STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2622

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2919

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2919 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that the dispensing of a pharmacist-prescribed opioid antagonist be reported to the State's electronic prescription accountability system.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Department of Health, and Hawaii Opioid Initiative Workgroup 5: Pharmacy Based Interventions. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Board of Pharmacy.

Your Committees find that the Legislature passed Act 255, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019, which allows pharmacists to issue prescriptions for opioid antagonists, thereby increasing access to lifesaving drugs. Your Committees further find that the electronic prescription accountability system, commonly known as the prescription drug monitoring system or PDMP, is a useful tool to reduce the risk of substance abuse and addiction and helps prevent unintended drug interactions. Your Committees also find that efforts to track dispensing and distribution of opioid antagonists are decentralized. This measure would centralize efforts by requiring pharmacists to report opioid antagonist prescriptions to the PDMP using procedures that are very familiar to them, thereby improving efficiency for reporting opioid antagonist prescriptions and also allowing for additional data in preventing opioid overdose.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2919, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2919, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair