House Public and Community Health Committee, March 17, 2026

Transcript

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1. 0:21:53

   We got. Okay. All right. Hello. Good afternoon, everybody. Let's, uh, get started, and I'll call this meeting to order. There is a sign-up sheet if anybody wants to speak to any bills on the table up front. You can sign up. Um, and let's get started by calling up Senator Hodges on SB 500, sir. If you would come, and you can do it at the table or over at the stand, whichever makes you happy.

2. 0:22:29

   And I have an extra one of theirs.

3. 0:22:33

   I'll turn them up.

4. 0:22:45

   Thank you, uh, Madam Chairman and committee members. I appreciate the opportunity to bring to you, uh, Senate Bill 500. Um, and I think we have a substitute. I'm looking at, uh, LC number 600342S.

5. 0:23:02

   That's right.

6. 0:23:02

   That's right. Okay. Um, this, um, this bill is agency, uh, legislation, and it helps the Georgia Board of Healthcare Workforce. And Chet Buseen is with me. Chet is the executive director of that board. Um, this legislation helps the board in their mission, uh, to make sure that, uh, Georgia has the appropriate number of, uh, healthcare professionals, uh, in the state, wherever in the state that they're needed.

7. 0:23:38

   This bill enhances an established, um, board, um, database of healthcare professionals, uh, across the state. Um, there are five existing licensing agencies in, in the existing legislation. This adds nine licensing agencies to those five to get 14, and this substitute adds one additional. So rather than having five agency, uh, l- licensing agencies, we'll now have 15 and have a larger cross-section of, uh, healthcare professionals to look at.

8. 0:24:19

   But, um, the, uh, database of healthcare professionals across our state, um, reports data, uh, on their licensees to the board, to the Georgia Board of Healthcare Workface- Workforce, so that board can, um, accurately collect and analyze data, uh, to measure the state's adequacy of our healthcare, uh, professionals, um, in all parts of the state. The, um, bill allows the board to enter into agreements with all the licensing entities to, uh, create, to house, and to provide information to the governor's office, to the general assembly, to state agencies, and to the public regarding our healthcare workforce.

9. 0:25:08

   The, uh, legislation also allows the board to seek federal or other funding, uh, to enable them to do this. And then, um, the, this, um, legislation, uh, enables the board to create, um, and maintain a dashboard on their, uh, board's website, provide info on the state's, uh, workforce to the public. Um, the bill does establish a, uh, data set, a, a minimum data set of information to be utilized, uh, to collect the information necessary from healthcare professionals.

10. 0:25:48

    And I will mention that there's no personal information collected. No names, no Social Security numbers. Um, uh, and then, uh, then that data is identified in prior legislation. But this bill includes to that data set basically, um, the type of insurance that the healthcare provider will accept and whether or not they accept Medicare and Medicaid. So in summary, all this information that's collected will be used for planning and for managing our health professional workforce for all of Georgia and for information to our public.

11. 0:26:27

    That's the basics of the legislation.

12. 0:26:32

    All right. Questions for the senator.

13. 0:26:36

    You want?

14. 0:26:36

    Who've we got?

15. 0:26:37

    I do.

16. 0:26:39

    Uh, oh, Representative Howard.

17. 0:26:41

    Yes, sir. Thank you, Madam.

18. 0:26:42

    Hey.

19. 0:26:43

    Uh, Chairman, Senator, on line, uh, lines 43 and 42, you said they're gonna seek, seek federal and other sources of funding. Uh, so are we s- making this a law w- without funding? Uh, are we for, doing any part of the funding?

20. 0:27:02

    The board is funded, but this allows them to seek additional funding. Do you wanna address that?

21. 0:27:06

    That, that is accurate. Thank you for the great question. So back when HB 1013 was passed, um, we were issued funding to stand up a healthcare, a behavioral health workforce data set, and we are in the early to mid stages of getting that live. And we believe with the funding that's there, and given that this is aggregate, um, and a lot of things have been, um, additionally advanced in the time, where every licensing board has gone to a new licensing platform since 2022, uh, we can build on that, and we can use existing resources that we already have in our budget to do what we are required to do by law, and we can handle this as well.

