[Colorado-Talk] Please Support HB24-1115, Prescription Drug Label Accessibility

[Curtis Chong]

Greetings to all:

 

HB24-1115 is a bill requiring pharmacies to provide accessible labels on
prescription drugs for people who have difficulty seeing or reading standard
printed labels. There is also an appropriation of approximately $80,000 for
needy pharmacies who cannot afford the cost of providing accessible
prescription drug labels.

 

HB24-1115 has already passed the State House. It has been introduced in the
Senate and is to be heard by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee
at a hearing to be held tomorrow, May 1, immediately upon adjournment of the
full Senate in Senate Conference Room 357.

 

Testimony for or against HB24-1115 can be submitted in person, remotely
through Zoom, or in writing. To register for in-person or remote testimony
or to submit your written testimony, point your browser to
https://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2024A/commsumm.nsf/signIn.xsp.
Choose the method you want to use to testify, select the Senate Health and
Human Services Committee, HB24-1115, and 5/1/2024.

 

We are nearing the home stretch on this important piece of legislation. If
it passes the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, it will be moved
to the Senate Appropriations Committee due to the $80,000 appropriation.
Assuming it passes Senate Appropriations, it will need to be voted on by the
full Senate. We have 11 days before the Colorado General Assembly adjourns.
So, as you see, this bill will need to move quickly through the process. We
should not be complacent about this. Time is definitely getting short here.

 

Please do what you can to help us to move this bill through the final
approval process. If you need help with language, see the text of what I
sent to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, shown immediately
below my signature.

 

Thank you for anything you can do to help our efforts to obtain accessible
prescription labels for Coloradans who are blind or print-disabled.

 

Very truly yours,

 

Curtis Chong

 

__________________________________________________

 


Letter to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee


 

Dear Senator ???:

 

Please support funding in support of HB24-1115, a bill which is critical to
the life, health, and safety of people in Colorado who are blind or
otherwise unable to see or read printed prescription drug labels. The
technology, knowledge, and procedures to make prescription labels accessible
to people who are blind or have print disabilities is more available today
than it has ever been before, and the cost of this accessibility is neither
rapidly increasing nor excessive. Without this funding, small pharmacies
would find it difficult or impossible to do what is necessary to provide
accessible prescription labels to their customers who need them, and people
who are blind or otherwise print-disabled will continue to be at greater
risk of taking the wrong medication.

 

HB24-1115 is fully supported across the disability community in Colorado. It
is supported by the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, Disability
Law Colorado, the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition, and ARC of Colorado.
Funding is critical to ensure that all pharmacies in the state can do what
is right--making prescription labels accessible to everyone! Please
prioritize HB24-1115 to help keep all Coloradans who are blind or
print-disabled safe.

 

Thank you.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Curtis Chong, Legislative Cochair

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado

 

 

 

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