State Auditor Tom Salmon, CPA, has released the annually required report on the litigation costs related to Act 80, the prescription drug data ban that was rejected by the US Supreme Court June 23. Vermont's data mining ban would have prevented pharmaceutical companies from using patient data for marketing purposes.
To date, Salmon said, those litigation costs totaled $634,678, including $345,227 in staff salaries and benefits. That sum does not include any attorneys’ fees or other amounts that may be awarded by the court.
‘This report is usually done early in the year, but the information was not available until July 1. We will capture the full cost of litigation in our next required report before January 1,’ Salmon said.
Salmon has continuously warned leaders to use a more thoughtful planning process.
Salmon said, ‘State leaders should know they will be held accountable for decisions like this. We need to move in a direction where all outcomes are weighed before a decision, or in this case, an act is put into law.’
Had the Vermont Legislature learned from New Hampshire’s similar scenario, Salmon said Vermont could have avoided this situation. On June 30, 2007, just days before the Vermont Legislature passed Act 80 a very similar prescription privacy law in New Hampshire was overturned by the US District Court.
‘This is a case where Vermonters lost big. The Legislature should have known this was a possible outcome, it had recently happened in New Hampshire. This poor decision-making and poor planning is expected to cost the state over a million dollars, perhaps two million,’ Salmon added.
However, Salmon does praise the legislator from Rutland Town for inserting language into the 2007 law that requires the State Auditor’s Office, ‘The Accountability Office,’ to provide an annual litigation report on the financial impact of Act 80. Salmon believes a litigation report for Act 64 (campaign finance) could have warned a more careful and thoughtful approach when looking to pass Act 80. For several months, the auditor has been in the process of gathering information on the litigation expenses related to the conflict with Entergy Vermont Yankee (Acts 74 & 160).
To view the entire Litigation Report go to: http://auditor.vermont.gov/sites/auditor/files/Litigation%20Report%207.1...
Source: Vermont Auditor's office. 7.20.2011