Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/568961
Maynard's husband and mother have taken on the cause since her death and were in the Assembly for Wednesday's debate. Law- makers from both parties invoked their religious faith in arguing for and against the legislation before voting 42-33 in its favor. "I, as a Christian, do not pretend to know what God has in mind for all of us, why there is pain or suf- fering in this world. But I do know he is a merciful God. And we have the abil- ity to allow others to have a choice," said Assembly- woman Catharine Baker, R- Pleasanton, who supported the measure. "I believe it is cruel — nothing short of cruel — to deny them that choice in their final hours and final days." Assembly members were seen as the stumbling block to advancing the bill; the previous version had passed the Senate. Baker, who would have represented Maynard had she stayed in California, was among sev- eral GOP lawmakers who supported the bill after pre- viously expressing reserva- tions. In response to those con- cerns, several changes were made to boost patient pro- tections, including require- ments that the patient be physically capable of tak- ing the medication them- selves, that two doctors approve it, that the patient submit several written re- quests, and that there be two witnesses. The earlier measure stalled amid religious op- position and hesitant Dem- ocrats. The renewed push comes after at least two dozen states have intro- duced aid-in-dying legisla- tion this year, though none of the bills has passed. The right-to-die move- ment has been galvanized by the high-profile case of Maynard, who argued in widely viewed online vid- eos that she should have been able to access life- ending drugs in her home state. Doctors are permit- ted to prescribe life-ending drugs in Oregon, Washing- ton, Vermont and Montana. Maynard's mother, Deb- bie Ziegler, said after the vote that her daughter had left her with a powerful mandate to effect change in California. "At one time she called me into her room and said, 'This is what I will leave, instead of a child. I'm leav- ing this, and I want you to speak up for me,' " Ziegler said. It's not clear where Gov. Jerry Brown, a lifelong Catholic and former Jesuit seminarian, stands on the issue. Religious groups and ad- vocates for people with dis- abilities have opposed aid- in-dying legislation, saying it goes against the will of God and puts terminally ill patients at risk for coerced death. Lawmakers shared deeply personal stories of caring for terminally ill family members and of in- credible recoveries. Assem- blyman Mike Gipson, D- Carson, questioned the bill's time frame, which requires a doctor to give a diagnosis of six months or less to live. "I have seen so many miraculous turnarounds in people's lives when the doctors have given up. The doctors have said, 'Do fu- neral arrangements,' and the prognosis has changed within a matter of hours," said Gipson, who opposed the bill. The measure was intro- duced as part of a special legislative session on health care financing convened by the Democratic gover- nor. Brown has declined to take a position on right- to-die legislation, although his spokeswoman said ear- lier this year that he did not believe the session was the appropriate venue to con- sider it. Several Republican law- makers tried to block Wednesday's Assembly vote on procedural grounds, ar- guing it was not the right forum for the debate. If the effort failed in the Legislature, right-to-die advocacy group Compas- sion and Choices has said it would attempt to qualify for a 2016 ballot measure. Legislation FROMPAGE1 RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Debbie Ziegler holds a photo of her daughter, Brittany Maynard, as she receives congratulations from Ellen Pontac, le , a er a right-to die measure was approved by the state Assembly on Wednesday in Sacramento. All adopted animals will stay at the Animal Care Center until they are altered and go home with adopters on Monday or Tuesday after the event. "This is our fourth Free Cat Friday event of this year, and they are always a lot of fun," said center man- ager Christine McClintock. "We never have a shortage of adoptable cats, and noth- ing is more rewarding to us that to see the animals get altered and placed in to new homes." The Tehama County An- imal Care Center is at 1830 WalnutSt.inRedBluff.Care Center hours are 8 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m. Satur- day. Adoption hours are 10 a.m. to noon and 1-4:30 p.m. If you would like more in- formation regarding adopt- ing, fostering or becoming a Care Center volunteer, call McClintock at 527-3439 or write to cmcclintock52@sb- cglobal.net. Adopt FROM PAGE 1 DAILY NEWS FILE By Janie Har TheAssociatedPress SAN FRANCISCO A federal judge in Northern Califor- nia has ordered the state to let men participate in a prison rehabilitation pro- gram aimed at reuniting female inmates with their children. U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England in Sacramento said in an or- der filed Wednesday that the program violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution and the state had failed to explain why the program should ex- clude men. A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice de- ferred comment to the Cal- ifornia Department of Cor- rections and Rehabilita- tion. A spokeswoman for the prisons agency did not im- mediately return a call seeking comment. The judge ruled in the case of William Sassman, an inmate with two daugh- ters and a wife who has been incarcerated since 2011 on a grand theft con- viction. He sued in 2014. Two other men, Michael Berman and Darrell Stapp, filed a separate lawsuit this summer that was then merged with Sassman's. The two men have been incarcerated for more than a year in a Soledad, Califor- nia, facility on grand theft and drug charges. Berman has a wife and daughter in Los Angeles, and Stapp has an elderly mother with knee problems in the Sacramento area. The men called the pro- gram "profoundly unfair." California lawmakers ap- proved the program in 2010 as a way to alleviate prison overcrowding and reduce recidivism, believing that low-level offenders could be monitored easily outside of prison without risk to the public and that better bond- ing could keep parents and children out of prison in the future. The law was written to include women and pri- mary caregivers of both genders, but corrections of- ficials started with women only when they began ac- cepting applications in late 2011. The aim was to add men sometime in the future. But in 2012, Gov. Jerry Brown approved a budget bill re- stricting the program to women only. There is no record of who requested the change and why. Corrections officials and the author of the original legislation, Sen. Carol Liu, D-La Canada Flintridge, cannot explain it. Applicants must be low- risk, low-level, non-violent offenders with clean be- havior records. Women are monitored by electronic bracelet as they take classes to improve their parenting, manage anger or kick ad- diction. Debra Slone, an attorney and sister of one of the in- mates, greeted the judge's order with relief. "That's really great that everybody's being treated equally," Slone said. "It will give a lot of people, includ- ing my brother, I guess, the chance to get their lives in order." In its responses to the lawsuit, the Justice Depart- ment argued that the pro- gram had always been de- signed for female inmates, whose motivation and crim- inal behavior are different from men. LAWSUIT US judge orders California to admit men into rehab program | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2015 8 A