LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

BATTLE WAGED OVER PATIENTS’ BILL OF RIGHTS

On the day before the key vote, the House adopted a number of controversial tax breaks which are intended to help people purchase health insurance. Tax-free Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) are opposed by most Democrats and health care consumer groups as costly (an estimated $49 billion in lost revenue by 2009) and not helping lower income families who really need --but can't afford -- health insurance.  Other provisions would assist the self-employed and small employers to band together to obtain insurance coverage.

Passage of H.R. 2723 was a clear defeat for Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and the House Republican leadership; they were pressing colleagues for a much weaker version, H.R. 2990, the Health Access Act, sponsored by Reps. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John Shadegg (R-AZ)) which offered very limited protections for HMO patients and would allow patients to sue their HMOs only after they have exhausted every other option.

The Bipartisan Consensus bill would apply to all Americans with private health insurance, while a Senate bill (S. 1344) that was passed in July would cover only 48 million persons who are in plans regulated by federal law.  Under the bipartisan bill, women could see their ob-gyn specialists directly, without going through a "gatekeeper," but would have another physician as their primary care doctor. H.R. 2723 also requires of HMOs payment for reasonable emergency room services without prior approval; the Senate bill would apply this requirement only to federally-regulated plans. Both the House and Senate bills would allow patients to pursue an appeals process (with outside experts) in challenging an HMO decision. A description of the key features of H.R. 2723 appears in the NOW Action Alert, issued October 6th, which appears on the NOW website at http://www.now.org/issues/health/alerts/100799.html
 

ACTION NEEDED:

SHELTER FUNDING, OTHER DV PROGRAM FUNDS NEED SUPPORT

ACTION NEEDED:

ADDITION OF SEX, DISABILITY TO HATE CRIMES BILL IS UNDER ATTACK

Sen. Hatch has said that his office has not heard anything from the women's and disability rights communities and believes that these two new categories (gender and disability) to the federal criminal statutes (18 U.S.C. Sec 245) does not have wide support. He further believes that including sex-based hate crimes will mean that the FBI will have to investigate all rape and sexual assaults. This latter assertion is one commonly invoked by opponents of sex-based hate crimes: HCPA would require that only the the crimes that clearly carry the hallmarks of a hate crime be investigated (such as serial domestic violen ce, rape and murder, mutilation which denotes hatred of women, or the use of hate-filled epithets).

After our meeting with him, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), a prime sponsor of S. 622, made a number of modifications to the bill and then met with Sen. Hatch in an effort to find agreement.

HCPA was approved by the Senate on July 22nd as an amendment to the Commerce/State/Justice (CJS) Appropriations bill (S. 1217). Because of the deadlock in Congress over the budget, it is not clear when the CJS spending bill will be finalized. Sen. Hatch's own hate crimes bill (S. 1406) was adopted onto the same spending bill; his weak bill asks for a study of how hate crimes are being enforced in the states and does not address current limitations in federal law or provide more tools to federal or state law enforcement officials to investigate and prosecute hate crimes.

Reportedly, Sen. Hatch is now holding up HCPA until he gets more religious organizations to back the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA, H.R. 1691), a pet Republican leadership bill which has already passed the House (and without provisions which would have protected lesbians and gay men as well as pregnant women from discrimination).
 

ACTION NEEDED:

VAWA REAUTHORIZATION STILL UP IN THE AIR

But Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) who has the power to hold back legislation is now saying that “VAWA may not be constitutional” and therefore, he may not take any action on reauthorization. The Senator is apparently playing games, since his reference is to the U.S. Supreme Court’s review of a very small part of VAWA, the civil remedy, in Brzonkala v. Morrison, et al. which will determine whether Congress acted within the scope of its Commerce Clause authority on that one part of VAWA. The civil remedy allows victims to sue their attackers in civil court. No other part of VAWA, including the funding provisions, has been challenged on constitutional grounds -- a fact of which Sen. Hatch is well aware.

On the House side, the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime held a hearing Sept. 29th that addressed reauthorization of Violence Against Women programs. Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL), chair of the  subcommittee, recently said that he wants move on VAWA reauthorization. Thanks  should go to Reps. Connie Morella (R-MD), Sue Kelly (R-NY), Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Barbara Cubin (R-WY) who sent a "Dear Colleague" letter urging Judiciary Committee Chair Henry Hyde (R-IL) and Rep. McCollum to go forward.

