Last year, one of the first bills I took on head on here on this site was HB 614, the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. I teamed up with Jason and others across the State – including Neal Boortz at one point! – to get this bill killed once it was brought to our attention, and it died in the Senate only to have a resuscitation attempt made in the House in the form of an amendment to another bill.
Now, it has been re-introduced in a new bill, SB 418, minus the “Prescription Drug Monitoring Program” title. 418 is largely the exact same thing as 614. Clearly, there are elements within the General Assembly that desperately want this measure to pass.
This thing has exactly 14 days to rear its ugly head if it is to become law this year. If it does not pass through the Senate by close of business exactly two weeks from tonight, on March 25, the 30th day of the Session known as “Crossover Day”, it is truly dead until next year.
Liberty lovers, we need to be contacting the Senators NOW. Let them know that we do NOT want this gross violation of privacy rights passed. If they are not inclined to listen to privacy rights issues, let them know that this will be an additional expense, possibly in the million dollar range, and that fiscal reality is that if they want this program they will have to find another million dollars to cut or raise taxes.
This bill was where I really came to admire State Senator Preston Smith. His defense of individual rights – including citing Orwell – was absolutely amazing – the best I’ve yet seen on the floor of the Georgia General Assembly.
I’ll let him have the last word here, in the video of his questioning of State Senator David Shafer and later speech from the well himself in this video. His questioning is at the beginning, his own statements begin roughly at the 14:10 mark:
