A bill addressing problems with last year's prescription pill mill bill has cleared the Kentucky House Judiciary Committee.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo is sponsoring the bill, which reduces some tough regulations that followed the pill mill bill. The legislation, House Bill 217, requires hospitals and long term care facilities to still pull KASPER reports, but lessens other regulations on them. The Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting System (KASPER) tracks controlled substance prescriptions dispensed within the state.
Stumbo told lawmakers that the bill would help codify easier regulations that were recently published and that the effort to crackdown on prescription pill abuse was effective.
"But you have a reason to be proud if you supported that bill because it's working. It's working from Pikeville to Paducah," he says.
Stumbo told lawmakers he believes the bill has support from Senate President Robert Stivers and Gov. Steve Beshear. It also said the Kentucky Medical Association, the main voice of complaints about the original bill, was not actively opposing this year's legislation.
"It's something that everybody as far as we know, is in agreement that it addresses many of the concerns without taking a step back on the tough requirements," Stumbo says.
The bill unanimously passed committee.
