Highways would honor legislator, veterans
The House gave first-round approval Tuesday to a bill to honor a former Senate president after amending it to include honoring military veterans as well.
Under the bill, U.S. Highway 169 in Allen County would be designated the Robert V. Talkington Highway.
Talkington, from Iola, served 20 years in the Legislature, ending his career as Senate president in 1985-88. He also served on the Kansas Turnpike Authority in 1977-93 and was a member of the state Board of Regents in 1995-99.
During debate, the House approved an amendment from Rep. Larry Powell to designate U.S. Highway 83 in Kansas as the Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Highway.
Powell, R-Kalvesta, said Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas have already designated the highway and, "We should fill this gap."
The House approved Powell's amendment and tentatively approved the bill on voice votes. Final action is scheduled for today.
State seeks to control prescription drug costs
Social welfare officials introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at trying to control the cost of prescription drugs.
From 1997 through 2001, the cost of prescription drugs in Medicaid grew from about $100 million to $185 million.
The measures would give SRS greater flexibility in controlling costs, such as mandating generic substitutes for Medicaid prescriptions, but still allow for exceptions when the physician designated that the prescription must be dispensed as written.
According to SRS, the top five drugs paid for by Medicaid in December were as follows:
Zyprexa (an antipsychotic), $358,958;
Prilosec (gastric acid secretion reducer), $347,772;
Celebrex (anti-inflammatory), $273,567;
Zyprexa (antipsychotic), $229,084;
Prevacid (gastric acid secretion reducer), $227,020.
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