Latest news with #CandiceB.Pierucci
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Utah declares war on human trafficking with new legislation
An effort to strengthen human trafficking penalties in Utah this legislative session was met with strong support in the session's final week with the passage of House Bill 405. 'Human trafficking is a serious offense, and it involves coercing someone into forced labor or sexual acts, and in essence, it's modern-day slavery,' Rep. Candice B. Pierucci, R-Herriman, said during her bill's first House floor debate last month. 'Unfortunately, Utah lags severely behind other states in the prosecution of human trafficking.' Now passed by both the House and Senate, HB405, if signed by Gov. Spencer Cox, will increase penalties for certain human trafficking offenses in the state. Under current law, the human trafficking of a child is a first-degree felon but with a five-year minimum sentence; Pierucci's bill would make it 10. It would likewise change human trafficking for sexual exploitation from a second-degree felony to a first-degree felony, no matter the age of the victim. It also alters the enhancement for aggravated human trafficking and labor trafficking up to a first-degree level felony. 'This is a very serious issue,' she said. 'We've talked about some of the horrific impacts of having a porous border over the past four years, and this is an issue that our state and the country as a whole is trying to wrap its hands around.' During her presentation at the House Judiciary Committee meeting, Pierucci revealed that in 2020, over half of all sex trafficking survivors were undocumented in the United States. She noted that in one study, most victims reported being recruited for both sex and labor trafficking, with 75% holding an unknown immigration status. Another study showed that 60% of Latin American children who attempt to cross the border alone or with smugglers are captured by cartels and exploited in child pornography or drug trafficking. Though the bill passed on Wednesday, lawmakers from both parties expressed concern about the five-year increase in minimum sentencing. 'I've seen these mandatory minimums sometimes sweep up people who really don't deserve the mandatory minimum,' said Derrin R. Owens, R-Fountain Green. 'Our job as a legislature is to set policy to say, 'Yes, we do think these are very serious crimes worthy of very serious punishment,' but then we let a judge and a jury decide how that law should apply to the facts before them.' Current U.S. state minimum prison sentences for child sex trafficking and labor trafficking: Utah: Sex trafficking — 5 years. Labor trafficking — 1 year. Georgia: Sex trafficking — 25 years. Labor trafficking — 10 years. Oklahoma: Sex trafficking — 15 years. Labor trafficking — 5 years. Missouri: Sex trafficking — 10 years. Labor trafficking — 5 years. During the Senate flooring discussion on Wednesday, Sen. Todd D. Weiler, R-Woods Cross, stated that although he did not oppose the bill, he wanted to clarify that offenders are rarely released after serving minimum sentences. 'Despite low minimum sentences, the effects of being trafficked for the victims are lifelong,' the bill's floor sponsor, Sen. Heidi Balderree, R-Saratoga Springs, said in response. In response to the same concerns during the House floor debate, Pierucci said she would serve 25 years if she could. 'At the very least, we are moving the needle and enhancing this to a first-degree felony with no less than 10 years in prison,' she said. 'And the goal, the hope, (and) the message is one: Utah will stop lagging behind the rest of the country in how we charge these things. But also, the message should go out: do not try this in Utah. We take it seriously, and we will make sure you are locked up for a very long time.'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Opinion: State lawmakers should help make medication more affordable for Utahns battling chronic diseases
For many survivors and patients, a cancer diagnosis is often a matter of choosing between bankruptcy or death. That's what I was told by a survivor last spring. It has haunted me ever since. This legislative session, state lawmakers can ease that burden on Utahns by supporting HB52, sponsored by Utah House Rep. Candice B. Pierucci. If enacted, the legislation would ensure prescription drug copay assistance is counted toward patients' out-of-pocket cost obligations. In return, biomedical research could be more impactful and critical medications could become more accessible to the state's most vulnerable patients. As an Oncological Sciences Ph.D. candidate at the University of Utah, cancer research is essentially my full-time job. I'm pursuing high-level training in biomedical research because I want to utilize my education to lead impactful work and help people fighting diseases. The research I do is critical in the development of novel specialized drugs and clinical studies. Significant effort, time and money are needed for the creation of these types of drugs for patients with chronic disease — especially those with cancer diagnoses. The costs of these new specialized drugs have become unfathomably high and, thus, many Americans rely on copay assistance programs to help pay for these medications. Typically, this assistance comes from the drug manufacturer, which patients can put toward the cost of their treatments to make them more affordable. Yet, unfortunately, current state law in Utah allows health insurers to block copay assistance from benefitting patients in the intended way. Through these mechanisms, copay assistance is not counted toward the patient's deductible or out-of-pocket maximum. As a result, when the assistance runs out, many patients are no longer able to afford their medication. This sometimes makes the individual, who already must deal with the anxiety of managing a troublesome disease like cancer, decide between 'bankruptcy or death.' These mechanisms used by insurance companies to pocket a patient's copay assistance versus allowing them to put it toward their annual out-of-pocket costs are called 'copay accumulator adjustment' programs. Realizing that many health insurers are doing this, several states have already implemented countermeasures to protect patients. As of June 2024, 21 states have implemented policies that prohibit copay accumulator adjustment programs. Several more states, including Utah, are considering copay accumulator adjustment legislation this year. Lawmakers in our state have failed to pass a similar bill in previous legislative sessions. I'm concerned with our legislators' lack of action on prohibiting copay accumulator adjustment programs. While I acknowledge the accessibility of therapeutic drugs is multifaceted and a complex issue, prohibiting copay accumulator adjustment programs is a layup for Utah's legislature. With all the effort, time and money the biomedical researcher community puts into their work — what is the point if, at the end of the day, the new therapies established from this industrious work are inaccessible to the individuals who need them the most? Despite medicine being available to help treat their disease, 30% of adults noted in a study by Kaiser report not taking their prescriptions due to high costs. Even with a diagnosis of cancer, a disease that must be aggressively treated for prolonged survival, a fifth of patients still report skipping or delaying treatments due to drug costs. These numbers are even higher among Black, Hispanic, Asian and low-income patients. For reasons like these, it's no surprise that affordability is the leading policy priority for volunteer advocates with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). While enacting HB52 is not an all-encompassing resolution to chronic disease treatment affordability, it would be a significant step in the right direction and display the Legislature's commitment to the health and wellbeing of Utahns. I urge lawmakers to join the emerging community of states that are prohibiting copay accumulator adjustment programs. I'll once again be joining cancer survivors, patients and caregivers at ACS CAN's Cancer Action Day at the state Capitol on Feb. 11. I look forward to meeting with lawmakers and expressing my support for HB52. The benefit of passing this legislation is twofold; it will make the efforts of biomedical research more impactful and improve the health outcomes of the most vulnerable patients in our state.
