Over the years, one consistent theme of frustration that I have heard out of Republican legislators in Sacramento has been that it is virtually impossible for a good conservative to pass meaningful
legislation through the Democrat controlled legislature. If you have a substantive idea for a bill, it either gets sandbagged because the liberals up there felt the bill wasn’t in line with their agenda, or, even if the majority likes the idea in your proposed bill, they have the same idea introduced by a Democrat member, and then you are forced to vote for someone else’s bill that implements your idea!
Every once in a while (make that a long while) a piece of meaningful legislation makes it through this gauntlet. I don’t know if the reason that the ‘Safely Surrendered Baby’ law was succesfully authored and pass by then Republican State Senator Jim Brulte (pictured) because he was the Republican Leader, but it is great that it did get through and signed into law.
It is a disconcerting statement about our society, in general, when a mother would take her newly born child, and abandon it. We won’t go into speculations as to the reason that a new mom would do this. But it was in response to this (happily rare) occurance that Jim Brulte shepherded this legislation into law. Simply put, the law provides that, "no parent or lawful custodian of a child 72 hours old or younger may be prosecuted for the crime of child abandonment if they voluntarily surrender physical custody of the child to an employee at a hospital emergency room."
Well, just this last week, a new mom did just what this law allows — she came to the emergency room at the Enloe Medical Center in Chico, California (way up in the northern end of the state). The mother quickly left. Under the law, she has up to 14 days to come back and reclaim her child.
This is a sobering story, and it really makes you ponder a lot of things. But one thing is for sure, in an era when it is hard for a Republican to make a difference in the State Legislature, there is a little baby sleepy comfortably at the Enloe Medical Center who will live a long and healthy life, thanks to a little help from Jim Brulte.
[Props to FR reader Robinette Cook for the tip on this story.]