National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Reauthorization Act of 2010

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce two pieces of legislation aimed at increasing the production of our hardest working renewable resource, one that often gets overlooked in the clean energy debate--hydropower. The first bill I would like to

introduce today is the Hydropower Improvement Act of 2010, co-sponsored by my colleagues Senators Murray, Cantwell, and Crapo, true hydropower advocates. The Hydropower Improvement Act of 2010 seeks to substantially increase the capacity and generation of our clean, renewable hydropower resources that will improve environmental quality and support hundreds of thousands of green energy jobs.

There is no question that hydropower is, and must continue to be, part of our energy solution. It is the largest source of renewable electricity in the United States. The 96,000 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity we now have today provide about 7 percent of the Nation's electricity needs. Hydroelectric generation is carbon-free baseload power that allows us to avoid 225 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year. Hydropower is clean efficient, and inexpensive. Yet, despite its tremendous benefits, I am constantly amazed at how some undervalue this important resource.

Perhaps it is because conventional wisdom dismisses our Nation's hydropower capacity as tapped out. That is simply not the case. If anything, hydropower is really an under-developed resource--something we certainly understand in my home state of Alaska where hydro already supplies 24 percent of the state's electricity needs and over 200 promising sites for further hydropower development have been identified. There is great potential for additional hydropower development in every State, not just Alaska.

According to the Obama administration, conventional hydropower facilities have the capacity to generate an additional 75,000 megawatts of power--a staggering amount of clean, inexpensive power. Now that doesn't seem possible until you realize that only 3 percent of the country's 80,000 existing dams are even electrified. Significant amounts of new capacity--anywhere between 20,000 and 60,000 megawatts-- can be derived from simple efficiency improvements or capacity additions at existing facilities.

Additional hydropower can be captured in existing man-made conduits and hydroelectric pumped storage projects can help reliably integrate other renewable resources that are intermittent, such as wind, onto our grid.

The Hydropower Improvement Act of 2010 seeks to increase substantially our nation's hydropower capacity in an effort to expand renewable power generation and create much needed American jobs. The legislation establishes a competitive grants program to support further hydropower development and directs the Energy Department to produce and implement a plan for the research, development and demonstration of increased hydropower capacity. The bill provides the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with additional authority to extend preliminary permit terms; to work with Federal resource agencies to streamline the review process for conduit hydropower projects; and to conduct a Notice of Inquiry into a possible two-year licensing process for certain minimal impact projects. The Act also calls for studies on pumped storage sites and the potential for nonfederal development at Bureau of Reclamation facilities, and authorizes training for hydroelectric power technology at community colleges.

It is my hope that as the Senate turns to energy legislation, we can finally recognize the important contribution the renewable resource of hydropower makes, and will continue to make, to our clean energy goals. This legislation is supported by the National Hydropower Association, the American Public Power Association, the Family Farm Alliance, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the Edison Electric Institute, and the National Water Resources Association. I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the Hydropower Improvement Act of 2010 to promote the further development of our most cost-effective, clean energy option while creating hundreds of thousands of new green jobs.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, today I introduce the Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2010. This is legislation to extend certain benefits and income tax provisions to energy generated by hydropower resources.

We have an incredible amount of hydropower potential in my home State of Alaska. To date, we have almost 50 hydropower projects--in a range of sizes from the 126-megawatt Bradley Lake project to the 7-kilowatt Walsh Creek project--that produce about 24 percent of the State's electricity needs. Alaska is proof that the hydropower resource is not tapped out--not even close. Currently, there are 32 additional hydropower projects, just in Southeast, that are either under construction or on the drawing boards. Statewide there are another 200 areas that have been identified as promising sites for lake taps, run of river, pumped storage and even new hydroelectric reservoirs. With the proper financing, we could keep a dozen hydro construction companies fully employed in the State for a decade or even longer. That is just in Alaska. There are tremendous opportunities in each and every State to further develop this clean energy alternative.

