Top Republican Calls Two-State Solution ‘Very Damaging’

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)

The Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), today called the premise of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict “deeply disturbing,” showing himself and his allies to be extremely out of the mainstream.

The vast majority of the questions that came up throughout the first round of questioning Chuck Hagel in his bid for Secretary of Defense related to Hagel’s stances on Israel and Iran, and his past statements on those issues. Many of those questions involved deliberate distortions of Hagel’s record. Inhofe started off the second round of questioning during the hearing with more of the same, but with the added twist of spurning the past decade of U.S. policy in solving the conflict.

“You made a statement that I strongly disagree with. You said that President Obama has been ‘the strongest Israel supporter since 1948',” Inhofe said in the lead-off, continuing to criticize Obama for promoting the two-state solution:

INHOFE: But when you see statements coming out of the administration like “the United States believes that negotiations should result in two states with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt,” and they’ve come out with statements saying they believe that the borders with Israel and Palestine should be based on a 1967 border lines, these are statements that I think are very damaging. I can assure you that the leadership in Israel feels those statements are damaging.

Watch:

As Hagel attempted to tell Inhofe, the statements that the Ranking Member read off weren’t new or unique to the Obama administration, nor were they at all controversial. The U.S.’ adoption of the principle of two neighboring states as the final outcome of the conflict dates back to the first term of President George W. Bush. In a 2002 speech, Bush embraced the concept of an Israel and Palestine living peacefully side by side. The resulting “Road Map to Peace,” and several statements of support by the Quartet — composed of the European Union, Russia, United Nations, and U.S. — have been the basis for negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians since.

The concept of “Land for Peace” goes back even further. As part of the end of the Six-Day War in 1967, in which Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the United Nations passed Resolution 242 calling for a withdrawal of Israel to its previous borders. In exchange for this, Israel’s neighbors would declare end their hostility towards the state. That arrangement has yet to come into being but remain a crucial part of the negotiations between the parties. Complicating matters have been the increase of Israeli settlements, particularly under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the inability of the competing Palestinian factions to resolve their differences, causing a halt in talks.

All of this highlights just how far outside of the mainstream Hagel’s attackers are when it comes to Israel. Hagel, who has himself proven to be pro-Israel, would carry out the policies of President Obama once confirmed. Those policies have the backing of the international community and have been endorsed by such conservative stalwarts as the Heritage Foundation.

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What President Obama Has Done for LGBT Immigrants

Our guest bloggers are Christopher Frost, intern for LGBT Progress, and Crosby Burns, Research Associate for LGBT Progress.

Earlier this week a bipartisan group of senators announced a sweeping proposal that would overhaul the immigration system and ultimately provide the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country a path to earned citizenship. On the heels of that announcement, President Obama announced a similar plan for immigration reform that would create a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented, establish a nationwide employment verification system, secure our border, and improve visa access for high-skilled workers.

The momentum on immigration reform from both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue is good news for the undocumented, including the hundreds of thousands who identify as LGBT. Allowing LGBT individuals to obtain legal status would offer them and their families the certainty and economic safeguards that citizenship confers. President Obama’s support for these families and for LGBT immigrants more broadly is reflected in many of the policies enacted during his first term. According to a column released today by the Center for American Progress, President Obama has taken the following steps to address the needs and obstacles of LGBT immigrants:

1. Putting an end to separating families headed by same-sex couples. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) incorporated families headed by same-sex couples in its guidance on what it considers to be “low-priority” for investigation and deportation (so long as they are not a threat to public safety or national security).

2. Facilitating humane and safe detention standards for gay and transgender immigrants. DHS released new standards aimed at strengthening the dignified treatment of gay and transgender detainees and decreasing sexual victimization of those detainees.

3. Addressing the needs of gay and transgender refugees. DHS has implemented a training module that requires all asylum officers to be trained on the appropriate terminology they should use and questions they should ask when interviewing gay and transgender refugees.

4. Lifting the HIV travel ban. Finishing a process started by President Bush, President Obama issued rules that overturned the 22-year old ban on travel and immigration of HIV-positive individuals to the United States.

