Miss-Delectable
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The Cutting Edge News
AB 2072 was voted out of the suspense file in the California Appropriations Committee on August 12 and will go to the California Senate floor for a vote on August 16-17. Assembly Member Tony Mendoza introduced sixteen amendments which drastically changes the bill compared to the one voted out of the California Senate Health Committee. The California Deaf community believes that if this bill is passed in the Senate and eventually becomes law it will steer California toward eugenics again.
Because costs associated with this bill were estimated to be about $400,000, it was originally placed on the suspense file. After the amendments were made by Mendoza, the Appropriations Committee voted today that it will leave the suspense file for a vote on the Senate floor. Although the hearing today was open to the public, there was not an opportunity for comments on the sixteen amendments introduced by Mendoza, which were not disclosed to the opposition until after it was voted out of the Appropriations Committee.
The amendments introduced by Mendoza include language to add audiologists and physicians to the advisory panel in AB 2072. Mendoza struck out a section of the bill which would provide restrictions on special interests and those who have a conflict of interest from contributing to the trust fund to pay for the expenses related to developing the brochure. Furthermore, Mendoza wants to eliminate travel and other expenses necessary to ensure the advisory panel is able to perform its duties.
Adding those professionals to the advisory panel which ultimately decides the contents of the brochures distributed to parents of Deaf children after they are identified by an audiologist and when they enter an Early Start program will create an imbalance and a conflict of interest. Deaf Studies/American Sign Language Professor Kevin Clark warned Mendoza on August 9 that if amended AB 2072 will again become a eugenics bill and he will go down in history as reintroducing eugenics in California. Those warnings were not heeded by Mendoza and his legislative aide Rene Bayardo.
The California Deaf Newborn Identification and Advocacy Stakeholders Coalition believes that a majority of the members of the advisory panel should be Deaf or hard of hearing people representing diverse views because they are the ones who have to live with the choices parents make about their Deaf children. The representatives on the advisory panel from an equal balance of American Sign Language or auditory/oral approaches could serve in a balanced manner as parents, educators, researchers, non-profit organization representatives, or community members who do not have a financial conflict of interest. The amendments to include audiologists and physicians will disrupt this balance of representation.
Mendoza and California Academy of Audiologists Lobbyist Barry Brokaw believe that audiologists and physicians should be included on the advisory panel because they will be providing the information to the parents of Deaf children. They believe they should have a say in the information which will sway parents in decisions regarding their children's future because they are the experts in medical devices such as hearing aids and cochlear implants. They insist on this even though the California Deaf community has made it clear that there is a conflict of interest.
AB 2072 was voted out of the suspense file in the California Appropriations Committee on August 12 and will go to the California Senate floor for a vote on August 16-17. Assembly Member Tony Mendoza introduced sixteen amendments which drastically changes the bill compared to the one voted out of the California Senate Health Committee. The California Deaf community believes that if this bill is passed in the Senate and eventually becomes law it will steer California toward eugenics again.
Because costs associated with this bill were estimated to be about $400,000, it was originally placed on the suspense file. After the amendments were made by Mendoza, the Appropriations Committee voted today that it will leave the suspense file for a vote on the Senate floor. Although the hearing today was open to the public, there was not an opportunity for comments on the sixteen amendments introduced by Mendoza, which were not disclosed to the opposition until after it was voted out of the Appropriations Committee.
The amendments introduced by Mendoza include language to add audiologists and physicians to the advisory panel in AB 2072. Mendoza struck out a section of the bill which would provide restrictions on special interests and those who have a conflict of interest from contributing to the trust fund to pay for the expenses related to developing the brochure. Furthermore, Mendoza wants to eliminate travel and other expenses necessary to ensure the advisory panel is able to perform its duties.
Adding those professionals to the advisory panel which ultimately decides the contents of the brochures distributed to parents of Deaf children after they are identified by an audiologist and when they enter an Early Start program will create an imbalance and a conflict of interest. Deaf Studies/American Sign Language Professor Kevin Clark warned Mendoza on August 9 that if amended AB 2072 will again become a eugenics bill and he will go down in history as reintroducing eugenics in California. Those warnings were not heeded by Mendoza and his legislative aide Rene Bayardo.
The California Deaf Newborn Identification and Advocacy Stakeholders Coalition believes that a majority of the members of the advisory panel should be Deaf or hard of hearing people representing diverse views because they are the ones who have to live with the choices parents make about their Deaf children. The representatives on the advisory panel from an equal balance of American Sign Language or auditory/oral approaches could serve in a balanced manner as parents, educators, researchers, non-profit organization representatives, or community members who do not have a financial conflict of interest. The amendments to include audiologists and physicians will disrupt this balance of representation.
Mendoza and California Academy of Audiologists Lobbyist Barry Brokaw believe that audiologists and physicians should be included on the advisory panel because they will be providing the information to the parents of Deaf children. They believe they should have a say in the information which will sway parents in decisions regarding their children's future because they are the experts in medical devices such as hearing aids and cochlear implants. They insist on this even though the California Deaf community has made it clear that there is a conflict of interest.
