The Senate Committee on Health and Human Resources met at 1:00 Pm today to discuss five bills.
The committee considered House bill 4007, which requires a physician to use reasonable medical judgement in the event that a child is born alive after an abortion is performed. This means that medical personnel are required to give life-saving care to a child born breathing following an abortion procedure. When the committee asked the counsel how much this legislation would affect current law, it was to the understanding of counsel that it did not add substantial change to laws already in place. The bill was adopted and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
SB 560 was also considered, a bill that was laid over on January 23rd. The bill addresses medicine distribution in nursing homes and authorizes trained individuals under the supervision of a registered nurse to administer medication to nursing home residents. After technical amendments were approved, the bill was adopted and will be reported to the full Senate with recommendation for passage.
SB 291, which would require health insurance providers such as the Public Employees Insurance Agency to provide mental health parity between mental health, behavioral health, substance use
disorders and medical procedures. This bill was adopted and will be reported to the Senate Finance Committee before advancing to the full Senate.
SB 269 was also adopted. The purpose of the bill is to create an advisory council to educate the public and the medical community about the diagnosis, treatment, and research of rare diseases. This bill was referred to the committee on Government Organization for further consideration.
SB 544 authorizes pharmacists and pharmacy interns to administer vaccines. The bill grants authority to the Board of Pharmacy, the Board of Medicine and the Board of Osteopathic Medicine to create joint rules to be approved by the legislature concerning this. This bill was adopted and will be reported to the full Senate.
