SB173 SFA Weld #3 2-12

Curia 7824

Senator Weld moved to amend the bill on page 1, after the enacting clause, by inserting a new section, designated section 64, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 3. PURCHASING DIVISION.

§5A-3-64. Prohibition on contracting with companies that manufacture or distribute abortifacients.

(a) The Legislature finds that:

(1) The State of West Virginia has a compelling interest in protecting the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens and in ensuring that drugs distributed within this state are lawfully prescribed, dispensed, and regulated in accordance with the laws of this state.

(2) The unlawful and unregulated distribution of prescription drugs, including abortifacients, presents significant risks to patient safety, and may impose significant public costs on the State of West Virginia, including increased health-care expenditures, emergency medical services, regulatory enforcement costs, and long-term public health impacts.

(3) The Legislature further finds that the interstate shipment and remote prescribing of prescription drugs in violation of West Virginia law undermines the state’s ability to enforce its medical licensing, pharmaceutical, and public health laws and interferes with the state’s authority to regulate the practice of medicine and the distribution of drugs within its borders.

(4) The Legislature finds that the unlawful and unregulated distribution of abortifacients is frequently conducted through interstate commercial channels, telemedicine platforms, and mail-order distribution systems that operate outside of the jurisdiction and regulatory oversight of this state, thus making the enforcement of West Virginia law oftentimes unobtainable.

(5) The Legislature finds that the State of West Virginia has a legitimate and substantial interest in ensuring that public funds are not used to subsidize, support, or contract with persons or entities that knowingly engage in conduct that violates the laws of this state.

(6) The Legislature therefore declares that it is the public policy of the State of West Virginia to take reasonable and lawful measures to prevent, deter, and address the unlawful and unregulated distribution of abortifacients within this state and to ensure that state resources are not used to subsidize or support such conduct.

(b) For purposes of this section:

(1) “Manufacturer” means any person or entity who is engaged in manufacturing, preparing, propagating, compounding, processing, packaging, repackaging, or labeling of prescription or nonprescription drugs, whether within or outside this state.

(2) “Public entity” means the state of West Virginia, or any political subdivision thereof, and all spending units of state government including those otherwise excluded from applicability under § 5A-3-1 of this code.

(3) “Wholesale drug distributor” means any person or entity engaged in wholesale distribution of prescription or nonprescription drugs, including, but not limited to, manufacturers, repackers, own-label distributors, jobbers, private-label distributors, brokers, warehouses, including manufacturers' and distributors' warehouses, chain drug warehouses and wholesale drug warehouses, independent wholesale drug traders, prescription drug repackagers, physicians, dentists, veterinarians, birth control and other clinics, individuals, hospitals, nursing homes and/or their providers, health maintenance organizations and other health care providers, and retail and hospital pharmacies that conduct wholesale distributions.  A wholesale distributor shall not include any motor carrier or freight forwarder as defined in 49 U.S.C. § 13102, an air carrier as defined in 49 U.S.C. § 40102, a third-party logistics provider as defined in 21 U.S.C. § 360eee, or person or entity hired solely to transport prescription drugs.

(c) Effective July 1, 2026, a public entity may not enter into a contract with a manufacturer or wholesale drug distributor for goods or services unless the contract includes a written certification that the person or entity is not currently engaged in, and will not for the duration of the contract, engage in the manufacturing or wholesale distribution of abortifacients.

(d) Any contract that violates the requirements of this section shall be void as against public policy.

(e) The Director of the Purchasing Division is authorized to promulgate legislative rules, including emergency rules, to implement the provisions of this section.

Adopted

Rejected