A pair of identical climate change education bills, House Bill 4643 and Senate Bill 2785, died in committee on July 31, 2022, when the legislative session ended.
If enacted, the bills would have required that environmental science standards promote the understanding of climate change "including, but not limited to: (i) the human impact on the carbon cycle; (ii) the effect of climate change on life that exists on Earth; (iii) the effects of the environment on health, economics, and agricultural systems; (iv) the impact of climate change on the water cycle; and (v) the impact of the environment on natural disasters and weather." They would have allowed, but not required, districts and schools to incorporate these standards into existing curricula, and similarly allowed, but not required, the department of education to aid them in doing so.
House Bill 4643 and Senate Bill 2785 were diluted replacements of House Bill 614 and Senate Bill 311, originally introduced in 2021, as NCSE previously reported.
