10.01.04
In a dramatic finale to a legislative battle that has gone on for well over a year, legislation that would have established a burdensome adverse event reporting (AER) system for dietary supplements in the state of California was finally defeated—by 4 votes—in the State Assembly in late August, according to the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), Silver Spring, MD. SB 779 was introduced by State Senator Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo) in February 2003. The bill moved quickly through two Senate committees and was passed by the Senate in June 2003. Since that time it was amended on five separate occasions and worked its way through the Assembly Health Committee, where it was approved on June 15, 2004 by a vote of 11 to five, and the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which passed the bill on August 12, 2004 by a vote of 13 to five. The bill would have, as finally amended, established a new requirement for any company that manufactures or distributes dietary supplements in California, with the exception of those that consist only of vitamins and minerals, to provide quarterly reports of received adverse events to the state. According to the bill, failure to submit such reports would have been a criminal offense under state law. In addition, companies would have been billed by the state to recover the expense of reviewing submitted reports. SB 779 had passed all of its legislative hurdles except for approval by the Assembly when that body voted on the bill in late August. That vote was 37 in favor and 34 opposed, with nine abstentions or absences. A bill before the Assembly needs to receive 41 affirmative votes for passage, so even though more votes were cast in favor than in opposition, the bill failed to reach the required minimum.