HB2056: My appropriation to follow through with the expansion of newborn screening

Last session, I carried a bill that enacted additional newborn screening for approximately two dozen conditions that are not currently tested in Arkansas. It was signed into law, yet the Department of Health could not and cannot deliver without a "Tandem Mass Spectrometer" (see pictured). This machine, which costs $450,000.00, will be able to screen for these newly-tested conditions for all of the state's 38,000 births annually without any additional intrusive testing.

There are, of course, additional funds required for this type of screening (a scientist, etc.), but the Dept. of Health believes that it will secure other funding necessary to implement this testing. HB2056 will provide the funding necessary for the spectrometer. Once we follow through with this important project, we'll be ranked alongside Wisconsin as the nation's leader in newborn screening.