Connecticut's House Bill 5235 and HB 5619 died in the Joint Committee on Education on April 5, 2021, when a deadline for bills to pass committee expired.
House Bill 5235 would have, if enacted, revised "the climate change curriculum [sic: presumably "standards"] to add a requirement that students are exposed to the debate and research concerning the amount and effects of anthropomorphic [sic: presumably "anthropogenic"] carbon dioxide levels." The bill's sponsor, John E. Piscopo (R-District 76), introduced legislation to undermine climate change education in Connecticut's state science standards in 2019, as NCSE previously reported.
House Bill 5619 would have, if enacted, required "that the climate change curriculum in the Next Generation Science Standards be taught as part of the state-wide science curriculum for public schools and that such teaching begin in elementary school," although Connecticut already adopted the NGSS in 2015. The bill's lead sponsor, Christine Palm (D-District 36), introduced similar legislation in 2019 in the form of House Bill 5011 as well similar provisions incorporated into three other bills; none of these bills passed.
NCSE's Glenn Branch described the dueling Connecticut climate bills of 2019 in his article "Science Teachers in the Hot Seat."
