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Lawmakers ask for briefing and line-item detail on Prescription Drug Affordability Board costs
Summary
Committee members asked staff for a fuller accounting and a briefing by the Prescription Drug Affordability Board and DOI after hearing that PDAB FY24–25 FTE costs were about $579,461 with related legal costs near $191,430; members also requested line-item detail and a staff RFI to document expenditures.
During figure-setting for the Department of Regulatory Agencies, multiple committee members sought more detailed information about the Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB), including personnel and legal costs, and asked for a formal briefing from the Division of Insurance.
Why it matters: PDAB is a new state mechanism to address high prescription-drug prices; members said they need a clearer sense of whether the board nd its associated legal defense costs re delivering value for the dollars spent and whether the board's deliberative pace is driven by litigation risks.
Key points and numbers: Representative Taggart told the committee PDAB currently has "4 and a half" full-time-equivalent positions and that, from staff documents, FY24–25 FTE expenditures were $579,461; contracting costs were about $268,313 and legal costs related to the EMBL lawsuit were $191,430. Michelle Curry said those figures come from an earlier request-for-information and that a fuller RFI breakdown is included in the briefing packet.
Committee action: Members asked JBC staff to transmit questions to PDAB and DOI and to arrange a short briefing from the PDAB director. Several members expressed interest in seeing the PDAB line-item detail and the department—ost breakdown; the committee voted to continue the RFI and long bill footnotes and to include PDAB in the follow-up information requests.
Next steps: Staff will include PDAB spending details in the RFI and coordinate a director-level briefing to answer questions on program scope, litigation exposure, and expected timelines for board action.
