By QUINCY CROMER/The Daily Journal
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
SACRAMENTO Assembly members Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine decided to shelve the Compassionate Choices Act, opting to rally support and reintroduce the bill in January.
Berg, D-Eureka, and Levine, D-Van Nuys, decided additional time is needed to gain support and educate those who do not completely understand the issue.
Assembly Bill 654 is designed to allow terminally-ill adults -- who have less than six months to live -- the option of life-ending medication.
The measure, which reportedly had 70 percent of voter support from a field poll survey conducted in March, did not have enough support in the legislative process this year.
"We are holding the bill until next year, basically because we simply need more time. Even though some people instinctively understand the issue, some don't," Berg said. "For those that do not understand it, we feel that we need extra time to walk them through it."
Attempting to temporarily avoid an Assembly vote and gain support, Berg and Levine decided to start a parallel process in the Senate using a gut and amend.
Language from Assembly Bill 654 was inserted into another bill awaiting attention in the Senate so supporters could converse with fellow Assembly members.
"The last week of moving the bill through the Assembly we had made the decision that if we didn't have a confirmed 40 votes to go up with three votes on the fence, we were going to gut and amend another bill in the Senate and give us additional time to work with members in the Assembly," Berg said.
After finding that the issue was controversial in both the Assembly and Senate, Berg and Levine decided to pull the bill until next year and work to promote the issue.
"I am very disappointed that it is not going through this year, but I am very hopeful," Berg said. "I don't think it is going to be harder next year but the bottom line for us is we believe it is going to take time."
The Compassionate Choices Act contained more protections and precautionary measures than the Oregon Law it was modeled after, Berg said. California would have been only the second state to have such a law.
By January, Berg said she hopes to educate the public and gain additional support from other Assembly and Senate members who view the Compassionate Choices Act as a rightful option that Californians should be offered.
"We need time to do all of our grassroots work in the interim and redevelop our work plan over the next few months to reintroduce it in January," Berg said.
"I am very optimistic that it will go forward. It is the people's will that this would be an option for California."
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