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After months of tense negotiations, Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders have finalized the framework of a tax on managed health care plans that they say has enough GOP support to clear key votes in the Senate and Assembly scheduled for Thursday. (Calefati, 2/23)

Utah Senators have unanimously supported a resolution declaring pornography a public health crisis. Plan sponsor Republican Sen. Todd Weiler of Wood Cross says he is not trying to ban porn. He says he wants to start a national movement so children are protected from it. Weiler says children are being exposed to pornography at an earlier age and that viewing the images and videos lead to relationship problems. (Mattise, 2/23)

The Idaho Senate has backed a proposal that would lower the age requirement for pharmacists to vaccinate children. Senate lawmakers voted 29-5 Tuesday on legislation that would allow children age six and older to get flu shots and vaccinations like tetanus shots from pharmacists with parental consent. Previously, the age limit was 12. (2/23)

Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, and Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, have formed the Joint Committee on the Flint Water Public Health Emergency to hold hearings on the Flint water crisis. The task force is expected to look at all levels of government — city, state and federal — to see how the situation happened and look at solutions for both Flint and how to prevent similar problems in the future. (Gray, 2/23)

The forthcoming legislative vote to renew a health-plan tax would seem to be good news for proponents of last year’s controversial bill legalizing assisted death. That proposal, which will allow doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients, passed through the same special health care session where the tax deal is now pending, meaning it won’t take effect until 90 days after the session has ended. (Koseff, 2/23)

Facing a grim budget picture, the Republican-led Senate voted Tuesday for a bigger tobacco tax hike in West Virginia than Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin requested. The Senate's 26-6 vote sends the bill to the House of Delegates, where that chamber's Republican leadership has been more hesitant to raise taxes. Senate Democrats and 12 of 18 Republican senators favored the tax increase Tuesday. Senate President Bill Cole, who is the lead Republican running for governor, voted against it. (2/23)

The Kansas House passed a bill Monday that would scrap state-mandated training for workers who remove asbestos. The state’s current regulations mirror federal requirements and are therefore unnecessary, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment officials who requested House Bill 2516 be introduced. (Marso, 2/22)

The Florida Legislature has killed a measure that would let doctors increase what they charge patients for copies of medical records to $1 a page. The proposal died not with a bang but a whimper, tabled indefinitely without ever coming to a vote in the House Subcommittee on Rulemaking Oversight and Repeal. (Gentry, 2/23)