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After two days of deadlocked argument over law enforcement accessto a statewide prescription drug database, Senate conferees haveleft the negotiations. Friday s arguments hinged on the fate of the section of the billthat defines law enforcement access to a statewide prescriptiondatabase. Originally the two sides differed on whether it shouldallow search with a warrant or lower the threshold of suspicionthat law enforcement would have to meet in order to get informationfrom the database. The Senate walked away, said a frustrated Rep. Ann Pugh,D-Chittenden. Friday morning, the House conferees, led by Pugh, proposed removingthe section all together and leaving the rest of the bill intact.The bill would then require pharmacies statewide to request a photoID and enter prescription drug recipients into the Vermontprescription monitoring system (VPMS). It would also requireprescribers to be registered with the database and enterinformation about prescriptions for Schedule II, III and IV drugs. The Senate presented two proposals. The first further refined theprocess law enforcement officers would have to go through in orderto access the database without a warrant, taking some of theambiguity out of a process House conferees worried would amount tounconstitutional search. The second Senate proposal was much shorter it called for theconference committee to be dissolved and new conferees chosen byboth bodies. As the session enters its final days, such a proposalamounts to a death sentence for the bill. Pugh urged the Senate conferees to consider the House proposal,saving the provisions of the bill both bodies agreed on. Sen. KevinMullin, R-Rutland, felt the committee would be doing an injusticeto law enforcement if they passed the bill without that provision. I agree with you that we ve done good work, he said, butI m not going to accept the blame when clearly, the Senate hassaid to law enforcement what do you need to get the job done? They ve told us, and we re willing to give it to them. So we willnot accept the blame. After two meetings Friday, it became clear that neither side waswilling to budge on the issue. Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, said the Senate conferees becamefrustrated after the Senate altered their proposal multiple timesand the House conferees stayed firm. We moved four steps, they ve moved none, Sears said. Keith Flynn, Vermont s commissioner of public safety, was alsodisappointed with the outcome. This wasn t the silver bullet, he said, but if it s athree-legged chair, this was one of the legs of the chair, and thechair s not going to stand without the third leg. Flynn emphasized the three-part approach: education, rehabilitationand enforcement, and said it would only work if all three partswere fully functional. Flynn said law, which will prevail absent anunlikely compromise by the committee, will not allow effectiveenforcement. At the end of the day, regretfully, we don t have one of thelegs on the chair. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Curtain Wall Glass , China Borosilicate Float Glass, and more. For more , please visit Curved Tempered Glass today!
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