Glazer, Frazier, Bonilla and Baker all vote for assisted suicide bill, heads to Gov. Brown’s desk

By Allen Payton

The members of the State Senate and Assembly, representing Antioch, East County and Central Contra Costa County, all voted, this week, in favor of AB2X-15, the bill to allow for physician assisted suicide in California.

Labeled the End of Life Option Act, the bill, if signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, will allow a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to a mentally competent person who is diagnosed by two California physicians with having six months or less to live.

It passed the State Senate on a party line vote, with 23 Democrats, including Steve Glazer, who represents Antioch and was elected in a special election in June, voting in favor and 14 Republicans voting against. Two Democrats and one Republican didn’t vote.

Earlier in the week, the State Assembly passed it on a 44-35-1 vote, with Democrat Assemblymembers Jim Frazier, who represents Antioch, and Susan Bonilla from Concord, voting in favor. All but three Republicans voted against the bill. One of them was Catharine Baker, who was elected last year, representing the San Ramon Valley, and is the only Republican in the state legislature in the entire San Francisco Bay Area. Ten Democrats joined the other 25 Republicans in voting against the bill. One Democrat didn’t vote.

The bill, originally SB128 which was co-authored by Glazer, died in the Assembly, in July. It was resurrected with the new number. For the complete text of the bill and vote history, visit http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520162AB15.

To contact Gov. Brown’s office, visit https://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php.


One Comment to “Glazer, Frazier, Bonilla and Baker all vote for assisted suicide bill, heads to Gov. Brown’s desk”

  1. For your information assisted suicide is a homicide in Montana. Our MT Supreme Court ruled that if a doctor is charged with a homicide they might have a potential defense based on consent. The Court did not address civil liabilities. No one in Montana has immunity from civil or criminal charges. Does that sound legal to you? Oregon model bills have been rejected by our legislature in 2011, 2013 and 2015 because of gapping loopholes that expand the scope of abuse of elders and folks with disabilities of all ages. Passage would have established dangerous public policy.
    In Oregon and Washington heirs are allowed to participate from the start to the end eviscerating intended safe guards. Everyone involved in the lethal process gets immediate immunity and family members are not required to be contacted. A witness is not required to confirm the dose was self-administered so if they struggled and changed their mind who would ever know? In addition by these laws investigations or public inquiries are prohibited leaving no recourse for surviving family members who were not contacted. Does that sound like good public policy to you? This is very dangerous public policy that does not serve the common good. This is the same for California’s ABX2-15.
    Oregon and Washington should amend their initiative-sound-bite driven dangerous laws.

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