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House Bill 3016 |
House Author: Hill |
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Effective: Vetoed |
Senate Sponsor: Staples |
House Bill 3016 amends the Tax Code to require a chief appraiser to exclude the value of certain surplus drug supplies from the market value of a licensed wholesale drug distributor's inventory of drugs held for normal market purposes. The bill defines these "drug supplies held in surplus" to mean drugs in the inventory of a wholesale drug distributor, other than a drug manufacturer or pharmacy, that are held for less than 60 days for use in responding to a terrorist attack, bioterrorism event, and catastrophic man-made or natural disaster, but only that percentage of the inventory needed by attending physicians or other emergency health care personnel to treat victims of the attack, event, or disaster. The bill caps the percentage of a drug distributor's inventory that may be considered for exclusion at 10 percent and specifies the method to be used in calculating the number of days supplies are held in an inventory for rendition purposes.
Reason Given for Veto: "House Bill No. 3016 would exclude from taxation excess drug supplies maintained by wholesale drug distributors for less than 60 days. The bill gives the impression that this exception should be made because these drugs would be used in the event of a homeland security situation. However, the Department of Homeland Security operates the Strategic National Stockpile, and it is those massive quantities of medicine and medical supplies that states and communities will be able to access in response to a public health emergency.
"The bill would also allow wholesale drug distributors to exclude excess drug supplies for responses to general public health care emergency needs without paying taxes on them, but does not provide other entities like drug manufacturers or pharmacies with the same exclusion. This bill unnecessarily uses the guise of national security to establish an unfair tax break."