Latest news with #SenateBill151
Boston Globe
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
As R.I. considers bill to legalize medical aid in dying, Magaziner's mother-in-law testifies in support
Opponents urged the committee to reject the bill, saying it aims to legalize a practice that Rhode Island's criminal code now calls 'assisted suicide.' McDowell, 72, of Little Compton, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying she is a direct descendant of Stephen Hopkins, a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island who added his 'very wobbly signature' to the Declaration of Independence. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up She said the musical '1776″ portrayed Hopkins as 'the only drunk in the room,' but she believes he actually suffered hereditary spastic paraplegia, a large group of rare and progressive inherited disorders that cause weakness and stiffness of the legs. Advertisement 'I've lost an aunt, a first cousin, my father, and my beloved brother to HSP,' McDowell said, adding that she is showing signs of the disorder. 'I can barely sign my name now.' She said the strain that runs through her family affects people in their late 60s and early 70s. 'We are dead within five years,' she said. 'There are no cures.' Advertisement McDowell said she has three children and two grandchildren. 'That I may be passing this on to them is a heartbreak I just can't even describe,' she said. 'They will have to decide if they want to test for it or not, if an accurate test even exists.' People should be able to choose a 'well-planned death,' she said. 'Your death via a difficult, painful, and terrifying illness will be a difficult and painful experience for everybody who loves you. It should not have to be this way.' McDowell urged the committee to support the legislation, saying, 'I deserve the right to a peaceful death, preferably at home, surrounded by family and those who love me.' Related : The legislation drew opposition from Barth E. Bracy, executive director of the Rhode Island State Right to Life Committee. 'While proponents now prefer to call it by another name, Senate Bill 151 seeks to legalize a practice presently described in the Rhode Island Criminal Code as assisted suicide,' Bracy said in written testimony. 'Assisted suicide is not medicine. It is bad public policy that puts unsuspecting people at risk." Bracy warned that the legislation could result in 'abuse of the elderly and disabled' and 'exploitation of any one of us who may have an estate coveted by others or who may be regarded as a burden.' The safeguards included in the bill are 'porous,' Bracy said. Severely depressed or mentally ill person could receive a lethal prescription without having any counseling, he said, and the bill does not require consultation with a patient's primary care physician. The Senate Judiciary Committee held the bill for further study. Representative Edith H. Ajello, a Providence Democrat, has for years proposed companion Advertisement Kallman, a Pawtucket Democrat, noted the bill has bipartisan support, with cosponsors including Senator Minority Whip Gordon E. Rogers, a Foster Republican. And she noted the bill, titled The Lila Manfield Sapinsley Compassionate Care Act, is named for the late Senate Republican leader who died in 2014. Kallman said the legislation is personal for her. 'My grandfather was a farmer. He was a very staid guy. He did not talk about feelings,' he said. 'And he got cancer in his late 70s.' To prompt a conversation, he began 'littering the house' with pamphlets detailing the 'death with dignity' laws in Vermont and Oregon, Kallman said. 'It was not a conversation that we ever finished because he passed away of that cancer in 2016,' she said. Kallman noted that under the bill, anyone requesting end-of-life medication must be over 18, a Rhode Island resident, and diagnosed with a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less. They would have to make two verbal requests for the medication at least 15 days apart 'to protect against an impulsive request,' she said. They also would have to provide a written request to the doctor that's signed in front of two qualified adult witnesses 'to prevent coercion,' Kallman said. Two doctors would have to confirm the patient's diagnosis, prognosis, and ability to make medical decisions. Related : Brian Bennett, a mental health counselor from North Kingstown, spoke in opposition to the bill, saying he works with young people who are suffering and considering suicide. 'One of the protective factors against suicide is the belief — be it moral, ethical, religious, or civil — that suicide is wrong," he said. 