Physician-assisted suicide bill clears first legislative hurdle
Photo I Chris Lisinski/SHNS
Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester) speaks at an event in support of medical aid in dying legislation, while an opponent of the controversial policy holds up a sign behind the podium on June 3.
Legislation that would authorize physician-assisted suicide in Massachusetts cleared its first committee hurdle, this time more quickly than in the past thanks to a new House rule.
House members of the Joint Committee on Public Health on Friday favorably reported the bill (H 2505). Nine of 11 representatives on the panel supported it, including ranking GOP Rep. Hannah Kane of Shrewsbury.
Republican Rep. Justin Thurber of Somerset voted against advancing the bill, and Democrat Rep. Bruce Ayers of Quincy did not vote.
Lawmakers convened an early hearing on the measure, which continues to draw intense, sometimes emotional opposition. That event began running the clock: under a House rule newly implemented this term, each joint committee must report on a bill within 60 days of its public hearing, with an initial 30-day extension available.
The Public Health Committee took advantage of that first extension and then issued its decision Friday, according to the House clerk's office, ahead of its July 1 deadline.
It's the fourth straight session that the Public Health Committee recommended passage of legislation dealing with what some supporters refer to as medical aid in dying. Last term, the Health Care Financing Committee for the first time endorsed the bill, but it never emerged from the Senate Way and Means Committee.
The proposal would allow a mentally sound adult with a prognosis of six months or less to live to request and receive a prescription for medication that, when self-administered, would end their life.
Last session, the bill was filed in February 2023, received a Public Health Committee hearing in October 2023, and then earned that committee's support more than five months later.
Legislative leaders have not given any indication if they support the legislation, which seeks to legalize and regulate a practice voters rejected in a 2012 ballot question by a margin of 51% to 49%. Gov. Maura Healey has previously said she backs the idea with proper guardrails in place.
The Public Health Committee also issued favorable reports on about half a dozen other bills dealing with automated external defibrillators at sporting event facilities and athletic trainer regulations.
The committee published results of the polls under a "documents" tab on the agenda and livestream page for the April 2 hearing where the bill was reviewed. The voting results do not appear on the individual bill page.
New joint rules lawmakers touted as a way to make their business more transparent and publicly accessible require joint committees to "cause the record of such roll call or electronic poll to be available on the official website of the General Court within 48 hours of such roll call."
Update: The committee's public-facing poll results initially did not list any vote taken by Rep. Samantha Montaño of Boston. An aide said Wednesday that Montaño voted in favor of advancing the bill.
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