Photo by joebeone via Flickr
Eleven states have issues on their Nov. 4 ballots dealing with various health issues. The issues up for vote deal with abortion, stem cell research, hospital financing, medicinal use of marijuana, assisted suicide and more. The information presented here is just a summary of each initiative; reporters covering these issues should follow the links to information provided by each state.
Information also is available from the National Conference of State Legislatures, including a webinar on "State ballot issues and top 10 battlegrounds."
Arizona
Proposition 101 Freedom of Choice in Health Care
This would amend the state constitution to provide that no law shall:
- Restrict a person's freedom to choose a private health care plan or system of their choice.
- Interfere with a person's or entity's right to pay directly for lawful medical services.
- Impose a penalty or fine, of any type, for choosing to obtain or decline health care coverage.
- Impose a penalty or fine, of any type, for participation in any particular health care system or plan..
Get more information. | Status: Too close to call
California
Proposition 3: Children’s Hospital Bond Act
This measure authorizes the state to sell $980 million in general obligation bonds for capital improvement projects at children's hospitals. The measure specifically identifies the five University of California children's hospitals as eligible bond fund recipients. There are additional children's hospitals that are likely to meet other eligibility criteria specified in the measure, which are based on hospitals' performance in the 2001–02 fiscal year. These criteria include providing at least 160 licensed beds for infants and children.
The money raised from the bond sales could be used for the construction, expansion, remodeling, renovation, furnishing, equipping, financing, or refinancing of children's hospitals in the state. Eighty percent of the monies would be available to nonprofit children's hospitals and the remaining 20 percent would be available to University of California children's hospitals. The California Health Facilities Financing Authority would oversee the grant process.
Get more information. | Status: Passed
Proposition 4: Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy
This measure would amend the state constitution to require, with certain exceptions, doctors to notify the parent or legal guardian of a pregnant minor at least 48 hours before performing an abortion involving that minor. It does not require the consent of parent or guardian and does not apply to emancipated minors. A doctor would provide the required notification either through personal written notification or through mailed notification.
Exceptions to the notification requirements include medical emergencies; cases in which a parent or guardian has signed a waiver, in cases which involve abuse by the parent (in which case the law would require notification of another adult family member and a report to law enforcement) and waivers approved by juvenile courts that determine the minor is capable of making the decision to have an abortion.
Get more information. | Status: Appears to not have passed
Colorado
Amendment 48: Definition of Person
The amendment would amend the Colorado Constitution to:
- define the term "person" to "include any human being from the moment of fertilization"; and
- apply this definition of person to the sections of the Colorado Constitution that protect the natural and essential rights of persons, allow open access to courts for every person, and ensure that no person has his or her life, liberty, or property taken away without due process of law.
Read the text of the amendment and get more information (see page 9).| Status: Did not pass
Photo by Wesley Fryer via Flickr
Maine
Referendum Question 1: People's Veto – Beverage Tax
This referendum asks whether Maine voters want to approve or disapprove those portions of newly enacted legislation that change the method of funding the Dirigo Health Program, established by the Legislature in 2005: Do you want to reject the parts of a new law that change the method of funding Maine’s Dirigo Health Program through charging health insurance companies a fixed fee on paid claims and adding taxes to malt liquor, wine and soft drinks?
Get more information. | Status: The people's veto passed, repealing the beverage tax funding the Dirigo Health Program.
Michigan
Proposal 08-1: A Legislative Initiative to Permit the Use and Cultivation of Marijuana for Specified Medical Conditions
The proposed law would:
- Permit use of marijuana by registered patients with debilitating medical conditions including cancer, glaucoma, HIV, hepatitis C, epilepsy and MS.
- Permit registered individuals to grow marijuana for qualifying patients in an enclosed, locked facility.
- Require Department of Community Health to establish a registry system for patients qualified to use marijuana and individuals qualified to grow marijuana.
- Require Department of Community Health to establish a procedure for considering the expansion of medical conditions which can be treated with medical marijuana.
- Permit unregistered patients and primary caregivers to assert medical reasons for using marijuana as a defense to any prosecution involving marijuana.
Get more information. | Status: Passed
Proposal 08-2: A Proposal to Amend the State Constitution to Permit Human Embryo and Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research in Michigan:
The proposed constitutional amendment would:
- Allow use of human embryos for any research permitted under federal law if the embryos:
- are created for fertility treatment purposes;
- are not suitable for implantation or are in excess of clinical needs;
- would be discarded unless used for research; and
- were donated by the person seeking fertility treatment.
