S.B. 314 Sleep Disorders Education Amendments: transcript

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I do have a presenter that I believe is online. Dr. Uh, David Blott. Is he online as well? Okay, We've got him there, yes. Great. Thank you. So this is a, uh, a program, uh, that talks about sleep disorders and chronic sleep disorders. Uh, this affects 50 to 70 million adults, and it's widely regarded as a major public health issue. Um, it's, uh, a study, I'm sorry. This bill, uh, uh, has a program attached to it, an educational program. And actually I'd like to go ahead and turn the time over to Dr. Blot, who will, uh, he's an expert in this area and I'd like him to discuss a little bit.

You. Okay. Thank you. Well, uh, thank you for the opportunity to say a few words about sleep. Thank you to Senator Kwan for her work in this area and for your attention. I, uh, I will be very brief. Um, simply put, sleep is an important issue that faces all of us in our modern society, and it's getting worse. I think there's three different groups of people that you can point to. Those that don't think sleep is important, those that know it's important, but they can't get to sleep. And those that have an actual medical issue related to sleep. And we'd like to have an opportunity to address that with people. So, Senate Bill three 14 directs the division of population health at DHHS to create a program that promotes sleep and attention to, uh, outreach activities around sleep, health and sleep deficiencies. Uh, if you look at the numbers, about 35% of Utahans don't get enough sleep. That's 1.5 million. Utahans. About 15% of Utahans have some sort of a sleep disorder. That's 500,000 Utahans. Uh, the amount we're sleeping is steadily going down, and the worst sleepers of them all, or the youngest generations, which, uh, bodes ill for the future. So, uh, sleep deficiency has been associated with heart disease, kidney disease, stroke, Alzheimer's, depression, uh, accidents, suicides, obesity, all kinds of, uh, health related issues. And, uh, sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy, others, uh, are associated with further, uh, difficulties with sleep that are causing, uh, lots of difficulties for people. So, uh, one thing about sleep disorders that's a problem is that most people that have them don't know they have them. It can take a long time to get diagnosed, and by then, uh, irreparable damage has been done. So it's a simple fix to add some outreach education for sleep. And, uh, I would encourage adoption of three 14 to do so. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And we worked with the department of, uh, or DHHS, uh, in developing this. And that concludes our presentation.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Michelle Mccr with the Utah Medical Association. We do support this bill and think that sleep issues and problems have been rising. And so we think this is an important piece to focus on and we would encourage you to support. Thank you.

Yeah. Thanks for the question. So seven hours of sleep is what you should get. Seven. Yeah. Is that, does that fit your bill? Or We need to change the legislative process if that's require, We we need to sit, we need to change medical school too. Well hopeful. Hopefully get there soon. Yes. So I hope so. Thank you.

I move that we pass this out Favorably.

Thank you. I appreciate the consideration of this bill. Thank, And back to you. Senator

Um, for an opportunity to have to live this bill because of the timing, would the committee consider consent for this bill? It seems pretty straightforward.

to the maker. I would Love that. Thank you.

You. But I, I just wanna take a moment since we have interns and some, some public watching that the, and just to explain my vote. Aye. And also explain The Utah constitution allows us to suspend the rules. So some people come and they think somehow we're violating the Constitution when we suspend the rules. We're, we're not, we're actually honoring the Constitution, which gives us that Right. With a two thirds vote. So I vote. Aye.

President, uh, issues from chronic sleep disorders affect 50 to 70 million adults and it's widely regarded as a major public health issue. We worked with the, uh, DHHS to develop a, to have them develop a program and to disseminate educational materials to several, uh, divisions and private, uh, entities in the state. That concludes my presentation.

Thank you. Under suspension of the rules, I move that SB three 14 pass.

Senator Plumb. Thank you Mr. President.

You Mrs. Speaker.

Receive a committee hearing, so I wanna give the body some time to take a look at it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So this bill is actually, um, a simple solution to a growing problem, and that is the fact that sleep disorders are an increasingly, um, influential part of bad health. And I'm sure that no one in this body knows what it's like to lose a night of sleep in the recent days. Um, but the, but the reality is this, uh, sleep disorders and sleep issues do actually have a meaningful and economic impact on health outcomes for a lot of people. And so this is, this simply asks that our Department of Health and Human Services, um, create some resources for healthcare providers to make sure that, uh, common sense, accurate, consistent information is available, um, for dissemination to make sure that we, um, increase awareness and give people the opportunity to learn more and to seek, uh, treatment with their healthcare providers. And I just want us finish by saying, Mr. Speaker, I think this is the house's opportunity to correct the Senate. Definitely being asleep at the switch.

You, Mr. Speaker urge the body support.