{"id":35538,"date":"2024-02-14T16:51:31","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=35538"},"modified":"2024-02-14T17:03:35","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T23:03:35","slug":"prescription-drug-donation-program-clears-first-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=35538","title":{"rendered":"Prescription drug donation program clears first round"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nebraska would establish a program to allow the donation of prescription drugs under a bill advanced from general file Feb. 14.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Jana Hughes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB1035, sponsored by Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward, would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to create a prescription drug donation program that permits voluntary donations and the dispensing of qualifying prescription drugs.<\/p>\n

Hughes said she introduced the bill after a constituent told her of the struggle to keep her late father\u2019s prescription drugs from going to waste.<\/p>\n

Nebraska currently has a drug take-back program, she said, but not a donation program. Hughes said the state spends approximately $500,000 to collect and dispose of an average of 30,000 pounds of prescriptions annually under that program \u2014 medication that otherwise could be donated.<\/p>\n

LB1035 instead would allow qualifying unused medication to be diverted to Nebraskans who cannot afford their medication, she said, including individuals who are transitioning out of the state\u2019s justice system.<\/p>\n

\u201cLB1035 can help those who presently fall through the cracks in accessing their prescriptions,\u201d Hughes said.<\/p>\n

Under the bill, medications could be donated by individuals or entities, including manufacturers or health care facilities. Donations must:
\n\u2022 undergo inspection prior to donation;
\n\u2022 be in original, unopened, sealed and tamper-evident packaging;
\n\u2022 bear an expiration date more than six months after the donation date, except in limited cases; and
\n\u2022 not be restricted for distribution by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.<\/p>\n

Hughes offered an amendment, adopted 34-0, that replaced the bill. Under the amendment, Nebraska would partner with Iowa\u2019s donation program, which she said would significantly reduce the cost to the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have to reinvent the wheel here,\u201d Hughes said, adding that Iowa\u2019s program has been in place since 2007.<\/p>\n

Ralston Sen. Merv Riepe supported the bill and the amendment, which he said would keep prescription drugs out of landfills and provide needed medications to low-income Nebraskans.<\/p>\n

Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln also spoke in support of the proposal. LB1035 fits the \u201ctheme\u201d of the 2024 legislative session, he said, by focusing on measures that benefit a large number of people while also saving taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n

Following adoption of a second technical amendment from Hughes on a 34-0 vote, senators advanced the bill to select file 34-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nebraska would establish a program to allow the donation of prescription drugs under a bill advanced from general file Feb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[282],"class_list":["post-35538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-and-human-services","tag-sen-jana-hughes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35538"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35542,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35538\/revisions\/35542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}