MT Republicans Fail to Protect Our Youth
HB 682 gets voted down
House Bill 682, which aims to provide a longer statute of limitations for minors harmed by gender medicine, and require insurance reciprocity, was not concurred in by the House yesterday, with nine Republicans voting with the Democrats. The vote was short by just two. Please take note of the nine and remember come next election that these legislators did not take a compassionate stand for youth who were sold a bill of goods when struggling with gender dysphoria:
Brad Barker - HD 55
David Beaty - HD 86
Julie Darling -HD 84
Sherry Essmann - HD 49
Llew Jones - HD 18
Bill Mercer - HD 52
Valerie Moore - HD 29
Eric Tillman - HD 23
Ken Walsh - HD 69
All hope is not lost, as a conference committee has been scheduled to hopefully work out an agreement between the two chambers, with three members of the House and three members of the Senate making up the committee. The members on the House side will be G.Kmetz, S.Fitzpatrick, and S.J. Howell. Pressure on Rep Fitzpatrick will be welcomed to stand strong on these protections. The hearing will be open to public comment, but is not scheduled as of yet.
SB 535, An Act Revising Laws Related To Experimental Treatments, is still awaiting a committee vote, pending one or two amendments from the sponsor. Again, this is not a party issue. I have a firm NO vote by J. Etchart, M. Cunningham, A. Regier, S. Kelly, and K. Love. Please keep urging a DO NOT PASS from:
Ed Buttrey 406-452-6460
SJ Howell 406-531-4445
Lynn Bennett 406-890-4468
Brian Close 406-582-0478
Scott DeMarois 406-560-6947
Brandon Ler 406-480-5687
Valerie Moore 406-385-7983
Terry Nelson Terry.Nelson@legmt.gov
Nelly Nicol 406-670-1745
George Nikolakakos 406-823-0363
James Reavis 406-498-2185
Curtis Schomer 406-672-9846
Jade Sooktis Jade.Sooktis@legmt.gov
Jane Weber 406-781-0741
Zooey Zephyr Zooey.Zephyr@legmt.gov
Some of our main opposition to SB 535 is:
The treatment centers would be using experimental therapeutics that have only passed phase 1 clinical trials. Keep in mind, phase 1 FDA approval means that 20-100 healthy, paid volunteers were administered the therapeutic to determine maximum dosing without unacceptable side effects. This is an incredibly small sample size, with no measurement of effectiveness. There is no plan with SB 535 to continue on to Phase 2 trials
The centers are not under obligation to submit their data to the FDA. Who is tracking any adverse reactions?
If the physicians are flying in from other states or countries, and bringing their patients with them (both stated in testimony), the MT Board of Medical Examiners may not know if a complaint was made by a patient.
There is no “Regulatory Clarity” as was stated multiple times during the proponent testimony. MT DPHHS would be tasked with licensing the experiment centers and adopting operational standards, creation of written policies and procedures, oversight mechanisms, facility inspections, etc, but until this is done, there is no clarity.
“Longevity” treatments were mentioned multiple times throughout the proponent testimony by the associates of the Alliance for Longevity Initiative (A4LI.org). This brings up ethical concerns as longevity and regenerative medicine commonly use human fetal embryonic stem cells (hESC) as well as gene editing. CRISPR is a gene-editing technology that allows for the alteration of DNA. They are also using it to modify human embryos. Many would call this playing God. Do we want to engage this in our state? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4975809/ There was no talk of using CRISPR technology during the hearing but there is nothing in the bill to restrict it.
I’ll use the quote from my friend, Darin Gaub; “SB 535 would turn Montana into a giant laboratory for medical tourism where doctors and patients would come to perform mostly unregulated, high risk human experiments down to the DNA level.”
Keep the pressure on! This crazy, unpredictable and sometimes frustrating session is coming to a close. Defeating this bill will make it all worth it! Please help protect Montana from becoming the Wild West of biotech perdition.
I imagine these nine Republicans are the same ones we are looking to recall because they have voted with the Democrats on almost every issue - having lied to their mostly Republican constituents who elected them, believing they would represent the WILL of the voters who elected them - who were not supporters of the Democrat party. IIRC, they have been labeled the "Out of Line Nine". What a crime.