A resolution in support of a statewide medical amnesty bill will likely come to the floor of the ASUI Senate next week, said Directory of Policy Nick Wren, who is preparing the resolution.
Alex Brizee | Argonaut
ASUI Senators meet in the Idaho Commons Wednesday for their weekly ASUI Senate meeting. ASUI leaders have placed a focus on a medical amnesty policy in past years.
If passed, the resolution would be the next step in ASUI”s push for a statewide law to remove minor consumption and possession citations in situations where the charges could prevent a person from getting immediate medical care.
“The goal of the policy is to reduce barriers for calling for help,” said ASUI President Max Cowan, who has been advocating for the bill since his return to the presidency.
When ASUI Lobbyist Nate Fisher brings the proposal to the state legislature this spring, it has the potential to become a law many years in the making.
Over the past few years, Wren, Fisher, Cowan and ASUI Senate Parliamentarian Tanner Beymer have all had a hand in getting this bill to where it is now.
The project first came up in ASUI during spring of 2013 when UI administration announced changes to the Student Code of Conduct, including the addition of medical amnesty.
“But that still left the criminal justice system and the problems there,” Beymer said.
At the time, ASUI showed support for the Student Code of Conduct change, but expressed concerns that it did not go far enough.
During his first term as president, Cowan began pushing for a law. Fisher assumed the effort when he was elected to the ASUI presidency in 2014, and since Cowan”s reelection, the project has continued to move forward.
“What we thought we might be able to do is pass something at the city level,” Wren said.
The plan, at the time, would only affect the Moscow Police Department. This constraint became the fatal flaw in the plan when they eventually talked with the city attorney, who informed them the proposal would not be possible under current state law, Beymer said.
Wren is working with Cowan and Fisher on the current version of the project as director of policy, but last year he worked on the project as director of Health and Wellness.
ASUI still wanted exemption from criminal charges, something the university policy could not do.
When Cowan picked up the project this year, he knew this time, it would have to be a statewide law.
“I think there are many people around our campus and our state that are scared of calling for help, not only because they”re worried about themselves but because they don”t want to get their friends in trouble,” Wren said.
The Wednesday ASUI Senate meeting was the first where new senator Mckenzie MacDonald sat as a voting senator. She has already joined a project, one to support TurboVote to get more new potential voters registered.
The senate passed the bill and resolution to support abuse prevention group FACES, as well as Botello”s resolution to thank firefighters.
Nishant Mohan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NishantRMohan