5. Offering undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children a temporary reprieve from deportation. President Obama’s “deferred action” policy has granted greater peace of mind for up to 1.76 million aspiring young Americans who qualify for the program. Many of the youth in this demographic identify as LGBT.

Beyond administrative policies, LGBT immigrants have been part of the recent legislative debate over immigration reform. Included in President Obama’s proposal for reform — but notably absent in the senators’ proposal — is a provision that would allow citizens to sponsor a same-sex partner for residency, a right that different-sex spouses currently enjoy under existing immigration law. Obtaining spousal sponsorship rights for bi-national same-sex couples is important to equitable immigration overhaul that includes all immigrants. LGBT-inclusive language should be a part of any bill going forward.

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UPDATE 2-Roche flags further growth as new drugs deliver

* 2012 sales up 7 pct, core earnings up 11 pct

* To pay 7.35 Sfr per share dividend for 2012

* Some investors had speculated about special dividend

* Shares fall 1.3 percent, underperform sector

BASEL, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche forecast a rise in sales and profits this year, helped by new cancer medicines it hopes will shield it from the patent expiries ravaging many rivals.

Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, said on Wednesday it hoped sales would grow in line with 2012, when they rose 7 percent to 45.5 billion Swiss francs ($49 billion).

The Basel-based group also said it was aiming for core earnings, up 11 percent in 2012, to increase ahead of sales.

That assessment was more upbeat than cross-town rival Novartis, which last week guided for a fall in profit in 2013 as it grapples with competition from cheaper copies of its top-selling product.

Roche has been spared the pain from a wave of patent expiries hitting many rivals, as most of its medicines do not face imminent generic competition.

It also has high hopes for new treatments like skin cancer drug Zelboraf and breast cancer medicine Perjeta, and some analysts predicted its guidance for 2013 would prove cautious.

"In our opinion, sales in 2013 should pick up more strongly; we see the guidance as conservative as usual," said ZKB analyst Michael Nawrath.

Roche proposed a dividend of 7.35 francs per share, compared with 6.80 francs a year ago, and pledged to keep hiking shareholder payouts.

This wasn't enough for some investors, though, who had speculated the group might pay a special dividend.

Roche Chief Executive Severin Schwan dismissed this, pointing out the group's net debt to assets ratio of 16 percent was still above its 0-15 percent target range.

At 0900 GMT, shares in Roche, which have gained 9.5 percent so far this year, were down 1.3 percent at 198.8 francs compared with a 0.1 percent weaker European healthcare index.

The group said 2012 core earnings per share reached 13.62 francs, in line with analyst forecasts, helped by cost cutting and sales of its three biggest-selling cancer medicines - Rituxan, Herceptin and Avastin.

DEFEND AND GROW

Some analysts have raised concerns about the loss of market exclusivity on chemotherapy drug Xeloda at the end of 2013 and possible competition for hepatitis C drug Pegasys from other oral treatments, which they say could drag on Roche's medium-term growth.

However, the group is developing follow-on medicines to try and fend off anticipated competition from so-called biosimilar copies of its cancer drugs.

Sales of Perjeta, a treatment for women with a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, were 56 million francs so far, up from 26 million in the third quarter.

Perjeta is a follow-on to Roche's current second-biggest seller Herceptin and part of its strategy to develop new drugs to extend the longevity of its best-selling brands. It won approval from U.S. regulators in June.

U.S. regulators are expected to decide on Feb. 26 whether to approve another new breast cancer drug called T-DM1, which Roche hopes will be used in combination with Perjeta, giving further protection against the biosimilar threat.

"We do not only believe that we will defend the franchise, we believe that with those two important new medicines we will actually grow the franchise in the medium to long term," Schwan told journalists in Basel.

Roche is hoping to duplicate this defence strategy with GA101 - a treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia which it bills as a better product than its original Rituxan.

Key data due later this year will provide clues as to whether Roche will be able to convince doctors to move patients to GA101 from Rituxan, which had sales of 6.7 billion francs in 2012 but loses patent protection in Europe at the end of 2013.

