Iowa House Sends Bill Regulating Pharmacy Benefit Managers to Gov. Kim Reynolds
Iowa House lawmakers sent legislation to implement restrictions on pharmacy benefit managers to Gov. Kim Reynolds Monday, a bill supporters said will help keep rural pharmacies in business — but that opponents said could lead to higher insurance and drug costs for Iowans. The House voted 75-15 Monday on Senate File 383, the legislation setting some restrictions and regulations on pharmacy benefit managers. PBMs are the entities that negotiate prescription drug prices between manufacturers, health insurance companies and pharmacies. The bill sets new restrictions on certain PBM practices that supporters of the measure argue are major factors contributing to the closure of local and rural pharmacies in the states. It creates multiple restrictions on PBMs’ use of strategies that favor a specific pharmacy to fill a prescription, like different cost-sharing rates or fees, or other financial penalties or incentives. The legislation would also require pharmacies to be reimbursed at the average state or national acquisition cost of a drug.
Iowa Senate Passes Eminent Domain Reform for Pipelines
After four years of declining to take up Iowa House bills restricting the use of eminent domain for pipeline construction, the Iowa Senate Monday sent a bill to Governor Kim Reynolds’ desk. House File 639 would require that projects requesting to use eminent domain serve the public’s interest. The bill’s supporters say the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline is owned by a private company and therefore doesn’t serve the public. The bill reforms how Iowa Utilities Commission landowner meetings are run and requires pipeline companies to have insurance to cover damages and losses. It also requires pipeline companies themselves to cover property owners who can’t get insurance due to the pipeline or reimburse land owners for increased premiums. 12 Republican senators slowed the legislative session’s progress by refusing to vote on any budget bills until the eminent domain reform bill passed. It was scheduled to be debated Friday, however lawmakers spent much of the day in closed door meetings and decided to head home for the weekend without voting on the bill.
Bill Curbing Local Fireworks Rules Approved
The Iowa House on Monday passed Senate File 303, a bill limiting local government’s ability to restrict fireworks use sending it to Governor Kim Reynolds. The bill, which passed with a vote of 51-39, prohibits county boards of supervisors and city councils from prohibiting or limiting the use of fireworks on July 3rd and 4th and December 31st, outside of existing regulations in Iowa Code. State law sets certain constraints on fireworks — which are legal to use from June 1st through July 8th and December 10th through January 3rd of each year — that outlaws the sale of fireworks to minors and the use of “display” fireworks by people or organizations outside of local approval, as well as sets certain time restrictions on fireworks.
If signed into law, it would remove ordinances or other regulations set by several Iowa localities that ban or restrict the use of fireworks.