Bully Bill (SB501) Prognosis

As of today, SB 501 (the bully bill) is still pending action by Governor Ige.  It was sent to him on May 4, 2017. Since there is a lot of email going around from other groups we decided to give you a breakdown of what may happen with the bill.

The bill passed the House (38 yesses, 12 noes and 1 excused) and Senate (22 yesses and 3 noes) by a huge margin.  Keep these numbers in mind because it plays in a potential scenerio should the Governor veto the bill.

The Governor has to send the Legislature his intent to veto list by June 26th
(the 35th day after adjournment sine die) although that doesnt mean it is a guaranteed veto.  This decision must be made by July 11th.  If SB 501 doesn’t make the potential veto list, it will become law on the bill’s effective date with or without the Governor’s signature.

Although we believe this is very unlikely, the Governor could veto the bill, and if that happened, it would be sent back to the legislature with a statement outlining why Governor Ige found the legislation unacceptable.  That means the bill could not become law unless that veto is overridden.

If that happened, the House and Senate most likely would call themselves back into Special Session in order to attempt an override to his veto. For a bill to become law after being vetoed, it must pass with a 2/3 super majority vote in each chamber (34 in the House and 17 in the Senate). If the bill fails to garner those votes in either chamber, it is dead, and does not become law.

In the case of a veto on SB501, we would need the legislature to do nothing – in other words, let the veto stand.  That seems highly unlikely.

A veto does not mean the end of the battle.  In fact, if the bill were to be vetoed and by a sheer miracle, the legislature did nothing and allowed it to remain vetoed, Planned Parenthood would be back in 2018 with a vengence.  We would have the fight all over again in the 2018 legislature.

On the other hand, if the bill (which we believe is unconstitutional) passes, we strongly believe we will kill it in court and for the first time in years, we will have a bona fide, concrete, pro-life win and Planned Parenthood will need to go find another bone to chew.

So what is the call to action?  That is simple.  There is nothing wrong with calling the Governor and asking him to veto the bill.  In fact, if you want to do that, you can call him at (808) 586-0034 and tell him to veto SB 501.  Click here for more information on the bill and to contact Governor Ige.

We are thrilled that we will be able to raise our voices in a court of law to show the injustice of bullying pregnancy resource centers.  Even if we lose in the lower courts, an ultimate victory in the Supreme Court would stop the bullying once and for all.