State Lawmakers Advance New Aid-In-Dying Legislation
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A legislative committee has advanced aid-in-dying legislation, sending the proposal to a floor vote in the California Assembly next week.
The Assembly finance committee passed the right-to-die bill, ABX2-15, on a 5-3 vote Friday with no debate.
The legislation is lawmakers' second attempt this year to make it legal for terminally ill patients to take life-ending medications.
An effort to pass a similar right-to-die bill stalled in the Legislature earlier this year, so Democratic Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton introduced new legislation as part of a special session on health care financing.
Gov. Jerry Brown has signaled that he does not believe the special session is the appropriate venue to consider aid-in-dying, making it uncertain whether he would sign the bill if it eventually reaches his desk.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.