Legislative Committees
House Public Health
Committee Members:
- Diane Delisi - Chair
- Ellen Cohen
- Garnet Coleman
- Veronica Gonzales
- Jim Jackson
- Susan King
- Jodie Laubenberg
- Dora Olivo
- Vicki Truitt
Former Members
Senate Health & Human Services Committee Members:
Legislative committees shape legislation and decide if and how it will go to the floor for vote. In the case of the Advance Directives Act of 1999, originally S.B. 1260, the bill breezed through the health committees of both branches of the 76th legislature and was placed on the Local and Uncontested Calendar, where unopposed bills are voted on. In other words, the Futile Care Law didn't receive a single opposing vote as it made its way through the legislature into hospitals that now practice involuntary euthanasia on patients.
Several members of the 76th Legislature's House Public Health Committee and Senate Health Services Committee (now the Health and Human Services Committee) still serve on those committees. These individuals bear greater responsibility for this immoral law than newer committee members.
In the House Public Health Committee, current members who voted in the 76th Legislature to send the Futile Care Law to the Local and Uncontested Calendar are: Chair, Diane Delisi, Vice-Chair, Garnet Coleman, and Vicki Truitt
In the Senate, apparently only Chair Jane Nelson participated in the 76th Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee that sent the Futile Care Law to the Local and Uncontested Calendar.
I can't imagine what members of the 76th Legislature were thinking, if they were thinking at all, when they passed the Futile Care Law. But this many years later, the devastating effects of the law on Texas patients and their families cannot be denied. We can only hope that members of the legislature and the health committees have been paying attention to the way this law has violated the rights of Texas citizens.
To the right you'll find links to information pages for the House and Senate Health committee members. You'll find contact information as well as details about campaign contributions from 1998 forward. Contact these committee members and let them know how you feel about this law and your expectations on their vote. Let them know that you and others are watching their actions in this matter.