Latest news with #PhillipRigsby
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Human cloning ban moves toward vote in Alabama Senate
Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, speaks to colleagues on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 11, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill he is sponsoring that makes it a crime to clone human beings. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A bill banning human cloning in Alabama is in position to be voted on in the Alabama Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday unanimously approved HB 380, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville. The bill would make it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to clone or attempt to clone a human being. 'This is another one of those bills that is going to be a protection of what can come,' Rigsby said to the committee during the meeting. 'A little bit of research, a couple of little Google searches, will tell you that the research behind reproductive human cloning is on the horizon, and so this bill will help to put up some guardrails to help protect that.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The legislation excludes in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments from its cloning definition and allows scientific research on cloning techniques producing 'tissues, organs, plants, or animals other than humans.' The Alabama House of Representatives approved the measure on April 9. The person may also be convicted of the crime if the individual merely participates in the process or is involved in the shipment or transfer of embryos or materials. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama House votes to make human cloning a felony
Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, speaks to colleagues on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 11, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The House passed Rigsby's bill to criminalize human cloning on April 9, 2025. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday criminalizing human cloning 71-4, with 22 abstentions. HB 380, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, makes it a Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to engage in human cloning. Rigsby said during a brief debate on Wednesday that he is not aware of any human cloning happening in Alabama or the United States, but he said that is the direction science is going. 'We stand at a crossroads in science ethics and human dignity. The prospect of human cloning, once confined to science-fiction, now challenges us to make a firm moral and legal stand,' Rigsby said. 'While technological advances have provided humanity with remarkable medical breakthroughs, not all scientific possibilities align with what is ethical, just and safe.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The legislation defines human cloning as 'asexual reproduction.' Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, expressed concern on how the legislation would affect in vitro fertilization (IVF). 'In theory, it could happen accidentally,' Yarbrough said. 'This is saying you can't be intentionally trying to do so?' Rigsby said the legislation includes a provision exempting IVF from the definition of asexual reproduction. 'They just wanted to make sure that their practices did not fall under what they do as cloning,' Rigsby said. The crime includes those cloning humans, and anybody that participates in human cloning, including transportation of a cloned cell, according to the bill. House Democrats criticized the legislation for being unnecessary. Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, questioned if other states have similar laws. 'I just didn't know if mass cloning was going on,' she said. 'I don't know of anything or anybody that I've ever seen come through Alabama that I'd want to clone.' Rep. A.J. McCampbell, D-Demopolis, echoed Givan. 'This sounds like science-fiction, cloning people,' he said. Rigsby said his bill is modeled after a 2003 law in Arkansas. Rigsby proposed a floor amendment to exclude university research on human organs. It passed 79-1. 'We have some universities that are doing some research on organs and they were a little concerned about line 38, 'generate all or most of the body tissues of a living organism,'' Rigsby said. The bill now goes to the Alabama Senate. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama House passes bill regulating pharmacy benefit managers
Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, speaking on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives in the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 8, 2025. Rigsby, an independent pharmacy owner, carried "Community Pharmacy Relief Act", sponsored by Sen. Sen. Bill Beasley, D-Clayton, which passed the House unanimously. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday unanimously passed legislation that creates new regulations on reimbursements and fees pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) charge to pharmacies. SB 252, sponsored by Sen. Bill Beasley, D-Clayton, and called the 'Community Pharmacy Relief Act,' seeks to address concerns from independent pharmacies over reimbursement rates and business practices that critics say have driven many out of business. PBMs act as a 'middle-man' between health insurers, pharmacies and drug manufacturers. They negotiate drug prices, determine reimbursement rates for pharmacies and manage prescription drug benefits. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Critics accuse PBMs of using their position to impose unfair fees and steer patients toward PBM-owned pharmacies. PBMs are also accused of keeping manufacturer rebates for themselves instead of passing the savings along to consumers. Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, an independent pharmacy owner who carried the legislation in the House, said after the bill passed that the process was hard, but that he knew he needed to continue on for the local pharmacies across the state. 'There have been many ups and downs in this journey, and there were days I wanted to throw in the towel, but I realized that my flesh was telling me to quit,' Rigsby said. 'Thanks be to God. When I felt defeated, that's when my faith reminded me.' Rep. Mark Gidley, R-Hokes Bluff, said the legislation is very important for family-owned pharmacies across the state. According to ABC33/40, 300 of Alabama's 800 independent pharmacies have closed across the state in the last six years. 'We have pharmacies that are closing all across the state. My understanding is about 10 since the first of the year,' Gidley said. 'The loss of local pharmacies is a terrible detriment to the health care of our people, especially in the rural areas. This can't happen.' The bill would impose new restrictions on PBMs, including a prohibition on reimbursing independent pharmacies at rates lower than those paid by the Alabama Medicaid Agency. It would also ban PBMs from charging certain fees to pharmacies, require them to pass on 100% of manufacturer rebates to health plans and prevent them from blocking pharmacists from disclosing lower-cost alternatives to patients. The House unanimously passed an amendment from Rep. Joe Lovvorn, R-Auburn, that would allow pharmacies to negotiate with the PBMs to keep a part of rebates used for administrative reasons. 'If I'm a private business and have the right to negotiate with a PBM, that if I want to take part of those rebates from those drugs that are offered, I can either receive those rebates or I can negotiate to be part of the administrative fee,' Lovvorn said. The bill goes to the Senate for concurrence or a conference committee. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
House committee approves bill allowing health care workers to refuse blood draws
Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, speaks to colleagues on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 11, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Rigsby's bill would allow health care providers to refuse blood draws for suspected drunk driving without a court order. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama House Health Committee Wednesday approved a bill clarifying health care providers can refuse to draw blood in alleged drunk driving situations. HB 391, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, aims to address a 'misinterpretation' of previous legislation that some believed required paramedics and other health care providers to comply with all law enforcement blood draw requests. The bill says that health care providers may refuse to draw blood at the direction of law enforcement except when required by a court order. 'That was kind of misinterpreted, and misinterpreted in the sense that they must draw that blood,' Rigsby said to the committee. Rigsby said that under the bill, health care providers on the scene or at an ambulance station have the discretion to decline a request, allowing law enforcement to transport the individual to a hospital for testing instead. Rep. Frances Holk-Jones, R-Foley, asked if there would be a time limit to perform the test, asking how long people usually stay intoxicated. Rigsby acknowledged said blood-alcohol content testing is time-sensitive but said that factors such as liver function, hydration, and food intake affect how long substances remain detectable in an individual's system. The bill passed on a voice vote and goes to the full House for further consideration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Alabama legislator introduces bill to make human cloning illegal
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — A new bill has been introduced in the Alabama Legislature that would classify human cloning as a felony. HB380, introduced by Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, classifies human cloning as a human asexual reproduction accomplished by any of the following: Introducing the genetic material from one of more human somatic cells into an egg whose nuclear material has been removed in order to produce a living organism that is virtually identical to an existing human organism. Artificially subdividing a human embryo to result in more than one human organism. Introducing pluripotent stem cells from any source into a human embryo under conditions where the introduced cells generate all or most of the body tissues of the developing organism. Genetically modifying human skin cells or organisms into a viable egg or sperm with genetic material from the same source as the egg or sperm used in reproduction to create an embryo. The bill states that a person will commit the crime of human cloning if they intentionally perform or participate in an attempt to perform human cloning, if they ship, transfer or receive an embryo produced by human cloning or if they ship, transfer or receive any oocyte, embryo, fetus or human somatic cell for the purpose of human cloning. However, human cloning would not be restricted in the areas of scientific research that focus on the use of cloning techniques to molecules, DNA or cells other than embryos, tissues, organs, plants or animals other than humans. It would also not apply to in vitro fertilization (IVF) or the administration of fertility-related drugs or any procedures used to assist a woman with pregnancy, as long as the procedure doesn't aim to result in the birth of a child who is genetically identical to another embryo, fetus or human being. If passed, the bill would go into effect on Oct. 1 and treat its defined concept of human cloning as a class C felony. The full bill can be read here: HB380-intDownload Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
