House Bill (HB) 2310, the Public Health Modernization clean-up bill, passed out of both the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Human Services and the full Ways and Means Committee on June 29. The amended version of the bill has language that reflects the lower amount of funding available to public health modernization this session (an allocation of $5 million vs. the initially requested $30 million) by giving the agency and Local Public Health Authorities more flexibility to implement modernization based on available funding. There had been discussion of the $5 million allocation in the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) budget being held back until 2018, but after presentation of a plan on how those dollars would be allocated during the biennium and advocacy from stakeholders, including AOC, the co-chairs agreed to release the funds at the beginning of the biennium.
Senate Bill (SB) 235, the Tobacco Retail Licensure (TRL) bill, passed out of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Capital Construction on July 1. The bill was amended to once again remove all TRL language. The remaining bill simply defines an enclosed space for purposes Indoor Clean Air Act enforcement, at the request of the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association.
Contributed by: Stacy Michaelson | AOC Health & Human Services Policy Manager