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Will 2009 be the year Texas approves needle exchange? Senate committee to hear syringe access bill today

Maybe this will be the year when Texas legislators finally get the point.This morning, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee will hear SB 188 by Senators Robert Deuell and Leticia Van de Putte authorizing local governments in Texas to operate needle exchange programs if they choose to do so to prevent the spread of disease, particularly HIV and Hepatitis.We can be pretty sure the legislation has the votes to pass the Senate: Eight of the nine Health and Human Services committee members voted for the bill on the Senate floor in 2007, when twelve Republicans joined 11 Democrats on a final vote of 23-8 to approve the same legislation. What's more, Sen. Kim Brimer, an opponent of the bill, was replaced by Democrat Wendy Davis, whittling the number of known opponents down to seven: Not enough under the 2/3 rule to block the bill...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on March 03, 2009 (boomark / email).