22. 0:27:52

    Representative Howard, do you, do you have another? Is that it?

23. 0:27:56

    Yeah, it's just 'cause I was just wondering, I was just wondering if we're, if we're mandating this and it's not already funded, and they gotta seek funding, then that presents a problem as far as k- carrying out the process.

24. 0:28:09

    I don't believe we need to seek funding for this because, like, the question sets have already been established. Um, it's a, so SOS would have the biggest part of the, Secretary of State would have the biggest part of this because they have the most licensing boards. But they've already stood it live with the, uh, Board of Nursing, which is the biggest board by far, and we've already, um, received half of the nursing workforce's data because they license it half and half, and we went through the first half. Um, the Board of Psychology and the Board of Marriage and Family Counselors, so we would just look to import or, um, or transport this survey into these additional licensing boards.

25. 0:28:48

    Okay. Uh, Representative O'Steen.

26. 0:28:52

    Thank you so much, Chair. Here's a quick question.

27. 0:28:57

    Does this bill keep up with who is licensed and practicing, or does it just keep up with who is licensed and where? Case in point, myself. I am a registered nurse and have been for 30 years, and I'm not practicing right now. So in this information, does this let us know? Because I think that we have some skewed information as to how many, what our shortages actually are based on who's licensed in Georgia versus who's licensed and is currently practicing.

28. 0:29:33

    Is that a fair question?

29. 0:29:34

    It's an excellent question. And in our current, um, in the current code that, um, came out of HB 1013, that's in 49-10-5, uh, we do have questions in here that, one of it, and I'll read it straight from the code, it says, "Average hours worked per week, average number of weeks worked per year in the licensed profession." And then the line below that says, "Percentage of practice engaged in direct patient care and in other activities such as teaching, research, and administration in the licensed profession." So to your point, we can f- with this information, figure out we have X amount of certain licensees, Y are doing patient care, Z are doing research, and so on and so forth.

30. 0:30:16

    Are you gonna answer the question?

31. 0:30:18

    Okay. Um, I have a question. Um, when this data is finally collected, like the other half of the nurses, which it's coming up right now, uh, will that be available for the committee to have, like, a report to me or the chairman of health?

32. 0:30:34

    Absolutely. Yeah.

33. 0:30:35

    Okay. I-

34. 0:30:35

    We, we intend to make it publicly accessible via our website.

35. 0:30:38

    Okay. Or on each one of the professions.

36. 0:30:41

    Yes.

37. 0:30:41

    So that you would, like, place them on a- ... not just in, but like where we had seen on Georgia some way that you could place where people were or like they do for the, some of the other-

38. 0:30:55

    A heat map I- I think is what you're referring to.

39. 0:30:57

    Thank you.

40. 0:30:58

    Y- yes. And we work with GDAC currently on a lot of our other visualizations, so this would also, we've already been speaking to them about this, so we would put anything that stems from this endeavor. Whether it's what's current, well, what's currently in law, we've already been working with them on.

41. 0:31:13

    Okay.

42. 0:31:13

    So I don't see why we wouldn't add this should this come into law as well to heat map it online.

43. 0:31:19

    Well, and I think the other thing we get, sometimes we get, um, how many people or how many children Children's Hospital saw in our districts, our specific district. So I think it would be helpful to see, um, if there are 200 doctors that live in my district or-

44. 0:31:36

    Mm-hmm

45. 0:31:36

    ... you know, in south Georgia, there's no doctors living in a district. That kind of information would be very helpful, uh, to legislators to have as you go forward to be, um-

46. 0:31:47

    I think that that's the-

47. 0:31:48

    ... in ca- in case we need to change or make any other changes going forward so that we could have that information, uh, available.

