Bill Text: CA SJR26 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Blood donations.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-1)
Status: (Passed) 2016-09-09 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 189, Statutes of 2016. [SJR26 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SJR26-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SJR 26 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 189
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 9, 2016
ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 31, 2016
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 17, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 9, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator De León
(Coauthor: Senator Leno)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Eduardo Garcia, Low,
Maienschein, and Mayes)
AUGUST 3, 2016
Relative to blood donations.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 26, De León. 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
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), had 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 2015, based on recommendations from the HHS
Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety and Availability, the
FDA promulgated revised 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
still exists under the policy as revised because it still treats 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, Argentina, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South
Africa, South Korea, and Spain 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 currently 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, The FDA is in the process of again reevaluating and
considering updating its blood donor deferral policies as new
scientific information becomes available, including the feasibility
of moving from the existing time-based deferrals related to risk
behaviors to alternate deferral options, such as the use of
individual risk assessments; 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;
and
WHEREAS, The American Public Health Association has stated that no
specific scientific rationale is provided to justify the 12-month
deferral policy. 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 sex 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; and
WHEREAS, One hundred fifteen members of the Congress of the United
States sent a letter to the FDA Commissioner, Dr. Robert M. Califf,
M.D., urging him to finally put an end to this outdated blood
donation policy and update it to reflect science, not fear; now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly 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 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 Secretary of the Senate 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.
