[NFBMDTLC-Chapter] Congratulations to Us! Accessible Prescription Labels - HB 456

Thu Apr 6 18:11:18 UTC 2023

Federation Family,
Congratulations!  Just moments ago, the Maryland Senate passed HB 456,
Accessible Prescription Labels for Blind, Visually Impaired, and Print
Disabled Individuals.  This bill now just awaits Governor Moore's signature.
Under this bill, the Maryland Board of Pharmacies must promulgate
regulations that will go into effect no later than January 1, 2025, to
require that Maryland pharmacies provide prescription labels, bag tags, and
guides in accessible format for those who are blind, low vision, or
otherwise print disabled.  Pharmacies must also have information readily
available and accessible so that patients know accessible labeling is
available.  The accessible prescription labels, bag tags, and guides must be
made available at no additional cost to the patient and in the same
timeframe as prescriptions with standard labels.  The Board of Pharmacy must
work with the blind community when promulgating these regulations.  Finally,
the Maryland Department of Health must conduct an analysis by December 1,
2023, to determine if there are ways to help off-set the cost of the labels
and labeling technology for certain types of pharmacies.

In a nutshell, as of January 1, 2025, any of us in Maryland should be able
to walk into our local pharmacy or call in a prescription, tell them we want
accessible labels in Braille or large print or audio, and get those
prescriptions with the label type of our choice, at no extra cost to us, in
the same timeframe as any other patient.

I would urge those who can to send an email to our sponsor, Delegate Michele
Guyton - Michele.Guyton at house.state.md.us - to thank her and her staff for
their extraordinary work on this bill.

Also, thank you to each of you who testified, attended a hearing, wrote a
letter, made a phone call, or worked to see this bill move from idea to law.
Special thanks to our brilliant Director of Legislation and Advocacy, Sharon
Maneki, for all of her hard work.  I had a front-row seat for the literally
dozens of meetings, in person visits, and conversations with everyone from
the legislature to the Governor's Office to the Pharmacists Association to
the Maryland Retailers Association to the Maryland Hospital Association and
so on for this bill, and Sharon, per usual, handled them masterfully.

Relatedly, SB 940 just, again, moments ago, received a favorable report from
the House Health and Government Operations Committee and should be on the
House floor for second reader this afternoon or tomorrow morning.  Even
though HB 456 has already passed both houses, it's always wonderful to also
get the cross-file across the finish line too.

More to come on SB 940!

Yours,
Ronza

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Pronouns: she, her, hers

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland President <president at nfbmd.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, April 5, 2023 8:47 PM
To: 'nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org' <nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbmd at nfbnet.org'
<nfbmd at nfbnet.org>; 'greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org'
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<mabm at nfbnet.org>; 'mdabs at nfbnet.org' <mdabs at nfbnet.org>;
'mdpobc at nfbnet.org' <mdpobc at nfbnet.org>; 'NFB of Maryland, Baltimore County
List' <md-baltimore-county at nfbnet.org>
Subject: RE: Update: Accessible Prescription Labels - HB 456 and SB 940

Hi Everyone,
Here's an update on our Accessible Prescription Labels legislation.

SB 940 was moved out of the House Rules Committee this morning and is before
the House Health and Government Operations Committee.  They have a voting
session tomorrow and Friday, so we're hopeful it'll get out on time to get
to the House floor before Monday.  I've been speaking with the Chair of HGO,
and she's committed to do what she can to get it out.

Meanwhile, HB 456, the House Companion, has come before the Senate earlier
this week for what is called second reader, and we're just waiting on the
Senate to vote on third reader.  We thought that would happen today, but the
Senate adjourned early for Passover.  So tomorrow's a great day to listen to
the Senate Stream because once HB 456 is passed by the Senate, we just need
Governor Moore's signature for it to become law.

So if you want to listen to the Senate stream tomorrow (Thursday) to see our
bills hopefully get final passage both for HB 456 and for SB 535, go to:
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/

The Senate is scheduled to convene at 10AM, but they nearly always start
late.  Just keep refreshing the browser until the link changes from
"adjourned" to "convened" and then select "play" on the browser.  The page
will automatically update as bills are heard and voted on.  