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Oregon Is The Only State Left That Hasn’t Imposed Any Restrictions On Abortion

Despite the fact that Roe v. Wade first legalized abortion four decades ago, anti-choice lawmakers have successfully chipped away at abortion rights on a state level. Wonkblog’s Sarah Kliff flagged a helpful visual, compiled by Remapping the Debate, to illustrate the recent flood of anti-abortion laws across the country (click to enlarge, or click here to see the interactive version). Five states have at least 20 different restrictions that obstruct women’s access to reproductive services, and Oregon is the sole state that doesn’t have a single piece of anti-choice legislation on the books:

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No Budget, No Pay Act: A small step on the deficit, a giant leap toward accountability

No Budget, No Pay Act: A small step on the deficit, a giant leap toward accountability - The Hill's Congress Blog @import "/plugins/content/jw_disqus/tmpl/css/template.css"; li.item435,li.item437,li.item439,li.item441,li.item443,li.item497,li.item499,li.item501,li.item503,li.item605,li.item689,li.item691,li.item693,li.item695,li.item697,li.item683,li.item685{display: none;} var _comscore = _comscore || []; _comscore.push({ c1: "2", c2: "10314615" }); (function() { var s = document.createElement("script"), el = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.async = true; s.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https://sb" : "http://b") + ".scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js"; el.parentNode.insertBefore(s, el); })(); function getURLParameter(name) { return decodeURI( (RegExp(name + '=' + '(.+?)(&|$)').exec(location.search)||[,null])[1] );}(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=369058349794205"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); if (getURLParameter("set_fb_var") == '1') { jQuery.cookie('set_fb_var', 'true', { expires: 7, path: '/' }); return true; } if (!jQuery.cookie('set_fb_var') && d.referrer.match(/facebook.com/i)) { window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '340094652706297', status: true, xfbml: true, cookie: true, oauth: true }); }; }}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));if((navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)) || (navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i))) {document.write('');}if(navigator.userAgent.match(/iPad/i)) {document.write('');}if(navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i)) {document.write('');} Follow!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");Advanced Search Options » Home/NewsSenateHouseAdministrationCampaignPollsBusiness & LobbyingSunday Talk ShowsCampaignBusiness & LobbyingK Street InsidersLobbying ContractsLobbying HiresLobbying RevenueOpinionColumnistsEditorialsLettersOp-EdWeyants WorldCapital LivingCover StoriesFood & DrinkNew Member of the Week20 QuestionsMy 5 Min. W/ObamaAnnouncementsMeet the LawmakerJobsVideoGossip: In The Know Briefing RoomRegWatchHillicon ValleyE2-WireFloor ActionOn The MoneyHealthwatchTransportationDEFCON HillGlobal AffairsCongressBallot BoxGOP12In The KnowPunditsTwitter Room HomeSenateHouseAdministrationCampaignPollsBusiness & LobbyingSunday Talk ShowsBlogsBriefing RoomRegWatchHillicon ValleyE2-WireFloor ActionOn The MoneyHealthwatchTransportationDEFCON HillGlobal AffairsCongressBallot BoxGOP12In The KnowPunditsTwitter RoomOpinionA.B. StoddardBrent BudowskyLanny DavisDavid HillCheri JacobusMark MellmanDick MorrisMarkos Moulitsas (Kos)Robin BronkEditorialsLettersOp-EdsJuan WilliamsJudd GreggChristian HeinzeKaren FinneyJohn FeeheryCapital LivingCover StoriesFood & DrinkAnnouncementsNew Member of the WeekMy 5 Min. W/ObamaAll Capital LivingVideoHillTubeEventsVideoClassifiedsJobsClassifiedsResourcesMobile SiteiPhoneAndroidiPadLawmaker RatingsWhite PapersOrder ReprintsLast 6 IssuesOutside LinksRSS FeedsContact UsAdvertiseReach UsSubmitting LettersSubmitting Op-edsSubscriptions   No Budget, No Pay Act: A small step on the deficit, a giant leap toward accountabilityBy Reps. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) and Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) -01/31/13 03:15 PM ET Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

Last week, we in the U.S. House of Representatives made great strides toward ensuring that Congress passes all of the spending bills needed to fund the federal government on time. That’s only happened four times in the last 60 years and not once since 1996. The House recognizes that if our nation is going to tackle the significant fiscal challenges we face, this alarming trend cannot be allowed to continue – no matter the political or ideological obstacles that stand in our way.