Hydropower, by definition, is a renewable resource. It produces no carbon emissions and through rainfall and melting snowpacks it is able to be replenished. Yet there are some who would deny this important classification to the hydropower resource. The Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2010 directs that the generation of hydroelectric power be treated as a ``renewable'' resource for purposes of any Federal program or standard. This reclassification of hydroelectric generation should help to incent the further production of this important and often undervalued resource.

Next, the bill provides parity treatment for hydropower resources in the Production Tax Credit, PTC. Currently, companies that generate wind, solar, geothermal, and ``closed-loop'' biomass systems are eligible for the PTC which provides a 2.1 cent per kilowatt-hour, kWh, benefit for the first 10 years of a renewable energy facility's operation. Other technologies, such as incremental hydropower, certain generation at non-power facilities, and wave and tidal receive a lesser value tax credit of 1.0 cent per kWh. The Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2010 eliminates the distinction between the two categories so that all qualified hydropower resources receive the full PTC credit. The bill further expands upon the types of hydropower resources that can qualify for the PTC, allowing new hydro generation, small hydropower under 50 megawatts, lake taps, and pumped storage to qualify as well.

The Hydropower Renewable Energy Development Act of 2010 also carries this expanded qualification of hydropower to the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, CREBS, program. Because non-profits like rural electric cooperatives and public power providers are not eligible for the PTC due to their tax-exempt status, CREBS was created to encourage these entities to undertake renewable energy development as well. This program has been wildly popular and has been oversubscribed since its inception. There are endless possibilities for increased hydropower production by electric cooperatives and public power providers and they should be given the proper financial incentive to do so.

I ask my colleagues to support this hydropower tax legislation. The further development of this untapped renewable resource will help us meet our clean energy goals through the generation of carbon-free, baseload power. At a time of record unemployment, the addition of hydropower capacity throughout the Nation will lead to hundreds of thousands of good paying, domestic jobs.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, the nonmedical use and abuse of prescription drugs is a serious and growing public health problem in this country. The 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that more than 15 million Americans had used prescription psychotherapeutic drugs non-medically in the past year. That is more than 6 percent of the U.S. population. More than 20 percent of Americans had abused these drugs during their lifetime. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency, SAMHSA, estimates that half a million residents in my home State of Illinois are using prescription drugs illegally and in ways that can lead to dependence and even death.

Since 1999, abuse, misuse, and overdose of prescription drugs has increased, and the health consequences are significant. Each year, more than 20,000 people in the United States die from drug overdose. Illinois hospitals report an increase in patients visiting Emergency Departments because of prescription drug misuse. From 2003 to 2007, Chicago area hospitals saw the number of visits for pain medication misuse more than double and visits for sedative misuse quadruple.

The trends among teens are especially worrisome. Prescription pain relievers are the second most common drugs used as gateway drugs among teens. Over the past decade, there has been a 300 percent increase in the number of teens seeking treatment for addiction to prescription painkillers.

To address this threat to public health, my colleague Senator Sessions and I worked together to enact Public Law 109-60, the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act of 2005, NASPER. This program provides grants through the Department of Health and Human Services to establish or improve State-based prescription drug monitoring programs, PDMPs. The first grants were awarded through NASPER beginning in fiscal year 09, and currently over 40 States are operating PDMPs or have enacted legislation to establish them.

While each State's program is unique, in general they require that pharmacies, physicians or both submit information to a central office within the State on prescriptions dispensed for certain controlled substances--narcotics, stimulants, sedatives, depressants, etc. By creating these systems, States can ensure that health care providers, law enforcement officials and other regulatory and licensing bodies have access to accurate, timely prescription history information as permitted by law.

The data in these systems can be used for many purposes: to assist in the early identification of patients at risk for addiction, prevent patients from doctor shopping, and help with investigations of drug diversion and errant prescribing or dispensing practices by pharmacists or medical providers.

In my home State of Illinois, the State PDMP is called Prescription Information Library, PIL. The State was awarded a NASPER grant in fiscal year 09, which allowed it to expand and improve its program. In the month of June 2010 alone, the PIL website was used by over 3,600 doctors, pharmacists and other registered users who made over 24,000 visits to the site. In addition, the number of law enforcement requests for information from PIL increased from 16 in 2007 to 321 in 2009. Use of the program continues to grow--in the first 6 months of 2010, law enforcement officials have already made 271 requests for information from the database. The growth of the Illinois program demonstrates that it is valuable tool for protecting public health and safety by identifying people at risk for prescription drug abuse and doctors who betray the high ethical standards of their profession by over or incorrectly prescribing prescription drugs.

