Don’t get distracted by the big stuff at the Legislature. It’s the “sleepers” that can hurt you and your family

BY STEVE MYRUM

While everyone at the Legislature is focused on coal, education and Medicaid expansion, our eyes are not focused on lesser-known, or “sleeper,” bills. These are every bit as important to the welfare of Wyoming’s citizens.

Here’s a sleeper bill that requires your attention.

Do you love your grandpa, grandma, mom, dad?  Take a look at Senate File 96.

Here’s the first paragraph:

“(d)  Unless otherwise specified by law, the division shall not require licensed practical nurses or nurses with more

The source of laws — the State Capitol.

advanced credentials to serve as nursing staff for any secured unit of an assisted living facility or any assisted living facility dedicated to providing special care and services for people with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia conditions.”

Currently, skilled nurses are required in secure units of assisted living units in Wyoming. But legislators have decided there is no need for skilled nurses to care for our most vulnerable population. Just lock ’em up and let an aide hose ’em down every day.

The next paragraph of the legislation does ensure that at least the water in the hose is hot.

Sad, folks. You have to be involved and contact your legislators to voice your opinion on pieces of legislation like SF 96.

Another sleeper is on Senate File 77, and it proposed changes to Wyoming State Statute 35-7-1060.

WY SS 35-7-1060  essentially established a prescription drug monitoring program in Wyoming, managed by the State Board of Pharmacy. It warehouses prescription data of all Wyoming residents who have been prescribed any Schedule II, III, or IV drug as defined by the Federal Controlled Substances Act.

Some examples of the drugs that are on each schedule:

Schedule 2: oxycodone, Adderall, Ritalin and Vicodin.

Schedule 3: Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, anabolic steroids and testosterone.

Schedule 4: Xanax, Soma, Darvocet, Valium and Ambien.

Prescription drug monitoring programs are proactive in safeguarding public health and safety while supporting the legitimate use of controlled substances. These programs do not infringe on the legitimate prescribing of a controlled substance by a practitioner acting in good faith and in the course of a professional practice.

However, here comes the concern, and why you should be concerned about the proposed change.

Currently, your prescription data containing your personally identifiable information is contained within this state database. Current law has no provisions for addressing the security of this information. 

Proposed changes to the law allow the state of Wyoming to share your personal information and prescription information with other states with no provisions written into the law to set how the information will be secured, for what purposes it may be used and who can access the data.

Prescription drug monitoring programs pose a serious risk to medical privacy by allowing law enforcement to access confidential medical records without a warrant based on probable cause, which may be in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Wyoming lawmakers are proposing to share your personal medical information, without safeguards, with other states that may not value your privacy like we do in Wyoming.

Currently in Wyoming, by law, criminals and their arrest histories have more protection than your private medical prescription records. See Wyoming State 7-19-101: protections include security of records, privacy of records, dissemination of records, auditing of records and inspection of records. None of these protections are written into Wyoming law governing your prescription records.

It’s important that you contact your legislators and let them know you value your privacy and especially so when it comes to your prescription medical records. The current law needs to include provisions that protect the use and dissemination of this most private information. (https://www.wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2020/SF0077)

Steve Myrum is a Cheyenne writer.