That’s why we are asking Americans across the country to contact their Senators at NoLabels.org or at Senate.gov and urge our sister chamber to pass the No Budget, No Pay measure as well. The idea is simple and straightforward. If Congress fails to fulfill its foremost responsibility by exercising the “power of the purse” and passing a budget on time, we don’t get paid. More than 88 percent of the public backs the idea. It passed the House with broad bipartisan support. Most important, it sends a message to the country – and indeed the world – that this Congress is willing to put politics aside in pursuit of the results our constituents demand.
 
This measure stands as a symbol of our commitment to getting our fiscal house in order. In this era of economic recovery, exploding deficits and impending sequestration, we need our government to operate as efficiently as it can. That simply isn’t possible unless federal departments and agencies have the financial certainty they need to plan for the future. And that, in turn, isn’t possible when Congress kicks the can down the road and forces them to operate without a budget. With such uncertainty as to what the future holds, scarce resources cannot be allocated to best reflect our national priorities. In belt-tightening times like these, the problem grows all the more urgent.
 
At the same time, however, it’s important to note that No Budget, No Pay isn’t just about dollars and cents. It’s about addressing an overwhelming national sense that political games and partisan jockeying have left our government not just broke, but broken. To pass a budget and earn their paychecks, your elected representatives will have no choice but to reach across the aisle, strive for compromise and consensus and ultimately come together in ways we haven’t for a very long time. In this context, the measure is as much about straightening our national politics as it is about straightening our national pocketbook.
 
We in the House believe that if our elected leaders can come together on the budget, we can begin tackling the serious issues our nation is facing today. Now, we and thousands of others across the country are asking the Senate to make the same compelling statement about this government’s ability to put the people before politics.

Schrader represents Oregon's 5th Congressional District and Ribble represents Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District. Both are members of the No Labels problem solvers group.

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UPDATE 1-Second Twitter hoax in two days smacks another stock

(Adds details, comments from traders, recasts lead)

NEW YORK, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Sarepta Therapeutics Inc became the second company in as many days see its shares plunge as a result of a Twitter hoax on Wednesday after a user posed as an influential short-seller and alleged improprieties at the biopharmaceutical company.

Sarepta Therapeutics shares plummeted 9.9 percent in a matter of seconds after someone with the Twitter user name zcitreonresearc alleged improprieties at the company.

The drop mirrored a similar incident on Tuesday, when Audience Inc fell more than 25 percent following tweets that at a glance looked to be from Muddy Waters, another short-selling firm.

Just as Muddy Waters confirmed it did not send such a tweet about Audience, so too did Andrew Left, the California-based investor who runs Citron, said his company did not send a message about Sarepta.

The twin incidents targeted a pair of Nasdaq stocks that are not among the most actively traded on a daily basis, showing how certain company shares are vulnerable to information posted on social media networks, even if the information is misleading. Sarepta, on average, trades about 1.4 million shares a day; by contrast, average daily volume in chipmaker Intel Corp is about 52 million shares.

"You need a more volatile stock for this kind of manipulation - obviously if you were to try it on IBM it wouldn't work," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey. "It speaks to the structure of the market where shallow pools of liquidity can be easily pierced on bad news, even if the news is fake."

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had no comment.

Twitter did not respond to an emailed request for comment on the messaging activity, but the zcitreonresearc account has been suspended. The Twitter account zMudd1waters, whose Twitter home page looks like Muddy Waters, was still active.

The tweet, with the user name "zcitreonresearc," alleged that drug trial results from the biopharmaceutical company had been tainted and doctored, according to screen shots of the posting captured by Twitter users. Sarepta was not immediately available for comments on the trading activity or the account, which has since been suspended.

Matt, a trader in San Diego who did not want to give his last name, but who goes by the handle zgiven2tweet on Twitter, said, "There's a real severity to that tweet. It's at the core of what the company is, is this one trial."

