Pharma Transparency Bill Clearing Committee Hurdle in California Legislature Latest in UNITE HERE Multi-State Leadership
Sacramento, CA - Yesterday afternoon, the California Assembly Health Committee approved passage of UNITE HERE-backed Senate Bill 17, which provides transparency on prescription drug prices. The bill requires drug makers to provide the public with advance notice of price increases on certain prescription drugs. The bill additionally stipulates that health plans must report drug spending information to state regulators.
California’s SB 17 is part of a national healthcare strategy of UNITE HERE, where the union is shining a light on Pharmaceutical industry abuses by fighting it at the state level in legislatures across the country, in a coordinated state-based strategy. SB 17’s recent committee clearance comes on the heels of a major healthcare win for UNITE HERE in Nevada, where the union won bipartisan passage and Republican gubernatorial signature of a first-in-the-nation law requiring pricing transparency by drug companies on insulin drugs, Senate Bill 539. A third UNITE HERE lead bill also attacking pharmaceutical price gouging is also moving in the Oregon legislature now.
‘Today the 75,000 UNITE HERE members in California applaud their state legislature for advancing SB 17, a courageous piece of legislation that takes on prescription drug companies to demand that California residents will be able to afford the life-saving medicine their lives depend on,’ said D. Taylor, International President of UNITE HERE. ‘This legislation confronts powerful and entrenched corporate interests whose values of profits over people have resulted in the healthcare crisis consuming this country. I know that the people united can beat even the billion-dollar health care industry though - because UNITE HERE just took on and beat Pharma against all odds in Nevada for a first-in-the-nation diabetes bill. We cracked the code on how to win against Pharma in Nevada this month, and we plan to beat them again here in California, and Oregon after that. With the gridlock on health care at the federal level, working Americans are depending on that.’
