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The committee met to take up and consider the following bills.
 
SB 1243 – Burton, Relating to donation of unused prescription drugs.

  • Current statute requires unused drugs to be disposed of; unused drugs can become available if patients get better quicker than expected or if a patient dies
  • These drugs can be beneficial to low-income patients who need treatment
  • Establishes a charitable donation program under the purview of DSHS; allows participating facilities to donate unopened prescription drugs to providers
  • Committee sub:
    • Helps cancer patients afford the drugs they need; allows program to apply to drugs that have a risk evaluation or mitigation strategy
    • Includes donor and recipient forms New Mexico uses in execution of this policy
    • No significant fiscal impact
  • Bill can help to save the lives of people in need of these life saving treatments
  • Zaffirini asked what problems were with the bill when it didn’t pass in previous session
    • The witness Dr. Page may have a better idea of why it was unsuccessful
  • Zaffirini noted she supported it previously
  • Bill left pending

 
SB 1128 – Zaffirini, Relating to certain diagnostic testing during pregnancy.

  • Congenital syphilis rates are rising for newborn infants
  • The malady is easily treated through antibiotics
  • The bill would align syphilis testing during pregnancy with those of HIV; must be tested during the third trimester
  • Van Taylor asked about cost
    • No additional cost because the test is already administered at birth
  • Taylor asked what the benefit is
    • Treatment steps can be taken earlier
  • Bill left pending

 
SB 1129 – Zaffirini, Relating to the transportation of a person with a mental illness.

  • There is no statute preventing techniques of severely limiting restraints such as hog tying for EMS or medical transportation professionals
  • Bill requires person’s under emergency detention for mental health reasons to be transported while sitting upright
  • Uresti asked if this bill has come before the Senate in previous sessions
    • Yes it has passed the Senate multiple times and dies in House every time
  • Taylor asked about law enforcement response to the bill
    • There has been opposition in the past but once people understand the issue they come to see the benefit of it
  • Bill left pending

 
SB 1462 – West, Relating to the prescription, administration, and possession of certain opioid antagonists for the treatment of suspected opioid overdoses.

  • 16,235 pharmaceutical opioid deaths in the U.S
  • 26 states have passes legislation about the proposed issue
  • Bill has no fiscal impact
  • The bill would
    • Allow a prescriber to prescribe Naloxone to families and friends of people with a history of opioid abuse
    • Make it legal to prescribe for use on another person
  • Committee substitute:
    • Clarifies that the bill does not intend for physician dispensing
  • Bill left pending

 
SB 1279 – Campbell, Relating to designated emergency infant care providers for certain abandoned children.

  • 1999 Texas was first state to enact safe haven law – resulting in every state having a Baby Moses statute
  • The Baby Moses statute allows a parent to leave there baby at a designated facility without fear for prosecution
  • The intent of this law is for parents to know the police will not be called and they will not be prosecuted for abandonment or neglect
  • The appropriate local and state authorities will be notified by DFPS and the child will be cared for
  • Current law defines a safe haven as a hospital, fire station, police station or EMS station and applies to children under 60 days of age
  • The bill simply adds free standing emergency centers to the list of recognized safe havens
  • The substitute makes a clarifying change to bring the language in line with SB 219
  • The substitute makes changes that remove the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services and replaces it with the Department of Family and Protective Services as the appropriate agency
  • Bill left pending

 
SB 571 – Rodriguez, Relating to the regulation of the practice of dental hygiene.

  • Committee substitute – 44 other states allow registered dental hygienist to administer anesthesia
  • Amends the occupation code
  • Creates a pain free environment for patients
  • Allows the dentist to see more patients
  • Concerned with the lack of access to healthcare
  • Dentist elects hygienist to administer anesthesia
  • Bill left pending

 
 
Public Testimony
 
SB 1243
Ray Page, Practicing Medical Oncologist

  • Support the bill
  • Relates to the donation of unused prescription drugs
  • This bill is a simple solution to allow unused drugs to be moved from donor patients to other patients
  • Especially important for our most vulnerable cancer patients
  • Over 40 million dollars of unused prescription drugs are thrown away
  • New Mexico has had this law in place since 2011
  • There should be no additional cost for the moving of unused drugs
  • If any fee is necessary, it should be a charge from the physician of $20 for the handling of the drugs
  • Senator Kolkhorst asks Gay Dodson (State Board of Pharmacy) about the difficulty of tampering with the prescription drugs dispensed to nursing