'By legalizing assisted suicide under whatever name we choose to call it in this bill, we put that belief in doubt and remove one more barrier to suicide for some of the most vulnerable among us.' Advertisement Bennett said he fears the legislation could end up being expanded. " If you pass this bill, tomorrow you will have experts sitting in this seat asking you why assisted suicide ought to apply to physical illness and not to mental illness, and frankly, they'll have a point," he said. Clare Kearney, of Barrington, testified with an oxygen tube in her nose. She said she spent years as a nurse working on oncology units and respirator intensive care units. 'I am now a patient myself, going through the horror that I witnessed taking care of my patients,' she said. Kearney said she now has interstitial lung disease and end-stage emphysema, with 25 percent lung capacity. 'The doctors look at me as a miracle,' she said. 'The pain I suffer today is horrific. I have headaches that don't go away because I'm not getting oxygen to my brain. I have back and chest pain, chest tightness, nausea, diarrhea.' Kearney said it's 'an insult' for opponents to say the bill is about depression. 'This bill is about dignity in dying,' she said. 'This bill would help me decide, when the time comes — which will be in a year or two — for me to do to do it with compassion, with my family. If I can't, then I'll go to a hotel and I'll take some pills, and a poor maid will find my body." Advertisement Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
16-05-2025
- Politics
Kentucky auditor sues governor in bid to end dispute blocking kinship care law
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Kentucky's Republican auditor sued Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday, asking a judge to untangle a dispute blocking the implementation of a state law meant to support adults who step up to care for young relatives who endured suspected abuse or neglect at home. The standoff revolves around whether funds are available to carry out the law's intent — enabling relatives who take temporary custody of children to later become eligible for foster care payments. Beshear signed Senate Bill 151 in April 2024 and his administration has praised the measure for seeking to help children in bad situations be placed with relatives or close family friends. But the governor warned at the time that lawmakers had not approved the necessary funding. A year later, his administration still maintains that nearly $20 million is needed for the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to put the law into action, the lawsuit says. In her suit, Auditor Allison Ball says the state Constitution requires Beshear's administration to 'do whatever it takes' to carry out Kentucky laws. The suit asks a state judge to 'remind' the administration of that duty. 'As the policymaking body and holder of the power of the purse that determines the proper level of funding to give state agencies to carry out the commonwealth's laws, the General Assembly says that Governor Beshear and CHFS have more than enough money to carry out SB151 and must do so,' the suit says. Beshear's office said Thursday that his administration notified lawmakers on multiple occasions about the costs associated with carrying it out. 'Lawmakers had many opportunities to deliver the funding during both the 2024 and 2025 legislative sessions but chose not to,' Beshear spokesperson Crystal Staley said in a statement. 'It is simple: The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled the state cannot implement programs and policies if it doesn't have the funding to do so," she added. Kentucky lawmakers ended this year's session weeks ago and aren't scheduled to reconvene until the 2026 session begins in January. An estimated 55,000 Kentucky children are currently in what's commonly called kinship care — when a child is living with relatives or close family friends instead of their parents. The 2024 measure — which sailed through Kentucky's Republican-led legislature with overwhelming support — is meant to fix what child welfare advocates say was a flaw in the support system. The law gives relatives considerably more time to apply to become foster parents for their young relatives, and thus eligible for foster care payments to help support the children already in their care. Frustration over the dispute resurfaced Tuesday when GOP lawmakers, including state Sen. Julie Raque Adams, the measure's lead sponsor, called out Beshear's administration for not implementing the law. 'They don't even have a program model for SB151, yet they continue to insist it would cost $20 million to implement,' she said. 'You can't assign a price tag to something you haven't built. The truth is, they have the tools to get started. They just haven't.' Ball's office started an investigation last October to determine whether the health and family services cabinet has the money to carry out the law or whether lawmakers needed to appropriate more funds. The suit says the probe has stalled because of what it calls the cabinet's 'obstruction,' and it asks the judge to order Beshear's administration to provide whatever information the auditor needs to complete the review.
