Eight state lawmakers on Tuesday urged San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to withdraw the “morality clauses” he unveiled this month in a handbook for high school teachers, and to reverse his intention to redefine teachers as “ministers” in their employment contracts.

The letter to Cordileone from five members of the Assembly and three state senators said the new conditions for employment at four high schools run by the archdiocese “conflict with settled areas of law and foment a discriminatory environment in the communities we serve.”

….Though the letter from lawmakers acknowledges that the archdiocese “wields discretion over working conditions” at the schools, it says his proposal strikes “a divisive tone, which stands in stark contrast to the values that define the Bay Area and its history.”

In an email, Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), a signatory to the letter, said: “Injustice must be confronted, no matter the source. Our society is based on the principle that we are all created equally. Any novel legal maneuvers to impose injustice must be stopped.”

The other signatories are Assemblymen Richard Gordon, David Chiu, Marc Levine and Kevin Mullin; and Sens. Mark Leno and Jerry Hill.

This story comes from a Feb. 17 posting in the L.A. Times.
Though the Times story says three state senators signed the letter, it only named two.