March 13, 2005

How to Kill a Good Bill

A Cox's Creek father wrote and asked me to please help pass Senate Bill 189. SB 189 requires schools that have a diabetic student to train at least one school staff person to administer aid in the event of, say, a hypoglycemic episode. There are many schools with such students. The Senate passed SB 189 on February 17 by a vote of 35-0. Good bill.

The Dad worried that it could take too long for emergency medical people to come to the school to administer aid. He wrote, "As a person with a 12 year old son living with type 1 diabetes, I am writing to urge you to support SB 189. The fifteen to thirty minutes it takes for EMS to arrive could be the difference between life and death. This small change can make a world of difference for our state's public school students with diabetes - and their parents."

SB 189 was sent to the House and was posted in my House Health & Welfare Committee. I called back to my district to ask the professionals what impact this law would have on their schools. I was told that it would not be a big problem, that it was a good idea, and that it's simple to have non-medical people trained to do this. After all, parents can (and frequently do) perform this procedure. Our committee passed it without problem and sent it to out for consideration by the full House. Everything was working right for our concerned Dad. But then the games began.

Political games can prevent good bills from becoming law. Remember that bills come before committees, where witnesses may be called and the bill should receive full attention from committee members. If a committee sends a bill to the floor of the House, members should have some confidence that it has had a thorough review. The committee system can work very well; but oftentimes the system is used in a bad way. Here's one way to kill a good bill.

House Bill 405 (the school "bullying" bill) had been sent from the House to the Senate. Someone(s) in the Senate apparently didn't like it, and the bill would go no further; it would "die" in a Senate committee.

When House leadership saw that the Senate was not going to hear HB 405 they devised a strategy to force the Senate's hand. They spotted SB 189, a good and maybe important bill that was waiting for approval of the full House, and sent it back to the House Health & Welfare committee even though we had already approved it. In committee, the chairman grafted HB 405 onto the main bill, SB 189, and brought it up for discussion.

Although I was a cosponsor of HB 405 this procedure offended me and I said so in committee. I feared that pulling this stunt would endanger SB 189 when it went back to the Senate, and we'd lose an opportunity to help diabetic students and their families. Over my objection, we substituted the re-written bill and sent it back to the floor of the House as a House Committee Substitute (HCS). It hasn't gone anywhere since then, and it doesn't look good.

There is a chance they'll call SB 189 when we reconvene on Monday. Then they will call for adoption of the HCS. I will object and speak against the HCS for the same reasons I've laid out for you. Likely, it will not work and the HCS will be adopted by the full House. I'll then vote in favor of SB 189 (HCS).

But the Senate will have to concur with the changes before the bill is made into law. When the Senate does not concur, we'll have a free conference committee and the House and Senate will try to iron out their differences. In that conference, it's possible that SB 189 will have even more attached to it. And one or more of those attachments may be highly objectionable. If that happens, there comes a personal dilemma. Do I accept the new objectionable portion(s) of the bill in order to pass the good parts of SB 189? I don't know yet. It just depends on the political games that will be played.

All of this would be okay, except that we might lose the opportunity to help a 12-year old boy from Cox's Creek. And then it's no longer a political game. It's just a shame.

I'm interested in your opinion. Please call me at home or leave a message by calling 1-800-372-7181. Remember, I'm here to help.