Epileptic students is blocked by unions, democrats
from Huff's office:
Senator Bob Huff (R - Diamond Bar) announced today that Senate Bill 1051, a bill to help students suffering from a seizure while at school, was blocked by Democrats under pressure from public employee unions, despite the fact the bill has no costs to the state. SB 1051 failed to earn votes in Senate Appropriations, a committee tasked with analyzing fiscal aspects of legislation.
SB 1051 would have allowed volunteer school employees to be trained to provide emergency medical assistance to students suffering from a seizure. Volunteers would use FDA approved, Diastat, a pre-dosed preparation of diazepam gel. Diastat is a proven safe and effective treatment, specifically designed to be administered by people without medical training.
"It is alarming that Democrats won't permit volunteer, trained adults to help a child suffering from a seizure," said Senator Huff. "This medication can mean life or death for kids battling epilepsy. I just hope no child gets hurt."
Many school employee and nurses' unions, including the California Teachers Association (CTA) and the California Nurses Association oppose the measure, arguing that only nurses should administer Diastat. But proponents of the bill say it is vital to increase the number of trained individuals at school to administer the medication since a nurse may not be in the proximity of the child during the emergency.
"All of a sudden this became a jobs bill for the unions rather than a health bill for the kids," said Huff. "But the reality is we need volunteers who are close to the child to be able to save their life." A nurse may not be able to get to the child in time but a teacher will."
The CTA alone has spent more money in California politics than Chevron, AT&T, Philip Morris and Western States Petroleum Association combined, so it's no surprise that their opposition put a stop to the bill.
"This is the ugly side of Sacramento," said Huff. "But at some point you need to have some principles. I can't think of any situation where a union job is more important than a child's safety."
"As a mother of a child with epilepsy, this is incredibly disappointing and frankly frightening," said Julie DesJardins, Board member and Treasurer for the Epilepsy Foundation of America. "Without proper access to Diastat, parents like me will worry every day about what will happen if our child has a seizure at school."
"This is not the end of the road," Huff stated. "I'll continue to stand up for the 93,000 inCalifornia children who have epilepsy."
Why would a parent want a volunteer person to administer this when the law requires a nurse there to administer? We want quality of care!