FOR RELEASE: October 11, 2006

The House of Representatives has given unanimous endorsement to legislation that would spur the development of alternatives fuels.

The bill instructs the Secretary of Energy to implement a program of research, development, demonstration, and commercial application regarding: (1) materials to be added to alternative, bio-based fuels and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel fuels to make them more compatible with existing infrastructure used to store and deliver petroleum-based fuels to the point of final sale; and (2) portable, low-cost, and accurate methods and technologies for testing of sulfur content in fuel, including Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel and Low Sulfur Diesel.

Further, the legislation requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop a physical properties data base and standard reference materials for alternative fuels.

It is important that the United States move with all deliberate speed to develop and get into usage alternative fuels that will allow us to end our dependence on foreign oil.

On a vote of 264-to-153, the House of has adopted the Child Custody Protection Act/Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, a bill that was introduced in the Senate. I voted for this bill.

Parental notification or parental consent laws are in effect in over half the states. However, these laws are often circumvented, an activity that is actively encouraged by abortion clinics’ out-of-state advertising in non-notification states, highlighting the avoidance of parental notification as a selling point. To address that point, an amendment to the Senate bill was added in the House. Its central provision is a prohibition on transporting a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion if this abridges her parents’ right to be involved under their home-state law.

In addition, the bill passed by the House requires a person performing an abortion on a minor from a different state to notify one parent in the home state. Also, the bill includes language to make it a separate offense for a parent who impregnates a minor daughter to take that daughter to another state for an abortion, and it bars the incestuous parent from employing the right to sue under the anti-transportation provision.

The legislation contains some exemptions to the notification requirement. One is if the minor is accompanied by a parent. Another is if the abortionist is required to notify a parent under his or her own state’s law and complies with that requirement. A third exemption applies in the case where the minor has already received authorization from a judge in her home state, where the home-state law provides for such judicial authorization. And, there is an exemption when the minor declares that she is the victim of “sexual abuse, neglect or physical abuse by a parent,” in which case the abortionist will not notify a parent but will instead notify the appropriate state agency in the home state.

Please keep in touch with me on issues that are important to you. You may write Congressman Virgil Goode, 70 East Court Street, Room 215, Rocky Mount, VA 24151; or fax to 1-540-484-1459; or call toll-free to the Danville office, 1-800-535-4008.