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Well that was interesting…
Wednesday HB350, lead sponsored by Rep Mike Cameron (R-Rossville), finally got a hearing in the Senate Human Services Committee. The folks from Bringing Newborn Safety Devices to Georgia were pretty antsy that their bill, after passing the House unanimously, was being held hostage in this damn committee. Why would God let this happen? Prayers requested.
Wednesday, their prayers were answered at the last minute when Senator Ben Watson added the bill to the schedule. Slated for 4:00 PM, the Baby Boxers were forced to wait 4 ½ hours to get heard. By then, the committee was ready to call it quits for the day and asked that they keep it short and sweet, which they did—thankfully. I have little sympathy for the Baby Boxers, since I had to wait 10+ hours in New Hampshire and Maine each to testify for OBC bills. Hand them a box of BC powders!
Prayer goes only so far, though, and the day didn’t go as well as they expected. Since Georgia Boxers have no compunction about stealing our rights and poaching our lives (bold mine) I’ll swipe their Facebook report followed by my own comments.
Today has been a mixed bag for sure! We got to the Capitol early for a 4 o’clock meeting that ended up being rescheduled 4 times before we finally settled in at 8:30. The meeting didn’t go quite as well as we had hoped. The decision was made to table HB350, but Senator Watson made it abundantly clear that they would take it up again next week. Huge thanks to Representative Mike Cameron for presenting the bill to the committee, to Tripp with Frontline Policy Action, to Mike with Georgia Baptist Mission Board, to Senator Watson for getting us on the agenda and giving HB350 a platform. Special thanks to the 4 members of the committee who voted to pass, and even thank you to the ones who voted to table. While we were very disappointed that we did not get a “DO PASS” tonight, we understand that you have some questions that you would like addressed and we have our homework assignment. Tonight, we are tired, frustrated and even a little sad, but tomorrow we will be better than ever and next week… well there will be no stopping us. From the beginning we have stated, “God’s timing.” Today is no different. Please keep praying for the passage of HB350. Thank you!
You can watch the hearing here (marker 49:50)
Here’s the gist: committee members have uncomfortable questions and concerns, some of which received adequate responses; others not so much. At least, unlike some leggies, they asked questions. It was difficult to catch the names of committee members speaking, so I won’t identify them unless I am positive.
Some hit good points. I don’t know who all contacted the committee, via our action alert, but Senator Kay Kirkpatrick (R-Marietta) clearly paid attention to the letters that Bastard Nation/Stop Safe Haven Boxes Now and Adoptee Advocates of Michigan sent. Unfortunately, no one questioned how Class Bastard feels about being boxed, but I give props to anyone who uses any of our talking points in a positive manner to send these measures to the Island of Fatuous Bills. Senator Kirkpatrick opened her discussion by asking who pays for the boxes. Then continued with:
- SHBB Inc monopoly control of boxes and all things boxes
- Safety problems, including UL certification. Sponsor Cameron responded that the boxes are UL certified. (Comment: I’ve not seen any SHBB Inc proof of this. Since this lack of certification has been a big deal for years, you’d think they could tell us. Or maybe they don’t want to remind anyone that for years they weren’t certified. Or maybe they want to make us look stupid.)
- Lack of state control over boxes beyond general specs; ex: state-mandated installation and safety checks, record keeping, etc. BB advocate Aimee Anderson verified to the committee that as far as she knows boxes are not regulated in any state. Sponsor Cameron responded that the corporation regulates, certifies, boxes, etc so,…well…what’s the problem? (Comment: Apparently, a fox has never visited a hen house in Georgia.
Senator Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) objected to baby abandonment boxes as impersonal, stressing the need for adult-to-adult “positive control” of a baby hand-over, but he is not on our side. He objected because the current trad law, in his opinion, isn’t adequate enough to cover baby dumping services needed by Georgia families. (Note: Georgia is an anomaly in that by law only mothers can use the safe haven “option.” ) Current safe haven procedures, in his words, need to be “broadened, and he’s ready to amend HB 350 to do it. Now!
According to Senator Setzler, the 30-day age limit is too short. He didn’t offer how much he wants to extend the age where babies can be SH’d, but some mothers need more than 30 days to figure out “I ain’t doin’ this.”.(Note to Senator: check out what happened in Nebraska 17 years ago when dozens of children and even teenagers from other states–but no newborns– were dropped off at hospitals, due to the state’s failure to legislate an age limit and consequently became the laughingstock of the nation.) He also complained that the current law discriminated against “bashful parents” (his words) by limiting use to mothers.
