Proposition 29: No. No. A thousand times, no.
As voters in California get ready to cast their ballots, there are a host of important choices to make. Candidates for a wide range of local, state and federal offices and the ways and means of sports gambling, if any, in our state are all crucial to our future. Only one choice, however, is a literal life-and-death decision. Among the many sound reasons to reject that one — Proposition 29 — is one as powerful as it is absurd: California has already rejected the measure. Twice.
Proposition 29 is fundamentally identical to Proposition 8, in 2018, and Proposition 23, in 2020. Both those measures were soundly defeated because they presented a direct and substantial threat to dialysis patients. Californians across party lines voted in favor of good — and life-preserving — healthcare. In response, two enormous and enormously profitable dialysis corporations decided to repeat the process this year. That’s why voters are awash in millions of dollars of TV, radio and print ads urging them once again to vote for a measure they do not like and have never supported.
Our previous decisions to reject the urging of a powerful union seeking to organize those who work in dialysis centers are based on rock-solid medical analysis. Hospitals, nurses, doctors, nephrologists and the Kidney Foundation all agree that Proposition 29 will create barriers to dialysis and reduce available treatment options. Barriers and reductions aren’t just inconvenient. Patients dialyze — an arduous, intrusive and debilitating procedure — because they’ll die if they don’t. *
We can debate the rationale that supports a ballot initiative system that allows wealthy advocates to place their pet projects on the ballot simply by opening their checkbooks. We can even dispute the wisdom of getting soundly defeated twice and coming back for more.
We cannot and must not debate about the importance of protecting — and saving — the lives of those who suffer from kidney disease.
To date, the only numbers the proponents of this measure have expanded are the ones assigned to their parade of propositions. Their ballot initiative designations have increased, from 8 to 23 to 29. Their vote totals haven’t kept pace, but that doesn’t seem to matter to them. They can’t seem to stop creating fear and stress for dialysis patients and those who care for and about them.
Perhaps, this time around, we can finally persuade these relentless losers that baseball has it right — three strikes and you’re out. Let’s all vote against Proposition 29 in such overwhelming numbers that, at last, they call it quits.
Correction: An earlier version of this column stated that dialysis companies DaVita and Fresenius support Proposition 29. They oppose it.
David M. Hamlin is a writer who lives, works, plays and votes in Palm Springs. You can reach him at writedmh@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Prop 29: California voters have spoken. No on this measure
