Last Tuesday, April 20th I got to experience Lobby Day for the first time at the state capital building with Donate Life – Golden State Donor Services. It was a great day met several senators to encourage their support for SB 1395 – Alquist Altruistic Living Donor Registry which was presented to legislature on Wednesday, April 21 and passed! The Summary provided by Donate Life states:
The intent of this bill is to increase altruistic living kidney donation by amending existing law to authorize the creation of an Altruistic Living Donor Registry for the State of California. This bill will also increase deceased organ donation by strengthening the partnership between Donate Life California and the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Conceptually, the Altruistic Living Donor Registry will capture the intent of potential altruistic donors among California residents, provide reliable and accurate information about living donation, and facilitate the process of evaluation at a transplant center.
Thanks to our partnership with the DMV, 6.4 million Californians have enrolled in the Donate Life California Registry. However, this number is equivalent to only 23% of licensed drivers.
The current DMV form has a ‘Yes’ checkbox only; so if the box is not checked, DMV clerks are not authorized to ask if the customer meant to leave the question unanswered.
I also sat through & supported extended medical bill for anti-rejection medicine coverage. This was a great experience & blessed to be apart promoting the quality of care and organ donation for patients like me! It was neat to see the process of a bill being presented into legislature and to be able to testify on its behalf. I broke the rules and said more than I should have but needed to explain that I was 8 week post transplant right there is a miracle for me to be up there. This shows how Organ Donation saves lives!
This bill is definitely near and dear to my heart since one altruistic live donor started my chain of 8 that ultimately gave me my gift of life. This bill would create more of an awareness to the choices for organ donation. My participation in these 2 bills with donate life – GSDS definitely meant a lot to me since it has a personal effect on my life! This only gives me a vision in what God’s cotinued purpose for my life!
Press surrounding these two bills:
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST AB 998, as introduced, John A. Perez. Medi-Cal: organ transplants:anti-rejection medication. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by theState Department ..