 
SB 1128
Dr. Thomas Schlenker, Health Authority San Antonio Metropolitan

  • 13 Dollars is the latest price
  • Support the bill
  • If a syphilis test is done at the same time as the 3rd trimester HIV test, it’s only a single needle test
  • All pregnant women are required to be tested for syphilis
  • 70 -130 congenital syphilis a year – should be zero
  • Babies born with congenital syphillis are more likely to grow up dependent on others
  • IV penicillin is very expensive for a baby and become more expensive throughout their lives
  • 3rd trimester syphilis testing is recommended
  • Just so long as a women gets tested 30 days before birth, she can ensure that the baby will be healthy
  • $13 is the latest price for a syphilis test

 
Dr. Steven Harris, HHS, Chief Physician

  • Support the bill
  • Syphilis testing is inexpensive ($15) and allows prompt treatment
  • Texas had the 3rd highest rate and 3rd highest number of cases in 2013
  • Congenital syphilis results in heart problems brain dysfunctions and more life restraining complications
  • Passing of this bill would put syphilis testing in the fronts of physicians minds
  • Stresses that our state can reduce the number of babies born with CS from 70-135 to 0
  • 26,000 dollars overall cost for a child born with CS – just the IV therapy
  • Long term cost could be hundreds of thousands of dollars for a life time

 
SB 1462
John Szensky, National Safety Council

  • Support the bill
  • Increase in opioid deaths has more than doubled in our states (overdose)
  • People suffering are often prescribed high doses of opioids
  • The more an individual is prescribed opioid, they have a 4 to 9 times greater chance of a opioid related death
  • Naloxone should be readily available for first aid
  • Too much opioids causes an individual to stop breathing and naloxones can alter this affect
  • Often times an individual cannot make it to the hospital before it’s too late
  • More than 26 states have passed similar legislation
  • There has been 10,000 overdoses that have been reversed in those states because of naloxone
  • What is the shelf life of naloxone?
    • 2 years

 
Dena Wagner

  • Support the bill
  • More deaths are tribute to drug addiction than car accidents
  • Had a daughter who overdosed on prescription opioids
  • Stressed that if the paramedics had had naloxone her daughter would’ve lived

 
SB 1129
RC Hayes, licensed social worker

  • Support the bill
  • Goal is to teach people the safest way to restrain an individual
  • Says there is no such thing as a safe restraint
    • Believed we can’t control the risk factors but can control what position an individual is in when transported
  • Stated that a mentally ill individual should be transported in an upright position where they can breathe appropriately
  • Handcuffs and feet restraints are ok but a hog tie is not

 
Catherine Lewis, Lawyer with Disability Rights

  • Support the bill
  • Wants to limit prone and supine restraints along with hog ties of an individual
  • The transporter should be allowed to enforce a restraint, just so long as the individual is sitting in a upright row stance

 
Sherriff Association of Texas

  • Sees a problem with ensuring that someone is in an upright row position with their current equipment

SB 571
DR. David Reves

  • Support the bill
  • Believes the bill allows for greater access to care because of better scheduling
  • Emphasized how the changes would create greater safety

 
Rose Gutierrez – Texas Dental Association, Dental Hygienist

  • Administered local anesthesia for the last 15 years
  • Local anesthesia is used to allow for comfort for a patient

 
Dr. Bill Gerlach, Dentists; TDA

  • Oppose the Bill
  • Believes the topical anesthetics work well enough and that the state does not need to lower the standards for who can administer local anesthetics

 
Dr. Richard Black, TDA

  • Oppose the bill
  • Says the bill would create a shortcuts for an individual to become a dental hygienist
  • Believe the proposed bill creates training shortcuts
  • Disagrees that convenience is a necessary move when allowing more people to administer local anesthesia
  • Texas House of Delegates had a poll 78% opposing the move to allow local hygienists to administer anesthesia
  • Believes it is not going to be an “access to care” issue
  • Says the patient deserves the right to have the most certified individual to deliver them anesthetics
  • There are 12,000 licensed dentist and 17,000 licensed hygienist
  • Senator Rodriguez stressed that 44 other states have already put this into statutory and they haven’t seen any major problems so why not do it in Texas

 
Scott Vandergriff

  • Support the bill
  • Stresses that the dentist end up doing the hygienist job for them
  • Says that in his office there is about a 4 to 1 dentist to hygienist ratio

 
Dr. David Roberts – Dallas Texas Academy of General Dentistry

  • There should be no shortcut in the training of a local hygienist
  • TAGD has 2,800 members in the state of Texas

 
Dr. Art Jeske, Houston Dentist

  • Oppose the bill
  • He has had the privilege of teaching individuals to become dentist and hygienist
  • He stressed there is fine line between the two
  • Dental hygienist are already allowed to apply topical anesthetics and there is no reason for them to given the right to apply irreversible anesthetics