Constitutional Amendment to Provide Greater Access to Family and Social Services

Governor Perdue, Floor Leaders Submit Faith and Family Services Amendment

Atlanta - Joined by House and Senate Floor Leaders, social service providers, and community activists, Governor Perdue today announced the formal submission of the Faith and Family Services Amendment. This constitutional amendment to the Georgia Constitution will allow faith-based social service providers to compete for state funds without facing discrimination. Governor Perdue made the Faith and Family Services Amendment announcement during a noonrally on the steps of the State Capitol.

"The Faith and Family Services Amendment will remove a barrier that for too long has stood in the way of delivering critical family and social services to Georgia's citizens," said Governor Sonny Perdue. "Our state is rich with faith-based organizations standing ready to help their fellow citizens in need. I am calling on the legislature to quickly pass the Faith and Family Services Amendment to support the compassionate efforts of our faith-based organizations."

Georgia's Blaine Amendment provides that "[n]o money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution." This presents an even higher barrier to faith-based initiatives than the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Faith and Family Services Amendment will bring the Georgia Constitution in line with the United States Constitution.

Governor Perdue's proposal, submitted by his floor leaders in the form of a resolution, will add to the beginning of the Blaine Amendment the following: "except as permitted or required by the United State Constitution, as amended."

The resolution will require a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate for passage. Upon passage, the amendment will appear on the November 2004 ballot and require a majority vote.

Text of the Faith and Family Services Amendment

AN AMENDMENT

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution so as to prevent discrimination in the public funding of health, educational, and social services by allowing religious or sectarian organizations to receive public aid, directly or indirectly, for the provision of such services in a manner consistent with the United States Constitution; to provide for the submission of this amendment for ratification or rejection; and for other purposes.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

Article I, Section II of the Constitution is amended by adding the following underlined language so that Paragraph VII reads as follows:

"Paragraph VII. Separation of church and state. Except as permitted or required by the United States Constitution, as amended , no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution."

SECTION 2.

The above proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be published and submitted as provided in Article X, Section I, Paragraph II of the Constitution. The ballot submitting the above proposed amendment shall have written or printed thereon the following:

( ) YES

( ) NO

Shall the Constitution be amended in a manner consistent with the United States Constitution so as to prevent discrimination in the public funding of health, educational, and social services by allowing religious or sectarian organizations to receive a public aid, directly or indirectly, for the provision of such services.

Fact Sheet: Faith and Family Services Amendment

Since the late nineteenth century, the Georgia Constitution has contained a Blaine Amendment. The amendment is named for United States Senator James Blaine of Maine.

Senator Blaine capitalized on a national wave of anti-Roman Catholic bigotry to propose, and very nearly pass, an amendment to the United States Constitution in the 1850s prohibiting all forms of faith-based initiatives.

The current iteration of Georgia's Blaine Amendment provides that "[n]o money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution." Ga. Const. art. I, § II, VII.

Georgia's Blaine Amendment presents an even higher barrier to faith-based initiatives than the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Georgia Attorneys General and the courts have interpreted Georgia's Blaine Amendment to prohibit the following faith-based initiatives. In each case, the initiative likely would have been permissible under the First Amendment:

The provision of "Reading Challenge" grants to sectarian schools. 2000 Ga. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 00-5 (May 18, 2000).

A contract between the City of La Grange and the Salvation Army to "handle charitable cases for the city." Bennett v. City of La Grange, 153 Ga. 428, 112 S.E. 482 (1922).

"a county contracting with the Y.M.C.A. to provide recreational facilities and programs for the children of a particular county . . . ." [T]he Y.M.C.A. would be an inappropriate party to such a contract . . . since the Y.M.C.A. is probably a sectarian institution . . . ." 1969 Ga. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-136 (Mar. 25, 1969).

There have been a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions stating that the U.S. Constitution allows for faith-based providers of human services.

The text of what Governor Perdue proposes to add to the Georgia Constitution is very simple: "except as permitted or required by the United State Constitution, as amended."

This revision puts the Georgia Constitution in step withthe U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the U.S. Constitution allows for faith-based providers of human services.

This revision would allow the state to fund the best human services providers.

As required by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, taxpayer money will be used for secular purposes and not for religious purposes and activities. All state contracts can spell this out clearly.

Revising the Blaine Amendment eliminates the threats of expensive lawsuits and removes the barriers to finding quality services for those in need.

Revising the Blaine Amendment will expand the resource capacity upon which the state can turn to for social services.