Budget week 2024
By Melissa Reybold, VP of Public Policy
This past week was budget week and lawmakers spent the days in joint hearings listening to testimonies from agencies and elected officials on the proposed state budget. Even though session wasn’t in, GPhA had a calendar full of meetings, drafting bill language, Zooms and phone calls to advance initiatives beneficial to our members, their patients, and the pharmacy profession.
One of the highlights of the week was a lunch meeting with Chairlady Sharon Cooper. She has been a lawmaker since 1997 and much of her legislation that she has passed over the years is health related. She has always been a huge supporter of GPhA and it’s always a pleasure working with her on important legislation. A fun fact about Chairlady Cooper is that she loves folk art and her office at the Gold Dome has some great pieces that she has obtained from some significant artists all over Georgia. Years ago, my mother had a shop up near Lake Rabun and featured a lot of these artists’ works, so Chairlady Cooper and I love discussing our various folk art with each other.
In a meeting with Representative Rick Jasperse, we are gearing up to get HB 546 moving again. This is the prescription adaptation bill and since it didn’t get called in Rules before Crossover in 2023, it must make its way back to the House Health Committee to get heard again. We are optimistic that it will get unanimous votes like in 2023 and head to Rules before the chaos is in full swing.
US Congressman Buddy Carter will be coming to town to speak at a Senate committee meeting in favor of Representative Mark Newton’s bill. HB 343 will lower prescription drug costs by passing along rebates to the patient at the point of sale. This bill will benefit pharmacy patients and bring some transparency to PBM pricing. GPhA has been supportive of this bill for the past several years and we will continue to support this legislation this year.
There will be a lot of movement this week so the next update will include more information on our bills and other legislation relevant to our members and the profession. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to reach out to me by email (mreybold@gpha.org) or call or text me at 678-485-6126.
