Amended in Assembly August 17, 2016

Amended in Senate August 9, 2016

Senate Joint ResolutionNo. 26


Introduced by Senator De León

(Coauthor: Senator Leno)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Eduardo Garcia, Low,begin insert Maienschein,end insert and Mayes)

August 3, 2016


Senate Joint Resolution No. 26—Relative to blood donations.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SJR 26, as amended, De León. Blood donations.

This measure would call upon the President of the United States to encourage the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services to adopt policies to repeal the current discriminatory donor suitability policies of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding blood donations by men who have had sex with another man and, instead, direct the FDA to develop science-based policies such as criteria based on risky behavior in lieu of sexual orientation.

Fiscal committee: no.

P1    1WHEREAS, Since 1983, the United States Food and Drug
2Administration (FDA), an agency under the United States
3 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), had prohibited
4the donation of blood by any man who has had sex with another
5man (MSM) at any time since 1977; and

6WHEREAS, In December 2015, based on recommendations
7from the HHS Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety
P2    1and Availability, the FDA promulgated revised regulations to allow
2an MSM to donate blood only if he has not been sexually active
3for the past 12 months. Despite these recent steps toward a policy
4change, a double standardbegin delete would still existend deletebegin insert still existsend insert under the
5policy asbegin delete it is proposed to beend delete revised because itbegin delete would still treatend delete
6begin insert still treatsend insert gay and bisexual men differently from heterosexual
7men; and

8WHEREAS, California law prohibits discrimination against
9individuals on the basis of actual or perceived sex, sexual
10orientation, gender identity, and gender-related appearance and
11behavior; and

12WHEREAS, Argentina, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia,
13South Africa, South Korea, and Spain have adopted blood donor
14policies that measure risk against a set of behaviors, sexual and
15otherwise, rather than the sex of a person’s sexual partner or
16partners; and

17WHEREAS, The FDA currently does not allow gay and bisexual
18men in committed relationships to donate blood because, while
19one partner may be monogamous, that individual cannot guarantee
20that the other partner is monogamous. The FDA does not apply
21this same logic to heterosexual relationships, which in effect
22discriminates against gay and bisexual men; and

23WHEREAS, The FDA is in the process of again reevaluating
24and considering updating its blood donor deferral policies as new
25scientific information becomes available, including the feasibility
26of moving from the existing time-based deferrals related to risk
27behaviors to alternate deferral options, such as the use of individual
28risk assessments; and

29WHEREAS, A 12-month deferral policy for gay and bisexual
30men to donate blood is overly stringent given the scientific
31evidence, advanced testing methods, and the safety and quality
32control measures in place within the different FDA-qualified blood
33donating centers; and

34WHEREAS, The American Public Health Association has stated
35that no specific scientific rationale is provided to justify the
3612-month deferral policy. The technology can identify within 7 to
3710 days with 99.9 percent accuracy whether or not a blood sample
38is HIV-positive, and the chance of the blood test being inaccurate
39within the 10-day window is about 1 in 2,000,000; and

P3    1WHEREAS, The General Social Survey conducted by NORC
2at the University of Chicago estimates that 8.5 percent of men in
3the United States have had at least one male sex partner since 18
4years of age, 4.1 percent of men report at least one male sex partner
5in the last 5 years, and 3.8 percent report a male sex partner in the
6last 12 months; and

7WHEREAS, An estimated 45.4 percent of men (54 million) in
8the United States are eligible to donate blood, but only 8.7 percent
9of eligible men actually do. There are 15.7 million donations of
10blood per year made by 9.2 million donors, yielding approximately
111.7 donations per donor; and

12WHEREAS, The Williams Institute of the University of
13California at Los Angeles School of Law estimates that, based on
14the population of eligible and likely donors among the MSM
15community, lifting the federal lifetime deferral policy on blood
16donation by an MSM would result in 4.2 million newly eligible
17male donors, of which 360,600 would likely donate, generating
18615,300 additional pints of blood. Applying national estimates to
19the California population, the Institute further estimates that lifting
20the ban on MSM blood donations would add an additional 510,000
21eligible men to the current blood donor pool, of which 43,917
22would likely donate, resulting in an additional 74,945 donated
23pints in California; and

24WHEREAS, One hundred fifteen members of the Congress of
25the United States sent a letter to the FDA Commissioner, Dr.
26Robert M. Califf, M.D., urging him to finally put an end to this
27outdated blood donation policy and update it to reflect science,
28not fear; now, therefore, be it

29Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
30California, jointly,
That the California State Legislature calls upon
31the President of the United States to encourage the Secretary of
32the United States Department of Health and Human Services to
33adopt policies to repeal the current discriminatory donor suitability
34policies of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
35regarding blood donations by men who have had sex with another
36man and, instead, direct the FDA to develop science-based policies
37such as criteria based on risky behavior in lieu of sexual
38orientation; and be it further

39Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
40this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
P4    1States, to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health
2and Human Services, to the Speaker of the House of
3Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each
4Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the
5United States.



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