Testimonies put a human face on the challenges of living with Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis

Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready joins panel to speak out in support of Liias ‘restroom access’ bill

January 29, 2009

OLYMPIA - It began as a “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” kind of story. At least, that’s how state Rep. Marko Liias (D-Mukilteo) described the genesis of House Bill 1138 in public testimony today.

Liias was motivated by a constituent’s email to sponsor a bill that would grant people with certain medical conditions access to employee restroom facilities in retail establishments.

Today that constituent, Lois Fink of Edmonds, traveled to Olympia to testify in support of House Bill 1138.

She was joined by Rob Menaul of the Northwest chapter of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America, and musician Mike McCready of the internationally-known rock band Pearl Jam. Mr. McCready has suffered from Crohn’s Disease for over 20 years, and has had many personal experiences in which he was unable to reach a restroom in time while suffering a Crohn’s attack.

“It’s like having a knife in your gut, and you have diarrhea, and you have about a half a second to figure out where a bathroom is,” McCready told the committee.

Being denied access to a restroom results in embarrassing accidents.

McCready and his wife, Ashley O’Connor, are advocates for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America and McCready has put aside any embarrassment about his personal story in the hopes that going public about his experience will help the thousands of other Crohn’s and Colitis sufferers in the country.

House Bill 1138 is scheduled for executive session in the House Judiciary Committee February 5. Liias is confident that it will be voted out and placed on the calendar for a floor vote in the House.

“I’ve worked closely with the business and retail community in drafting the language of the bill, and am willing to continue working with them on any final tweaks,” Liias said. “This bill is about basic human dignity and compassion, and the business community in general wants to do the compassionate thing for its customers.”