From: Andrea Hoberman [ahoberman@paclac.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2006 1:39 PM
Subject: UPDATE: SB 1785
Hello everyone,
Thanks for all of your continued support for SB 1785. Just a quick update on the status of the bill. Although it was set to be heard tomorrow in the Senate Health Committee, the hearing has now been postponed by Senator Figueroa's office due to some recent amendments suggested by the Department of Health Services. The bill should now be re-scheduled for hearing on May 3rd, according to the Senator's office. There is also a chance that the hearing may be moved to the 10th, depending upon scheduling of some key people involved.
These most recent changes strengthen the language specifying that the exemption would only apply to mother's milk intended for her own child, and not for donor milk. There is also a slight change in the language pertaining to standards for storage, collection, processing, and distribution of human milk that hospitals would need to comply with. I have attached the changes, although these are not official as of yet, and have just been submitted to legislative council.
None of these changes drastically alter the purpose or effectiveness of the bill. This is a good example, however, of how amendments are so important to the final drafts of legislation, and how it is necessary to continuously track the progress of a bill that you are following (don't forget you can do this at www.leginfo.ca.gov).
We will continue to keep you posted. This extension gives us a chance to do even more advocacy work! Please continue to send letters, e-mails, and make phone calls to the Senate Health Committee. Although the bill does not necessarily fall along party lines, it would be helpful to particularly focus on Senators Runner, Maldonado, Cox, and Aanestad.
As always, feel free to contact me, or Jennifer Taylor (jtaylor@paclac.org), with any questions.
Thanks,
Andrea
Andrea J. Hoberman, MPH, CLE
Program and Public Policy Manager
PAC/LAC
Ph (818) 788-6850
Fx (818) 788-6950
ahoberman@paclac.org
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