2013 Legislative Session Update

Week Eight

Affordable Care Act | Biomedical Research Funding | Cancer Care & Research | Tobacco Education & Use Prevention |

Following is a summary of the priority issues for the American Lung Association in Florida (ALAF):

Statewide Tobacco Education and Use Prevention Program 

House and Senate conference committees meet and bump unresolved issues to budget chairs this week

The final phases of negotiations over the state's $74-billion spending plan began playing out this week as Senate Appropriations Chairman Joe Negron (R-Stuart) and House Appropriations Chairman Seth McKeel (R-Lakeland) met briefly on Tuesday evening to formally begin the process of resolving tricky budget items that were “bumped” to them to decide. This step came after several days of individual conference committee meetings which resolved most of the various line items in the budget for education, health care, transportation, etc.

Because of rules laying out how long lawmakers have to consider the budget, an agreement needs to be reached by Tuesday, April 30, in order to print the budget and have it to members for the requisite 72-hour “cooling off period” before the members can vote. If Senator Negron and Representative McKeel are unable to strike a deal by Friday, any remaining issues will be decided by House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz.

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. ALAF was successful in convincing the Health and Human Services Appropriations budget negotiators to include proviso language which ensure that the allocation of tobacco control funds uses CDC Best Practices guidelines for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The Statewide Tobacco Education and Use Prevention Program line item of the budget is now finalized and ALAF’s proviso will be part of the budget conference report expected to be released early next week.

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: SB 1500/ HB 5001

House and Senate conference committees meet and bump unresolved issues to budget chairs this week

HB 5001 and SB 1500 contain the language recommending additional funding for the Biomedical Research Trust Fund over and above the funding provided last legislative session. The House budget brings Bankhead-Coley and the James and Esther King programs to $10 million in funding, with Moffitt, Shands, and Sylvester Cancer Center each receiving $8 million. These health care budget line items are resolved and were “bumped” to Chairs Negron and McKeel to resolve. As of late Friday afternoon, no resolution had been reached on these budget line items.

The American Lung Association in Florida supports a comprehensive, independent peer review process to determine the recipients of research dollars.

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Affordable Care Act Implementation  

House debates and passes its health care proposal on floor this week

The two dominant policy issues for Florida as it implements the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) are the role of health exchanges and whether to expand coverage to a portion of the uninsured. Both the House and the Senate has decided to defer the exchages to the Federal government and not to expand Medicaid.  However, the Senate has come up with two very different proposals on how to expand coverage (SB 1816/SB 1844)

Also included in the House plan is the creation of a task force that will conduct a study allowing health professionals to practice within the full extent of their training in order to increase access to medical care. The study will look at the independent practice issue and whether allowing these professionals to practice with more independence, within the full extent of their training, will increase Florida’s supply of medical care. Negotiations of all the proposals will continue throughout the remainder of the session.

The Florida House debated nearly five hours Thursday on an amendment proposed by Representative Mike Fasano (R-New Port Richey) to the House proposal, HB 7169, which would have altered the proposed House health care plan to mirror the Senate’s Healthy Kids expansion proposal. In the end, though, House members defeated the amendment and passed their own proposal. The Senate will take up its proposal, SB 1816, on Monday, April 29. Negotiations between the chambers will continue about what, if anything, Florida will to provide health insurance for Florida’s uninsured population.

The American Lung Association in Florida supports expanding access to health care services for these vulnerable Floridians.

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Quality Cancer Care & Research: SB 1660 / HB 7153

House legislation passes final committee and Senate bill considered as part of budget conference process

Budget conforming bill, SB 1660 by Senator Anitere Flores (R-Miami), continued to be part of the budget conference process. Chairs of the House and Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations conference were not able to resolve the bill’s language or associated funding so they “bumped” the issue to the House and Senate Appropriations Committee chairs to work out the details. As of late Friday, this bill’s provisions remain unresolved. The Senate 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 April 16, the similar House companion measure, HB 7153 by Representative Jose Oliva (R-Miami), is also part of conference discussions.

The American Lung Association in Florida is monitoring this bill and any potential House committee proposal.

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The following bills did not have any committee action this week:

Epinephrine Auto-injectors SB 284/ HB 366

Florida Clean Indoor Air Act: SB 258/ HB 439  

Cigarette Surcharge: SB 620/ HB 473  

Tobacco Settlement — Nonsettling Manufacturers: SB 252  

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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.