48. 0:31:55

    Madam Chairman, I believe that's the aim of the legislation. The aim of the database is to have that available for governor's office, for the legislature-

49. 0:32:03

    Sure

50. 0:32:03

    ... for agencies so they can use it in making sure we have people, healthcare, uh, providers where we need them.

51. 0:32:12

    Okay. That we can try to fill the holes, right?

52. 0:32:15

    Mm-hmm.

53. 0:32:15

    Correct.

54. 0:32:15

    Uh, Representative Barnes.

55. 0:32:20

    Thank you, Madam Chair Lady. Did I say that right? Madam Chair Lady. Um, I appreciate this bill, um, as I run by data, data and facts, so this would collect data, but I'm, we're analyzing minimum data. Is this able to grow if we yearn for more data points?

56. 0:32:44

    Yes. So what is currently in law was a series of questions like I just read to Representative O'Steen. There's a number of others. Um, what our vision is is, um, to have questions that the licensing board, um, we wanna work col- we only work collaboratively with the licensing board. We're not gonna ask questions that they say, "No, no, you can't do it." But if there's something specific for nursing versus for the chiropractors, we would look to have those individualized questions to learn that greater data that I believe you're referring to.

57. 0:33:19

    Um, we, for version 1.0 of these surveys that we've got online was based off of the existing, um, existing code. But in there, there was a line at the end and it said, um, "Other data determined by the board." Um, and that's where we would wanna work collaboratively with, uh, the legislators, licensing boards, uh, take in public input to see what would be the best things for Georgia.

58. 0:33:43

    Line 78. Representative.

59. 0:33:47

    Um-

60. 0:33:48

    Um, no, it's, I, I was referring to code. I'm sorry. They don't have that. Oh, you've got it. Yeah, you've got that.

61. 0:33:56

    So you'll be giving these surveys just directly to the licensing boards?

62. 0:34:01

    These surveys are administered when the licensee renews their license, and then it prompts, um, a- an additional survey for them to fill out these questions. Now, some of these boards, like the ... Currently, the, the Composite Medical Board is already in the existing law. They are on a different licensing platform or software than, say, the Board of Nursing is, um, because they ch- they all changed vendors recently. So the look and feel might be a little bit differently, but the questions, in essence, um, should be largely the same, but we know physicians and nurses might have some different questions as well, and that's where we'd want to work with the different groups to make sure we get it right.

63. 0:34:40

    And on line 51 and 52, why are we asking for the type of insurance? Do ...

64. 0:34:48

    So that-

65. 0:34:51

    Yeah, I believe I'm, I ... So I believe that came from ... I'm, I'm reading. I've got the existing code in front of me, and I believe ... I'm not sure if it came from there, but what we can do is if it doesn't make sense for a, a certain licensing body, then we, we wouldn't ask it. But in the sake of a dentist or a physician who's a direct biller or pro- they bill directly to the insurance company, um, we might want to know that question. But if it's the behavioral analysts' board, they don't drop bills directly, so we would likely omit it from that board.

66. 0:35:27

    And I believe it would-

67. 0:35:28

    Right

68. 0:35:28

    ... the public has access to this information also. So if a member of the public was looking, um, to this set, they might want to know what type of insurance was accepted.

69. 0:35:39

    And, and I just found it in the code. It's in 49-105 with the existing five licensing boards. Um, the code does say types of insurances accepted and whether the provider accepts Medicaid and Medicare.

70. 0:35:52

    Yeah. Thank you. I think this could be beneficial, and as it grows, we could collect a lot of data, um, to help fill our workforce pipeline. So I appreciate it.

71. 0:36:03

    Okay. Okay. You were next. Re- Representative Taylor.

72. 0:36:07

    Madam Chair, at the appropriate time, I'd like to make a motion.

73. 0:36:10

    We have one more question. Let me get that. Representative Au.

74. 0:36:14

    At the appropriate time, I'd like a second.

