Assisted death bill fails again in Capitol

Despite the efforts of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, legislation to allow terminally ill people to hasten their deaths was shelved Thursday for lack of support.

Certain they didn’t have the votes to pass it, the bill’s authors in effect killed it, at least until January, by not bringing it up for a vote on the Assembly floor.

Nunez, a Los Angeles Democrat, co-wrote the bill, to the consternation of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and other Catholic leaders.

“Compassionate choice is an issue that has made its way to the voters, and I think the voters are ready to pull the trigger on it,” Nunez said, “but it’s very difficult because of the way the issue has been demonized by the religious right and by groups that obviously have campaigned very hard against it.”

Marilyn Golden, a policy analyst with the nonprofit Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, said more than religious opposition defeated the bill. She noted that many groups representing doctors, the disabled and poor people opposed the measure. They argued that sick people could be coerced to end their lives to save medical costs.

Lawmakers including liberal Democrats “understand that this profit-driven healthcare system is not a good combination with legalized assisted suicide,” Golden said.

This is the second time that such legislation has suffered a quiet defeat. In 2005, a similar bill passed two Assembly committees but never faced a full vote in the Assembly.

This year’s legislation, AB 374, was written by Nunez, Assemblywoman Patty Berg (D-Eureka) and Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys). It was modeled after a 1994 Oregon law. Oregon officials reported this year that since the law took effect in 1998, 292 residents have used it to get a lethal prescription -- usually barbiturates -- to end their lives. Most had cancer.

Another contentious bill that didn’t survive Thursday’s legislative deadline to move all bills from their house of origin was a measure that originally would have made it illegal for parents to spank children younger than 4.

The bill, AB 755 by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber (D-Mountain View), sparked national debate -- and ridicule. In the face of resistance from fellow Democrats, Lieber eliminated the spanking ban from her bill. Still, the amended bill, aimed at making it easier to prosecute parents for child abuse, failed to clear the Assembly Appropriations Committee last week.

In this week’s crush of activity, lawmakers defeated a bill to tax those who buy gas guzzlers. They approved measures to ban smoking in cars carrying minors, allow the release of incapacitated inmates, eliminate trans fats from school cafeterias and restaurants, and label fruity alcoholic drinks.

Assemblyman Ira Ruskin (D-Redwood City) failed to muster more than 35 of the 41 votes needed to pass AB 493, a bill that would have taxed buyers of muscle cars, sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and other big gasoline users up to $2,500. The money would have been used to cut the cost of hybrids and other more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Ruskin argued that his bill would “put more clean cars within the reach of middle-class families and disadvantaged families.” But Republicans called it market interference.

“We should not be in the business of picking market winners and losers,” said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine).

That theme -- the dominant Democrats presenting legislation that minority Republicans decried as meddlesome -- prevailed this week as the Senate and Assembly voted on hundreds of bills.

The action included:

* Senate approval of a bill that would impose a fine of $100 on anyone smoking in a car -- moving or not, even in the motorist’s own driveway -- carrying a child younger than 18. Police would not be allowed to stop drivers only to enforce the proposed law under last-minute amendments to SB 7 by Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D-Long Beach); it passed 22 to 16.

* Assembly passage of a bill to ban restaurants from using trans fats -- hydrogenated oils linked to heart disease -- starting in 2010, and Senate passage of a bill to eliminate trans fats from food sold through school vending machines or by private contractors on campus starting in 2009. AB 97 by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) passed 42 to 31 and SB 490 by Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara) passed 25 to 12. A third bill, SB 20 by Sen. Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch), bans trans fats from school cafeteria food starting next year. It passed 27 to 10.

* Assembly passage of a bill to allow state prison inmates who are brain dead, in a coma, on a ventilator or otherwise in need of round-the-clock care to be released early. AB 1539 by Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank) passed 41 to 34.

* Assembly approval of a bill to ban certain uses of flame retardants that were found to cause cancer in the 1970s and banned decades ago from use in children’s sleepwear. AB 706 by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) would prohibit the use of chlorinated and brominated flame retardants in bedding and furniture starting in 2010. It passed 46 to 31.

* Assembly passage of a bill to require the makers of malt beverages that look like colas, energy drinks, sodas and fruit drinks to clearly label them as alcoholic and include the alcohol content. AB 346 by Assemblyman Jim Beall Jr. (D-San Jose) passed 58 to 10.

* Assembly approval of legislation that would give cities and counties more power to stop the conversion of mobile home parks into condominiums. AB 1542 by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) aims to protect seniors and poor people from losing their homes when a mobile home park owner chooses to subdivide the property and sell the land to residents. The bill passed 41 to 31.

* Assembly approval of a bill that would put on next June’s ballot a test of public campaign financing. Voters would be asked to spend an estimated $130 million paying for the campaigns of candidates who meet certain qualifications in one Assembly race, one Senate race and the governor’s race in 2010. The candidates would have to raise some small donations. AB 583 by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) passed 45 to 34, without Republican support.

nancy.vogel@latimes.com