THERE IS NO ALOHA IN ASSISTED SUICIDE!

4 Hours of Testimony Ends with No Decision!

Committee to reconvene tomorrow.

From Honolulu Republican Party, February 27, 2018

Today over 100 testifiers and opponents of "Physician Assisted Suicide" attended the hearing for HD-2739 at the State Capitol.  Dressed in aqua blue and wearing six inch "NO ALOHA IN SUICIDE" stickers, they made the case to lawmakers to vote no on the bill.

Committee members asked some very telling questions that identified loopholes that still remain in the bill.  The Attorney General's representative couldn't definitively state that all their concerns from the 2017 version were resolved in this current version that is supposed to have more robust protections.  Even the Department of Health representative was unable to definitively answer questions regarding some of the broad definitions that remain in the bill and continued the DoH dissent to listing the "terminal disease and self-administration of the medication prescribed" on the death certificate.

After four hours of passionate testimony from both sides, questions by committee members, committee chairs Mizuno and Nishimoto, and vice chairs San Buenaventura and Kobayashi recessed for a three minute decisional meeting only to return with no decision.  Chair Mizuno will reconvene the committee for a decisional hearing Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 12:00pm in room 329.

While the official vote of these two House committees was postponed for now, it was clear to political observers in the auditorium that a significant number of Democrats held reservations and objections to assisted suicide; objections which needed to be dealt with through language changes which would make it easier for legislators to avoid re-election difficulties less than nine months from now.  Democrat leaders do not want a repeat of how the suicide bill stalled during the 2017 legislative session when an even more obnoxious version of this bill couldn't round up the necessary votes for passage.

This is only the first round and our fight is not over. Life is too precious to give up!

Respectfully,

Brett Kulbis

Honolulu County Chairman

>>> Secure Link to Donate to the Honolulu County Republican Party <<<