Difference of opinion on pharmacy bill
BOISE - An opponent questioned whether a bill that cleared the Idaho House Thursday would allow people worldwide to become registered as Idaho pharmacists and register pharmacy facilities based on credentials from elsewhere.
"Does this include the territories that are not the United States territories? Does this include any foreign entity out there ... say like Russia, China, those other areas, too?" asked Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, who voted against it.
"No sir, just ours," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Sue Chew, D-Boise.
On the bill's first page, there is a strike-through of the words "Be located in one of the fifty states or the District of Columbia ... " as an applicant requirement for the Idaho pharmacist registration. A subsequent reference deletes the same words regarding the registration and licensure of pharmacy facilities in Idaho - with no specific reference to U.S. territories.
A Moscow legislator who voted on the 53-15 prevailing side on the measure - House Bill 350 - called those voting against the measure, "the cautious caucus."
"I just didn't see any reason to object to it," said Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow. "And so, I didn't enter into the debate. It was fairly well received. It seems like the people that voted no are part of this nucleus of more cautious people that often vote together on these things."
In the end, four Republican Reps. from North Idaho cast no votes on the measure: Vito Barbieri, Dalton Gardens; Ron Mendive, Coeur d'Alene; Shannon McMillan, Silverton; and Thyra Stevenson, Lewiston.
Barbieri disagreed with a provision of the bill requiring dual registrations - both with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Idaho Board of Pharmacy - to be a manufacturer or distributor of controlled substances in Idaho.
Barbieri said: "It just seemed to me that we were kind of playing fast and loose with this restriction, because, you know, we were applying federal rules, federal regulations ... We're rubberstamping federal law." Barbieri said he also agreed with Nielsen's pointed question on registration of pharmacists and facilities.
On the pharmacist registration issue, McMillan said: "If they (foreigners) want the license, an Idaho license, let them challenge the test, let them take the test. If they're smart enough and have the schooling already in another country, let them challenge the test, don't just give it to them."
What did Ringo think of the U.S. Territories versus worldwide issue?
"The person on the floor that answered it said it was U.S. Territories, so I decided to go with that," Ringo said. "But I don't know how much it would have scared me if it hadn't been limited to U.S. Territories."
"I wasn't in the cautious caucus," Ringo said with a laugh.