Senate committee hears bill to fund statewide mosquito surveillance and grants

Senate Bill 79 was presented to the Senate Finance Committee by Senator Tobias (presenting the bill in a personal capacity). The sponsor described a family case of West Nile virus that left a spouse permanently disabled and argued for a statewide grant program administered by the Department of Health to help counties conduct mosquito surveillance and testing.

Elizabeth VanHatten, state public health entomologist at DOH, testified the department has long-term surveillance data (since first encountering West Nile in 2002), that mosquito-positive traps and case counts identify higher-risk areas, and that DOH can target resources to highest-risk counties. The sponsor said the bill included roughly $1.8 million in initial funding to support testing, grants and entomology work; senators asked whether the funding is new or augments existing county programs and whether DOH has capacity to carry out the program.

Committee members debated whether to table the bill because similar money appears in House Bill 2 (the enacted budget). Some senators favored tabling appropriation bills that are already folded into the budget; others urged passage to create a statutory structure for DOH grants. The committee recorded motions and votes on tabling and disposition in committee; sponsors and DOH emphasized the grant program would be rolled out to counties with laboratory testing supported by DOH.