California lawmakers approve right-to-die legislation

On Wednesday., the Assembly passed AB2-15 with bipartisan support 44 to 35. “We are optimistic Gov. Brown will sign this law because he is a compassionate person who understands Californians in agony can not wait another year”, Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, a right-to-die advocacy group, said in a statement.

According to The Wall Street Journal, California will become the fifth state with a right-to-die law if Brown does sign this bill.

Governor Jerry Brown has been quiet about whether he would sign the bill into law.

Dozens of supporters, some in wheelchairs with oxygen tanks, shed tears as legislators debated the issue on the Senate floor.

Last month, the Assembly Appropriations Committee refused to advance minimum wage legislation, inviting the fury of labor groups and some of their allies in the Legislature.

“I think that could be the unintended outcome of this legislation”, he added.

Some of those opposing the bill, also dubbed the End of Life Option Act, called a recent legislative hearing “a well-orchestrated stage play designed to minimize the voices of those opposed to the bill”.

“Certain people tried to tell a story that this bill was about the oil producers”, Gray said.

“Would you like having blood on our hands by putting this into the government arena and for these reasons in honor of my deceased mother, I respectfully ask for your no vote”, Senator Stone said. “Bailey and I are crying tears of joy!” It now goes to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, whose intentions so far are unknown.

Also no longer under consideration is a proposal by Brown to charge drivers $65 per year to help pay to fix the state’s crumbling transportation infrastructure, including upgrading roads and bridges.

Supporting lawmakers and families of terminally ill relatives spoke emotionally about the legislation’s success.

The End of Life Option Act was inspired by 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, a California woman with terminal brain cancer who moved to Oregon to legally take her own life.

Ms Maynard recorded a video in the weeks prior to her death, in which she appealed to lawmakers.

It was a move that took many people by surprise, introduced under the pretext of a special legislative session on health care financing convened by the governor and in the same year that a similar bill died in committee. She broke into tears as her husband, Gary Holmes, assured her the vote tally was final. “One child’s death is one too many, especially when it may be preventable”.

Leaders of the “death with dignity” movement said they hoped the passage of the California law could be a turning point.

Until after a Justice Department attempt to block Oregon’s law was thrown out by a Supreme Court opinion in 2006, suicide was not assisted by any other state allowed.

A bill in Sacramento was initially scuttled amid significant opposition from the church, as well as pushback from some Latino Democrats in the California Assembly.Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez argued that the poor, minorities and the uninsured would become victims because “in a for-profit health care system, driven by financial concerns, doctor-assisted suicide will not be a “choice”…” Brown has been silent about his position, although he did criticize the decision to bring the bill to a special session after it failed earlier this year.