(Photo by Sergei Gnatuk via Bigstock)
A state administrative judge has scheduled an emergency hearing for Feb. 25 to hear arguments over whether he should lift a stay that has prevented a challenge to a DeSantis administration policy that would limit access to an AIDS drug purchasing assistance program from going forward.
In a Monday notice announcing the emergency meeting, Administrative Law Judge W. David Watkins said whether there is “good cause” for him to lift the automatic stay is a factual matter that must be determined before he can rule on the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s (AHF) Friday motion asking him to lift the automatic stay.
Should he determine there’s good cause to lift the stay, Watkins has scheduled a final hearing for Feb. 27 in the AHF’s administrative challenge to the DeSantis administration’s proposed reductions to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).
The DOH maintains the reductions are necessary because the ADAP faces a $120 million deficit.
The AHF initially filed its administrative complaint in January after the DOH announced on its website and in written correspondence that, beginning March 1, people who earn more than 130% of the federal poverty level would no longer qualify for assistance. That would be $20,345 annually for an individual or $41,795 for a family of four.
The DOH also announced it was eliminating access to certain drugs such as Biktarvy.
AHF accused the DOH of overstepping its legislative authority and said the agency had to implement a formal rule to make the changes it was announcing. The AHF asked Watkins to expedite the hearing given the looming March 1 deadline.
Watkins agreed.
The DOH countered by publishing the proposed rule changes necessary to effectuate the cuts. That allowed the agency to take advantage of a a state law that allows for automatic stays in certain administrative rule challenges.
Attorneys for the AHF filed a motion Friday asking Watkins to lift the stay, accusing the DeSantis administration of a “sleight of hand” by publishing proposed rules in order to stay the challenge.
AHF filed its motion to lift the stay following another week of protests by community activists and a decision by lawmakers in both chambers to include money in their proposed budgets for state fiscal year that opens on July 1 to keep the ADAP program intact.
This story is courtesy of Florida Phoenix.
Florida Phoenix is a nonprofit news site, free of advertising and free to readers, covering state government and politics with a staff of five journalists located at the Florida Press Center in downtown Tallahassee. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
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