Today, along with Senator Sessions and several other colleagues, I am introducing the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reposing Reauthorization Act of 2010. This bill reauthorizes and extends this vital program for 5 more years at $15 million for fiscal year 2011 and $10 million each year thereafter. It also makes small changes to improve and strengthen the program, including allowing grants to be made available to States to plan or maintain a PDMP in addition to establishing or improving a program; requiring States to help educate medical providers about the benefits of the systems and facilitate their use of them; requiring, States to report aggregate data to the Secretary to allow for evaluation of the success of the program; allowing participation by the territories; and permitting the Department of Veterans Affairs to share information about the use of controlled substance by veterans with State PDMPs.

Reauthorizing the NASPER program for another 5 years with these changes to improve its operation will assist States in combating abuse and misuse of prescription drugs. This common-sense legislation has bipartisan support, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it into law.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, the nonmedical use and abuse of prescription drugs is a serious and growing public health problem in this country. The 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that more than 15 million Americans had used prescription psychotherapeutic drugs non-medically in the past year. That is more than 6 percent of the U.S. population. More than 20 percent of Americans had abused these drugs during their lifetime. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency, SAMHSA, estimates that half a million residents in my home State of Illinois are using prescription drugs illegally and in ways that can lead to dependence and even death.

Since 1999, abuse, misuse, and overdose of prescription drugs has increased, and the health consequences are significant. Each year, more than 20,000 people in the United States die from drug overdose. Illinois hospitals report an increase in patients visiting Emergency Departments because of prescription drug misuse. From 2003 to 2007, Chicago area hospitals saw the number of visits for pain medication misuse more than double and visits for sedative misuse quadruple.

The trends among teens are especially worrisome. Prescription pain relievers are the second most common drugs used as gateway drugs among teens. Over the past decade, there has been a 300 percent increase in the number of teens seeking treatment for addiction to prescription painkillers.

To address this threat to public health, my colleague Senator Sessions and I worked together to enact Public Law 109-60, the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act of 2005, NASPER. This program provides grants through the Department of Health and Human Services to establish or improve State-based prescription drug monitoring programs, PDMPs. The first grants were awarded through NASPER beginning in fiscal year 09, and currently over 40 States are operating PDMPs or have enacted legislation to establish them.

While each State's program is unique, in general they require that pharmacies, physicians or both submit information to a central office within the State on prescriptions dispensed for certain controlled substances--narcotics, stimulants, sedatives, depressants, etc. By creating these systems, States can ensure that health care providers, law enforcement officials and other regulatory and licensing bodies have access to accurate, timely prescription history information as permitted by law.

The data in these systems can be used for many purposes: to assist in the early identification of patients at risk for addiction, prevent patients from doctor shopping, and help with investigations of drug diversion and errant prescribing or dispensing practices by pharmacists or medical providers.

In my home State of Illinois, the State PDMP is called Prescription Information Library, PIL. The State was awarded a NASPER grant in fiscal year 09, which allowed it to expand and improve its program. In the month of June 2010 alone, the PIL website was used by over 3,600 doctors, pharmacists and other registered users who made over 24,000 visits to the site. In addition, the number of law enforcement requests for information from PIL increased from 16 in 2007 to 321 in 2009. Use of the program continues to grow--in the first 6 months of 2010, law enforcement officials have already made 271 requests for information from the database. The growth of the Illinois program demonstrates that it is valuable tool for protecting public health and safety by identifying people at risk for prescription drug abuse and doctors who betray the high ethical standards of their profession by over or incorrectly prescribing prescription drugs.

