Finance, Health, and Government Operations made amendments and voted according, the bill -House Committee Health and Government Vote - House - Committee - Health and Government Operations, Vote - Senate - Committee – Finance, Vote - House Floor - Third Reading Passed (137-4) – March 17, 2017, Vote - House Floor - Third Reading Passed (137-2) – April 02, 2017, Vote - Senate Floor - Floor Amendment {683326/1 (Senator Hershey) Vetoed (13-32) – April 01, 2017, Vote - Senate Floor - Floor Amendment {893327/1 (Senator Hershey) Vetoed yet again, on April 01, 2017. The committee vote revisions to the bill establish that distributors were allowed to raise the price of drugs if it is directly found that price gouging was not an infringement of the provision. Therefore, allowing wholesale distributors to increase prices on off-patent or identified generic drugs; the bill would authorize the Maryland Assistance Program to report to the Attorney General of any price gouging increase off-patent or nonspecific drugs (Sec. 1). As well, information provided to the Attorney General shall be classified as confidential, as yet marketable unless discretion was waived by the manufacturer or distributor (Sec. 1).
Furthermore, significance in growth of 50 % or more in wholesale acquisition of the drug; Significance in single dosing which could cost an individual more than $80; resulting in a 30-day course of usage; subsequently costing more than $80 at the wholesale cost or; causes the drug to be distributed in quantities that do not correspond to a 30-day prescription (Sec. 1):
Accordingly, manufacturers of vital off-patent or nonspecific medications must submit a proclamation to the Attorney General upon his or her request that specifies the supplies and prices during drug manufacture and recognizes the conditions and effectiveness of the manufacturer’s access to the medication (Sec. 1). Too, specifies that the Lawyer General may require a manufacturer or wholesale distributor to produce any documents or records clearly linked with or related to a strong reasoning and decision about whether a violation of the rule has occurred, thus, enacting penalties of $10,000 for each violation. With the new revisions to the amendment both houses and the Senate floor voted and on the third reading, the bill passed 38-7 on April 01, 2017.
Wow! Here's what you need to do before posting here.
1. Print two copies of this.
2. Get a friend or parent to help you. Give him/her one of the print-outs and you keep one.
3. Either you read it aloud to the other person, or ask him/her to read it to you.
4. Fix all errors, including fragments, run-ons, sentences that are too long, spelling, punctuation, etc. Make sure that ALL copied words/phrases/sentences are correctly cited.
5. Reprint and repeat.
6. THEN you'll be ready to post it here. We don't deal with drafts this rough.
Here's another suggestion:
Go here -- https://www.grammarly.com/ -- and go to "Log in" (top right corner) and make an account for yourself if needed. It's free.
Then follow the directions.
The bill you mentioned went through several amendments and voting processes before it passed. The amendments and votes took place in the House Committee on Health and Government Operations, the Senate Committee on Finance, and on the House and Senate floors.
Here is a breakdown of the amendments and votes:
1. House Committee on Health and Government Operations vote: This committee revised the bill, specifically allowing wholesale distributors to raise the price of off-patent or generic drugs if it was determined that price gouging did not violate any provisions.
2. House Floor - Third Reading Passed (137-4) - March 17, 2017: The bill was brought to the House floor for a vote, and it passed with a vote of 137 in favor and 4 against on March 17, 2017.
3. House Floor - Third Reading Passed (137-2) - April 02, 2017: The bill was brought again to the House floor for another vote, and it passed with a vote of 137 in favor and 2 against on April 02, 2017.
4. Senate Floor - Floor Amendment {683326/1 (Senator Hershey) Vetoed (13-32) - April 01, 2017: A floor amendment was proposed in the Senate by Senator Hershey, but it was vetoed with a vote of 13 in favor and 32 against on April 01, 2017.
5. Senate Floor - Floor Amendment {893327/1 (Senator Hershey) Vetoed yet again on April 01, 2017: Another floor amendment by Senator Hershey was proposed, but it was vetoed once again on April 01, 2017. The outcome of the vote is not mentioned.
After the amendments and votes, the revised bill included provisions such as:
- Authorizing the Maryland Assistance Program to report to the Attorney General any price gouging increases on off-patent or generic drugs.
- Designating information provided to the Attorney General as confidential, unless waived by the manufacturer or distributor.
- Establishing criteria for determining if a drug has experienced a significant increase in wholesale acquisition cost and single dosing cost.
- Requiring manufacturers to submit information to the Attorney General regarding supplies, prices, and the conditions of access to vital off-patent or generic medications.
- Empowering the Attorney General to request documents or records from manufacturers or wholesale distributors related to violations of the law.
- Enacting penalties of $10,000 for each violation.
Ultimately, the bill passed 38-7 on the third reading in the Senate on April 01, 2017.