Week 3 – Committee Reports

January 30, 2008

 

 

AGRICULTURE

HUMAN RESOURCES

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

STATE GOVERNMENT

 

 

 

STAFF CONTACT:    Sue Monahan

 

SSB 3004 – Barn Preservation Property Tax Exemption

 

 

COMMITTEE ACTION:

 

SSB 3004 removes the requirement that a barn must have been put into service prior to 1937 to be eligible for property tax exemption due to improvements made for the purposes of preserving the integrity of the barn. The bill states any barn that had been placed into service 50 or more years before the date the exemption application is filed with the assessing authority is eligible for the property tax exemption. [1/29: short form]

 

 

 

STAFF CONTACT:    Kris Bell

 

SF 2054 – Eligibility for County Mental Health Payment

SSB 3014 – Dependent Adult Abuse Information

SSB 3051 – Advanced Practice Nurse Licensure Compact

SSB 3053 – Pharmacy Tech-Check-Tech Program

SSB 3054 – Pharmacy Controlled Substance Schedules and Reporting

 

FLOOR AND COMMITTEE ACTION: 

 

            SF 2054 (formerly SF 2029) allows county eligibility for state payment of mental health, mental retardation, and developmental disabilities services funding.  [1/28:  13-0 short form; 1/29:  48-0 (McKibben, Putney excused)]

 

 

COMMITTEE ACTION: 

 

            SSB 3014 (as amended) provides for control over dependent adult abuse information.  It will expedite hiring processes for agencies that do not have access to the Dependent Adult Abuse Registry and want to complete background checks on prospective employees.  [1/30: 10-0, short form (Hatch, Kreiman, Wood excused]

 

SSB 3051 (with technical amendment) repeals the July 1, 2008, sunset of the advanced practice nursing compact, which allows nurses to hold a license in the state of residency and practice in other compact states subject to each state’s practice law and regulation.  [1/28:  12-0, short form (Kreiman, present)]

 

            SSB 3053 establishes a pharmacy tech-check-tech program and rules.  The program allows registered pharmacy technicians to check the work of other technicians. Section 4 of the bill is proposed at the request of the Office of the Attorney General and Iowa county attorneys.  This proposed amendment relates to the penalty provisions for individuals involved in illegal activities relating to controlled substances and clarifies the applicable penalty provisions in the Controlled Substances Act that apply to the identified violations.  The bill also authorizes a pharmacist-intern, under the direct supervision of a pharmacist preceptor, to participate in the transfer of a prescription drug order between pharmacies.   [1/28:  13-0, short form]

 

            SSB 3054 provides for scheduling of certain substances in conformance with action taken within the past year by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.  The bill proposes adding the substances oripavine and lisdexamfetamine to Schedule II of the Iowa Controlled Substances Act.  Substances in Schedule II are approved for medical practice in the U.S. but are highly addictive and tightly regulated.  The bill proposes scheduling embutramide as a Schedule III depressant.  Schedule III substances are also approved for medical practice in the U.S. but are not as highly addictive or as tightly controlled as substances in Schedule II of the Act. 

            The bill also includes provisions relating to the scheduling in Schedule III of any substance similar or related to dronabinol (which is currently a Schedule III substance) and which substance is approved by the FDA for use in medical practice.  The amendment proposed in Section 4 of the bill provides that a new drug that is substantially similar to dronabinol, which substance is approved by the FDA, will be immediately classified as a Schedule III substance.  

            The final section of the bill deletes the substances pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine from the list of precursor substances regulated pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 124B.  These substances are now classified as Schedule V controlled substances, subject to Iowa Code Chapter 124.  [1/28:  13-0, short form]

 

 

 

 

STAFF CONTACT:    Kerry Wright

 

SSB 3086 – Absentee ballot request

SF 2007 – Chiefs of police maximum age

 

COMMITTEE ACTION: 

           

            SSB 3086 allows a registered voter to submit an application for an absentee ballot on something other than the absentee ballot request form, if the request contains all of the information required by law.  [1/30: 8-4-1, party line, Houser absent]

 

            SF 2007 allows that the maximum age limit of 65 for employment of city police officers, marshals, or fire fighters does not apply to chiefs of police of cities greater than 8,000. [1/30: short form, Houser absent]

 

 

 

 

STAFF CONTACT:    Julie T. Simon

 

SF 2059 – DCA Iowa Code clean-up

 

 

COMMITTEE ACTION

 

            SF 2059 (SSB 3030) is a recommendation by the Department of Cultural Affairs. The bill makes the State Historical Society of Iowa (rather than the Society’s advisory Board of Trustees) responsible for administering the Iowa Heritage Fund.

             It also removes Iowa Code language from 1984 that is no longer needed   regarding an indemnification program for special exhibit items lost or damaged while on loan to non-profit organizations or governmental entities in Iowa.  Non-profits no longer

use this, primarily because they now acquire appropriate insurance coverage arranged by private organizations.  [1/28: short form]