Topic: Failed Virginia Bill Introduced in Maryland- HUH?
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
When a Lyme bill fails miserably in the state where it was drafted and passed by a slim margin, and failed so badly it required another bill to try to FIX it, why on earth would anyone push these same original bills in another state and on our future generations?
Come ON! Common sense PLEASE!
Do Lyme patients and their doctors not have enough problems already without having to deal with MORE BAD BILLS?
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Before the kicking starts- I am addressing bad bills, bills even the writers and supporters said didn't work- please remember that.
I've also spent weeks of my personal time supporting a good Virginia bill- endless research, over 110 individual emails sent to legislators, countless emails sent to patients and doctors concerning our actions, plus countless phone calls- very time consuming.
ONLY to find out the people pushing the good bill (NatCapLyme), then bragging that it passed in the Senate and telling people it is now time to go to the House with it, knew over a week in advance the bill was never going to make it any further because it was already dead in the House.
Why not tell the truth to the public? They've had 2 weeks to do so and still have never bothered.
On February 2, 2016, HB 1284 (The Companion Bill to SB 671) Was "Stricken From The Docket" Making It Dead On Arrival, Over A Week Before The Senate Bill Passed.
So my "annoyed" posts are justified. We need leaders NOT initiating legislation in places where they don't know what is going on, and to be transparent, and mostly to be HONEST. We don't need them hiding what they are doing from others (sneaky), especially year after year.
And if we wanted a bill it would need to be a good bill- not copy-cats of bills proven to fail.
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
To note- there is a push on by some sponsors and supporters of the Bad Maryland Bills to get people to support them, even to come support the bad bills at a public hearing.
What they fail to tell you, which is unfair, is the Lyme Disease Education & Support Groups of Maryland and individual patients/doctors have already opposed these bills.
Once a bill that is supposedly designed to help a specific group is opposed by those very people, there isn't much hope the bills will pass. Plus it can cost anyone being sucked up in this process time, money, travel, etc. only to arrive to find the patients don't even support it.
And they failed to mention we discussed the bills with legislators months in advance of them being introduced and clearly stated our position that we did NOT want a bill and advised against it. We also provided a lot of documentation to support that position.
They submitted two bills anyway- and those bills were not the bills they planned to submit- it was a 4th choice. A bill to say we have a bill. NOT a good excuse.
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Checking with patients, doctors and groups leaders BEFORE putting in bills should be required, especially since you are claiming to represent them.
They could also make contributions that would prevent the bill sponsors and supporters from looking like they don't know what they are doing. I don't know of any legislators that would appreciate being made to look stupid.
For example... Before you create a bill stating something like:
"Moneys in the Fund shall be used solely for the purposes of providing Lyme disease educational signage for placement in Virginia State Parks."
You need to check with the Virginia State Parks FIRST!
Had someone bothered to check FIRST- they would have known the Parks don't want signs.
This is what the Virginia State Park official had to say about putting up signs after reviewing the bill....
"Unfortunately signs would not be particularly effective. There are many things that could possibly cause danger in a park experience and if we posted signs about all of them, that’s all you would see.
We have drastically reduced signage in our parks even about rules and regulations as we found they were ineffective in changing visitor behavior...." Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (email communication)
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
The Maryland House had a hearing on HB 399 that we and many others opposed in writing, with some opposing organizations also being represented at the hearing. I stumbled on a video of the hearing, linked below.
If you’ll remember, the bill forces doctors (no choice) to hand out a notice about Lyme tests not being accurate. It didn’t work in Virginia very well, especially after angering the doctors and causing more problems with our docs being targeted.
The Maryland version takes away Lyme patients rights to take legal action in the event of malpractice by any doctors (section B), obviously not a good thing and very harmful for our children and future generations to not have any legal recourse if they are harmed (by Hopkins or any other doctors).
Many other reasons why it shouldn’t be passed- you’ve reviewed them in past updates- some of those additional reasons were included in our written testimony posted at House link below.
The 2013 bill in Virginia (that the Maryland bill is based on) was so ineffective a new bill was submitted this last session in Virginia by the same people to try to fix their original bill. It failed to pass.
Legislators HATE repealing their own bills or admitting they were not up to parr, so once their bill is in there it is almost impossible to go back and fix it.
Senate bill testimony (SB 926)- basically the same as the House testimony with some tweaks- has been submitted and is posted at the Senate link below. Hearing is upcoming. I’ll let you know if they post a video of it, and of the results as they become available.
Questions, comments, as always, please let me know!
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