Supporters Move Assisted Suicide Efforts To Senate To Avoid Deadline

Sacramento, CA — The authors of an doctor-assisted-suicide bill have suspended their efforts to get the California Assembly to approve the measure and have shifted their focus to the state Senate.

Assembly members Patty Berg of Eureka and Lloyd Levine of Sherman Oaks say they will amend the contents of their bill into unrelated legislation that has already passed the Assembly and is awaiting votes in the Senate.

That will enable them to keep their effort alive despite Friday´s deadline for most bills to pass their first house.

The amended bill will still need to come back to the Assembly for a vote if it passes the Senate, but Berg and Levine say their tactic will give them more time to try to round up Assembly support.