The House Health and Human Resources Committee considered three pieces of legislation Tuesday, one of which was a rules bundle.
Notated as Senate Bill 175 on the agenda, Bundle 5 includes nine bills pertinent to legislative rule-making within the Department of Health and Human Services.
The bundle includes:
· Senate Bill 168, relating to the regulation of behavioral health facilities
· Senate Bill 169, relating to the regulation of living facilities residencies
· Senate Bill 170, relating to statutory updates to food establishments
· Senate Bill 171, relating to regulation of food manufacturing facilities
· Senate Bill 172, adding requirements for newborn screenings
· Senate Bill 173, relating to medication assisted treatment
· Senate Bill 174, relating to pain management clinic licensure
· Senate Bill 175, relating to the drug control policy
· Senate Bill 176, relating to Health Care Authority and cooperative agreement approval
The Health and Human Resources Committee passed the bills within the bundle one by one unanimously.
Delegate Margaret Staggers, D-Fayette, proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 172 that would allow contraceptives to be distributed to those patients in need. The amendment passed unanimously.
Senate Bill 168, Senate Bill 169, Senate Bill 170, Senate Bill 171, Senate Bill 172, Senate Bill 173, Senate Bill 174, Senate Bill 175, and Senate Bill 176 were advanced to the House Judiciary Committee for second reference as a bundle.
House Bill 3132 was also considered on this day. This bill would provide that medical providers serving no more than 30 patients would not need to comply with certain legislative rules and only attest to services being provided. House Bill 3132 would also mandate that licensed behavioral health centers providing office-based medication-assisted treatment are exempt from the separate registration process for other office-based medication-assisted treatment programs, and instead only have to attest to their services.
Delegate Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, spoke of the importance of House Bill 3132’s passage for rural West Virginia communities.
“We keep hearing from rural doctors that they simply cannot comply with all of the rules for drug treatment centers,” Rohrbach said. “This bill is an attempt to make it easier on these doctors so they can treat their people. They just want to take care of their people.”
House Bill 3132 was unanimously passed by the House Health and Human Resources Committee and advanced to the House floor with the recommendation that it should pass.
House Bill 2079 was also passed by the committee on this day.
House Bill 2079 would increase the maximum number of cannabis grower, processor and dispensary permits. The bill would also remove the requirements that licenses be limited in regions of the state.
The bill would increase the maximum number of state cannabis growers and processors from 10 to 50. It would increase the increase the maximum number of cannabis dispensers to 165 in the state.
After lengthy discussion concerning the merits of medicinal marijuana, the House Health and Human Resources Committee ultimately advanced House Bill 2079 to the House Judiciary Committee for a second reference.