Sarepta shares recovered after the brief fall. It was trading up 1.4 percent to $27.56 on volume of about 3.5 million shares in afternoon trading. More than 700,000 shares traded in the one minute when the stock suffered its steep decline.

The company, which has a market cap of about $692 million, is volatile, moving more than 1 percent in six of the past seven sessions. It jumped 477 percent in 2012 alone.

Audience went public in May 2012 and has a market cap of $254 million as of Tuesday's closing price, rising about 15 percent so far this year. The stock's 50-day average daily volume is slightly more than 160,000 shares, but that rose to more than 800,000 on Tuesday.

"Not really an efficient market when fake twitter accounts can crash stocks," Tim McClure, equity trader at SMB Capital in New York, wrote on his Twitter page.

Shares of Audience were briefly halted on Tuesday, but Sarepta shares did not reach a threshold necessary to trigger a halt. A Nasdaq spokesperson was not available for comment.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Bases and Emily Flitter; Editing by David Gaffen and Leslie Gevirtz)

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President Obama Nominates Two to Serve on the US Court of Appeals

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama nominated Jane Kelly and Gregory Alan Phillips to the United States Court of Appeals.

President Obama said, “Jane Kelly and Gregory Alan Phillips have proven themselves to be not only first-rate legal minds but faithful public servants.  It is with full confidence in their ability, integrity, and independence that I nominate them to the bench of the United States Court of Appeals.”

Jane Kelly:  Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Jane Kelly has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Northern District of Iowa since 1994, serving as the Supervising Attorney in the Cedar Rapids office since 1999. 

Kelly was born and raised in Greencastle, Indiana.  She received her B.A. summa cum laude in 1987 from Duke University and her J.D. cum laude in 1991 from Harvard Law School.  After graduating from law school, Kelly clerked for the Honorable Donald J. Porter of the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota.  Subsequently, she also clerked for the Honorable David R. Hansen on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.  Prior to becoming an Assistant Federal Public Defender, Kelly worked briefly as a visiting instructor at the University of Illinois College of Law.  Since joining the Federal Public Defender’s Office, Kelly has argued numerous federal appellate cases, tried 14 cases to verdict in federal court, and argued countless motions.  In 2004, she received the John Adams Award from the Iowa Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, which is given annually to an Iowa attorney who has dedicated his or her career to defending the indigent.

Gregory Alan Phillips:  Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Gregory Alan Phillips has served as Wyoming’s Attorney General since March 2011.  As Attorney General, he is the chief law enforcement officer of the state and his office represents Wyoming in all criminal appeals and civil suits before state and federal courts. 

Phillips grew up in Evanston, Wyoming.  He received his B.A. from the University of Wyoming in 1983 and his J.D. with honors from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1987.  After graduating from law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alan B. Johnson of the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming from 1987 to 1989.  In 1989, Phillips joined his father and brother in their general law practice in Evanston, handling a broad range of civil matters.  From 1993 to 1999, he also represented Uinta County in the Wyoming State Senate.  Phillips opened the law firm Mead & Phillips in 1998, where he handled a wide variety of civil litigation and prosecuted Medicaid reimbursement claims on behalf of Wyoming.  In 2003, he joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming and handled criminal prosecutions and appeals on behalf of the government.  As an Assistant United States Attorney, Phillips argued nineteen cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  He continued to serve in the United States Attorney’s Office until he was selected to serve as Attorney General by current Wyoming Governor Matthew Mead.

Watch the full video from a Google+ Hangout with Director of the Domestic Policy Council, Cecilia Muñoz on immigration reform.

The Secretary of Agriculture is leading the U.S. Presidential Delegation to the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games.

The Posse Foundation has teamed up with Vassar College to launch its Veterans Posse Program, helping veterans succeed at home and in school.

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Money In the 'Death Care' Industry

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Roche CEO: Emerging Markets Key to Momentum

"We see strong double digit growth in emerging markets, astable business in the U.S. and price pressure in Europe, we clearly seedifferent dynamics from a regional perspective," CEO Severin Schwan told CNBCWednesday.

He said while the pharmaceutical industry has been facingprice pressures, Roche was bearing up better than most.

