2013 Legislative Session
Update
Week Four
Affordable Care Act | Biomedical Research Funding | Cancer Care & Research | Clean Indoor Air Act | Cigarette Surcharge | Epinephrine Auto-injectors | Tobacco Education & Use Prevention | Tobacco Settlement
While the legislature had an abbreviated schedule this week to recognize the Passover and Easter holidays, they squeezed in a week’s worth of work into just two days. Budgets were made public by the various Appropriations subcommittees; the Senate spent time debating bills on the Chamber floor, and committee agendas were packed. The budget deliberations will take center-stage in the next few weeks. On the political front, Governor Scott’s reelection campaign aired its first television ads this week which focus on jobs and the economy.
Following is a summary of the priority issues for the
American Lung Association in Florida:
Affordable Care Act
Implementation
House approves changes to state part-time employee law
Florida decided to follow a federal exchange model for 2013 and revisit the issue of a partnership model in 2014. On the expansion issue, Governor Scott is a reluctant supporter with a sunset after
three years. The House Select Committee on PPACA voted to reject Medicaid expansion. The Senate Select Committee on PPACA also voted to reject a traditional Medicaid expansion, opting to instead pursue a third option. This option amends the Florida Healthy Kids program (state’s SCHIP program) to use its platform to provide coverage to people with an income of up to 138 percent of
the federal poverty level. Those in the program would pay small premiums for private insurance; copays for doctor visits and hospital stays -- as little as $2 – and qualify for health reimbursement accounts. The debate over whether to expand at all in Florida will consume the remainder of the legislative session, with the House still reluctant toward expansion.
This week the House Select Committee on PPACA passed a proposal to allow for certain
part-time state employees to receive health insurance benefits pursuant to the provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
PPACA calls for providing coverage to people living in households earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $16,000 for an individual and $27,000 for a family of three. Currently, a single parent with two children must earn less than $9,000 to qualify for Medicaid.
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Epinephrine Auto-injectors SB 284/ HB 366
Senate bill considered by the Senate chamber this week
SB 284 by Senator Joe Negron (R-Palm City) establishes a process through which a private school can register to be notified at the same time as public school districts are notified about an emergency occurrence in the local area that could threaten student safety. In the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs, Space & Domestic Security Committee on March 20, Senator Negron allowed an amendment to go on his bill which would allow schools to store epinephrine autoinjectors and allows school personnel to administer them to a child in emergencies. SB 284 was considered
by the full Senate on March 27 and will be voted on by the full Senate next week. The companion bill, HB 369 by Representative Mike LaRosa (R-St. Cloud) which includes the EpiPen provision is
in the Judiciary Committee.
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Florida Clean
Indoor Air Act: SB 258 / HB 439
No movement this week
SB 258 by Senator Rob Bradley (R-Orange Park) and HB 439 by Representative Bill Hagar (R-Boca Raton) amend the Florida
Clean Indoor Air Act to allow cities and counties to restrict outdoor smoking
on municipal and county property.
SB 258 was amended to limit where non-smoking areas
can be placed and requires the designation of a smoking area within those
non-smoking areas. The restricted areas, as well as designated smoking areas,
must be identified by signs. The bill also provides for enforcement.
There was no committee action this
week on SB 258. The bill will be heard next by the Community Affairs Committee.
HB 439 has not been scheduled for hearing yet in its first committee of
reference, the Health Quality Subcommittee.
The American Lung Association in Florida
raised concerns that the newly-amended proposal is not strong enough to protect
public health.
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Statewide Tobacco Education and Use
Prevention Program
Chairman’s proposal released this week
Again, Florida’s Constitution requires the Legislature to annually appropriate 15 percent of funds paid under the tobacco settlement for tobacco education with an annual adjustment for inflation. The Governor’s budget recommended full funding of the Comprehensive Statewide Tobacco Prevention and Education Program at $65,605,793.
