Sponsors ask committee to bar state funding for abortion, assisted suicide and executions

Representatives Schmidt and Matthews presented sponsor testimony for House Bill 72, a measure that would prohibit state funding of abortions, assisted‑suicide medical aid in dying, and executions. Sponsors framed the bill as a unified fiscal and moral stance that would align state spending with “pro‑life” principles.

Representative Schmidt, who described meeting exonerees and reading accounts of wrongful convictions, cited the risk of executing an innocent person and said capital cases cost taxpayers substantially: “Capital cases cost taxpayers over $3,000,000 per trial,” he said. Schmidt and Matthews also said the bill would preserve existing limits on public funding of abortion (analogous to the Hyde Amendment) and would prohibit state financial support for assisted‑suicide programs.

Committee members pressed on distinctions and implementation. Representative Stewart asked about circumstances in which government lethal force in law‑enforcement or military operations differs morally from an execution; Matthews replied that captured offenders can be incarcerated and that corrections systems can keep society safe. Representative Sandenberg asked how the bill interacts with the recent constitutional amendment on abortion; sponsors said the proposal reaffirms existing state practice that Medicaid and state funds do not pay for abortions and would not bar private uses of care.

Sponsors emphasized hospice and palliative‑care distinctions in response to questions about end‑of‑life care and said the bill would not prevent hospice services but would prohibit state funding that effectively hastens death. No committee action occurred at the hearing.