A new package of bills aims to stop sharp increases in the price of certain prescription drugs.

Representative Will Guzzardi and other Democratic lawmakers are proposing the creation of an oversight board to regulate drug prices in Illinois in much the same way that the Illinois Commerce Commission oversees utility rates. Other bills would impose a tax on drug price increases beyond the rate of inflation… and prohibit drug companies from passing that tax on to consumers.

Yet another bill would allow Illinois to become a licensed wholesaler of lower-cost pharmaceuticals coming from Canadian suppliers.