A 2009 law authorizing a statewide prescription drug database is "on the way out," says state Sen. Joe Negron.

The database has become a political football since Gov. Rick Scott announced last week that he wants to boot it. His call for repeal appeared to undercut Attorney General Pam Bondi's high-profile campaign against "pill mills" and elicited outrage from newspaper editorial boards darkly suggesting the governor, a former health-care executive, was playing into the hands of doctors and the pharmaceutical industry.

But Scott isn't the only one opposing the database, which is not yet operational due to a bidding dispute.

Negron, R-Stuart, told Sunshine State News: "Government has no business snooping into the medicine cabinets of citizens. The database is overly intrusive. It violates the privacy of law-abiding Floridians."

Negron, who chairs the Subcommittee on Health and Human Services Appropriations, vowed: "There won't be one penny in the HHS budget for this."

House Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Rob Schenck was equally downbeat on the database.

"It's big government taking all of our private information, and not getting at the root of the problem," the Spring Hill Republican said. "There are better ways to get at bad doctors."

Scott spokesman Brian Hughes says the governor is actively pursuing alternative remedies.

"He's committed to working with the attorney general and law enforcement to target criminal activity and criminal behavior. That's an appropriate core function of government," Hughes said.

Dave Aronberg, who heads up Bondi's pill mill task force, acknowledges that the database is a "hot topic." But as a proponent of the program since his pre-Legislature days as an assistant attorney general, the Greenacres Democrat believes it is perfectly aligned with government's regulatory role.

"It's a powerful tool for action against doctors because it provides investigators a tool to prove that a doctor has crossed the line. It's also a deterrent," Aronberg said.

Currently, 41 states have authorized various forms of prescription-drug databases. Florida was going to be No. 42, but a bidding challenge by one contractor has stalled implementation.

Meantime, political and fiscal questions have arisen.

The 2009 legislation called for the database to be financed by private grants. But skeptics, including Scott, remain concerned that the state will get stuck with at least a portion of the tab after the first two years of grant allocations run out -- if not earlier.

Sen. Mike Fasano, a database advocate, fanned those suspicions by introducing follow-on legislation, Senate Bill 818, which critics say could be used to tap state coffers for the project.

Negron says he's keeping a watchful eye on backdoor appropriations.

"If anyone tries other ways, we will use spending limits to block the database," he pledged.

If implemented, the database -- officially known as the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program  -- would be operated by the state Department of Health, which also oversees the state Board of Medicine.

Some have criticized the Board of Medicine for being too lax in policing pill-pushing doctors. The Florida Medical Association says it "supports giving law enforcement and local governments the tools they need to more effectively crack down on illegal pill mills."

Claude Shipley, a former official in the state Office of Drug Control, said "active monitoring" can "reduce the supply and the rate of abuse."

Florida law-enforcement officers have spoken out about the need for a prescription-drug database.