Bills, bills, bills

Today marks the fourth week of Washington's legislative session and there have been hundreds of bills introduced. With another 3 weeks until the first cutoff, we can definitely expect hundreds more to be introduced. Here are some of the bills I'm tracking.

Bill	Flags	Title	Status	Date	Original Sponsor
HB 1170	f#	Property tax relief programs	H Finance	01/17/2013	Morrell
HB 1273	f	In-home care services	H Finance	01/22/2013	Jinkins
HB 1479		Leased land for mobile home	H Finance	01/28/2013	Orcutt
HB 1517	fd	Health benefit exchange	H Finance	01/29/2013	Cody
HB 1155	fd	Prescription information	H HC/Wellness	01/17/2013	Cody
HB 1410		Insurance wellness programs	H HC/Wellness	01/25/2013	Schmick
HB 1441	o	Long-term care insurance	H HC/Wellness	01/28/2013	Van De Wege
HB 1445		Complex rehab technology	H HC/Wellness	01/28/2013	Cody
HB 1448		Telemedicine	H HC/Wellness	01/28/2013	Bergquist
HB 1528		Biological product prescrips	H HC/Wellness	01/29/2013	Cody
SHB 1000		Healthcare provider immunity	H Rules R	02/01/2013	Moeller
SB 5148	f	Medication access/uninsured	S Health Care	01/21/2013	Keiser
SB 5216	fo	Long-term care insurance	S Health Care	01/23/2013	Rolfes
SB 5267	f	Healthcare prior authorizing	S Health Care	01/24/2013	Becker
SB 5339		Insurance wellness programs	S Health Care	01/28/2013	Becker
SB 5449		State health insurance pool	S Health Care	01/30/2013	Parlette
SB 5469		Biological product prescrips	S Health Care	01/31/2013	Frockt
SB 5084	f	Discovery pass/disabled vets	S Natural Resour	01/17/2013	Benton
SB 5072	f#	Disabled vets/sales & use tx	S Ways & Means	01/17/2013	Delvin
SB 5089	f#	Senior property tax programs	S Ways & Means	01/17/2013	Benton
SB 5108	f#	Disabled vets & sr. citizens	S Ways & Means	01/18/2013	Padden
SB 5283	fd	Health benefit exchange	S Ways & Means	01/24/2013	Hill

The Society hasn't taken an official position on most of these bills, but the list might give you a sense of what legislators have to deal with during the legislative session.

To help you "decode" the chart, here's some background information for you. The first column has the bill number - HB means House Bill and SB means Senate Bill. An "f" means there is a fiscal note (the bill costs money). A "d" or "o" means it's been requested by a state agency ("d") or an executive office like the insurance commissioner ("o"). The abbreviated title of the bill is next, and then comes the committee where the bill currently sits ("S" means Senate and "H" means House). The date of the last action is next, followed by the prime sponsor of the bill.

Any bills interest you?