House Speaker Jason White removed Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes, a Republican from Picayune, as chairwoman of the House Drug Policy Committee last week, a rare move from a speaker two years into his first term as leader of the House.
Hobgood-Wilkes said in a statement to Mississippi Today that she was removed as chairwoman over her advocacy for reforming pharmacy benefit manager practices in the state, a topic hotly debated by lawmakers earlier this year during their regular session.
The Pearl River County lawmaker said the speaker’s decision to remove her as leader of the committee was “deeply hurtful,” because it wasn’t because of her objective performance as a legislator, but rather because she continued to speak up for her beliefs.
“I fought to lower drug costs for Mississippians and to support our independent pharmacists against the powerful PBMs working to drive them out of business,” Hobgood-Wilkes said. “I didn’t run for office to build my ego or pad my pocketbook. I ran because I love Pearl River County, and I love Mississippi.”
White, a Republican from West, did not respond to a request for comment. He replaced Hobgood-Wilkes as leader of the committee with Rep. Beth Luther Waldo, a freshman Republican from Pontotoc.
Both chambers of the Legislature, earlier this year, introduced plans that sought to protect patients and independent pharmacists, who have warned that if legislators do not pass a law to regulate PBMs, which serve as middlemen in the pharmaceutical industry, some local pharmacies may be forced to close. They say that the companies’ low payments and unfair business practices have left them struggling to break even.
House Bill 1123, authored by the speaker, originally focused on the transparency aspect of PBMs. The Senate then beefed up the bill by adding provisions barring the companies from steering patients to affiliate pharmacies and prohibiting spread pricing – the practice of paying insurers more for drugs than pharmacists.
Independent pharmacists, who flocked to the Capitol to advocate for reform during the session, widely supported the Senate’s version of the bill. Hobgood-Wilkes also continued to speak out in favor of stronger PBM legislation, even though White and other House leaders urged for a more middle-of-the-road approach.
Despite the legislative wrangling, a Democratic lawmaker defeated the bill by challenging it for violating several procedural rules.
It’s rare for a speaker or lieutenant governor to remove a legislator as a committee chair in the middle of a four-year term, unless there’s a vacancy or questionable behavior by the lawmaker. It’s even more notable that White, only halfway through his first term as speaker, appears to be punishing a fellow Republican over policy beliefs instead of conduct.
Another notable time a speaker relegated a House member to the sidelines was when former House Speaker Philip Gunn in 2019 appointed Rep. Doug McLeod, a Republican from Lucedale, to only one committee after he was arrested on charges of domestic violence. The former South Mississippi lawmaker was found not guilty of the charges.
White has also tweaked committee assignments for around a dozen Republicans and two Democrats, according to Rep. Robert Johnson III, the House Democratic leader from Natchez.
White changed the committee assignments for Johnson and Rep. Daryl Porter, a Democrat from Summit. The two Democrats said they believed changing the committee makeup was to account for two new House members who were recently sworn into office and not a punishment from the leadership.
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