At the September hearing, the subcommittee also heard testimony on date rape committed with the use of drugs which render the victim unable to defend herself and on an anti-stalking bill (Stalking Protection and Victim Protection Act of 1999, H.R. 1869) which Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) is sponsoring. The bill would substantially improve federal statutes by providing a more inclusive definition of stalking and other measures (for instance, extending stalking to use of the Internet for that purpose). But the bill has several troublesome aspects that need to be addressed  -- such as denial of bail for stalking suspects and issuance of a permanent order of protection (that only the stalking victim could request lifting) that might possibly lead to more stalking behavior. Committee staffers are working on those improvements.
 

ACTION NEEDED:

LEGISLATION FOR CHILDREN WHO WITNESS VIOLENCE MAY BE DELETED

Observers close to the Conference Committee say that those provisions may be deleted from the CJS bill.  A bit of good news, though, is that Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues, will introduce parallel legislation in the House and push for adoption there.
 

ACTION NEEDED:

WELLSTONE AMENDMENT WOULD REWARD STATES FOR HELPING POOR FAMILIES

Advocates for the poor are working with Sen. Wellstone to promote changes in the way that welfare-to-work programs are structured so that states would be granted "high performance" bonuses if recipients actually attain some measure of economic stability.  Instead of awarding states who simply move people off welfare or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, the performance formula would include measures of employment success, provision of child care, Medicaid and food stamps. Wellstone's amendment would also reward states that have adopted the Family Violence Option (FVO) which provides confidential screening, counseling and other social services to battered women.  Many of the elements are from the Building Real Opportunities Bonus Act ("BOB", H.R. 699) which NOW/LDEF, NOW and other groups are promoting in this Congress.

More and more studies are indicating that while welfare rolls are dropping and many former recipients are finding jobs, not all are doing well. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and the Urban Institute have recently released reports which should cause alarm. These reports indicate that income for the poorest 20 percent of households gained only about $35 in annual income between 1990 and 1997 (while the richest 20% of households gained $15,000 annually). They also show that the poorest 20 percent of female-headed families with children(totaling 6 million people) had an average income decline of $580 per family during the period 1995 to 1997 (during the transition to welfare-to-work). Additionally, there has been a precipitous decline in food stamp applicants and the suspicion is that people are assuming because no longer receiving TANF assistance that they may not get food stamps.
 

ACTION NEEDED:

RAID ON TANF FUNDS WOULD HURT STATES' EFFORTS

ACTION NEEDED:

BATTERED IMMIGRANT WOMEN BILL TO BE INTRODUCED

ACTION NEEDED:

VAWA WEBSITE UP; DV AWARENESS MONTH EVENTS UNDERWAY

In addition, you can sign an online petition at the site, but please hurry and do this. We hope to present names of petition-signers to Congress in late-October. As of today, we have collected over 40,000 names from the site, through the mail and from concert-goers at the Lilith Fair Concert Tour.

To call attention to National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, numerous special events are being planned by NOW and the Task Force to End Domestic Violence. These include a Congressional Briefing held on Sept. 28th entitled, Violence Against Women: Overcoming Barriers to Safety and Services, co-sponsored by the National Council of Women's Organizations, which laid out the rationale for an expansion of services to battered women and highlighted program successes.

At a special kick-off event on October 4th, NOW and other battered women's advocacy groups participated in a The Day of Unity, hosted by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), with a press conference and award rally in New York and a related event in Washington.  Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Anthony Weiner (D-NY) attended. The event honored the Wireless Foundation (donating air time and Motorola for their CALL to Protect program which provides cell phones for battered women whose lives are endangered; some 11,000 new cell phones are being offered. Because having a cell phone can make the difference between life and death, members of the public are encouraged to donate cell phones.

On Oct. 6th, advocates held a March and Vigil at the Capitol memorializing many of the victims and survivors with a "Clothesline Around the Capitol" carrying t-shirts to represent Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Sheila Wellstone, wife of Sen. Paul Wellstone  and a long-time advocate for battered women.
 

ACTION NEEDED:

"UNBORN VICTIMS" OF VIOLENCE -- A STEALTH

Passage by the House at this time was intended as a show of strength to the Christian Coalition which had gathered in Washington for its annual meeting.

The sponsors of "Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 1999", Reps. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Charles Canady (R-FL), are hardcore reproductive rights opponents.  They claim this legislation would protect women and fetuses against violence, yet none of H.R. 2436's  sponsors have signed on to the Violence Against Women Act or have been leaders previously in the effort to combat violence against women.

Although intentional violence that causes a woman to miscarry or brings about harm to normal fetal development is a tragedy, the approach taken in this bill is grossly misguided and could threaten women’s reproductive rights. Injury inflicted upon a fetus is done so against a woman, therefore punishment for such crimes should be prosecuted as crimes against women.  This bill is simply a back door attempt to obtain separate rights for the fetus. Changing the criminal system to include independent prosecution for harming fetus is a dangerous legal precedent which would have broad implications in limiting women's rights, generally.
 

ACTION NEEDED:

MAINE VOTERS TO DECIDE ON ABORTION BAN

ACTION NEEDED:

FDA APPROVAL OF MIFEPRISTONE APPEARS MORE HOPEFUL

ACTION NEEDED:

WAL-MART PREVEN POLICY CLARIFIED, BUT NOT CORRECTED

The "reaffirmed" company policy states that "if a pharmacist won't fill a prescription -- for either Preven or other oral contraceptives -- the pharmacist must make a reasonable effort to ensure that it is filled either by another store pharmacist or another pharmacy."  The policy, obviously, excuses some pharmacists from their professional duty who may object to filling a prescription for a contraceptive on "moral" or religious grounds. There has been a well-coordinated effort by an anti-reproductive rights group, called Pharmacists for Life, to promote "moral" or religious objections to contraceptives. Their views equate with the more extreme one which says that all contraceptives are abortifacients.

ACTION NEEDED:

"TEEN ENDANGERMENT ACT" REVIVED"

The so-called Child Custody Protection Act (H.R. 1218) attempts to legislate family communication, but would have the opposite effect. Approximately 75% of young women already involve a parent when faced with an unintended pregnancy; but many would choose not to communicate with a responsible adult knowing that they may face a prison sentence. For those minors who cannot confide with their parents, most young women turn to a trusted adult. Ninety-three percent of minors are accompanied by an adult to an abortion clinic. Abortion rights opponents argue this bill is about parental rights; but it is just another limitation on women's access to reproductive health care.

Observers believe that if the Maine abortion procedures ban is adopted by the voters, then a number of anti-reproductive rights bills will begin to move through the Senate, including the "Teen Endangerment Act." Additionally, passage may mean losing two key votes in the Senate, Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins, on other reproductive rights measures, including their opposition to a federal abortion procedures ban.

ACTION NEEDED:

INSURANCE CONTRACEPTIVE COVERAGE BILL STALLED

Despite the fact that is widespread support for EPICC, there doesn’t seem to be much action to get it passed. (Although, as we have noted before, there is always Congressional support for appropriating millions to the military for Viagra, the male potency drug.)
 

ACTION NEEDED:

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES HEALTH PLANS RESTRICT CONTRACEPTION

The requirement also included a controversial exemption that allowed plans with religious objections to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage. This year, the fight was over an amendment offered by arch-abortion rights opponent Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) that would allow health plans under FEHBP to opt out of covering birth control for women if the plans held a "moral conviction" against birth control.  Smith argued that most contraceptives, including the emergency contraceptive Preven, are actually abortifacients. Rep. Smith also ventured that individuals -- like nurses or pharmacists -- could decline to provide contraceptive services without fear of discrimination from their employer.  Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) valiantly fought these amendments, but was unsuccessful.

The debate hints at the right-wing's long term goal of limiting and eventually prohibiting contraception as well as abortion. (FEHB plans disallow coverage for abortion services.)
 

ACTION NEEDED:

This Legislative Update was compiled by the Government Relations/Public Policy Team at the NOW office. Questions? Call Jan Erickson, Government Relations Director at (202) 628-8669, Ext 101. To receive free copies of any bill, call your U.S. Senator or Representative at (202) 224-3121 or connect to thomas.loc.gov   This update is mailed monthly to the NOW leadership. Any member can receive a copy of this update by mail for $25 per year, or you can read it at http://www.now.org/issues/legislat/   Join our Action Alert email network.