SB1304: The Michelle Maykin Memorial Donation Protection Act

We wholeheartedly support SB 1304, the Michelle Maykin Memorial Donation Protection Act, which will provide employees up to 5 days paid leave for the purposes of bone marrow donation.

Bone marrow donations are essential for the treatment of more than 70 life-threatening diseases; such altruistic donations are entirely voluntary to benefit others, without compensation, and should be encouraged.

However, there is a particularly acute need for ethnic minority and multi-ethnic donors - of the nearly 7 million people on the National Marrow Donor Program, only 9 percent are of African ancestry, 8 percent are of Asian ancestry, 7 percent are of Latino Ancestry, and 3 percent are of multiple ancestries. Ethnic minorities are nearly 3 times less likely to find a life-saving match and that number is higher for those with multi-ethnic backgrounds.

In addition to the difficulty a patient faces in finding a life-saving match, there is also the unnecessary hurdle for donors to secure paid leave from employment to undergo the donation process, which compounds the impact on minority patients in need.

A number of potential life-saving donations are needlessly delayed or prevented due to the lack of leave and position security for employees who want to give the gift of life. Engaging in this life-saving donation should not penalize participating employees by requiring them to exhaust family leave, sick leave, vacation, or taking leave without pay.

We recognize the importance of paid leave for the purposes of bone marrow donation and that there should be no barriers to prevent giving the gift of life.

We also wish to honor the legacy Michelle Maykin, whose courageous fight against leukemia has inspired thousands to register to save lives as bone marrow donors. That is why we wholeheartedly support SB 1304, the Michelle Maykin Memorial Donation Protection Act.