75. 0:36:16

    I was gonna let it go, but in the, uh, when you relicense for medicine on the Composite Medical Board, it does habitually ask you which insurances you accept, including Medicare and Medicaid. So I thi- think it's just a matter of, like, making sure that everyone knows-

76. 0:36:28

    Right

77. 0:36:29

    ... that you are Medicare eligible.

78. 0:36:32

    I mean, 'cause you could have a county where that's a very rural area, has an aging population, and, you know, there are doctors that are full that don't accept Medicare, n- not, not even counting Medicaid. And it would look like there were physicians there to treat people or a physician, and really there's not anybody. The practice is full. They want to retire, and that's a problem. So, uh, we would ... Okay, that takes the questions. Uh, Representative Taylor, we're ready for-

79. 0:37:00

    Thank you.

80. 0:37:00

    Oh.

81. 0:37:00

    I'd like to make a motion that we do pass.

82. 0:37:03

    Okay, we've got a motion and do pass. There's one person from the audience, Tim Gibler.

83. 0:37:08

    I'll waive in lieu of, uh-

84. 0:37:10

    Oh

85. 0:37:10

    ... Representative Taylor's motion.

86. 0:37:11

    Oh, thank you.

87. 0:37:12

    I would urge the committee to support that motion.

88. 0:37:13

    Okay, thank you. Um, is there any other discussion? Anybody else that would like to speak to the bill in the audience? No? Okay. Everyone in favor of the passage of the substitute to Senate Bill 500, say aye.

89. 0:37:29

    Aye.

90. 0:37:29

    Anyone opposed, no. Okay, the ayes have it. Thank you very much, Senator.

91. 0:37:33

    Thank you, Madam Chair and committee. Appreciate it.

92. 0:37:35

    Okay. There is a form the Rules Committee has. I think they have you fill it out, too, if you'll be sure and, uh, get it.

93. 0:37:43

    Thank you.

94. 0:37:44

    Oh, who is the House sponsor?

95. 0:37:46

    Oh, I'm sorry. House sponsor is Rick Townsend.

96. 0:37:50

    Okay.

97. 0:37:50

    Representative Townsend.

98. 0:37:52

    T- Townsend.

99. 0:37:53

    Townsend.

100. 0:37:53

     Re- Representative Townsend, okay. Thank you, sir. Okay, Representative Kirkpatrick, if you would come forward. Uh, Senate Bill, uh, 395 to start.

101. 0:38:10

     And, uh, b- wait, if we put this on the table, I believe, right? I think ... No, we didn't. No, we didn't do it. Okay, so if you just-

102. 0:38:20

     Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. I think I've presented this bill a couple times already, so I won't go into great detail, but you do have a substitute bill. I've been working with various parties to get everyone in good shape, and the LC number of this one is 521083S. And so I'll just briefly go over the changes since I last came to the committee, if that's okay with you. Um, we changed the semi-annual report to annual in hopes of improving compliance with the reporting.

103. 0:38:57

     That was what I originally had on the bill when we first started, and that changed on our side. Um, then we added language on lines 19 and 20, and this has to do with the Department of Public Health, which, as you remember, they handle the administrative part of the process, whereas the medical board handles the enforcement part of the process. So this is just an effort to clear up that the department would not use the report or lack thereof as the basis for revoking a card.

104. 0:39:32

     And then finally, down on line 36, uh, we took out other licensing boards, which was a concern for some of the members last time, and just left it, uh, that the information could go to the board so that they could do their job of compliance. So I think everyone's happy with it that I've spoken to now. Department of Public Health is fine. The medical board is fine. And the people who, uh, brought concerns to me, um-

105. 0:40:01

     Are apparently just fine too. So hopefully that answers everybody's questions, but if you have more questions, I'm happy to take them. Okay. Um, questions from committee. Representative Hilton. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to pass. Hold on a minute. Let me ask one more time if there's any, does anybody else have a question on the committee? No, and we don't have anybody signed up, do we? I gotcha. Pardon? Oh. We're on the same page. She's seconding is what she's doing. Okay. All right. It's, you go ahead and make a motion.

