AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 16, 2018

AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 15, 2018

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 3, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

94

CHAPTER 245

Statutes of 2018

[ Approved by Governor September 5, 2018. Filed with Secretary of State September 5, 2018. ]

Introduced by Assembly Member Jones-Sawyer

February 2, 2017

An act to amend Section 401 of the Penal Code, relating to suicide.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: no   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law, the End of Life Option Act, until January 1, 2026, authorizes an adult who meets certain qualifications and who has been determined by his or her attending physician to be suffering from a terminal disease to request a prescription for an aid-in-dying drug. The act, with some exceptions, provides immunity from civil or criminal liability for specified actions taken in compliance with the act. Actions taken in accordance with the act do not, for any purpose, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, homicide, or elder abuse under the law.

Existing law makes a person who deliberately aids, advises, or encourages another to commit suicide guilty of a felony.

This bill would prohibit a person whose actions are compliant with the End of Life Option Act from being prosecuted for deliberately aiding, advising, or encouraging suicide.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 401 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

401.

(a) Any person who deliberately aids, advises, or encourages another to commit suicide is guilty of a felony.

(b) A person whose actions are compliant with the provisions of the End of Life Option Act (Part 1.85 (commencing with Section 443) of Division 1 of the Health and Safety Code) shall not be prosecuted under this section.