FRANKFORT — After a year of controversy surrounding a bill to run “pill mill clinics” out of Kentucky and cut back on prescription drug abuse, the state’s top three political leaders say the problem has been largely fixed.

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Republican Senate President Robert Stivers all spoke in favor of Stumbo’s House Bill 217, a bill to “tweak unintended consequences” of the bill which had caused some physicians and patients to complain loudly about last year’s legislation.

“This makes sure those who need prescription pain medication get it,” Beshear told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday. “It also makes sure that those motivated by greed, we go after them.”

Beshear said the “scourge of prescription drug abuse has literally destroyed a lot of our families.”

But the three also acknowledged that regulations written to implement the bill had caused some undue hardships on those who have legitimate need of pain medication. It also caused cost and trouble to institutional care facilities, such as hospitals and hospice organizations.

The latest bill fixes those problems, they said.

Stumbo said the bill “clarifies” the regulations and will allow hospitals to prescribe medication without filing reports through the state’s electronic tracking system known as KASPER.

But he said the bill has worked in less than a year of implementation.

Overdose deaths are down 50 percent in northeastern Kentucky counties, Stumbo said, quoting articles in the Ashland Daily Independent newspaper.

He also said the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure which is responsible for policing physicians who may be overprescribing the drugs and which wrote many of the implementation and enforcement regulations has worked closely with lawmakers to address physician and patient concerns.

Stivers said the bill “logistically makes (the law) workable. These are logical steps.”

But he and Beshear also said House Bill 217 shouldn’t be mistaken for a retreat from a determination to get hold of the problem they characterized as a “scourge.”

While some “minor adjustments” were needed in the legislation, Beshear said, “you will see there is no retreat here. We’re not going to retreat one inch from this scourge.”

Committee members didn’t need much convincing.

Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, said the problem is acute in her northeastern corner of Kentucky.

“My people have been dying for a long time and this has saved lives already and it will continue to do so,” Webb said.

Sen. Sara Beth Gregory, R-Monticello, said the law “is absolutely working. It is eliminating pill mills and cutting down on drug abuse.”

The bill, which has already passed the House unanimously, passed the committee and will now go to the Senate floor where it is expected to gain easy approval.

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.