106. 0:40:33

     I'd like to make a motion we do pass LC521- 1083S. Okay. We have a motion to pass and a second. Is there any other discussion? Anybody that didn't sign up that wants to speak to it that's out in the audience? Okay, seeing no one, everybody, we're at the, this posture, everyone in favor of the passage of substitute to Senate Bill 395, say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? No?

107. 0:41:03

     All right, the ayes have it. Okay, and on to- I've got mine for you. Okay. Uh, Representative Kurt. Wait, wait, wait, we got 440. And I'm just, you just, you can say where we are, and then I'll take it from there. Um, do you want me to just refresh everyone's- Yes ... memory on 440? Uh, Senate Bill 440 is a department bill for the Department of Public Health. It's a cleanup bill that repeals and updates and, uh, takes a lot of obsolete things that haven't been funded or appointed or whatever out of the law.

108. 0:41:43

     And, uh, it passed the Senate. It's been through committee once. I think there's a substitute bill, but I haven't, I don't have it, so I'll leave it to you, Madam Chair, to take it from there. Okay. Um, this bill was in rules. We pulled it back, and there is an amendment that has been added and, and made it a substitute. If you will look on page six, section four. Okay. Uh, and if everybody will take a moment to read section four.

109. 0:42:14

     It's on the bottom of six and a little bit on the top of seven.

110. 0:42:24

     Um, it's 440. 440. So the bottom of six and the top of seven. Oh, Teddy, do you have it? Yeah, I have it. Okay, 440. I stole one earlier from one of those places over there, so I thought you might not...

111. 0:42:52

     Okay.

112. 0:43:02

     Okay. Everybody had time to read it? Okay. Uh, let me read it so the audience will know. Uh, basically, and tell me what to do, this is putting ivermectin, uh, when used with a strength of 0.5% or less in a topical lotion, or when distributed by a pharmacist, is, uh, as provided by the State Board of Pharmacy as a product of, in finished dosage formulation in its original container that has been approved by and labeled in compliance with United States Food and Drug Administra- administration.

113. 0:43:37

     Uh, it's my understanding there's probably, it will be behind the counter. And I'm not sure where... Okay, where did you see it? Right here. This one right here? No, I got that. It doesn't say behind the counter, and I thought it was gonna be behind the counter. It is going to be, it's my understanding that it is going to be behind the counter. And I apologize. Has anybody found where it is?

114. 0:44:08

     This, obviously, we are in the position of when things come at the very last minute. Did you find it? It-

115. 0:44:17

     Kristen, did you do this one? Yeah, I did. Where is it that says it's behind the counter? It, it doesn't. It, it says it's distributed by a pharmacist. Oh, so they just- Yeah. It's protected. So the pharmacist- Would that include it, it would be, if it's distributed by the pharmacist, it would be behind the- Yeah. It, it, it, just it's the way it is. Okay. All right. So that is the amendment, and we have questions. Representative Au. Thank you, Madam Chair. First of all, I want to say how nice it is to see you again, and how much I've enjoyed working with you for almost two decades now, so it's nice to have this conversation, uh, physician to physician.

116. 0:44:59

     So section four is what we're looking at now. That's the main part that's changed. It's an amendment that was added. Did you approve of this amendment being added? Um, no, ma'am, I did not know the amendment was being added. But, um, and honestly, at this point, I'm not exactly sure what it does because I don't have that code section in front of me. If I remember correctly, this is part of a bill that did not cross over on crossover day.

117. 0:45:29

     There was a standalone bill regarding ivermectin and making it, uh, more available without a prescription. Um, in your understanding, in your decades of clinical history, is it your understanding that ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug? Um, I never used ivermectin as an orthopedic surgeon, so I think it's a anti-worm medicine is what it was originally intended for. Okay. But it's taken on some other uses, uh, in the last few years.

