I’ve read that Governor Newsom has over 500 bill sitting on his desk waiting for his signature. One of them is AB 2098, which would make it a disciplinable offense for a physician to provide a patient with advice or treatment recommendations not consistent with the mainstream ever-changing and often backtracking Covid narrative. I and many others have written much about the bill and why it’s a bad idea.

And of course, I have sued the Medical Board for its investigating physicians for spreading so called “Covid misinformation” to the public. The hearing on our Preliminary Injunction Motion (and the Board’s Motion to Dismiss) is tomorrow afternoon in Sacramento federal court. I hope and expect to come out of court with the injunction and some strong language from the judge. Stay tuned/follow my twitter account, @JaffeRick, for the breaking news.

The lawsuit will not have a direct effect on AB 2098, since the final bill says nothing about physicians’ public speech. However, it it will send an important signal to the Governor, and I hope and expect that he will be listening for it.

FYI, one of the activist groups let it known that they could put one letter on AB 2098 into the Governor’s hands. Because of my writing on the subject and my lawsuit on the closely related issue, it seemed like I’d be the guy. So, a couple weeks ago, I did send him a personal letter, based on my close to forty years of litigating health care cases in most of the states in the US, and of course as the attorney who is currently suing the Board for it’s pretty outrageous First Amendment and breach of trust conduct as outlined is some of my recent posts. I also let him know that me and some of my colleagues would be coming after AB 2098 next. I decided not to write about it or post the letter, so the Governor could mull it over with his legal advisors. (After spending the last four months basically thinking and writing pleadings and motion papers about nothing else other than professional speech, I think I have a pretty good handle on the issue.)

I suggested that he wait until Federal Judge John A. Mendez said what he was going to say tomorrow, September 27th before deciding whether to sign the bill. I suggested that he should consider what the judge says about the First Amendment and the government’s attempt to control speech by professionals. The only thing I know is that he hasn’t signed the bill yet, but as stated, there are hundreds of other bills which are awaiting his signature.

My view was and continues to be that AB 2098 will never go into effect because some court is going to enjoin its enforcement before it goes into effect in January. The issue got a little more complicated based on a Ninth Circuit decision a few weeks ago. However, I am still convinced that the Supreme Court and lower courts will not allow a medical board to restrict, interfere or sanction a physician for providing information to a patient, even if that information is against the current mainstream Covid narrative.

I think there will likely be several lawsuits challenging AB 2098 if the Governor signs the bill. But if we get the injunction tomorrow, I am hopeful and expect the Governor to read the tea leaves and veto the bill.

We’ll see soon enough. Wish me luck in the Quantum field.

Rick Jaffe, Esq.