 16th, 2012. Would have authorized "local boards of education to include released time religious instruction as an elective course for high school students.", including courses in "creation science".

OKLAHOMA HOUSE BILL 2341; a previously passed bill that was amended by Steve Russell (R-45th district) to include language identical to Oklahoma HB 1551 above; bill died when it was not brought to the floor for a vote in amended form on April 26th, 2012.

(Also available at WTTFTG)