118. 0:45:59

     And, uh, I don't think the FDA has really changed anything. She gave it to me. Thank you.

119. 0:46:08

     Um-

120. 0:46:09

     This is-

121. 0:46:09

     So-

122. 0:46:09

     Yeah. That's-

123. 0:46:10

     That's about all I know about it.

124. 0:46:11

     Sure. Right. This is not Se- Senator Kirkpatrick's language is-

125. 0:46:16

     Yeah.

126. 0:46:16

     It's a committee-

127. 0:46:17

     Certain- yeah. I think that's important to, to establish that it was not Dr. Kirkpatrick's amendment. Um, you know, generally speaking, for drugs that are more available in this way, either over the counter or through a pharmacist, the clinical condition that is designed to be treated, which we understand to be parasitic infections, need to be easily diagnosable, which is what we see for other over-the-counter medications. Uh, is it your understanding that it would be easy for a pharmacist to do, um, a fecal smear and look under a microscope to check for the presence of parasites in order to administer ivermectin over the counter?

128. 0:46:56

     Um, I've never seen a pharmacist do that.

129. 0:47:00

     Me neither.

130. 0:47:00

     Um-

131. 0:47:03

     I think she ...

132. 0:47:06

     I do think there's ... My understanding is there's a process by which drugs are approved for over-the-counter usage that goes through the FDA.

133. 0:47:14

     That is correct, that the FDA approves over-the-counter medications. Um, thank you. I appreciate those answers. I know this was not your amendment.

134. 0:47:51

     All right. Um, the medical board that ...

135. 0:47:57

     It's not that the ... Do ... Can I have an opinion? Brad, come here. Come on up.

136. 0:48:11

     Why? I thought you agreed.

137. 0:48:11

     I'm happy to yield my chair if you'd like.

138. 0:48:13

     Okay. Thanks, Senator Kirkpatrick. Thank you. We'll work this out.

139. 0:48:20

     Madam Chair.

140. 0:48:21

     It's my understanding that this is not saying that the pharmacist is going to prescribe this.

141. 0:48:28

     On its face, I think that's a correct assertion.

142. 0:48:31

     Okay.

143. 0:48:31

     That the pharmacist would simply be distributing this.

144. 0:48:34

     Right.

145. 0:48:35

     And it seems from a statutory construction perspective that, uh, the suggestion that it is distributed by a pharmacist would mean that it is behind the counter, that the pharmacist would be handing it directly to the consumer. I hesitate to say patient there, but consumer in the pharmacy.

146. 0:48:53

     Sort of like they put Sudafed or something like that.

147. 0:48:58

     I would think that that is the, the concept, yes.

148. 0:49:03

     Okay. All right. Uh, Representative Cheokas.

149. 0:49:10

     Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. On line 147, this is used with a strength of .5% or less in a topical lotion. Is that how this will be administered?

150. 0:49:30

     Or. Okay. Representative Au, you want to answer that for him?

151. 0:49:33

     Yeah. Um, what Representative Cheokas is pointing out to in line 47, that's already in code. That's, that's topical, but what is being added is the part that's underlined, or when distributed by a pharmacist

152. 0:49:47

     in a finished dose formulation that is unspecified.

153. 0:49:52

     So-

154. 0:49:53

     So that's what's being added.

155. 0:49:54

     It's being added. May I f-

156. 0:49:57

     Right.

157. 0:49:57

     Yeah, but it doesn't change the existing thing, so does, is the dosage gonna be distributed in a liquid form, in a tablet form, injected, or, or topical lotion? That's, that's my question.

158. 0:50:11

     So it looks like, and, and I'll defer to the lawyer in the room, or one of the many lawyers in the room, that the topical's already in code.

159. 0:50:17

     That's correct.