"We are less exposed to price pressure then our competitorsdue to the value and differentiation of our products. Specifically, there havebeen 6 percent price decreases in the industry but Roche prices decreasedaround 3 percent – half the industry pressure and reflects the innovation thatwe offer," he said.

Global pharmaceutical and biotech companies are facingincreasing competition from generic drugs as insurance companies and statemedical systems look to reduce costs. But Roche, the world's biggest maker ofcancer drugs, has been spared some of that pain as it doesn't face imminentpatent expiration for some of its key drugs.

Schwan conceded that generics were an accepted part of theindustry and rejuvenating Roche's existing pipeline would be the core strategyfor the drug giant in offsetting generic competition.

"We have a contract with society that we have patents forsome limited time and it's absolutely ok that generics come into the market.Our strategy is all about rejuvenating our pipeline continuously and I'm gladin 2012 we've made major progress in this respect," he said.

The Swiss drug maker post an 11 percent rise in full-yearearnings on the back of strong sales in cancer medicines and improvements inproductivity. Core earnings for 2012 rose to 13.62 Swiss francs per share,compared to 12.30 Swiss francs a year ago. Analysts in a Reuters poll hadforecast earnings of 13.60 Swiss francs.

The Basel-based drugmaker said it hoped sales this year willgrow in line with 2012, when group sales rose 7 percent to 45.5 billion Swissfrancs ($49.35 billion). It is also aiming for core earnings per share to growahead of sales.

This positive assessment contrasts with cross-town rivalNovartis which guided for a fall in profits in 2013 as it grapples withcompetition from cheaper copies of its top-selling product.

Schwan added that he expected to keep Roche's headcountstable but indicated a possible rise in emerging markets as it meets growingdemand.

He indicated no change to the company's strategy on mergersand acquisitions in the coming months.

Last year, the company pulled its hostile takeover attemptfor U.S. genetics company Illumina.

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Virginia Lawmakers Approve Bill Forcing Universities To Fund Student Groups That Discriminate

The Virginia House of Delegates voted 80-19 today to approve HB1617, a bill that would invite any religious or political university student group to discriminate as they please and still require the campus to providing them funding and access to campus facilities. This would make LGBT students particularly vulnerable to discrimination because universities’ protections for sexual orientation are not enforceable under Virginia law. Under this bill, though, even a KKK chapter could hypothetically form, use campus resources, and openly discriminate against non-white and non-Christian students on campus.

Here’s the text of the bill:

To the extent allowed by state and federal law:

1. A religious or political student organization may determine that ordering the organization’s internal affairs, selecting the organization’s leaders and members, defining the organization’s doctrines, and resolving the organization’s disputes are in furtherance of the organization’s religious or political mission and that only persons committed to that mission should conduct such activities; and

2. No public institution of higher education that has granted recognition of and access to any student organization or group shall discriminate against any such student organization or group that exercises its rights pursuant to subdivision 1.

On most college campuses, student organizations must maintain a constitution that conforms to the university’s procedures, including its nondiscrimination policies. For example, James Madison University requires that all organizations obey the “policies, rules, regulations, and standards of the university,” such as its nondiscrimination policy, which includes sexual orientation. The College of William & Mary offers similar protections and requires student groups be open to all students.

Such policies are key because student organizations receive funding and use campus resources (like meeting spaces) that are funded by fees that all students pay; thus, all students deserve equal access to those campus clubs. Nondiscrimination policies have become a source of contention for conservative Christian student groups, like at Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University and New York’s University of Buffalo, who wish to exclude gay students from membership. In the 2010 case Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly answered this question in favor of nondiscrimination policies, ruling that “all-comers” policies are viewpoint neutral, and thus are no more unfair to Christian groups than any other student groups.

Conservatives have argued, however that nondiscrimination policies allow for “hostile takeovers“ — in which students with opposing views infiltrate and assume power in the organization — but there’s no evidence to suggest that this is plausible, let alone that it ever happened. Members of an organization are still allowed to vote for their group’s leaders, even with discriminatory intent, if all students remain eligible. Any student group that can’t persist on its own merits probably doesn’t warrant use of student fees in the first place.

All 19 votes against the bill were cast by Democrats. It now advances to the Senate for committee consideration.

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