Engrossed Version, House Bill 1039 Interfering with drug or alcohol screening tests. Makes it a Class B misdemeanor for an incarcerated person or a person under court supervision to interfere with, or to possess a device or substance intended to be used to interfere with, a drug or alcohol screening test. Passed by the Seante 46 -0.
More Schiavo
Abstract Appeal — by Matt Conigliaro has an outstanding timeline of the Schiavo case and the extensive legal proceedings that have taken place over the past 7 years.
More Schiavo: Slow Indiana Politics Day
Yesterday seems to have been a slow day in Indiana politics, and the Schiavo story has so many compelling angles. So, like everybody and their dog, I HAVE AN OPINION! (Alert the media.) Anyway, I was reading an article from the Evansville Courier Press on the issue as it pertains to medicaid. I found the following three paragraphs interesting:
“At every opportunity, (House Majority Leader) Tom DeLay has sanctimoniously proclaimed his concern for the well-being of Terri Schiavo, saying he is only trying to ensure she has the chance ‘we all deserve,'” the liberal Center for American Progress said in a statement Monday, echoing complaints of Democratic lawmakers and medical ethicists.
“Just last week, DeLay marshaled a budget resolution through the House of Representatives that would cut funding for Medicaid by at least $15 billion, threatening the quality of care for people like Terri Schiavo,” according to the statement.
DeLay spokesman Dan Allen fired back: “The fact that they’re tying a life issue to the budget process shows just how disconnected Democrats are to reality.”
I don’t like what either of these guys are doing, frankly. We shouldn’t base our Medicaid funding policy on our empathy for every hardluck story that comes down the pike. That’s why the Center for American Progress is wrong. DeLay, however, is stunningly wrong when he indicates that Medicaid can be separated from the issues of life and death. People need medical care to live. Medical care costs money. No money = no medical care. No medical care = death. My judgment – DeLay loses this round. (Except for the fact that, the more they talk about Schiavo, the less they talk about DeLay’s alleged involvement in an ever expanding number of financial scandals.)
Lugar & Bayh support Schiavo bill
The Indy Star has an article entitled, Lugar, Bayh support Schiavo law. From the article:
Lugar “believes it’s important to allow for the due process (of Schiavo’s case),” said Mark Hayes, a spokesman for the senator. “This is a very special case, and he simply wants to make sure that all of the details are examined before any decision is made.”
“Senator Bayh and every other senator agreed to allow the federal courts to intervene in this tragic case,” said Meghan Keck, a spokeswoman for Bayh.
Neither senator was on the floor when the bill came up for a vote Sunday afternoon. Hayes said Lugar was in Florida on vacation.
I’ve gotta say, I’m extremely disappointed in Bayh and Lugar. I guess it’s a good example of hard cases making bad law. Let’s be clear about the bill that Bayh & Lugar supported. It altered federal jurisdictional rules for the parents of Terri Schiavo and only the parents of Terri Schiavo so that the federal District Court could consider whether the federal rights of Terri Schiavo had been violated. Lugar’s statement that he wants to make sure that ll of the details are examined is mindblowing. This case has been litigated for years and years. Federal judges have already been asked to overturn the state court’s decision, and declined to do so. Schiavo’s parents have had more than due process, they’ve had extraordinary process. Then Congress comes along and passes a law because they don’t like the result.
I know “science” isn’t exactly popular in the halls of power these days, but the woman is gone; her empty husk lives on because Ms. Schiavo has become central to the lives of others who fear death so much that they refuse to recognize it when it arrives. Her rights have been well looked after by the legal system. Her husband is apparently trying to carry through with her wishes as best he can.
Congress has no business tampering with well settled legal principles on a one-time-only basis for the sake of making an excruciating marital decision even more difficult. Some things just aren’t Congress’s business, and Bayh and Lugar should know better.