- Provide that stem cells cannot be taken from human embryos more than 14 days after cell division begins.
- Prohibit any person from selling or purchasing human embryos for stem cell research, therapies or cures.
- Prohibit state laws that prevent, restrict or discourage stem cell research, therapies or cures.
Get more information. (page 14) | Status: Passed
Missouri
Proposition B: Home Care
Shall Missouri law be amended to enable the elderly and Missourians with disabilities to continue living independently in their homes by creating the Missouri Quality Homecare Council to ensure the availability of quality home care services under the Medicaid program by recruiting, training, and stabilizing the home care workforce?
The exact cost of this proposal to state governmental entities is unknown, but is estimated to exceed $510,560 annually. Additional costs for training are possible. Matching federal funds, if available, could reduce state costs. It is estimated there would be no costs or savings to local governmental entities.
Get more information. | Status: Passed
Montana
I-155: Healthy Montana Kids Plan Act
This act would expand and coordinate health coverage for uninsured children under the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Montana Medicaid Program, and employer-sponsored health insurance. The State Health Department may: raise income eligibility levels for children under CHIP and Medicaid; simplify transitions between CHIP and Medicaid coverage; provide assistance for children in employer-sponsored insurance; and work with health care providers, schools, organizations, and agencies to encourage enrollment of uninsured children. Funding for I-155 will come from a share of the insurance premium tax and federal matching funds.
Get more information. | Status: Passed
New Mexico
Bond Question 3/C: Health Facility Improvement Bonds
The 2008 Capital Projects General Obligation Bond Act authorizes the issuance and sale of health facility improvement bonds. Shall the state be authorized to issue general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $57,925,000 to make capital expenditures for cancer research and treatment facilites, other statewide and regional health facilities, educational facilities for statewide dental services and public health and behavioral health facilities and provide for a general property tax imposition and levy for the payment of principal of, interest on and expenses incurred in connection with the issuance of the bonds and for the collection of the tax as permitted by law?
Get more information. (page 16) | Status: Passed
North Dakota
Statutory Measure 3: Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Program
This measure would establish a tobacco prevention and control advisory committee and an executive committee; develop and fund a comprehensive statewide tobacco prevention and control plan; and create a tobacco prevention and control trust fund to receive tobacco settlement dollars to be administered by the executive committee.
Get more information. | Status: Passed
South Dakota
Initiated Measure 11: Reinstate Prohibition Against Abortion
Measure 11 would prohibit all abortions performed by medical procedures or substances administered to terminate a pregnancy, except for: abortions medically necessary to prevent death or the serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily organ or system of the woman; and abortions to terminate a pregnancy of less than 20 weeks resulting from rape or incest reported to law enforcement. When an abortion is performed as a result of reported rape or incest, the woman must consent to biological sampling from herself and the embryo or fetus for DNA testing by law enforcement. Measure 11 would allow the provision of contraception substances prior to the time pregnancy can be determined by conventional medical testing, or assistance in obtaining abortions in states where the procedure is legal.
Get more information. (page 8) | Status: Did not pass
Washington
Initiative 1000: Allowing Certain Terminally Ill Competent Adults to Obtain Lethal Prescriptions
This measure would allow a terminally ill, competent, adult Washington resident who is medically predicted to have six months or less to live, to request and self-administer lethal medication prescribed by a physician. The attending physician with primary responsibility for care of the patient would be required to determine that the patient has an incurable, irreversible disease expected to cause death within six months; that the patient is competent; that the patient has demonstrated Washington residency; that the request is voluntary; and that the patient is making an informed decision. A second, consulting physician, would be required to confirm that the patient is terminally ill, competent, and has made an informed and voluntary decision. The measure defines competent as having the ability to make and communicate an informed decision to health care providers. The measure defines an informed decision as a qualified patient's decision to request and obtain a lethal prescription, based on an appreciation of the relevant facts and after being fully informed by the attending physician of his or her diagnosis, prognosis, the risks and probable result of ingesting the medication, and feasible alternatives.
Get more information. | Status: Passed
Initiative 1029: Long-Term Care Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities
This measure would require that all long-term care workers for the elderly or disabled hired after Jan. 1, 2010, be certified by the state Department of Health as a "home care aide" within 150 days of being hired. The worker would be required to complete 75 hours of training as a home care aide and pass a certification examination.