Hamilton Spectator
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Kentucky auditor sues governor in bid to end dispute blocking kinship care law
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's Republican auditor sued Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday, asking a judge to untangle a dispute blocking the implementation of a state law meant to support adults who step up to care for young relatives who endured suspected abuse or neglect at home. The standoff revolves around whether funds are available to carry out the law's intent — enabling relatives who take temporary custody of children to later become eligible for foster care payments. Beshear signed Senate Bill 151 in April 2024 and his administration has praised the measure for seeking to help children in bad situations be placed with relatives or close family friends. But the governor warned at the time that lawmakers had not approved the necessary funding. A year later, his administration still maintains that nearly $20 million is needed for the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to put the law into action, the lawsuit says. In her suit, Auditor Allison Ball says the state Constitution requires Beshear's administration to 'do whatever it takes' to carry out Kentucky laws. The suit asks a state judge to 'remind' the administration of that duty. 'As the policymaking body and holder of the power of the purse that determines the proper level of funding to give state agencies to carry out the commonwealth's laws, the General Assembly says that Governor Beshear and CHFS have more than enough money to carry out SB151 and must do so,' the suit says. Beshear's office said Thursday that his administration notified lawmakers on multiple occasions about the costs associated with carrying it out. 'Lawmakers had many opportunities to deliver the funding during both the 2024 and 2025 legislative sessions but chose not to,' Beshear spokesperson Crystal Staley said in a statement. 'It is simple: The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled the state cannot implement programs and policies if it doesn't have the funding to do so,' she added. Kentucky lawmakers ended this year's session weeks ago and aren't scheduled to reconvene until the 2026 session begins in January. An estimated 55,000 Kentucky children are currently in what's commonly called kinship care — when a child is living with relatives or close family friends instead of their parents. The 2024 measure — which sailed through Kentucky's Republican-led legislature with overwhelming support — is meant to fix what child welfare advocates say was a flaw in the support system. The law gives relatives considerably more time to apply to become foster parents for their young relatives, and thus eligible for foster care payments to help support the children already in their care. Frustration over the dispute resurfaced Tuesday when GOP lawmakers, including state Sen. Julie Raque Adams, the measure's lead sponsor, called out Beshear's administration for not implementing the law. 'They don't even have a program model for SB151, yet they continue to insist it would cost $20 million to implement,' she said. 'You can't assign a price tag to something you haven't built. The truth is, they have the tools to get started. They just haven't.' Ball's office started an investigation last October to determine whether the health and family services cabinet has the money to carry out the law or whether lawmakers needed to appropriate more funds. The suit says the probe has stalled because of what it calls the cabinet's 'obstruction,' and it asks the judge to order Beshear's administration to provide whatever information the auditor needs to complete the review.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kentucky auditor sues governor in bid to end dispute blocking kinship care law
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's Republican auditor sued Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday, asking a judge to untangle a dispute blocking the implementation of a state law meant to support adults who step up to care for young relatives who endured suspected abuse or neglect at home. The standoff revolves around whether funds are available to carry out the law's intent — enabling relatives who take temporary custody of children to later become eligible for foster care payments. Beshear signed Senate Bill 151 in April 2024 and his administration has praised the measure for seeking to help children in bad situations be placed with relatives or close family friends. But the governor warned at the time that lawmakers had not approved the necessary funding. A year later, his administration still maintains that nearly $20 million is needed for the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to put the law into action, the lawsuit says. In her suit, Auditor Allison Ball says the state Constitution requires Beshear's administration to 'do whatever it takes' to carry out Kentucky laws. The suit asks a state judge to 'remind' the administration of that duty. 'As the policymaking body and holder of the power of the purse that determines the proper level of funding to give state agencies to carry out the commonwealth's laws, the General Assembly says that Governor Beshear and CHFS have more than enough money to carry out SB151 and must do so,' the suit says. Beshear's office said Thursday that his administration notified lawmakers on multiple occasions about the costs associated with carrying it out. 'Lawmakers had many opportunities to deliver the funding during both the 2024 and 2025 legislative sessions but chose not to,' Beshear spokesperson Crystal Staley said in a statement. 