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House behavioral health committee advances multiple Senate bills to the floor with due‑pass recommendations
Summary
The House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care approved work‑session actions to move several Senate bills — including measures on medical examiners, volunteer emeritus licenses, pharmacists' COVID testing authority and Medicaid eligibility for some foster youth — to the House floor with due‑pass recommendations.
The House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care voted in work sessions Tuesday to advance a series of Senate bills to the House floor with due‑pass recommendations, acting on a batch of mostly technical or narrowly targeted measures after brief staff summaries and no extended debate.
Among the bills advanced were Senate Bill 536 (amendment dash‑1 clarifying certification of entities that certify pathologists and a requirement that certifying entities be approved by the state medical examiner advisory board), which the committee amended and adopted; Senate Bill 873 (repeal of the Oregon Medical Board’s volunteer emeritus license); Senate Bill 295A (repealing the sunset that allowed pharmacists to test for and treat COVID‑19); and Senate Bill 846A (changes to data capture for coordinated care organization measures for children). The committee also advanced Senate Bill 834 (clarifying that Oregon State Hospital does not provide inpatient services to persons under age 18), Senate Bill 920 (directing the OSU extension service to run a community behavioral health promotion project), Senate Bill 289A (changes to reporting for the Prescription Drug Advisory Board), and Senate Bill 945 (extending medical assistance eligibility to 26‑year‑olds who aged out of foster care and were previously enrolled in any state).
Committee staff summarized each measure and indicated minimal fiscal impact for most. For several bills the committee adopted a short amendment clarifying language; for others the committee voted to move the bill to the floor with no amendment. Committee members generally said there was no discussion on the measures during the work sessions and proceeded to roll‑call votes.
The committee assigned floor carriers where needed; for example, Vice Chair Nelson agreed to carry Senate Bill 536 on the House floor after the dash‑1 amendment was adopted. Several bills received unanimous or near‑unanimous roll calls after brief motions to move the bills with the "due pass" recommendation. The committee did not take substantive policy debate on the measures at Tuesday’s meeting and indicated the items were primarily technical fixes or clarifications.
Staff noted fiscal and revenue impacts where appropriate and referred members to Online Legislative Information System (OLIS) analyses for details. Where members raised questions — for example, whether certain licensing categories were covered by a bill — staff answered or indicated the committee could follow up with clarifying language in future sessions.
No appropriation votes or programmatic adoptions were taken in these work sessions; each item advanced as a House action recommending the bill be placed on the House floor for further consideration and possible amendment there.