In Chairman Hudson’s and Chairman Grimsley’s budget proposals this week, both the House
and Senate Health Care Appropriations Committees recommended $1,350,825 in adjustments
for the Statewide Tobacco Education and Use Prevention Program based on the Consumer Price Index as required by the Constitution. No specifics have been released yet on the individual line item allocations under the Program, but the House and Senate budget bills should be available by early next week and those breakdowns will be in the budget bills.
The American Lung Association in Florida is
working to ensure the allocation of these dollars follows CDC’s Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control, are competitively
procured, and rigorous performance measures are included in any contracts
managed by the Florida Department of Health.
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Biomedical Research
Funding
Chairman’s proposal released this week
On March 27, the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee released the chairman’s
budget proposal. The proposal recommends additional funding for the Biomedical Research
Trust Fund over and above the funding provided last session at the proposed levels:
- Sanford-Burnham - $2.6 million Recurring TF
- Bankhead-Coley- $5 million Recurring GR
- James & Ester King- $2,850,000 Recurring GR
- Moffitt Cancer Center- $3 million Recurring GR
- Shands Cancer Hospital - $3 million Recurring GR
- Sylvester Cancer Center- $3 million Recurring GR
House staff commented that this will proposal will bring Bankhead-Coley and the James
and Esther King programs to $10 million in funding with Moffitt, Shands, and Sylvester each receiving $8 million.
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services also released Chair Grimsley’s budget recommendations which included $15.6 million for biomedical research funding -- $10 million recurring GR, $3 million nonrecurring GR, and $2.6 million from the state trust fund. There were no other specifics provided on the breakdown of these funds.
The American Lung
Association in Florida supports a comprehensive, independent peer review
process to determine the recipients of research dollars.
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No movement this week
Current law imposes a surcharge of $1 per pack on
standard sized cigarettes. SB 620 by Senator Jeremy
Ring (D-Margate) and HB 473 by
Representative James Waldman (D-Coconut Creek) create the “Youth Smoking
Prevention Act” and increase the surcharge on standard sized
cigarettes from $1 to $2 per pack, with non-standard sized cigarettes being
taxed proportionately.
There was no committee action this week on SB 620
or HB 473.
The American Lung Association in Florida supports
increasing the cost of cigarettes as a strategy to reduce youth smoking and
encourage people who smoke to quit.
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Tobacco Settlement — Nonsettling
Manufacturers: SB 252
SB 252, re-filed by Senator Thad Altman
(R-Melbourne), requires
more cigarette makers to pay the state as part of its settlement with tobacco
companies, a measure that has been unsuccessfully pushed for several years. The
interest earned from the settlement fund would provide health care to children and seniors. Supporters of the bill include RJ Reynolds
Tobacco Company and the Altria Group.
No action on this bill this week and still no House
companion has been filed.
The American Lung Association in Florida is
monitoring this bill.
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Cancer Care & Research: SB 1660
Senate bill passes final committee stop and House committee bill finally released this week
On March 28, SB 1660 by Senator Anitere Flores (R-Miami) passed the Senate Appropriations Committee, its final committee hearing before floor consideration. The revised bill establishes a
Cancer Center of Excellence Award to recognize hospitals, treatment centers, and other providers in Florida that demonstrate excellence in patient-centered, coordinated care for persons undergoing cancer treatment and therapy. This bill provides for the development of performance measures, a rating system, and a rating standard that must be achieved to be eligible for recognition. The award
and designation may be used in the provider’s advertising and marketing for up to three years and it entitles the recipient to preferential consideration in competitive solicitations by a state agency or state university. This bill also provides for endowments to cancer research institutions in the state to establish a funded research chair that will attract and retain a promising researcher in order to serve as a catalyst to attract other national grant-producing researchers to the state. The endowments are contingent upon funding in the General Appropriations Act. On March 27, the House Health Quality Subcommittee introduced the companion committee bill, PCB HQS 13-01. CS/CS/SS 1660
will be considered by the full Senate on April 4.
The American Lung Association in Florida is
monitoring this bill and any potential House committee proposal.
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We hope this brief legislative update is helpful. We will keep you posted on these and other developments as the 2013 Session progresses.
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