ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 42
(Senators Whitlow, Anderson, Miller,
Claypole, Ross and Helmick,
original sponsors)
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[Passed March 12, 1994; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend article five, chapter eighteen of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
forty-one, relating to county boards of education;
prohibiting the prohibition by county school boards of
certain documents based solely on religious references;
definitions; and criteria.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article five, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
forty-one, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-41. Content based censorship of American history
prohibited.
(a) No county board of education shall prohibit the use as
an educational resource or teaching device any historical
document related to the founding of the United States of America
or any government publication solely because the document
contains a religious reference or references: Provided, That the
use of such materials must serve a bona fide secular educational
purpose which does not advance or inhibit a religion or
particular religious belief.
(b) (1) As used in subsection (a) of this section, the term
"historical document related to the founding of the United States
of America" shall include, but not be limited to, such documents
as the declaration of independence and the United States
constitution.
(2) As used in subsection (a) of this section, the term
"government publication" shall include, but not be limited to,
such documents as decisions of the United States supreme court
and acts of Congress.
(c) In determining the purpose of the use of a document
containing a reference to a deity or a religion, consideration
shall be given to the overall context of the document's use.