Friday, June 17, 2005
The controversial assisted-suicide bill, Assembly Bill 654, is now the controversial assisted-suicide bill Assembly Bill 651. Assemblywoman Patty Berg and Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, authors of the California Compassionate Choices Act, put the text of AB 654 into AB 651, and that bill's text into a third bill, to get past deadlines for getting the bill through the Assembly.
The move did not make any substantive changes -- while opponents charge that Berg and Levine gutted the important health care provisions of the original AB 651, that language is intact, just located in a different piece of legislation now.
In a move known as a "gut and amend," the legislators completely erased the text of Assembly Bill 1736, which would have made minor changes to the language of the Public Utilities Code, and replaced it with the text of AB 651. They then completely "gutted" the text of AB 651 and replaced it with AB 654.
That's less dishonest than the standard congressional trick of adding a completely unrelated amendment to a bill in the hopes of sneaking one's pet project through Congress. Berg and Levine were honest and upfront about the change, announcing it as soon as they decided to make it. This is the way the game is played in Sacramento -- and in Washington -- and being straightforward about it is a refreshing change.
At the same time, it's confusing. Practically each year there's a story of some law that has unintended consequences because of nuances in the language. Legislators have to read hundreds of bills each year; switching them around makes it that much less likely that everyone's done their homework before they sit down to vote.
Berg and Levine say the move will buy them time to make the case. We've already supported AB 654 on this page, and we agree that the discussion shouldn't be rushed. But we've also called for transparency of government, for clarity instead of bureaucracy, again and again. We support the bill, but we're disappointed that some of the clarity has been lost in this confusing maneuver.
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