California Breast-Screening Bill Creates Controversy

California Senate Bill 791, a piece of legislation recently vetoed by governor Jerry Brown, would have been worth millions of dollars for breast ultrasound technology firm U-Systems, according to the L.A. Times. The bill would require clinics to inform women if they have high-density breast tissue, which can make imaging cancerous tumors difficult with mammography. In an article titled “Eleventh-hour lawmaking with morning-after questions,” the L.A. Times questions the motives behind the regulation’s sponsorship—as well as the method with which it was passed in the state senate.

The bill was supported Joe Simitian, a senator representing California’s 11^th Senate District—in which U-Systems happens to be based. After the bill was passed, the senator reported to the L.A. Times that he had never heard of the company, which has lobbied to pass similar breast-tissue notification bills in other states. In lieu of lobbying directly, the company recruits breast cancer survivors to campaign on its behalf. 

Adding to the controversy is the method that was used to pass the legislation, which is known as “gut and amend,” in which, late in a legislative session, the content of a prior bill is stripped out and replaced with new legislation. In this case, a bill regarding local gas taxes was “amended” to caution women about breast cancer risks.

Simitian was persuaded to support the legislation after he was approached by Amy Colton, a nurse and breast cancer survivor, who came to him with the idea to force doctors to warn women if they have dense breast tissue.

Colton told the L.A. Times that such a law would have helped her:

"The radiologist knew I had dense breast tissue, my primary care physician knew," she told the senator. "The only one who didn't know was me."

Simitian had sponsored a “There Ought to Be a Law” contest, in which he solicited recommendations for proposed legislation. Colton, who had been encouraged by U-Systems to support such notification legislation, entered it and won.

More information on the breast-screening legislation is available in from the L.A. Times.

Update: This article was updated on October 10, when I received news that it was vetoed.

Amy Colton, who had originally brought the idea for the bill to Senator Simitian wrote a touching letter explaining her disappointment that the bill was not passed. In that letter, Colton writes, addressing the governor:

In an earlier update, I had updated the text here after Simitian wrote a letter to the editor to the L.A. Times about their coverage. The text the paper published is below:

—Brian Buntz