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Health and Welfare committee advances four bills, adds procurement exemption for public health lab
Summary
The state Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee voted to advance four bills, including a measure to exempt certain public health laboratory equipment service contracts from standard procurement rules; the committee also corrected a tobacco-age code section and extended a COVID-era hospital program deadline.
The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee advanced four bills Tuesday, voting to fix a tobacco-age code section, permit a procurement exemption for specialized public health laboratory service contracts, extend a hospital expanded-capacity deadline and take up a separate bill on birth-certificate fees at a later date.
Committee chair and members moved three bills to a “title sufficient, do pass” recommendation after short debate and voice votes. Senator Parker moved the measures; one member, Senator McMahon, unsuccessfully moved to reconsider the tobacco bill vote.
The most substantive discussion centered on Senate Bill 2696, which would add the State Public Health Laboratory to an existing procurement exemption currently used by the state crime lab and the Department of Environmental Quality. Dr. Edney, the State Health Officer, told the committee the lab runs high‑level testing that requires specialized machines and single‑source service contracts. “This would expedite procurement on those really…
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