Week in Review: 16 States!

New Hampshire patients suffering from rare diseases have new hope now that the state has enacted Goldwater’s Right to Try for Individualized Treatments. To date, 16 states have enacted Goldwater’s lifesaving reform.

Under the Right to Try for Individualized Treatments, patients with rare diseases can access medicine made just for them based on their genetics. Those individualized treatments can’t go through the FDA’s outdated, one-size-fits-all regulatory processes in a timely manner, leaving patients with limited options.

The Right to Try for Individualized Treatments Act builds on the success of Goldwater’s original Right to Try Act, which was passed in 41 states before it was signed into federal law in 2018. States like New Hampshire are now taking the next step to ensure that patients with rare diseases are not denied access to potentially life-saving treatments because of bureaucratic obstacles.

Read more here.

Goldwater Urges SCOTUS to Affirm Parents’ Rights

Public schools don’t have the right to hide critical information from parents about their kids. And now the Goldwater Institute is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case out of Massachusetts that would uphold that principle and protect parental rights.

The case involves Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri, two parents who were blindsided when they learned their Ludlow, Mass., middle school had secretly been referring to their two pre-teens by different names and pronouns. In fact, the school mandates that teachers conceal that essential information from parents.

But as the Goldwater Institute notes in its amicus brief, the Supreme Court has for a century held that parents have a fundamental right to right to control and direct the education, upbringing, and healthcare decisions of their children. Parents can’t exercise that right if the government hides vital information from them. It’s Goldwater’s latest effort to protect parents’ rights nationwide.

Read more here.

Yuma to Return $4 Million to Taxpayers After Goldwater Lawsuit

Yuma County, Ariz., residents are getting some well-deserved tax relief after the Goldwater Institute challenged an illegal tax imposed by the local hospital board.

The illegal tax was levied by the Yuma County Hospital Board, which argued to Yuma’s Board of Supervisors that it had to be imposed even without voter approval. But Arizona law is clear that special districts like the hospital board can’t impose a tax without the say-so of voters, so Goldwater filed a lawsuit on behalf of a local taxpayer.

The Arizona Court of Appeals heard arguments in the lawsuit in June. While the case was pending, the Yuma government agreed to refund over $4 million it unlawfully collected over three years. The illegal tax has also been terminated.

Read more here.