Indy Star Opinion on Little Girl’s Death
The Indianapolis Star has an opinion piece based on the death of a 4 year old Lafayette girl, apparently the result of abuse involving her hands being bound and duct tape over her mouth, that was previously reported in the Lafayette Journal & Courier and upon which I posted a blog entry. I had thought that I was straying fairly far afield from my normal Indiana political beat. But, the Star Opinion brings it a bit closer to home. According to the Indy Star:
The child protection system in Indiana is broken. Badly. And, for 4-year-old Aiyana and thousands of other children suffering from abuse or languishing in foster care, tragically.
Aiyana’s case is especially maddening because her grandfather says family members called Child Protection Services three times in recent months to warn that the child was in danger. The director of the Tippecanoe County Office of Family and Children says there was insufficient evidence to investigate the complaints, despite the fact that Aiyana’s father, Christian Gauvin, was convicted less than two years ago of battery on a child. Both he and the child’s stepmother have been in trouble with the law many times.
One reason why children like Aiyana are not better protected is the sheer volume of reports handled by the state. In fiscal year 2003, state workers investigated 61,492 reports. In a system in which caseworkers are hopelessly overworked and undertrained, mistakes — life-threatening mistakes — become all but inevitable.
The Lafayette Journal & Courier has a story on Child Protective Services and its deficiencies, as well as efforts to address the problem. The J&C also has a story with more details on Aiyana’s death.
HJR 4 – Constitutional Right to Hunt & Fish
Joint Resolution 0004 Constitutional Right to Hunt & Fish. Passed 41-6. I sure hope that this dog of a Constitutional Amendment makes somebody feel better. Because having this thing cluttering up the Constitution isn’t actually going to protect anybody’s rights. And I quote:
The people have a right to hunt, fish, and harvest game, which are a valued part of our heritage and shall be forever preserved for the public good, subject to laws prescribed by the General Assembly and rules prescribed by virtue of the authority of the General Assembly.
This amendment says that the General Assembly can go ahead and do what it wants with regard to regulating hunting and fishing. The state is not restrained in the least by this amendment. And it won’t bind the federal government from exercising its authority. I mean, at least the homosexual marriage amendment actually does something. Agree or disagree with the policy, if passed, it will limit the authority of the state government.
SJR 7 – AntiGay Marriage Amendment
Joint Resolution 0007 The AntiGay Marriage Amendment passed 76 to 23. If the legislature passes it again in 2007, and the people of Indiana ratify it, my marriage will finally be safe! A big thank you to the General Assembly for doing this important work and preventing all them homersexshuls from destroying my marriage.
SB 132
Premises liability. Provides that if a person enters the premises of a nonprofit religious organization that is used for worship services with the permission of the nonprofit religious organization, the nonprofit religious organization has a duty to: (1) warn the person of a hidden danger on the premises if a representative of the nonprofit religious organization has actual knowledge of the hidden danger; and (2) refrain from intentionally harming the person. Provides that if a person enters the premises of a nonprofit religious organization without the permission of the nonprofit religious organization, the nonprofit religious organization has only a duty to refrain from intentionally harming the person.
I’m afraid I’m not up to speed enough on my premises liability law to notice immediately how this differs from premises liability for any other similarly situated organization that doesn’t happen to be used for religious purposes. Also not immediately obvious to me are the policy reasons for treating nonprofit places of worship differently from other nonprofit places open to the public with respect to premises liability. In any event, the House Judiciary Committee approved this and sent it on to the full House.
Senate action on House Bills 3/21/05
A couple of House Bills passed the Senate without amendment and should, therefore, be on their way to the Governor:
House Action 3/21/05
Most of the House’s action was on Second Reading matters yesterday. Some of the bills that passed 3rd reading and head to conference committee are:
Requires a package of a drug containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to be: (1) protected by an anti-theft device; and (2) stored in an area that is under constant video monitoring. Allows a pharmacist to refuse to honor a prescription if honoring the prescription would endanger the safety of a person employed by the pharmacy. Requires a pharmacist to notify a physician who issued a prescription if the pharmacist refuses to honor the prescription because honoring the prescription would: (1) be against the best interest of the patient; or (2) be contrary to the health and safety of the patient.
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