Prescription Drugs
SB 1702 by Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata (D-Oakland) was amended to eliminate a provision that would continuously appropriate a fund created by the bill to the Department of Health Services for a prescription drug discount program. Instead, the bill would require the Legislature to appropriate money in the fund for the discount program. The bill would create the discount program in California and establish rules of eligibility. The amended version of the bill now requires a simple majority to pass (Bill text, 5/18). The bill was re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee (StateNet, Subscription required).
AJR 49 by Assembly member Joe Nation (D-San Rafael) was amended to specify a request that FDA aggressively monitor and regulate direct-to-consumer television advertisements of prescription drugs. The bill calls on Congress and President Bush to ban such advertising by pharmaceutical companies. The previous version of the resolution did not apply solely to television ads (Bill text, 5/16). The Assembly Health Committee on May 9 voted 11-3 to approve the resolution, which now goes to its third reading in the Assembly (Bill history, 5/16).