This Washington
Gregoire's Office Admonishes AG's Office Over Emergency Contraception Proposal
Earlier this week, we broke the news that, rather than defending existing state rules requiring pharmacies to fill all legal prescriptions, the Washington State Board of Pharmacy and Attorney General Rob McKenna were considering settling out of court in the state's Federal District Court battle with Stormans, Inc., an Olympia pharmacy that refuses to provide emergency contraception.
As part of the possible settlement, the state would adopt the lower standard of "facilitated referrals"—meaning that a pharmacy could, at a patient's request, refer the patient to another pharmacy. The news flabbergasted women's rights groups because the board had already won the first two rounds of the case. Why settle with a lower standard?
Today, Narda Pierce, general counsel to Governor Chris Gregoire, sent a letter admonishing the two attorneys in the AG's office who oversaw the board's facilitated referral proposal.
Pierce's letter took the attorneys to task for submitting the new proposal to Tacoma Federal District Court Judge Ronald Leighton without going through the usual public process for making new rules. Additionally, Pierce chastised the AG's office for submitting that proposal as grounds for delaying the July 26 trial. Indeed, the AG told Judge Leighton that the pharmacy board had adopted new rules, making the current trial potentially irrelevant.
Essentially, the pharmacy board was looking for an out-of-court settlement with Stormans.
Neither the governor nor Pierce had a problem with revisiting the rules, but they took issue with the fact that the letter to the judge already locked down what those new rules would be. Pierce's letter to McKenna's shop says:
Pierce's letter formally echoed what Gregoire's office told us earlier this week when we reported that the state was in settlement mode:
McKenna's office told PubliCola they would not comment because it involves pending litigation.
As part of the possible settlement, the state would adopt the lower standard of "facilitated referrals"—meaning that a pharmacy could, at a patient's request, refer the patient to another pharmacy. The news flabbergasted women's rights groups because the board had already won the first two rounds of the case. Why settle with a lower standard?
Today, Narda Pierce, general counsel to Governor Chris Gregoire, sent a letter admonishing the two attorneys in the AG's office who oversaw the board's facilitated referral proposal.
Pierce's letter took the attorneys to task for submitting the new proposal to Tacoma Federal District Court Judge Ronald Leighton without going through the usual public process for making new rules. Additionally, Pierce chastised the AG's office for submitting that proposal as grounds for delaying the July 26 trial. Indeed, the AG told Judge Leighton that the pharmacy board had adopted new rules, making the current trial potentially irrelevant.
Essentially, the pharmacy board was looking for an out-of-court settlement with Stormans.
Neither the governor nor Pierce had a problem with revisiting the rules, but they took issue with the fact that the letter to the judge already locked down what those new rules would be. Pierce's letter to McKenna's shop says:
Provisions in the [court filing] give every indication that the Board of Pharmacy has predetermined the outcome of a rulemaking process and that public input will be irrelevant.
I urge you and the Board of Pharmacy to make it clear to Judge Leighton ... that the rulemaking will be a process ... This [court filing] should not be entered and a trial should not be delayed based on assumptions that the Board of Pharmacy has committed to ... predetermined outcome.
Pierce's letter formally echoed what Gregoire's office told us earlier this week when we reported that the state was in settlement mode:
Governor Chris Gregoire, an advocate for access to emergency contraception who brokered the compromise between dissident pharmacists and women’s groups in 2007 to arrive at the original rules—doesn’t have a problem with revisiting the scrip standards per se, according to her spokesman Viet Shelton, as long as there is a thorough public process that ultimately “maintains, or even improves, the access of the current rules, particularly for low-income and rural communities.”
But, Shelton said, Gregoire has “concerns” about the new language both because it “seems to imply a preordained outcome” and because that preordained outcome scales back access.
McKenna's office told PubliCola they would not comment because it involves pending litigation.
