The boards’ members are mostly appointed by the governor and have broad influence over the state’s economic life.
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“Despite Big Oil’s smokescreen, one thing is clear: California’s leadership and communities across the state are more committed than ever to reduce our dependence on petroleum and eliminate its devastating impacts on the health and well-being of Californians”, she said in a blog post. The California Electronic Communications Privacy Act, co-authored by senator Mark Leno, will keep the government out of the Golden State’s residents against warrantless surveillance of their digital data, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
“A significant part of the country now has a right to physician-assisted death”, said Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Irvine.
The resolution also called on churches and Christians “to care for the elderly among us, to show them honor and dignity, and to prayerfully support and counsel those who are providing end-of-life care for the aged, the terminally ill, and the chronically infirmed”.
California already has a few of the world’s toughest air quality standards, and set a mandate in 2006 to derive a third of its electricity from renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal by 2020.
But he lost a key political battle among moderate Democrats in Sacramento amid intense lobbying by the oil industry and California’s utilities.
People there have exercised this option sparingly – in the hundreds, not the thousands, over all those years. But she doesn’t expect that to happen elsewhere. The lawmakers sought greater oversight of state regulators, but Brown refused to give up what he viewed as executive authority.
“In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death”, wrote the Democratic governor, who has been treated for prostate cancer and melanoma.
California modeled its bill after Oregon’s law but added more safeguards. “I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain”.
California is now one of a handful of states that will allow adults suffering from terminal illnesses to end their own lives. “I am certain, however, that It would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill”, he concluded.
Maynard’s husband and mother testified at legislative hearings and met with undecided lawmakers. Here’s to hoping that other states follow suit.
The California measure applies only to mentally sound people and not those who are depressed or impaired.
Law enforcement had raised concerns about the law’s effect on child pornography investigations, but there are exceptions in cases where there is “an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to a person, that requires access to the electronic information without delay.”
In related news, Seniors Against Suicide has filed papers with the state Office of the Attorney General for a November 2016 ballot referendum that seeks to overturn the new law.
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To qualify for a referendum, they must collect more than 365,000 signatures.
