NEWS RELEASE
Rep. Mike Freiberg
Minnesota House of Representatives
District 43B – 651-296-4176 – rep.mike.freiberg@house.mn.gov
381 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Marlee Schlegel
651-296-9873 or marlee.schlegel@house.mn.gov
January 25, 2024
End-of-Life Options Act Receives First Committee Hearing in the Minnesota House
SAINT PAUL, Minn. - Today, the House Health Finance and Policy Committee, Chaired by Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL – Rochester) held a public hearing on HF1930, a bill to establish end-of-life options for terminally ill adults. The bill, known as the End-of-Life Options Act, is modeled after an Oregon law which allows legal adults who are diagnosed with a terminal illness and determined to be of sound mind to be prescribed life-ending medication, usually to be taken at home.
The bill is authored by Rep. Mike Freiberg (DFL – Golden Valley).
“I'm overwhelmingly convinced that passing this bill is the right thing to do,” Rep. Freiberg said. “This will be the 10th year this bill has been introduced, so we’ve had a lot of time to work on it and get the language right. Patients who meet the requirements for this type of care deserve to be able to die with dignity, at home in the company of loved ones, and on their own terms. Many of us have watched a loved one agonize through a terminal illness and know how it can create the lowest possible quality of life: suffering. In those circumstances, patients deserve the comfort of knowing they have the option to go when it becomes unbearable without government interference. This isn’t just an issue of bodily autonomy – it's an issue of humanity, compassion, and mercy.”
The committee voted to refer the bill to the Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee.
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