SF 376 – Architects, professional engineers’ voluntary assistance to State
SF 2112 – Establishment of a state health insurance marketplace
SF 2166 – Regulation of commercial breeder establishments
SF 2195 – IUB telecommunications regulation clean up
SF 2204 – Pharmacy Benefits Managers
SF 2205 – Credit Union omnibus
COMMITTEE ACTION:
SF 376 is a new version of legislation approved by the Commerce Committee last year but referred back to the Committee for further discussion. The proposal allows registered architects and licensed professional engineers to be included as employees of the State during the time they volunteer with no compensation upon the request of State public safety officials to provide disaster-related assistance. The volunteers will be part of the Iowa Building Safety Assessment & Failure Evaluation (B-SAFE) Team of the Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management Department. [2/18: short form]
SF 2112 creates a new Code chapter to establish a statewide health insurance marketplace as a non- profit corporation with a board of directors comprised of seven members appointed by the governor for three-year staggered terms (two representing the interests of small business, three representing the interests of consumers, one who is a licensed insurance producer (agent), and one who is a health care provider), and the Iowa Insurance Commissioner as a consultant. Iowa currently has a federal-state partnership in place, which must be self-sustaining by 2015 or it defaults to the federal program. This proposal provides a transition to a state exchange, which will also give Iowa more flexibility. The legislation is based on the successful Colorado model. [2/18: short form (Anderson, Bertrand, Breitbach, Chapman, Sinclair, Schneider “no”)]
SF 2166 provides for the regulation of commercial establishments that keep non-agricultural animals (e.g., dogs) to allow state-level oversight and inspections of USDA-licensed facilities. To cover the costs associated with state inspection, it sets fees on a sliding scale, based on the number of animal on hand. It establishes a remediation fund patterned after a similar fund maintained for the rescue of agriculture animals. The bill also increases the standard of care to require larger cage sizes, solid flooring, access to the outdoors and annual veterinary exams for each animal. SF 2166 was amended and will be redrafted as a Commerce Committee bill. [2/18: 9-6, party-line (Beall, McCoy, Bolkcom, Hatch, Mathis, Petersen, Schoenjahn, Seng, Wilhelm “yes”; Anderson, Bertrand, Breitbach, Chapman, Sinclair, Schneider “no”)]
SF 2195 (SSB 3093) is a recommendation by the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) as a result of an extensive public Notice of Inquiry (NOI) over the past year to review and update IUB telecommunications statutes and regulations. All industry stakeholders were invited to participate in the process, 15 companies and organizations filed written comments and most participated in a daylong workshop on the topic. Input was carefully reviewed by staff and resulted in a set of recommendations for changes to IUB statutes and rules. This bill contains the more substantive recommended policy changes that resulted from the NOI. The Committee approved a non-substantive technical update to IUB telecommunications regulations (SF 2132) on Feb 6. [2/13: short form]
SF 2204 (SSB 3087) relates to the regulation of pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs). It authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to require a PBM to submit information related to the PBM’s pricing methodology for maximum reimbursement amounts for prescription drugs, defined as the amount for a therapeutically and pharmaceutically equivalent multiple-source prescription drug that is listed in the United States Food & Drug Administration’s publication of approved drug products with therapeutic equivalence evaluations ( a.k.a. the orange book). For those prescription drugs to which maximum reimbursement amount pricing applies, a PBM must include information in a contract with a pharmacy showing how maximum reimbursement amount pricing is calculated and allowing the pharmacy the opportunity to comment on, contest or appeal the maximum reimbursement amount rates and list. The contract must also allow for retroactive payment if it is determined that maximum reimbursement amount pricing has been applied incorrectly. SF 2004 also allows the Commissioner to implement the information submission requirements in relation to generic exclusivity, therapeutically equivalent drugs, and multiple drug manufacturers, wholesalers, and vendors. Within six months of the effective date of the bill, PBMs must enter into an agreement with the Commissioner relating to disclosure of rebates they received. [2/13: short form (Bertrand “no”)]
SF 2205 (SSB 3109) is a recommendation by the Credit Union Division of the Iowa Department of Commerce to clarify, strengthen and update Code language. It also establishes new involuntary dissolution provisions relating to state credit unions. Provisions relating to authorization to receive specified payments from other credit unions and relating to the requirement that investments be made in corporate bonds that are considered “investment grade” take effect upon enactment. [2/13: short form]