Cali. SB 920 Bites the Dust! (For now at least)
Yesterday, SB 920’s bill sponsor pulled the bill. Here is her statement. https://sd14.senate.ca.gov/news/press-release/hurtado-releases-statement-her-decision-pull-senate-bill-920
To recap, SB 920 is (was) a bill that would have allowed medical board investigators and consultants to show up at a physician’s office unannounced, execute a de facto, informal search warrant (without a judicial order) an give them a sneak peek at patient medical records to see if the Board wanted to subpoena the records. It is (was) a crazy and unconstitutional idea as I explained to the members in my 5-page letter which I sent them on Monday. (reproduced in my previous post, here https://wp.me/p7pwQD-1fP ).
First thing yesterday morning, I decided to contact the chief administrator of the senate committee responsible for the bill to try to drive the point home. I explained who I was, what I did for a living and told why the bill wouldn’t fly, and attached my previously submitted letter. She thanked me. Maybe it did nothing, or maybe it helped push this lemming-of-a-bill off the cliff. I would guess that many laypeople and physicians wrote in opposition to the bill, and those letters certainly helped.
However, we’re not necessarily out of the woods yet. She or someone else can refile the same or a similar bill this session. I don’t think a new bill will be so obviously unconstitutional, but that doesn’t stop her or some other legislature to try to come up with other ways to circumvent the state constitutional protections and the Fourth Amendment protection given to citizens.
So for now, we take the W, watch for a new iteration, and move on to what’s next.
Rick Jaffe, Esq.
6 thoughts on “Cali. SB 920 Bites the Dust! (For now at least)”
This is good news. But your caution about the bill returning really strikes me. Now that we have allowed our elected leaders and unelected bureaucrats to force masks and lockdowns and vax mandates, we have forever changed the rules and expectations. They’ve been given a free pass to forever attempt “to come up with other ways to circumvent the state constitutional protections” for all sorts of things. The Overton Window has both expanded and shifted. Our constitutional protections are absolute for a reason. Those red lines are supposed to force collaboration and a convincing through dialogue and the consent of the governed. But our ability to freely engage in dialogue has been shut down AND a seeming majority of Californians are okay with political whims dissolving those red lines. The mandates and executive orders and overreach will never end. There were people in March 2020 who warned of this. I was not one of them and I thought they were being hysterical. I was wrong.
Excellent educational letter to the legislator!! Those kinds of letters and actions make a huge impact on legislators and I think that is why the bill got pulled!! THANK YOU thank you. Rick.
I see in her comments Ms. Hurtado cannot tell the truth .
The truth is, we already have a system that “protects” patients from “bad” doctors – it’s our existing legal system which allows patients to sue for medical malpractice in a court of law.
SB 920 is a sneaky and dishonest attempt to subvert privacy laws and to police doctors who dare to dissent from the dictates of the State Medical Board.
My advice for Democrats is – stop lying to the people. We’re sick of it.
I’m sure having an attorney who specifically deals with vaccine related cases give them input helped significantly. Thank you so much for that. You’re on fire! Are you going to the rally? You gotta get even more fired up! 🙂
your welcome. I find I do my best work in front of a computer, then talking to judges, firing up a crowd, not so much. There are professional rabble-rousers for that and I defer to them.
Come for fun!