The 2018 session is off to a running start. The Media Literacy legislation we are backing in both Hawaii and Virginia have passed their initial hurdles, sailing through their respective education committees. This week the Hawaii Senate Education Committee recommended Sen. Mike Gabbard’s bill, SB 2070, be passed by a vote of 4 to 0 with one member excused. The bill received supportive testimony from Dr. Christina M. Kishimoto, Superintendent of Education.

Late last week, the Republican-led Virginia House Committee on Education passed Democratic Delegate Rip Sullivan’s bill, HB199, on a bi-partisan a vote of 21-1.

In addition to these two quickly moving bills, New Jersey has a new bill calling for media and information literacy sponsored by Assemblyman Wayne P. DeAngelo. In New York, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal has reintroduced our model bill (A5981) and in California, Sens. Dodd and Jackson have both reintroduced their bills from last session. (SB830 and SB 947) We’ll be keeping a close eye on all of these, while we continue to look for more opportunities to introduce bills or amendments to related bills, to elevate media literacy as a public policy priority.

Photo by Jordan Whitt on Unsplash