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Friday Fax – Legislative Update
There was room for some optimism this week that the Senate and House could approve a Budget by the end of next week. However, Budget negotiations could fall off the tracks as fast as things have gotten on the tracks the past week. Many will believe that there will be a Budget Agreement when the bill is printed, lands on their desk and the Speaker and Lt. Governor call for the ayes and the noes. In any event, if the Budget is approved next week look for the pace on Jones Street to reach the speed of light as legislators try to wrap up their business and head home for the Summer - I mean Fall.
The General Assembly took another step in the battle against methamphetamines this week. Whether the Senate or the House have taken the appropriate path to regulating the sale of a perfectly legal product used in a legitimate manner by 8 million North Carolina citizens is anyone's guess. This has been a tough, emotional issue full of horror stories about this terrible drug ravaging communities and families but hopefully reasonableness has not been lost in the debate that has occurred or that will occur in the next two to three weeks.
July 29, 2005
1) Methamphetamine Bill Passes the House
2) Budget Talks Continue - An End in Sight? Part III
3) Governor Signs Indecent Exposure Bill
4) Minimum Wage Hike - It's Back!
5) Sales Tax Holiday -Two Weeks Away
1) Methamphetamine Bill Passes the House -- On Wednesday, the House unanimously approved by a vote of 111-0 the House version of 686 - Methamphetamine Lab Prevention Act. The House version of Senate Bill 686 sought to find a middle ground between the original Senate Bill 686 and House Bill 1345 but may be economically unfeasible in the minds of many retailers. Senate Bill 686, sponsored by Senators Walter Dalton (D-Rutherford) and John Snow (D-Cherokee) would reclassify cold medicine as a Schedule V Controlled Substance thereby allowing these products to be sold only in a pharmacy from behind a pharmacy counter by a pharmacist. Senate Bill 686 is essentially the Attorney General's bill. House Bill 1345, sponsored by Representatives Phil Haire (D-Jackson) and Lorene Coates (D-Rowan) is less stringent and would require certain products to be placed behind a counter or in a locked case and would place sales limits on products containing pseudoephedrine in combination with other active ingredients.
As approved by the House on Wednesday, all cold medicine containing any detectable amount of pseudoephedrine - including gel caps, liquids and pediatrics - would be placed behind a single counter by January 1, 2006. Retailers without a pharmacy would be required to purchase and use a video camera to capture sales transactions. Additionally, there would be numerous restrictions and duties placed on retailers as to how the products could be sold including restrictions on the number of packages that could be sold, training requirements, maintenance of a purchase log and potential criminal and civil liabilities for violating these provisions.
The bill will be on the Senate Calendar on Tuesday for Concurrence. It is our understanding that the Senate will not concur with the changes made to the bill by the House resulting in the naming of a conference committee to sort out the differences between the House and Senate bills. We recognized some time ago that the restrictions on the sale of cold medicine would come down to the Conference Committee. We began working with House and Senate Leadership and the bill sponsors earlier this week to try and bring the two bills back to center. There are numerous political issues and factors swirling around this bill and unfortunately none of these issues and factors appears to be working in our favor. The statewide media has staked itself out on onerous restrictions. The Attorney General continues to place enormous political pressure on those members of the General Assembly involved in this issue and has drawn an un-wielding and somewhat unreasonable line in the sand. Law enforcement and children advocates also are blindly following the Attorney General's position. Supporters of the hard-line approach continue to point to the success of similar laws in Oklahoma and Tennessee in reducing meth labs while turning a blind eye to the fact that meth addicts in these states did not quit cold turkey and have instead switched to black-market meth Whether we are successful or not will not be determined by a lack of effort or persistence as we have put up a tough fight to protect the ability of all retailers to serve their customers throughout North Carolina.
2) Budget Talks Continue - An End in Sight? Part III -- As you read this update, House and Senate negotiators are locked down in what is commonly referred to as 612. This is a corner-meeting room where many deals are cut and details ironed out. While North Carolina may have a very liberal "Open Meetings Law" no media, lobbyist or staff dares head towards 612 without an invitation - and that is not necessarily a bad thing. We have been keeping close tabs on 612 as House and Senate conferees continue to attempt to put the finishing touches on the Budget.
A second continuing resolution is set to expire on Thursday, August 5 at 11:59 p.m. It appears that the Senate and House could be close to an agreement on most spending items which could result in a Budget being approved sometime next week. Governor Easley's self-imposed spending cap and threatened veto for exceeding the spending cap has placed Budget negotiators in somewhat of a bind. A couple of issues remain to be decided and may be sent to Speaker Black and Senator Basnight for a final decision - including raises for State Employees, Teachers, Medicaid cuts and whether to give NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill more autonomy. Additionally, the amount of cigarette tax and whether to include the Lottery - and in what form - in the Budget must still be resolved.
Two issues of great importance to community pharmacy that must still be resolved are maintaining the current reimbursement rate of AWP-10% for brand name drugs in the Medicaid program and strengthening the "any willing provider" law that provides some bargaining power in contract negotiations between pharmacies and big insurance companies. NCRMA has been working on these two issues with the Association of Community Pharmacists with ACP taking the lead on the any willing provider provision.
3) Governor Signs Indecent Exposure Bill -- On Thursday, Governor Michael F. Easley signed Senate Bill 776 into law. Senate Bill 776 was introduced by Senator John Snow at the request of NCRMA to address a recent rash of indecent exposure in retail stores. The new law clarifies North Carolina law to make it a crime to expose one's self in a public place to another regardless of the gender of either the perpetrator or the victim. Additionally, the bill would create a new Class H felony for someone over the age of 18 years of age to expose themselves to someone younger than 16 years of age in a public place for the purposes of sexual gratification. This bill is meant to address a series of incidents in Charlotte area stores where young boys were being flashed by men. Previously, district attorneys had no ability to prosecute due to a loophole in North Carolina law which only made it illegal to flash someone of the opposite sex. The law becomes effective on December 1, 2005.
4) Minimum Wage Hike - It's Back! -- On Wednesday, NCRMA received word that proponents of a minimum wage increase were going to make another run at this legislation beginning Thursday in the House Finance Committee. Evidently, there is a move afoot to join an increase in minimum wage by an estimated $0.85 per hour to a bill allowing tax credits for small employers who provide health insurance. On Thursday, the House Finance Committee meeting came and went without a vote pushing the effort back until next Wednesday. The minimum wage legislation seems to have nine lives. As you may remember, NCRMA was successful in defeating this legislation earlier this year in the House Commerce Committee only to see the bill revived in House Commerce Committee and sent to the House Floor where the bill was defeated by 14 votes.
Meanwhile, John Edwards, the former United States Senator and Vice-Presidential Candidate from North Carolina has stayed away from his home state as he campaigns for increases in the minimum wage as he treks to several other states to make such an appeal to other state legislatures. This has not sat well with North Carolina legislators trumpeting an increase in the minimum wage.
NCRMA will keep fighting to keep the minimum wage in-line with the federal minimum wage.
5) Sales Tax Holiday - One Week Away -- Next week, North Carolina will again hold its Sales Tax Holiday. This year the dates are from August 5 th - 7 th , 2005. NCRMA has worked closely with the North Carolina Department of Revenue to prepare handy materials, including a poster containing a list of taxed and non-taxed items to place at your registers to help employees and customers identify tax-free items. Please call NCRMA at 1.800.662.7211 or visit the sales tax holiday page on this site to obtain copies of these free-to-members posters to help ensure the weekend runs smoothly for your store, your employees and your customers.
‘TIL NEXT WEEK
Fran Preston
Andy Ellen
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