STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2127

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2030

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2030 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRESCRIPTION DRUGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require a prescriber to offer a prescription of opioid antagonists or other medications under certain circumstances related to opioid overdose;

(2) Require a prescriber to offer patient education under certain circumstances related to opioid overdose;

(3) Require a pharmacist who dispenses a prescription order for an opioid to notify the individual of the potential dangers of a high dose of an opioid and to offer to dispense to the individual an opioid antagonist; provided that the individual is prescribed specific opioids at specified doses;

(4) Exempt pharmacists dispensing to patients in hospice or palliative care and residents of veterans community living centers; and

(5) Require a pharmacist to notify an individual receiving an opioid antagonist of the availability of generic and brand-name opiate antagonists.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Public Safety, and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Board of Pharmacy, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, and Animal Policy Group.

Your Committee finds that there is an opioid abuse crisis nationally, including Hawaii. The United States Food and Drug Administration encourages broader dissemination of opioid antagonists to combat this crisis. This measure furthers that goal by requiring prescribers and pharmacists to educate patients about opioid overdose and opioid antagonists, and to offer prescription of opioid antagonists in circumstances relating to opioid overdose.

Your Committee acknowledges the testimony of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, which notes that primary care has increasingly become a pathway to better care for fighting opioid overdose and requests an exemption for pharmacists from the requirements of the measure when dispensing medication to a patient in an inpatient or outpatient setting. Your Committee also acknowledges the testimony of the Animal Policy Group which raises concerns that while the measure targets opioid use in humans, the measure as written, also includes veterinarians and prescriptions for animals.

Therefore, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Exempting from the requirements of the measure, pharmacists who dispense a prescription drug to be administered to a patient while the patient is in either an inpatient or outpatient setting;

(2) Exempting from the requirements of the measure, veterinarians or prescriptions for animals;

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2030, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2030, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

________________________________

JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair