By JERRY NOWICKI
and PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
Two bills that would add the risks of e-cigarette use and sexting to public school curriculum will head to the full Illinois House of Representatives after unanimously passing a committee Wednesday, Feb. 19
The House education curriculum committee heard testimony about House Bills 4007 and 3928, which would require public schools to teach the dangers of sexting and electronic cigarettes, respectively, in health education classes.
HB 4007, sponsored by state Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, would require students in grades 6-12 to learn about the legal and personal consequences of sharing sexual images and videos.
“Our children know a lot more about smartphones than we do. And it’s time for us to acknowledge that and have conversations with them so that they don’t mess up their lives legally, socially and academically,” West said before the committee voted 20-0 to advance his bill.
Illinois would join New Jersey as the only states to require sexting be included in sex education classes.
HB 3928, sponsored by state Rep. Joyce Mason, D-Gurnee, would add electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices as topics to be taught under Illinois’ Critical Health Problems and Comprehensive Health Education Program.
That law lays out the major educational areas that are required to be discussed in all elementary and secondary education curricula. It already requires lessons on tobacco, alcohol and drug use.
“It’s really just updating it to make sure that we are including what have very recently been learned to be very dangerous items,” Mason told committee members before her bill passed 19-0.
