Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 827 amends provisions of the Penal Code relating to the offense of abandoning or endangering a child to include an elderly or disabled individual. The bill adds the additional offense of failure to provide food, medical care, or shelter for a child younger than 15 years or an elderly or disabled individual and makes it a second degree felony. The bill provides for an affirmative defense to prosecution if the act or omission was based on treatment in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized religious method of healing, and for a defense to prosecution if the person delivered the child to a designated emergency infant care provider.

Reason Given for Veto: "I support the intent of Senate Bill No. 827 to provide added protections to individuals who are elderly or disabled. However, the bill's flawed language has the unintended consequence of holding hospitals and hospital staff criminally liable for carrying out a patient's advanced directive to withhold lifesaving treatment. The bill would have provided a defense to prosecution if medical care or food is withheld based on an advanced directive or a living will. However, that defense did not extend to hospitals or their personnel."