'It is simple: The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled the state cannot implement programs and policies if it doesn't have the funding to do so," she added. Kentucky lawmakers ended this year's session weeks ago and aren't scheduled to reconvene until the 2026 session begins in January. An estimated 55,000 Kentucky children are currently in what's commonly called kinship care — when a child is living with relatives or close family friends instead of their parents. The 2024 measure — which sailed through Kentucky's Republican-led legislature with overwhelming support — is meant to fix what child welfare advocates say was a flaw in the support system. The law gives relatives considerably more time to apply to become foster parents for their young relatives, and thus eligible for foster care payments to help support the children already in their care. Frustration over the dispute resurfaced Tuesday when GOP lawmakers, including state Sen. Julie Raque Adams, the measure's lead sponsor, called out Beshear's administration for not implementing the law. 'They don't even have a program model for SB151, yet they continue to insist it would cost $20 million to implement,' she said. 'You can't assign a price tag to something you haven't built. The truth is, they have the tools to get started. They just haven't.' Ball's office started an investigation last October to determine whether the health and family services cabinet has the money to carry out the law or whether lawmakers needed to appropriate more funds. The suit says the probe has stalled because of what it calls the cabinet's 'obstruction,' and it asks the judge to order Beshear's administration to provide whatever information the auditor needs to complete the review.
Winnipeg Free Press
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Kentucky auditor sues governor in bid to end dispute blocking kinship care law
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's Republican auditor sued Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday, asking a judge to untangle a dispute blocking the implementation of a state law meant to support adults who step up to care for young relatives who endured suspected abuse or neglect at home. The standoff revolves around whether funds are available to carry out the law's intent — enabling relatives who take temporary custody of children to later become eligible for foster care payments. Beshear signed Senate Bill 151 in April 2024 and his administration has praised the measure for seeking to help children in bad situations be placed with relatives or close family friends. But the governor warned at the time that lawmakers had not approved the necessary funding. A year later, his administration still maintains that nearly $20 million is needed for the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to put the law into action, the lawsuit says. In her suit, Auditor Allison Ball says the state Constitution requires Beshear's administration to 'do whatever it takes' to carry out Kentucky laws. The suit asks a state judge to 'remind' the administration of that duty. 'As the policymaking body and holder of the power of the purse that determines the proper level of funding to give state agencies to carry out the commonwealth's laws, the General Assembly says that Governor Beshear and CHFS have more than enough money to carry out SB151 and must do so,' the suit says. Beshear's office said Thursday that his administration notified lawmakers on multiple occasions about the costs associated with carrying it out. 'Lawmakers had many opportunities to deliver the funding during both the 2024 and 2025 legislative sessions but chose not to,' Beshear spokesperson Crystal Staley said in a statement. 'It is simple: The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled the state cannot implement programs and policies if it doesn't have the funding to do so,' she added. Kentucky lawmakers ended this year's session weeks ago and aren't scheduled to reconvene until the 2026 session begins in January. An estimated 55,000 Kentucky children are currently in what's commonly called kinship care — when a child is living with relatives or close family friends instead of their parents. The 2024 measure — which sailed through Kentucky's Republican-led legislature with overwhelming support — is meant to fix what child welfare advocates say was a flaw in the support system. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The law gives relatives considerably more time to apply to become foster parents for their young relatives, and thus eligible for foster care payments to help support the children already in their care. Frustration over the dispute resurfaced Tuesday when GOP lawmakers, including state Sen. Julie Raque Adams, the measure's lead sponsor, called out Beshear's administration for not implementing the law. 'They don't even have a program model for SB151, yet they continue to insist it would cost $20 million to implement,' she said. 'You can't assign a price tag to something you haven't built. The truth is, they have the tools to get started. They just haven't.' Ball's office started an investigation last October to determine whether the health and family services cabinet has the money to carry out the law or whether lawmakers needed to appropriate more funds. The suit says the probe has stalled because of what it calls the cabinet's 'obstruction,' and it asks the judge to order Beshear's administration to provide whatever information the auditor needs to complete the review.