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Pronouns: she, her, hers

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland President <president at nfbmd.org> 
Sent: Saturday, April 1, 2023 8:57 AM
To: 'nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org' <nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbmd at nfbnet.org'
<nfbmd at nfbnet.org>; 'greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org'
<greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbmdtlc-chapter at nfbnet.org'
<nfbmdtlc-chapter at nfbnet.org>; 'central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org'
<central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org>; 'md-atlarge at nfbnet.org'
<md-atlarge at nfbnet.org>; 'md-sligo at nfbnet.org' <md-sligo at nfbnet.org>;
'nationalharbor at nfbnet.org' <nationalharbor at nfbnet.org>; 'mabm at nfbnet.org'
<mabm at nfbnet.org>; 'mdabs at nfbnet.org' <mdabs at nfbnet.org>;
'mdpobc at nfbnet.org' <mdpobc at nfbnet.org>; 'NFB of Maryland, Baltimore County
List' <md-baltimore-county at nfbnet.org>
Subject: RE: Update: Accessible Prescription Labels - HB 456 and SB 940

Hi Everyone,
The Senate passed out SB 940 earlier this week, and it is now at the House
Rules and Executive Nominations Committee waiting to be assigned to the
House and Government Operations Committee.  Everything that gets passed past
a certain date goes to Rules first and the relevant committee with
jurisdiction has to pull it into their committee.  Stay tuned, as if the
bill does not get assigned to HGO early next week, we'll need your
collective action.  The current legislative session ends in 10 calendar
days.

HB 456 is in the Senate Finance Committee and is scheduled for a vote on
Monday.  We'll keep you posted on our progress.

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Pronouns: she, her, hers

-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland President <president at nfbmd.org> 
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2023 7:10 AM
To: 'nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org' <nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbmd at nfbnet.org'
<nfbmd at nfbnet.org>; 'greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org'
<greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org>; 'nfbmdtlc-chapter at nfbnet.org'
<nfbmdtlc-chapter at nfbnet.org>; 'central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org'
<central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org>; 'md-atlarge at nfbnet.org'
<md-atlarge at nfbnet.org>; 'md-sligo at nfbnet.org' <md-sligo at nfbnet.org>;
'nationalharbor at nfbnet.org' <nationalharbor at nfbnet.org>; 'mabm at nfbnet.org'
<mabm at nfbnet.org>; 'mdabs at nfbnet.org' <mdabs at nfbnet.org>;
'mdpobc at nfbnet.org' <mdpobc at nfbnet.org>; 'NFB of Maryland, Baltimore County
List' <md-baltimore-county at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Update: Accessible Prescription Labels - HB 456 and SB 940

Hi All,
Congratulations!  On Saturday, the Maryland House passed HB 456, Accessible
Prescription Labels for Blind, Visually Impaired, and Print Disabled
Patients.  This bill was sponsored by our good friend and advocate, Delegate
Michele Guyton.  

It moved to the Senate on Monday and we are very hopeful about it's chances.

We had our hearing in the Senate on the cross-file of HB 456, which is SB
940 this past Tuesday.  Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee issued a
favorable report on SB 940, and it'll come to the full Senate for two rounds
of vote starting this morning.

What will happen next is that either the Senate will vote on whether to
adopt the House bill, or provided the Senate bill passes out of the Senate,
the House will vote whether or not to adopt the Senate bill.  One chamber
needs to adopt the other's by April 10 when the 2023 legislative session
ends.

Stay tuned, but for now, we celebrate!

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Pronouns: she, her, hers

-----Original Message-----
From: president at nfbmd.org <president at nfbmd.org> 
Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2023 7:28 PM
To: nfb-maryland at nfbnet.org; nfbmd at nfbnet.org; greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org;
nfbmdtlc-chapter at nfbnet.org; central-md-chapter at nfbnet.org;
md-atlarge at nfbnet.org; md-sligo at nfbnet.org; nationalharbor at nfbnet.org;
mabm at nfbnet.org; mdabs at nfbnet.org; mdpobc at nfbnet.org; NFB of Maryland,
Baltimore County List <md-baltimore-county at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Progress on Guide Dog Bill

Hi everyone, we have some significant progress on our guide dog protection
in housing legislation. The Senate Judicial  Proceedings Committee has voted
the bill out of the committee with a favorable report. That means in the
next few days, the bill will be considered by the full Maryland senate. The
Senate will have two opportunities to consider the bill and debate it. If,
on the second review, they vote to adopt it, it will then move over to the
House of Delegates for their consideration. We will keep you posted as
things progress, and hopefully things will move quickly now 

Ronza Othman, President
National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
443-426-4110
Sent from my iPhone