Council Advances Bill Maximizing Access to HIV/AIDS Prevention Care

The Council recently kicked off its strenuous and quintessential performance and budget oversight season. During these busy months, every agency of District government goes under a rigorous Council oversight microscope…twice-once to have the prior year's performance examined, and once to consider that agency's budgeted spending in the coming year. While this oversight process takes mighty effort, and is deeply time-consuming for the body, the legislative show must go on-and it does, as the most recent legislative meeting bore witness.

Due to the Council's recent change in membership, and subsequent reorganization, the former Committee on Business and Economic Development (CBED) was dissolved. While the Committee's oversight responsibilities and agency jurisdiction have already been disbursed to other Council committees and a new Council subcommittee, the process of redistributing legislation previously referred to the now-defunct Committee to the remaining committees is still underway.

One piece of legislation that has already shook loose from this process was the PrEP DC Act, a bill intended to maximize access, and minimize barriers, to the latest class of drugs meant to prevent and treat the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Initially referred to the now-defunct CBED Committee with additional input/comments solicited from the Health Committee, the bill was later jointly referred to both committees. Then, with the dissolution of CBED, the bill's sole referral was to the Health Committee, which had already held a hearing on the bill and voted it out of committee. This left the bill in pole position for rapid advancement to, and an initial vote by, the full Council. It received the first of two necessary Council votes at the most recent Legislative Meeting.

The bill consists of three primary components. First, it prevents health insurers and benefit plans from using prescription information regarding HIV prevention treatment to set insurance rates or to determine insurance eligibility. Second, it prohibits insurers from restricting or delaying distribution of prescribed antiretroviral drugs intended to combat HIV and/or AIDS. And third, it would prevent insurers from imposing a deductible, co-pay, or other costs for any formulation of the newest class of anti-HIV and anti-AIDS drugs, known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), meant to prevent HIV/AIDS infection in the first place. The final prohibition extends to both initial and follow-up appointments related to PEP or PrEP use. (In an interesting coincidental tangent, a prominent TV ad for one of these drugs was clearly filmed at an erstwhile DC landmark.)

Since the bill incurs no additional costs on the District government, once it becomes law it will be able to go into effect in time for the 2027 insurance plan year.

In other action at the most recent Legislative Meeting, the Council:

• Passed a resolution authorizing the Council's Office of General Counsel to initiate or participate, in the Council's name, in legal action asserting the Council's long legally-established right to obtain agency budget enhancement requests. Courts have twice sided with the Council and its allies on this issue.
• Passed a bill, on the first of two necessary votes, renaming Brent Elementary School as Gardner Bishop Elementary school. In doing so, the Council cast aside a namesake who was a segregationist early District mayor, and instead named the school for a crusading civil rights pioneer of the local school desegregation battles that led to the 1954 Supreme Court case which desegregated District schools
• On an emergency basis, revised requirements for net zero energy consumption for District government owned or District government financed projects so that goals can be predictable and achievable. Energy requirements for residential projects would not change, and would remain as in current law.
• Passed a bill, on the first of two necessary votes, expanding definitions of the trees meriting the most extensive protections under District law and increasing the fines for removal of such trees
• Passed a bill, on the first of two necessary votes, amending longstanding District law to protect consumers from seasonal price gouging on car leases, and to amend the list of events triggering anti-gouging laws to include public health emergencies

The Council's next scheduled Legislative Meeting will be held on March 3