Senate Health and Human Services committee advances package of health bills, including CHIP advisory council continuation and vaccine-labeling amendment

The Senate Health and Human Services Standing Committee on Feb. 13 advanced a set of health- and safety-related bills to the full Senate, voting to pass several measures out of committee and recommending favorable consideration on others. Measures advanced included House Bill 282 (sunset extensions and CHIP provisions), HB 93 (brain and spinal cord fund research and committee membership), HB 84 (vaccine amendments addressing food-based vaccine products, amended to add the word “conventional” before “food”), SB 278 (state debt collection amendments), HB 317 (executive agency innovation incentives), HB 238 (Department of Health and Human Services account amendments), HB 173 (scheduling tianeptine and phenibut), HB 258 (Medicare supplement insurance amendments), SB 275 (placental tissue amendments) and HB 294 (infectious disease procedures amendments).

Committee action moved the most immediately consequential health items first: House Bill 282 and the change to the Utah Children’s Health Insurance Program advisory council. The bill extends the sunset for the primary care grant committee by 10 years, setting a new sunset date of July 1, 2035, and removes the sunset for the Utah CHIP advisory council so the council remains in perpetuity. The bill sponsor told the committee the primary care grant is intended to expand access to primary care, mental health and dental services for low-income individuals and cited program satisfaction data for CHIP parents. The committee voted to pass the bill out of committee; no recorded opposition was stated in the transcript.

HB 93 — Rehabilitation Services Modifications — was presented as a targeted change to the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Fund. The bill permits up to $100,000 from that fund to be used for research if funds remain at the end of a fiscal year, adds a researcher to the fund committee’s membership, and imposes a reporting requirement to…