Spring is just around the corner in Oregon and another state legislative session has come and gone already! 2024’s session was a busy one, with lots of committee discussion, public input, and workshopping crammed into just 32 days. There were a number of notable pieces of legislation that Project Access NOW tracked this session, some of which were passed and will become law, and others that didn’t quite make it to the finish line. In a recent interview with the Lund Report, Representative Rob Nosse (D-Portland) said, “Things that have controversy can be difficult to land in five weeks, and sometimes it takes just more time to get something through.” Learn more about the outcomes of these bills below.
Having passed both the House and Senate, this legislation will now require health insurance plans to allow enrollees to apply co-payment assistance they receive from a pharmaceutical manufacturer (often in the form of coupons) towards their plan’s annual deductible. Oregon will be joining 21 other states who have passed similar legislation.
This bill will require Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to be officially licensed in Oregon and will impose a number of restrictions on their operations that will ultimately protect retail pharmacies, which are closing at an alarming rate in our state. The bill passed through both the House and the Senate and is now awaiting signature on the Senate President’s desk.
This legislation amounts to a total of $376 million in new housing funding in the form of rental assistance, homeless prevention services, outreach services, and individual development. This funding represents a critical investment to address the housing crisis in Oregon. Beginning in the Senate Committee on Housing and Development, the bill made its way through the legislature and is now awaiting a signature in the Governor’s office.
After failing to pass through the House Committee on Behavioral Health & Health Care, this legislation was referred to the Rules Committee, where it ultimately died. It would have banned restrictions from drug manufacturers on which pharmacies Federal Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) can contract with to provide prescription services to their patients. Supporters plan on returning with similar legislation in the 2025 session.
This legislation would have established a committee to review proposed legislation that would require health plans to cover and pay for a specific health service. This committee would have been made up of a variety of health expert stakeholders and would make recommendations to the legislature on each bill. After passing the House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care, the bill ultimately died in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.
This bill would have tightened restrictions on corporate influence in medicine in Oregon and would require that medical practices be operated by licensed physicians. PANOW provided testimony to the Senate Committee on Health Care in support of this bill, which you can find here. Unfortunately, despite broad bipartisan support, after passing the House floor, this bill ultimately died in the Rules Committee and did not make it across the finish line. There are differing opinions about why the bill ultimately died, ranging from delay strategies from corporate lobbyists and Republican legislators to the language of the bill itself. You can read more about why the bill died in this article from The Lund Report.
2024’s session was largely focused on Measure 110 reforms, not to mention the normal challenges of getting legislation across the finish line during a short session (which also ended a few days earlier than anticipated), so even more bills struggled to pass than usual. Although we were disappointed to see some promising legislation fall short of becoming law, we were pleased with some great progress made on issues like pharmacy regulations, housing funding, and more. We’ll be looking forward to seeing many of these issues return in the 2025 session. Until next time!
