Legislative Update: Week of September 10th

Good day and welcome back. With school starting and summer winding down, the legislature is back in session returning from their summer break as well. The House and Senate only saw a flurry of activity of introduction of bills but the Senate did provide some sparks with election reform and the democrats attempt to add an amendment that would have made the activities with Speaker Bolger and Rep. Roy Schmidt illegal. After Wednesday, activity slowed with the House not recording the attendance and letting members know that they will only be taking attendance this coming Wednesday the 19th and Thursday the 27th for the remainder of September. Committees were still scheduled to meet and work for the next couple weeks and they did just that.

House:

The House Health Policy committee met to consider House Bill 5697 and Senate Bill 1122 that would require schools have regulations to deal with athletes that suffer a concussion while playing sports. MSMS supports the legislation and the efforts to take care of children that have suffered a concussion. The committee took testimony from supports of the legislation then provided a substitute that narrowed some the language of the bills. They were voted out of committee and sent to the House Floor for their consideration. The committee also heard a presentation on Michigan's clinical trials and their effects on Michigan. This is an issue that Chairwoman Haines is interested in and may have legislation to support clinical trials in the future.

Senate:

The Senate Health Policy committee did also meet to consider House Bills 5089 and 5090. These bills deal with the destruction of prescription drugs and a repository for those that are unused and unopened. These bills did make it out of committee. They also heard a presentation about clinical trials and considered Senate Resolution 134.

The House will now only be in three more days between now and election day. The Senate will continue to work without the House. For more political information check out our advocacy page at http://www.msms.org/advocacy.

The Supreme Court race in Michigan is crucial to all Michigan physicians. Go to http://www.mdpac.org for more information
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