Pubdate: 1 October 1999 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) Copyright: 1999, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact: 414-224-8280 Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ Forum: http://www.jsonline.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimate.cgi Author: Steven Walters, of the Journal Sentinel staff ASSEMBLY PASSES BILL ON TEEN DRUG TESTING Measure Would Give Parents Power To Check Children Against Their Will Madison - The state Assembly voted Thursday to give parents the authority to make their teenage children take alcohol and drug tests without their consent. The bill, passed on a voice vote and sent to the Senate, would rewrite current law that says minors who are 14 through 17 must consent before they can be tested for illegal substances. Children 13 and younger can already be given those tests without their consent. "Parents should be put back in charge of their children," said Rep. Rick Skinrud (R-Mount Horeb). "Why do we put kids that are high on alcohol or drugs in control of their own destiny?" Because parents "are responsible for everything their children do" until they turn 18, Skinrud added, they also should be able to decide when to have drug or alcohol tests done on their children. But opponents of the bill, citing the constitutional guarantee of freedom from searches, warned that a parent-ordered drug or alcohol test may be an illegal search. "This is an intrusion into a child's body, which is a search," said Rep. Marlin Schneider (D-Wisconsin Rapids). "All parents are not created equal," said Rep. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee). "Some are good, some are bad, and most are in between." Coggs offered a compromise that would have allowed parents to order drug or alcohol tests for their teens if the family had attended one counseling session. Requiring a counseling session would offer parents and children a chance to talk things out and solve family problems together, Coggs said. His alternative was killed by a 61-37 vote. The Assembly also gave preliminary approval to two other family-oriented bills Thursday, although Democrats blocked final votes on them. The bills would: Require schools to install computer software that filters out Internet sites with pornography and instructions on how to commit crimes. Opponents said the measure would cost school districts about $450,000, but the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem), said schools could pay that out of state aid to rewire schools for computers, buy computers and software, and train teachers in how to use computers in the classroom. "We have a serious problem with the Internet," said Huebsch, who distributed copies of sexually explicit and violent materials he found on the Internet. "Is this information our children have to have? Certainly not." But Schneider said local school officials - and not state legislators - - should decide whether to censor the Internet, which is becoming harder to monitor with 40,000 new Web sites created every day. Require school districts and county social service agencies to provide more records to parents about their children between 14 and 17 unless a judge blocks release of those reports. Under the bill, a teen's treatment records for mental illness, alcoholism or drug dependency also would have to be given to a parent - - a disclosure that may mean fewer teens would seek treatment, opponents warned. Opponents also said the bill, if it becomes law, would mean fewer teens would seek HIV tests out of fear that their parents would be told the results. The Assembly also debated but finally returned to committee a bill that would prohibit public schools from distributing any surveys that ask about a student's political beliefs, mental or psychological problems, sexual behavior, income or religious beliefs without written approval from a parent or the student, if he or she is a legal adult. Sponsors of the bill said some past surveys of students, especially elementary school students, have invaded family privacy and embarrassed students asked to complete them. The bill was killed, at least temporarily, after legislators couldn't agree on what form of consent would be required of parents. In other action Thursday, the Assembly passed and sent to the Senate a bill making it a crime to contaminate with bodily fluids food or beverages someone is consuming or will consume. The bill would apply to contamination by blood, saliva, urine, feces and other substances. Rep. Frank Lasee (R-Bellevue) sponsored the bill after a Manitowoc-area woman discovered that a male co-worker repeatedly urinated in a soda she was drinking. Prosecutors charged the man, who lost his job, with disorderly conduct, but a judge ordered the charge dropped. Lasee said his bill would close a "loophole" in current law that allowed the man to go unpunished. Lasee said his bill would make the crime a misdemeanor punishable by up to nine months in jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000. The same bill passed the Legislature in the 1997-'98 session, but Lasee asked Gov. Tommy G. Thompson to veto it because of a change made by the state Senate. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea