Idaho Veterinary Medicine Association
2018 January Legislative Update
The 2nd Regular Session of the 64th Idaho State Legislature convened on Monday, January 8, 2018. Both the House and Senate convened at Noon and the Governor provided his 12th State of the State Address at 1:00 pm in the House Chambers. As expected, the Governor focused on education, healthcare and tax relief during his final address. Click here for a direct link to Governor Otter’s 2018 speech.
It is still in the early phases of the legislative session. Legislators, legislative staff, agency employees, lobbyists and reporters are still getting into the flow of this year’s session. For the majority, real work has yet to begin as most committees have only met for organizational purposes and to get agenda’s and calendars in order. With that said, both the House and Senate Health & Welfare Committees have already begun reviewing and approving agency rules.
Throughout the 2017 legislative interim, the IVMA worked closely with the Board of Pharmacy regarding its negotiated rulemaking process. During that process, the BOP look at an overall review of its rules, including amending and adjusting its fee schedules. The IVMA worked closely with BOP staff and was able to help eliminate a couple of fee categories as well as keep our fees at current levels. Following please find an outline of the proposed fees by the BOP:
- Prescriber Drug Outlets – Originally proposed to increase from $35 to $100. IVMA intervened and the IBOP agreed to split the PDO into two versions – human and animal – The fee for animal PDOs would remain at $35.
2. Veterinary Drug Technicians – the fee will go from $35 to $0 (Category eliminated)
3. Veterinary Drug Outlets – the fee will go from $100 to $0 (Category eliminated)
4. Practitioner Controlled Substances Registration – The current charge is $60 per registration
(No change)
As stated above the House and Senate Committees have already begun hearing agency rules, including the BOP proposed rules which were heard on Wednesday, January 10. The IVMA submitted letters of support of the BOP proposed rules to both germane committees. All of the BOP rules were unanimously passed in both committees and will go into effect on July 1, 2018. The work by the IVMA throughout the legislative interim and early on in the session helped eliminate unnecessary government regulation and help keep regulatory fees low.