AB 76

Under current law, any person at least 18 years of age and of sound mind may

voluntarily execute a declaration to physicians (commonly known as a "living will")

authorizing the withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures or of

feeding tubes when the person is in a terminal condition or is in a persistent

vegetative state. Also, under current law, any person at least 18 years of age and of

sound mind may voluntarily execute a power of attorney for health care, under

which, if the person is found to be incapacitated, the person's designated agent may

make health care decisions on behalf of the person. The Department of Health

Services (DHS) must prepare and provide copies of living will and health care power

of attorney forms, in quantities, to health care professionals, hospitals, nursing

homes, county clerks, and local bar associations, and individually to private persons.

This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish by rule

a procedure that allows any person who has been issued a regular operator's license

and who has executed a living will or health care power of attorney to write, in a space

provided on the back of the operator's license, the identity of an individual who has

custody of the person's living will or designated as the person's agent under a health

care power of attorney.

The bill also requires DOT to make available on its Internet Web site the living

will and health care power of attorney forms prepared by DHS.