SB 161 (Huff), the Diastat bill, was placed on the Assembly Appropriations Suspense Calendar today. (This was a routine vote and not indicative of support or opposition to the measure.)  The critical vote is next week (Wednesday or Thursday/August  24 or 25), when the Committee will consider whether SB 161 remains on the Suspense Calendar or passes the committee onto the Assembly floor.

The measure needs nine votes to pass and there are five Republican members on the committee.  Opponents to SB 161 believe all five Republicans will support SB 161, Assemblymember Hill has already supported this bill in a previous Assembly policy committee, and Assemblymember Fuentes appears to be leaning in support of SB 161.  That means SB 161 would need only two more Democratic "aye" votes.  The remaining nine Democrats on the Committee are Blumenfield, Bradford, Calderon, Campos, Davis, Hall, Lara, Mitchell and Solorio.  It is not a stretch to think the supporters can secure two more votes on behalf of SB 161.  If this bill is not stopped here, it will be extraordinarily difficult to prevent its passage by the full Assembly. 

Opponents of SB 161 believe the current "liability" language does not go far enough to protect school employee "volunteers" from a myriad of civil and criminal liabilities; who specifically calls 911 and when remains unresolved along with confusion about whether a student who was administered Diastat is to be transported to a hospital; school and registered nurses are still included in the measure as "trainers" even though it violates their licensing requirements;  and there are no funds in the bill for the California Department of Education and the Department of Public Health to develop the training materials necessary nor are funds allocated to train "volunteers" locally at the school site.

The California Democratic Party has taken an oppose position on SB 161 and is requesting their activists to convey their opposition to legislators.  Additionally, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO is now opposed and lobbying against SB 161.  Unfortunately, this measure is the top priority of the Epilepsy Foundation and legislators are getting phone calls from across the country requesting their support of SB 161. 

Coordinators can expect to hear from CTA GR Communications Consultant Len Feldman requesting personal calls be made to their assigned legislators.  Additionally every effort must be made to ensure that legislators who consider themselves "friends of education" understand that SB 161 would lead to, rather than prevent, dangerous outcomes for students.  The administration of Diastat must be conducted in a safe and private manner by trained medical personnel who recognize there are multiple types of epileptic seizures not to mention the time necessary to stay with the student suffering the seizure to observe for side effects. 

Remember, www.cta.org contains legislative contact information to assist you as well as SB 161 information.