Drug monitoring bill faces Senate opposition as end of session looms

Several state senators are holding up efforts to create a prescription drug-monitoring program designed to tackle opioid addiction in Missouri, local lawmakers said Friday.

Wayne Wallingford

Their threat of a filibuster of a House bill makes it unlikely the Senate will vote on the measure before the 2019 legislative session ends May 17, state Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, said.

“There is a small group of senators who are very adamant about not having it pass,” he said.

The Cape Girardeau Republican said he favors the measure and believes a majority of senators would vote for the legislation if it were to come up for a vote.

Leadership in the GOP-dominated body has shut off debate on anti-abortion bills in the past in the face of Democratic filibusters.

But Wallingford said he doesn’t believe Republican Senate leaders will force a vote when the opposition is coming from their own party. Such a move would create division among GOP senators, he said.

Still, Wallingford said he wishes opponents of the bill would allow an up-or-down vote.

“I don’t want a few senators holding back the whole state,” he said. “This is a public safety issue.”

Without a drug-monitoring program, Missouri has become the go-to place for those seeking to feed their opioid addictions, Wallingford said.

“We are basically the medicine cabinet of the Midwest,” he said.

Holly Rehder

State Rep. Holly Rehder, a Scott County Republican, has sought to pass the measure for seven years without success.

The House overwhelmingly passed Rehder’s bill in February. More than 100 lawmakers voted for it.

“It passed out of the House with more votes this year than it has had in all the years that I have been here,” Rehder said.

The measure also has the backing of Gov. Mike Parson.

“We have three or four people in the Senate who are saying ‘no,’” Rehder said. “It is just politics.”

Opponents have voiced privacy concerns about a government-run database and have questioned the effectiveness of such a program to combat the opioid crisis.

Rehder said opponents in the Senate also have questioned the constitutionality of the proposed program.

But she said such arguments are “red herrings.”

Missouri is the only state that does not have a statewide prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP). There have not been any constitutional issues with those programs, Rehder said.

States with such programs have seen positive results, she said.

Kentucky, which established a program within the last few years, has seen a decrease in drug overdoses, according to Rehder. Florida has experienced similar results, she said.

While Missouri does not have a statewide system, several counties have joined a prescription monitoring program established by the St. Louis County Health Department.

She said county officials have told her the program has resulted in fewer prescriptions being written for opioids in their communities.

Rehder said the goal of her bill is to reduce opioid addiction.

“That is the whole purpose, for better outcomes, better patient care,” she said.

The state representative said despite opposition from a small group of GOP senators, her bill includes “conservative protections.”

The program would include a three-year, rolling purge of patient records. The information could not be used solely to obtain a criminal warrant, she said.

Under the bill, the prescription information could not be used by local, state or federal officials to prevent someone from obtaining or owning a firearm, Rehder said.

With the end of the legislative session looming, Rehder holds out hope the Senate will pass the drug monitoring bill.

“Anything can happen,” she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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