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Committee raises PBM licensure fee to support enforcement, sponsors say funds will go to AID
Summary
Representative Lee Johnson's bill to increase pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) licensure fees to $20,000 for initial and renewal licenses passed the committee. Sponsor said revenues would fund enforcement at AID and add transparency requirements tied to BIN numbers.
The House Insurance & Commerce Committee passed legislation to raise the state licensure fee for pharmacy benefit managers and add data-reporting requirements intended to improve regulator oversight.
Representative Lee Johnson presented the amendment and bill, citing the 2017 PBM licensure act as the original framework. "We're increasing the fee to $20,000 as an initial fee and $20,000 as a renewal," Johnson said, adding the fee would be collected as special revenue and directed to AID to pay for enforcement work tied to PBMs.
Johnson said the PBM market has grown and become more complex since the original law; the amendment also adds transparency language focused on BIN (bank identification numbers) that Johnson said helps regulators and AID "to understand better how they're structured so that, again, from an enforcement standpoint, they'll have better ways to identify and know exactly who is or is not responsible for different actions in the market."
On questions from the committee, Representative Woodin asked what ownership information PBMs must disclose when applying for a license. Johnson said he was "not changing anything around the original act" on ownership disclosure and that he would refer to the original statute for those requirements. Representative Richardson asked how the $20,000 figure was chosen; Johnson said it was a negotiated starting point after informal discussions with PBM stakeholders, pharmacists and AID and that the fee would generate about $800,000 annually at an estimated 47 PBMs.
There were no public opponents at the committee hearing. Representative Johnson moved adoption of the amendment and later moved the committee's motion to pass as amended; the committee approved the bill by voice vote and the chair declared it passed.
