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AZ governor's office drops push for health bill

Posted at 12:03 PM, Apr 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-04 15:03:05-04

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's office is scrapping a plan to move health care boards under the oversight of a single state agency, saying his proposal became too watered down.

The Arizona Capitol Times reports that the bill backed by the Ducey administration would have put 19 regulatory boards under the Department of Health Services and required that all new rules and regulations be vetted to make sure they aren't anticompetitive.

The proposal would have also allowed the agency's director to hire and fire the boards' directors.

Several lawmakers said they were concerned Ducey's proposal did too much too quickly. A Senate committee then stripped out all but six of the boards.

Ducey spokesman Daniel Scarpinato says the bill was weakened and wouldn't solve what it was intended to solve.