Today, along with Senator Sessions and several other colleagues, I am introducing the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reposing Reauthorization Act of 2010. This bill reauthorizes and extends this vital program for 5 more years at $15 million for fiscal year 2011 and $10 million each year thereafter. It also makes small changes to improve and strengthen the program, including allowing grants to be made available to States to plan or maintain a PDMP in addition to establishing or improving a program; requiring States to help educate medical providers about the benefits of the systems and facilitate their use of them; requiring, States to report aggregate data to the Secretary to allow for evaluation of the success of the program; allowing participation by the territories; and permitting the Department of Veterans Affairs to share information about the use of controlled substance by veterans with State PDMPs.

Reauthorizing the NASPER program for another 5 years with these changes to improve its operation will assist States in combating abuse and misuse of prescription drugs. This common-sense legislation has bipartisan support, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it into law.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today in support of reauthorization of the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Drug Reporting Act, NASPER, program critical to combating the abuse of prescription drugs in our Nation. I am proud to once again join my colleagues Senators Dick Durbin, Jeff Sessions, and Sherrod Brown on this important legislation which would reauthorize the NASPER program.

In 2008, over 15 million Americans abused prescription drugs and nearly 2 million of those Americans were between the ages of 12 and 17. Further, the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health found that last year more than 1 in 10 high school seniors used a narcotic for nonmedical purposes. These statistics are simply unacceptable. We must do more to address the issue of prescription drug abuse in this country.

When used under the supervision of a medical professional prescription drugs can be life saving but when they are abused they can become life-threatening. NASPER will help prevent unnecessary deaths by allowing credentialed professionals access to key information regarding prescriptions for many controlled substances. This access will help prevent doctor shopping and will help health professionals to more closely monitor the prescriptions being issued to their patients.

NASPER is a valuable tool available to states to help detect and prevent abuse of prescription drugs. Reauthorization of this program will allow states to establish, maintain, and grow their own electronic prescription drug monitoring programs. Beyond this it will help states establish linkages to surrounding states so that information can be more easily shared, making doctor shopping across state lines more difficult.

I am proud of the work that is going on in my own state of Connecticut around this issue. Our Drug Control Division within the Department of Consumer Protection has worked tirelessly to build a successful prescription drug monitoring program. This program has helped to not only prevent abuse of prescription drugs but it has helped to detect and prevent abuse of critical programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In one case, an investigation of a pharmacist fraudulently billing Medicaid and Medicare resulted in a settlement with the government for $340,000.

As you can see NASPER is an important tool we cannot afford to lose and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation.

Mr. President, I rise today in support of reauthorization of the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Drug Reporting Act, NASPER, program critical to combating the abuse of prescription drugs in our Nation. I am proud to once again join my colleagues Senators Dick Durbin, Jeff Sessions, and Sherrod Brown on this important legislation which would reauthorize the NASPER program.

In 2008, over 15 million Americans abused prescription drugs and nearly 2 million of those Americans were between the ages of 12 and 17. Further, the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health found that last year more than 1 in 10 high school seniors used a narcotic for nonmedical purposes. These statistics are simply unacceptable. We must do more to address the issue of prescription drug abuse in this country.

When used under the supervision of a medical professional prescription drugs can be life saving but when they are abused they can become life-threatening. NASPER will help prevent unnecessary deaths by allowing credentialed professionals access to key information regarding prescriptions for many controlled substances. This access will help prevent doctor shopping and will help health professionals to more closely monitor the prescriptions being issued to their patients.

NASPER is a valuable tool available to states to help detect and prevent abuse of prescription drugs. Reauthorization of this program will allow states to establish, maintain, and grow their own electronic prescription drug monitoring programs. Beyond this it will help states establish linkages to surrounding states so that information can be more easily shared, making doctor shopping across state lines more difficult.

I am proud of the work that is going on in my own state of Connecticut around this issue. Our Drug Control Division within the Department of Consumer Protection has worked tirelessly to build a successful prescription drug monitoring program. This program has helped to not only prevent abuse of prescription drugs but it has helped to detect and prevent abuse of critical programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In one case, an investigation of a pharmacist fraudulently billing Medicaid and Medicare resulted in a settlement with the government for $340,000.

As you can see NASPER is an important tool we cannot afford to lose and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation.