Apr 20th, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Title
Policy Implementation: Focusing on Idaho Legislation Regarding the Sale of Pseudoephedrine
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Elizabeth Fredericksen
Information
What happens to a piece of legislation that has battled its way through committee and finally gets passed? Some make a huge difference. Some have an impact through the change of one word. The rest are forgotten as shelf after shelf of legislation is not being enforced. Implementation is often left to the discretion of an end agency and may not be given enough attention. More focus may rest on the fiscal impact and what the major parties think about the premise behind the legislation. The six step policy process is a way to evaluate the success of specific legislation. After defining the issue, can a piece of legislation actually fix the outlined problem? Through support for the solution and implementation, the feedback loop allows the observer to see if the problem has been adequately addressed. In Idaho, the issue of selling pseudoephedrine is one that affects many individuals due to its use in making methamphetamine, unfortunately prevalent in Idaho. The sale of pseudoephedrine was addressed in a piece of legislation during both the 2005 and 2006 Idaho legislative sessions. This research project follows the path of the pseudoephedrine legislation through the six step process with particular attention to problem definition and implementation. Have the agencies been enforcing this piece of legislation? What has the impact of this legislation been? What has changed for individual pharmacies since the issue was initially raised? Although much scholarly research has been done on implementing legislation, this project employs B. Guy Peters as a foundation to considering local implementation of this state-level policy.