The Week in Review at the Capitol

Representative Sue Chew is helping fight soaring drug prices by expanding who can donate unused medications and what organizations can receive them. On Monday, an Amendment to the Idaho Legend Drug Donation Act advanced through the Health & Welfare Committee and will receive a full hearing. This bill would allow anyone with unused, unopened medications, to donate them to community health centers, free medical clinics, and designated regional behavioral health centers. Opioids are not allowed to be donated under this legislation. The legislation would help some of Idaho’s most vulnerable populations who would otherwise not have access to medication.

House Joint Memorial 3 sponsored by Representative John Gannon passed unanimously through the House this week. The bipartisan bill calls on the Federal Communications Commission and Congress to address the increasingly prevalent issue of spam calls. In Rep. Gannon’s testimony to the floor he stressed that while these fraudulent calls are already illegal, local officials lack the resources to investigate them. The memorial asks the federal government to get involved in stopping the calls. These calls impede business and efficiency by wasting time and a prompting people to simply not answer their phones.

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