160. 0:50:18

     But what is being added is a parenteral or oral or whatever. It's, it's not specified, so-

161. 0:50:25

     Yeah, that's what I-

162. 0:50:25

     ... oftentimes ivermectin is taken orally, and I, my presumption having seen this bill language before is that it is aiming to make parenteral or oral ivermectin available without a prescription. O- of note also that ivermectin does come with some significant neurotoxic and cardiotoxic side effects, which are some of the things that we exclude when we're looking at medications that should be more readily available without a prescription. So this flies in the face of how we customarily handle these types of medications.

163. 0:51:00

     Does that answer your question?

164. 0:51:01

     I'm, I'm, I'm s-

165. 0:51:04

     I-

166. 0:51:04

     I'm still somewhat confused. Forgive me.

167. 0:51:07

     Okay. That's okay.

168. 0:51:07

     Okay, 'cause in this, it doesn't say, it says, "Finished dosage formulation."

169. 0:51:16

     Do we need to ... I, I don't understand. I, if we've got it in topical already in code, finished dosage formulation in my opinion would mean topical.

170. 0:51:29

     No.

171. 0:51:29

     No.

172. 0:51:29

     It has an R after ... It has at the end of lotion-

173. 0:51:33

     Yes.

174. 0:51:33

     It says or.

175. 0:51:35

     Okay.

176. 0:51:35

     I th- I think it's talking about another one. Okay.

177. 0:51:38

     Thank you.

178. 0:51:39

     Um, I'm gonna take some more questions. Uh, like I say, this came in very late.

179. 0:51:46

     I'll be okay.

180. 0:51:46

     All right. The ... And I think we need to get some clarifications. I need to get one of the pharmacists to come testify.

181. 0:51:55

     Thank you.

182. 0:51:55

     So, um, I will hope if I call a meeting, like tomorrow at the drop of a hat, that we can get a good quorum back again and we can get these questions answered if we need to do that. But here I'm gonna take all your questions now. Representative Barnes.

183. 0:52:16

     Thank you. Um, I just want to make sure this doesn't, like, begin to deregulate, like, higher dosages of the drug.

184. 0:52:25

     It does.

185. 0:52:27

     Yeah?

186. 0:52:29

     However they package it.

187. 0:52:31

     You, you mean if-

188. 0:52:33

     Based on the drafting, it would suggest that it's whatever the dosage is in the prepackaged container-

189. 0:52:38

     Right

190. 0:52:38

     ... I would think. Although the amendment's a little unclear about what the dosage is.

191. 0:52:43

     Okay, thank you.

192. 0:52:46

     Okay. All right. Representative Hilton.

193. 0:52:51

     Thank you, Madam Chair. I think you touched on kind of what, not a question, so, well, I guess a question. I- is there anyone in the room that we have who's here to testify in favor of it or advocate for the addition of this amendment? It seems kind of quiet out there.

194. 0:53:08

     Madam Chair, can you just refresh how we got to this point of this amendment, this mysterious amendment that no one knows about?

195. 0:53:17

     My-

196. 0:53:17

     Um, it came from the leadership.

197. 0:53:25

     Oh.

198. 0:53:25

     I didn't, Madam Chair, I didn't know if we had the, because there is another bill out there. I didn't know if the author of that bill was here. I don't see him.

199. 0:53:33

     No.

200. 0:53:33

     Okay.

201. 0:53:37

     So, okay. Representative Au again.

202. 0:53:43

     So I, I don't-- Thank you, Madam Chair. W- I don't know if we're intending to, to vote on this in its current form today given all the questions out there. So I would suggest that we could either

203. 0:53:57

     table it for now, or I could suggest, um, an amendment that would take care of this issue, and we can pass the bill, which seems, um, that we've passed that once already and get it taken care of, is the two options I have.

204. 0:54:10

     Um,

205. 0:54:14

     no, I think you just need to hold your amendment till we meet again and see if I-

206. 0:54:18

     It's ready

207. 0:54:18

     ... get it clarified. I mean, I, you know, this is a time when things get put together, and I really think that's where it did. I mean, the person that handed to me, it came, they said, you know, "It'll be ready to go." I think this was trying to put part of another bill on there. And, um, literally, it was hot off the press as we tried to walk over here, so I didn't have time to look at it, and in fact, I was looking for it. So I think what happened was that it wasn't as clear as other people think it might've been.

