Bill Text: CA AJR16 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Blood donations.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 49-6-1)
Status: (Passed) 2015-09-21 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 194, Statutes of 2015. [AJR16 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AJR16-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AJR 16 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 194
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 21, 2015
ADOPTED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 25, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 25, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 8, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Eduardo Garcia, Bloom, and Low
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Atkins, Chiu, Eggman, Cristina
Garcia, Achadjian, Alejo, Baker, Bonilla, Burke, Calderon, Campos,
Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Daly, Dodd, Frazier, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández,
Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lopez, Maienschein, Mayes,
McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)
MAY 13, 2015
Relative to blood donations.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 16, Eduardo Garcia. Blood donations.
This measure would call upon the President of the United States to
encourage the Secretary of the United States Department of Health
and Human Services to adopt policies to repeal the current and
upcoming discriminatory donor suitability policies of the United
States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding blood donations
by men who have had sex with another man and, instead, direct the FDA
to develop science-based policies such as criteria based on risky
behavior in lieu of sexual orientation.
WHEREAS, Since 1983, the United States Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), an agency under the United States Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS), has prohibited the donation of
blood by any man who has had sex with another man (MSM) at any time
since 1977; and
WHEREAS, In December 2014, based on recommendations from the HHS
Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability, the
FDA announced its intent to promulgate regulations to allow an MSM to
donate blood only if he has not been sexually active for the past 12
months. Despite these recent steps toward a policy change, a double
standard would still exist under the policy as it is proposed to be
revised because it would still treat gay and bisexual men differently
from heterosexual men; and
WHEREAS, California law prohibits discrimination against
individuals on the basis of actual or perceived sex, sexual
orientation, gender identity, and gender-related appearance and
behavior; and
WHEREAS, Spain, Italy, Russia, Mexico, and Portugal have adopted
blood donor policies that measure risk against a set of behaviors,
sexual and otherwise, rather than the sex of a person's sexual
partner or partners; and
WHEREAS, The FDA does not allow gay and bisexual men in committed
relationships to donate blood because, while one partner may be
monogamous, that individual cannot guarantee that the other partner
is monogamous. The FDA does not apply this same logic to heterosexual
relationships, which in effect discriminates against gay and
bisexual men; and
WHEREAS, A 12-month deferral policy for gay and bisexual men to
donate blood is overly stringent given the scientific evidence,
advanced testing methods, and the safety and quality control measures
in place within the different FDA-qualified blood donating centers.
The technology can identify within 7 to 10 days with 99.9 percent
accuracy whether or not a blood sample is HIV-positive, and the
chance of the blood test being inaccurate within the 10-day window is
about 1 in 2,000,000; and
WHEREAS, The General Social Survey conducted by NORC at the
University of Chicago estimates that 8.5 percent of men in the United
States have had at least one male sexual partner since 18 years of
age, 4.1 percent of men report at least one male sex partner in the
last 5 years, and 3.8 percent report a male sex partner in the last
12 months; and
WHEREAS, An estimated 45.4 percent of men (54 million) in the
United States are eligible to donate blood, but only 8.7 percent of
eligible men actually do. There are 15.7 million donations of blood
per year made by 9.2 million donors, yielding approximately 1.7
donations per donor; and
WHEREAS, The Williams Institute of the University of California at
Los Angeles School of Law estimates that, based on the population of
eligible and likely donors among the MSM community, lifting the
federal lifetime deferral policy on blood donation by an MSM would
result in 4.2 million newly eligible male donors, of which 360,600
would likely donate, generating 615,300 additional pints of blood.
Applying national estimates to the California population, the
Institute further estimates that lifting the ban on MSM blood
donations would add an additional 510,000 eligible men to the current
blood donor pool, of which 43,917 would likely donate, resulting in
an additional 74,945 donated pints in California; now, therefore, be
it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the California State Legislature calls upon
the President of the United States to encourage the Secretary of the
United States Department of Health and Human Services to adopt
policies to repeal the current and upcoming discriminatory donor
suitability policies of the United States Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) regarding blood donations by men who have had
sex with another man and, instead, direct the FDA to develop
science-based policies such as criteria based on risky behavior in
lieu of sexual orientation; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health
and Human Services, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.
