HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4021        FILED ON: 1/20/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 732

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

William J. Driscoll, Jr.

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to strengthen the Commonwealth's strategic preparedness stockpiles.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4021        FILED ON: 1/20/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 732

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act to strengthen the Commonwealth's strategic preparedness stockpiles.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Chapter 111 of the 2020 Version of the Massachusetts General Laws are hereby amended by inserting, following Section 5S, the following new section:-

Section 5T. (a) The department shall, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), and other relevant stakeholders, shall establish a permanent emergency stockpile of strategic emergency readiness supplies, including but not limited to, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), medications, testing kits, and others deemed important for emergency preparedness by the department and MEMA to be used and dispensed in the event of public health emergencies at the local, state, and national levels.

(b) The department, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the executive office of technology services and security, the department of elementary and secondary education and other stakeholders, as necessary, to conduct demand planning and stockpile modelling for emergency readiness supplies, including PPE, medications, testing kits, and others to be included at the discretion of the department. The department shall conduct demand planning and stockpile modeling for three separate stockpiles – one for use by the Commonwealth’s healthcare settings, including primary care offices, outpatient treatment centers, hospitals, emergency rooms, and others the department deems fit; one shall be education settings, including both public and private institutions, such as pre-K programs, K-12 schools, technical schools, colleges, and universities; and one shall be for use to the general public during major local, regional, state, and national disasters.

Said demand planning and supply modeling shall include 1) recommendations on the types of PPE and other emergency supplies to be included in each stockpile, 2) the anticipated demand for emergency supplies across a number of public health emergency scenarios, 3) the recommended quantities to be held in the stockpile for each type of supply, 4) the anticipated costs of procuring, managing, and maintaining said quantities, 5) methods to rotate supplies and minimize risk of supplies expiring, 6) mechanisms for municipalities and schools to access these supplies in the event of a local or regional public health emergency, 7) distribution planning, including the identification of emergency dispensing sites and possible mobile distribution programs to allocate the supplies in each stockpile to the relevant groups in the event of local, state, or national emergency declaration, and 8) possible strategies that could be used to reduce the costs of these supplies, including, but not limited to, the use of vendor-managed inventory programs.

No less than one year after the passage enactment of this act, the department of public health shall file a report of its findings to the office of the House Speaker, the office of the Senate President, chairs of the joint committee on public health, the chairs of the joint committee on COVID-19 and emergency preparedness and management, and the clerks of both chambers of the legislature.

Every two years thereafter, the department shall, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the executive office of technology services and security, the department of elementary and secondary education and other stakeholders, as necessary, reassess the prior scenario planning, demand planning, and stockpile modeling, and make adjustments as needed, or, if not needed, reaffirm the validity of the existing models.

(c) Every quarter, the department shall report to the office of the Speaker of the House, the Senate President, the joint committee on Ways and Means, the joint committee on public health, and the joint committee on COVID-19 and emergency preparedness and management, on the current supplies within the stockpile and funds on hand for the stockpile.

(d) In maintaining and securing supplies, the department shall seek to maximize available federal and state funding for this program.