House passes physician-assisted suicide bill
Last week I voted against a bill to allow physician-assisted suicide in Illinois.
Senate Bill 1950 would add Illinois to the small number of jurisdictions in the country which permit physician-assisted suicide. The bill was overwhelmingly opposed by Illinois doctors. It would send the message to the most vulnerable among us that they are a burden and that their lives are worth less. It would open up the possibility of coercion by unscrupulous actors seeking to simply cut costs. It is an ethical Pandora’s Box.
The bill was promoted as “medical aid in dying,” but Illinois already has such services through palliative care and hospice care.
The language was hastily amended onto a different bill and then rushed to the House floor for a vote. The original bill had nothing to do with physician-assisted suicide. It instead dealt with “sanitary food preparation.”
It was just another example of the kind of sleight of hand tactics that are used in the busy final days of session to slip bills through the process. The bill which contained this year’s round of tax increases (I voted No) originally had to do with creating a commemorative date for Emmitt Till Day, while the budget implementation act (also No) started out as a bill to recognize the Hindu holiday of Diwali.
This deceptive and non-transparent process needs to end.
Standing for Second Amendment rights During the last days of session a pair of gun control bills were quickly brought to the floor and passed. Each has serious Constitutional issues, and both will create more problems for law-abiding gun owners. I opposed them both.
Senate Bill 8 puts excessive new firearm storage requirements on gun owners. Some of its provisions conflict with different parts, and other sections are unclear and confusing. It runs the risk of inadvertently making criminals out of law-abiding citizens because it is so unclear and hard to understand. Several questions were raised about the confusing aspects of the bill during the floor debate, but they were brushed aside by the majority who passed the bill.
A second gun control bill, House Bill 850, was an attempt to clean up the mess made by a gun control bill from a few years ago.
Illinois has been sued repeatedly over its “Clear and Present Danger” law by individuals claiming their rights were violated without due process and that their legally-owned firearms were seized unlawfully. Last week’s bill provides assistance to the Attorney General when he faces these lawsuits against the existing law which can result in FOID card revocation or denial without a formal hearing or adequate opportunity for the individual to contest the claim.
Both bills passed and are on their way to the Governor.
State Representative Dan Swanson • 275 N. Division St. • Woodhull, IL 61490 • (309) 334-7474
