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Committee roundup: health‑care bills cleared, laid over or defeated
Summary
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee advanced multiple health‑care bills on votes ranging from unanimous to closely contested, laid one bill over and defeated another; this roundup lists each item, committee action and key details from authors’ summaries.
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee heard and acted on a series of health‑care bills. Below are the committee outcomes and the key details provided in committee. Where the committee record did not provide a full roll call for each yea/nay vote, the clerk’s announced tally is reported.
- Senate Bill 6 70 / 6 72: Presented as a bill on integrated behavioral health, continuing education and patient screening in primary care settings. The committee record showed a final announcement of "8 ayes, 2 nays" and the chair declared the bill passed. (Transcript note: sponsor presented as "Senate Bill 6 70"; chair later declared "Senate bill 6 72" passed.)
- Senate Bill 7 41: Authorizes pharmacists under standing orders from physicians or county/local health‑department medical directors to test and initiate drug therapy for defined minor, nonchronic conditions; committee passed 10 ayes, 1 nay. Sponsor asked to strike the title and continue technical drafting on screeners and protocol language.
- Senate Bill 4 24: Establishes voluntary certification for community health workers (described by sponsor as a certification achievable after 1,000 hours of on‑the‑job experience and supervisor recommendation); passed 11 ayes, 0 nays.
- Senate Bill 8 89: Seeks to codify federal hospital price‑transparency rules into state statute to expand enforcement beyond the limited 2021 statute (HB 1006) that applied to top services and cash pricing; sponsor cited enforcement gaps and named several other states with similar statutes; passed 11 ayes, 0 nays.
- Senate Bill 10 79: Laid over at the request of the author (no committee action taken).
- Senate Bill 2 53: Concerns nursing facilities and annual budget requests (presented as continuing a voluntary practice from prior sessions); passed 11 ayes, 0 nays.
- Senate Bill 7 61 (Lori Brand Patient Bill of Rights Act): Establishes patient‑and‑family engagement principles and expectations for hospitals; sponsor said the bill mirrors federal provisions in part and that he has been working with hospitals and the hospital association; passed 9 ayes, 2 nays.
- Senate Bill 9 59: Conscience‑protection measure for health‑care professionals and institutions; after extended questioning the committee voted 5 ayes, 7 nays and the bill failed.
- Senate Bill 9 06: Amended to permit up to a 4:1 pharmacy technician‑to‑pharmacist ratio after a compromise with the pharmacy association; passed 8 ayes, 4 nays.
- Senate Bill 4 9 49 (cleanup bill): Technical cleanup moving language from DHS to the Department of Health related to protections for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities; passed 12 ayes, 0 nays.
- Senate Bill 10 67: Sets a minimal allowable reimbursement for out‑of‑network ambulance services and creates a database to publish contracted rates; passed 10 ayes, 2 nays.
The committee adjourned and will begin considering house bills at its next meeting.