208. 0:54:53

     And before we vote on it, I can tell that people on this committee are concerned, as I am, and I think that we need to get the questions answered and maybe some clarification on, um, the specifics of the bill, that, that the way that this amendment was written and moved from another piece of legislation is not clear. So, uh, let me get, uh, Representative Taylor, if you got a question.

209. 0:55:22

     Thank you, Madam Chair. I was, in reading this, I sort of interpreted it as, I think we've passed a bill where pharmacists can distribute birth control pills. They're behind the counter.

210. 0:55:31

     Mm-hmm.

211. 0:55:31

     Is, are we-- I'm, that's what I'm trying to find out.

212. 0:55:34

     I'm not sure, and that's a question that I have. That's-

213. 0:55:37

     It, they, they-

214. 0:55:38

     I, that's-

215. 0:55:38

     ... they are doctors of pharmacy, so I'm wondering how far this goes. Um-

216. 0:55:43

     That's a clarification that we need to add.

217. 0:55:44

     Okay.

218. 0:55:45

     Clarify. Because I don't think that's what it was meant to do. All right. Uh, Representative, Representative O'Steen.

219. 0:55:55

     Thank you, Madam Chair. Aside from section four,

220. 0:56:02

     can Senator C- Kirkpatrick come back up here and tell us the rest of the bill? So we're-

221. 0:56:07

     Oh.

222. 0:56:08

     If there's nothing else that we're, that we're, we're-- the only thing we're looking at is this amendment.

223. 0:56:11

     Right.

224. 0:56:12

     Okay. All right. That's, that clarifies. Thank you so much.

225. 0:56:14

     Okay. No, who's that?

226. 0:56:16

     Okay. I'm back.

227. 0:56:18

     No. We're, we're okay.

228. 0:56:20

     I'm worried about the amendment on the bill.

229. 0:56:22

     Right.

230. 0:56:23

     The rest of the bill is good.

231. 0:56:24

     Okay. Yeah, and it was passed out and was in rules. It was pulled back for this amendment. It's that time of year.

232. 0:56:31

     My dad passed away last week, so I'm just-

233. 0:56:33

     Oh, hon, hon, I'm surprised you're here.

234. 0:56:35

     Sorry.

235. 0:56:35

     And I'm sorry to call you hon. I mean, it's met with... So I-

236. 0:56:42

     I just missed that part. Okay.

237. 0:56:44

     Okay. So, um, okay. Um,

238. 0:56:52

     we got that. Is that the end of it? Okay. Um, we have too many questions. So, um, I can stop the proceedings and say that w- that I will go get the information we need, or we can officially lay it on the table. Shall I just stop the committee and say that we're through for the day, and everybody stand on ready, please, to show up again when I get the information? Because I think that this is, in trying to fact that the committee was meeting today, perhaps, and we are burning up days, and it's gonna be harder to get everybody back together.

239. 0:57:33

     I think it got maybe moved quickly, more quickly than it should've been, and it didn't come out of legislative council. Not that we're complaining about legislative council's time. It's just that they are very busy, and getting a bill changed and out is a problem. So, uh, I'm going to say that I will pursue getting an explanation and further clarification on this so it's more you know what you're voting on. And with that, uh, if no one else in the audience wants, has anything to say, I will say that we are adjourned.

240. 0:58:09

     I will get your bill out, Senator. We just need to get clarity.

241. 0:58:12

     Do you need me to come back again?

242. 0:58:14

     No.

243. 0:58:14

     Okay. Thank you.

244. 0:58:18

     I know, I know, I know it's a department bill, and we are ha- we are, you know, h- holding things up, and I know you want that bill, so I'll get answers.