AZ Legislative Update – April 1, 2022
Posted by [email protected] on Apr. 1, 2022 / AZ Legislative Update / Subscribe 0
oday marks the 82nd day of the Arizona 55th Legislature, 2nd Regular Session and with committee hearings officially coming to an end, all legislative activity (outside the budget) will take place on the floor or through conference committees.
Of the 1,764 bills introduced this session, the Legislature has now passed 118 bills with the Governor signing 106 and vetoing 0.
The main focus at the Capitol has now turned to the budget. House and Senate leadership are continuing to meet with the Governor’s Office. We are hearing from members and leadership that any new spending is likely to be targeted toward one-time spending projects due to concerns about a potential recession and slowdown of the economy. That being said, all sides acknowledge that they are still nowhere close on a FY 2023 budget deal and with no real likely scenario for a quick legislative session, floor calendars will be limited each day to keep rank and file members occupied.
As for the special session to “repeal and accelerate” last year’s historic income tax cuts, the Legislature continues to be in a holding pattern, mostly due to Republican Senator Paul Boyer’s holdout. Boyer refuses to support the measure without a major K-12 funding increase.
Earlier this week, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey officially terminated the state’s COVID-19 Declaration of Emergency, based on the state reaching certain thresholds established by the Arizona Department of Health Services. In addition to the ending of the statewide emergency, all the executive orders that were tied to the public health emergency will also be terminated.
Below, please find a few bills that we would like to highlight. Additionally, attached you will find your full tracking list of bills.
We are continuing to engage members and staff on our top legislative priorities. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Health Insurance
S/E: SB 1649 Pharmacy Benefit Managers; Steering Prohibition (Boyer): The strike-everything amendment to SB 1649 was not heard in the House Appropriations Committee on Monday, lacking support among committee memebers. The proposed striker would have resurrected the steering and white bagging prohibitions from SB 1161 Prescription Drug Coverage; Steering Prohibitions (Barto). It eliminated many of the vital cost saving tools used by health plans to combat the high cost of pharmaceuticals by eliminating the discounts offered to patients at lower cost pharmacies. In addition, it required a complete redesign of most pharmacy benefit networks and patients could lose their favorite discounts at their preferred pharmacy. It appears that this issue is dead for the session.
S/E: SB 1176 340B Drug Programs; Prohibition (Gowan): SB 1176 passed out of the House Rules Committee on Tuesday; however, the bill was held in caucus. This problematic bill outlines certain prohibitions for 3rd parities that reimburses 340B drugs, including prohibiting modifiers. Legislative members are asking for significant changes before the bill moves forward. That being said, a possible solution being floated is the Georgia 340B language which essentially neutralizes this issue and only says that health plans cannot discriminate. There are no provisions that deals with reimbursements, fees, or claw backs and reportedly 16 other states have adopted similar language.
HB 2698 Insurance; Assignment of Benefits (Martinez): HB 2698 passed out of the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday morning despite the Senate Rules attorneys expressing concerns over the constitutionality of the bill pertaining to ERSIA preemption. The bill stipulates that statute prohibiting insurance payments for services from being made to anyone other than the health care provider to whom payment was assigned applies to an insurer whether acting as an insurer or performing administrative services.
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