Welcome to the January Newsletter!
Welcome back to the New Futures' newsletter, w e hope your year is off to a great start! With the 2020 Legislative Session in full swing, we have been very busy across New Hampshire and at the State House. This session we are continuing to work alongside advocates, partners, and lawmakers on important legislation to improve the health and wellness of the Granite State. We are closely following more than 100 bills crucial to improving the health of NH, and our three 2020 advocacy campaigns - Tobacco 21, Rx Drug Price Relief, and Early Childhood Investments - are off to great starts. W e are beyond grateful for all the work put in by community stakeholders and advocates.
We hope this newsletter keeps you informed about the health policy issues currently facing our state and helps you stay engaged. With that, the sections this month's newsletter includes:
- Legislative Update
- Community Engagement Corner
- Upcoming Events and Opportunities
- In the News
- Get Involved
We are looking forward to another great month of working to keep the Granite State a healthy place to live, work and raise a family. Now let's get into it. Happy reading!
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
New Futures' 2020 Campaign Priorities Update
Through partnership, engagement, and much hard work, we plan to make significant strides forward during the 2020 Legislative Session to advance the health and wellness of NH.
Tobacco 21:
To start the year, the State Senate voted 16-8 to pass SB 248, a bill that would raise the legal tobacco sales age to 21. This bill will now move to the NH House of Representatives for a public hearing and a vote. A change to federal law just before the holidays raised the minimum age to 21, however, SB 248 is necessary to provide the state the clarity and authority it needs to enforce the federal law. For the health and safety of Granite State youth, we must take this opportunity to increases the sales age to 21 to make NH law consistent with federal law and eliminate any public confusion.
We will continue to keep you updated on hearings and votes, and in the meantime, we strongly urge you to call your Representative and let them know how important it is that we protect our youth from the harms of tobacco.
Rx Drug Price Relief:
In a productive session earlier this month, the Senate Commerce Committee held hearings on a host of bills pertaining to the high cost of prescription drugs. Of the bills heard, a handful of New Futures priorities were included:
- SB 685 Affordability: Other countries, including Canada, obtain drugs from manufacturers at much lower costs. This bill seeks to develop a program to import certain high cost drugs from Canada to make them more affordable.
- SB 687 Transparency: We must be able to know what is going on with prices, to responsibly control drug prices to hold lawmakers, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies accountable for their actions. This bill establishes a drug affordability board to get more information about proposed prices hikes and to inform cost control strategies. It also requires drug manufacturers to report price increases over 20 percent.
- SB 690 Accessibility: To ensure access to necessary drugs for Granite Staters, NH must be guaranteed stable and predictable drug prices during the coverage year. This bill prohibits insurers from making changes to the list of covered prescriptions, known as the formulary, by either removing a drug or raising the price to a higher cost-sharing tier during the plan year.
The bills will likely be voted on by the Committee in the coming weeks. In the meantime, it is critical to make calls to Senators on the Commerce Committee and urge them to support these bills! You can also sign the petition below to tell lawmakers to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
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Early Childhood Investments:
For New Hampshire to have a prosperous future, we have to give all children the opportunity to develop socially, intellectually, and emotionally. In January, both of New Futures' priority bills were heard, SB 716 in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, and HB 1638 in the House HHS Committee, and will continue to be worked on by the committees.
- SB 716 Medicaid to Early Childhood: This bill would leverage existing Medicaid funds to improve early childhood development by covering maternal depression screenings at well child visits, parent education programs, adoption of mental health diagnostic codes for young children, expanded case management and care coordination for children at high risk of trauma as well as future planning to support primary prevention in New Hampshire.
- HB 1638 SNAP incentives: This bill would provide state support to SNAP incentive programs which allow families to buy more local and healthy options by doubling the value of fresh, locally grown produce purchased by SNAP shoppers.
Committee votes will take place in the coming weeks. It is important we reach out to lawmakers on the House and Senate HHS Committees and urge them to support these bills that protect the future of NH.
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Other Bills We Are Following
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In addition to our campaign priority bills, other critical legislation we are following this year include:
Alcohol and Other Drug Policy:
- HB 1610: New Futures supports this bill, which establishes a manufacturer pharmaceutical drug take-back program. The drug take-back program would offer residents free, convenient, and environmentally responsible options for disposing of unwanted medication. Drug manufacturers would fund the program at no cost to taxpayers. This bill had a hearing in the House HHS Committee and will be voted on by the Committee in the coming weeks.
- SB 621: New Futures opposes this bill, which would allow ready to drink spirit-based cocktails to be sold in convenience and grocery stores- making these higher alcohol percentage drinks widely accessible and available. This bill will have a public hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee on February 4th at 2:30pm in the State House, Room 100.
Health Policy
- HB 1280: New Futures supports this bill, which would require insurers to cap the total amount of insulin covered for a person at an amount not to exceed $100 for a 30-day supply of insulin. This bill had a hearing in the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee and the executive session is scheduled for February 4th at 10 am in LOB 306.
- HB 1140: New Futures supports this bill, which would establish a hospital merger advisory commission. This bill had a hearing in the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee and the executive session will be on February 4th at 10am in LOB 306.
Access to Treatment Policy
- SB 600: New Futures supports SB 600, a bill which would require medication assisted treatment for substance use disorders for prisoners incarcerated in a county correctional facility. It is awaiting a hearing in the Senate HHS Committee.
Early Childhood Policy
- HB 1539: New Futures supports this bill, which would r equire property owners or managers to relocate tenants to alternate housing within 30 days following a state order for lead hazard reduction. This bill had a hearing in the Judiciary Committee and will be voted on by the committee on February 18th at 1pm in LOB 208.
- SB 618: New Futures supports SB 618, which would require employers to provide access to a space for nursing mothers and reasonable break time; also provides a tax break against the business enterprise tax for employers who provide nursing accommodations. This bill had a hearing in the Commerce Committee and will be vote on by the committee in the coming weeks.
Children's Behavioral Health Policy
- HB 677: New Futures supports this bill, which would m odify our current but outdated discipline and expulsion policies and would help school districts to implement Multi-Tiered System of Supports for Behavioral Health and Wellness (MTSS-B), the evidence-based prevention framework, which supports our youth and helps improve school culture. HB 677, which was initially introduced last year, is currently under review in the House Finance Committee.
- SB 665: New Futures supports this bill which would increase state support for the implementation of MTSS-B in school districts around the state. SB 665 will be heard in the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee on Tuesday, February 4th at 10:30am in LOB 103.
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORNER
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