Welfare Pilot Program Aims to Address Drug Addiction
This week in the Legislature, health bills rose to the forefront of discussions in both chambers.
The Senate passed a bill that would require the drug screening and testing of applicants for TANF program. Senate Bill 6 was amended in Senate Finance to change the language of the bill to creating a pilot program. The measure goes to the House of Delegates where it was referenced to both the Health and
Judiciary committees. The Health committee passed the bill and it is now in House Judiciary.
Delegate Amy Summers, R-Taylor, serves on both committees and said Senate Bill 6 – requiring drug screening and testing of applicants to TANF program – is a necessary step in identifying those in the population who need help.
“Everybody wants to find a way to help people who have a drug addiction problem, and this is one way we feel we can help,” Summers said. “We are concerned we don’t have enough treatment options but we’re working on that throughout the state right now too.”
Summers said with this step in identification, other areas of the drug treatment process including prevention and treatment can be utilized.
Chairman of the Health Committee Sen. Ryan Ferns, R-Ohio, said the two most important issues Senate Health has seen so far are SB 6 and 10. Ferns said SB 6 is important to tackle the drug issue in the state while SB 10 addresses the issue of dismemberment of an unborn fetus during a woman’s second trimester.
Ferns said another bill addressing certificate of need would streamlines the process and create exemptions from certificate of need that don’t currently exist.
“Streamlining and scaling the process back would make it easier for businesses to grow and expand in West Virginia,” Ferns said. “We’re moving at an excellent pace, I would say we’re ahead of schedule.”
On Feb. 11, the House of Delegates held a public hearing on House Bill 4334 — clarifying the requirements for a license to practice as an advanced practice registered nurse and to expand the prescriptive authority that may be granted to advanced practice registered nurses.
If passed, the bill would clarify the requirements for a license to practice as an advanced practice registered nurses and to expand the prescriptive authority that may be granted to advanced practice registered nurses. The bill would repeal separate provisions relating to nurse-midwives because these provisions are part of the APRN license requirements.
This bill would remove the requirement for collaborative relationships with physicians as a continuing requirement of practice, but retains the collaborative relationship requirement for a two-year period as a prerequisite to qualify for prescriptive authority.
On Feb. 9, Dr. Rahul Gupta, Commissioner of DHHR’s Bureau for Public Health and State Health Officer, presented a report before the Joint Water Resources Committee. Senate Bill 373, passed in 2014, required a commission be formed to study and recommend changes to the state’s water resources.
Evan Hansen, president of Downstream Strategies said it’s important for the public water system to have a sense of what is being transported on the roads.
“Our recommendation is for the Department of Homeland Security to provide as much information as possible to the water systems so the water systems can do their job,” he said.
Other health bills include:
SB 431 – Authorizing pharmacists and pharmacy interns dispense opioid antagonists
SB 320 – Permitting practice of telemedicine
SB 387 – Shared animal ownership agreements to consume raw milk
HB 4221 – Relating to the administration of an opioid antagonist
HB 4480 – Addiction Treatment Act of 2016
HB 4509 – Raising the legal age for purchase of tobacco and tobacco products
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The Senate held a morning floor session on Saturday, passing four bills on to the House for consideration and completing action on another.