2024 Legislatures Launching Now!

It’s almost “Go Time,” as legislatures across the country prepare to launch their 2024 sessions. That means that in a matter of weeks, or even just days, legislation will be introduced that will either support or undermine your parental rights. And we are ready to monitor those bills and keep you informed.

Legislatures in 36 states and the District of Columbia have launched or will launch their sessions by January 11 (one week from today). (This number includes a couple of states with largely year-round legislatures that are coming back from a winter recess.)

Just behind them, four more state legislatures will launch their sessions later this month: New Mexico and Utah on January 16, Alaska on January 17, and Hawaii on January 18.

Then, six more sessions launch in February: Oregon (Feb. 1), Alabama (Feb. 6), Nevada (Feb. 6), Oklahoma (Feb. 6), Connecticut (Feb. 12), and Wyoming (Feb. 12).

Two more states launch even later: Louisiana in March and Arkansas in April. And two states, California and Maine, have year-round legislatures carrying over their work from December.

In past years, state legislatures have undertaken bills to protect parental rights as fundamental or even to spell out an entire parents’ bill of rights. Other legislatures have taken up bills to make sure public school boards recognize a parent’s right to know what their child is learning in school and to be informed of changes to their child’s health and welfare.

At the same time, there are legislative proposals every year that threaten your vital role as the primary defender and decision-maker for your young children. 

This past summer, for instance, I had the honor to testify before an interim study committee on child welfare in Colorado. After weeks of discussion including several days of public testimony, the committee put together a collection of ten bills, some that would improve Colorado’s child welfare system by protecting innocent children and families, and some that would more deeply entrench the existing problems. Unfortunately, based on the committee’s vote on the proposals, we expect the latter group of bills to be brought to the legislature in the months ahead. (Colorado’s session begins January 8.)

We will send letters or provide testimony to battle these bills that threaten our children and families. And when it makes strategic sense to do so, we will email alerts to you so you can weigh in via emails or phone calls to your lawmakers. Working together, we can stop some very bad bills from being passed.

And, of course, I look forward to the flip side, too—when we get to send letters or provide testimony to support those bills that offer the kinds of protections our children and families need, protections rooted in your liberty as a parent to direct the care, custody, and control of your child.

We had a successful year in 2023, and I look forward to another victorious season with you in the months ahead.

Thank you for standing with us and for spreading the word so more concerned parents can make their voices heard when the time comes.