The bigly concern, though, is SH locations. Under current Georgia law, hospitals, fire stations, and police stations are designated safe haven drop-off points. HB350 adds ambulance stations to the list, but not 911 pick-up as some states offer. That’s just not good enough! *He would like to see police cars be authorized drop-off. spots. Flag down a cop! Senator Watson noted that by implication, this means every police car in the Peach State would be required to have an infant car seat on board, IOW: impractical! (Comment:: There is no way to know how many police cars patrol the streets of Georgia (I looked!), but a 2017 new story indicated that Atlanta had about 300 on the road. A quick perusal of Amazon indicates that a decent infant car seat costs about $90- $250, with a fancy high-end car seat with wheels at $350. That would come to $27,000 – $75,000 without wheels and $105,00 with—and all without other SHBB Inc or state-mandated procedural and medical training and equipment. This sounds like a Hard No.
But it gets better. I had to listen to this 8 times to be sure I heard it right, (and I’m still not sure if I did) but the senator also suggested elementary schools. WHAT??????!!!!!!!!!! Does this even demand a serious rebuttal? I don’t have to consult with Mrs Kelsey to know that this is a definite HARD NO.
I believe it is fair to say that the Bringing Newborn Safety Devices to Georgia folks were not happy with these weird suggestions that have nothing to do with their highly cultivated, lovingly crafted bill.
Members were also concerned about the lack of official statistics overall; that is, how many babies state and nationwide have been safe havened, how many have been discarded—a problem all of us across the spectrum complain about, but no state is interested in addressing.
Concerns were raised about mothers being identified when they use the trad law. SHBB advocate Aimee Anderson “explained” that when a mother does a walk-in she is NOT “anonymous.” She would be seen. Her height,. Her hair color. Why she might even end up on TikTok! Only Safe Haven Baby Boxes = anonymity. Andersson went into a “confidentiality “v “anonymity “speech. She ignored the fact that all relinquishments and adoptions, open or closed, are “confidential,” and that using this rusted hinge to hang their argument on is not only false, but undercuts Mrs. Kelsey’s grammatically and legally incorrect claim that “Safe Haven Baby Boxes are closed adoptions.” (We’ve written about that here.)
There was also a worry that the presence of boxes would encourage their use rather than trad hand-overs and, of course by implication ” normal “means of child relinquishment and redistribution.
I’ve saved the best for last: During his short testimony, Mike Griffin, the Public Affairs Rep for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, which represents 10% of churchy Georgians, compared Safe Haven Baby Boxes to convenience stores:
I grew up in era where we called these stores convenience stores–7-Elevens- Anybody remember that? Well, they call them convenience stores. Why? They call them convenience stores? They’re convenient. And when you make things more accessible and more convenient, you have more ability to be able to do some things to help save lives. I really believe this is what this will be.
If HB350 passes, can we look forward to Georgia replacing the saccharine Baby Grace and Baby Hope designations with Baby 7-Eleven, Baby Circle K, or the appropriately named Baby Quick Trip?
At the end of this dark-night-of the-soul hearing, the majority decided that the bill ”needs more work,” (always a bad sign for Baby Boxer hopes and dreams) and voted 8- 4 for the bill to be tabled until next week when committee meetings are schedued for Monday and Wednesday. As of this writing the committee’s agenda for this coming week is not posted.
Georgia’s legislative session ends April 6. Ideally SB350 will sine die itself, but it would sure would be a kick in the head if Georgia hoisted itself on its own petard, pulled a Utah, and amended out all of the baby box language and just added ambulance stations as drop-off locations.
Now is the time to strike. Please contact the Senate Health and Human Affairs Committee at ben.watson@senate.ga.gov, and ask them to vote DO NO PASS. Keep your letters short. Read our earlier Action Alert for more information here.
Fun Fact
In theory Georgia already has 1,798 drop off sites.
Hospitals: 141
Fire Stations: 999
Police Stations: 667
TOTAL: 1,807
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Due to continued connectivity problems (thank you, Spectrum!)! posting pf this blog was delayed.
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