HONOLULU – Two Hawaii legislators said Friday that their trip to Maine to study that state’s pioneering prescription drug plan was beneficial.

The three-day visit was “very productive and well worth the time,” said Sen. Ron Menor, D-Mililani. “Maine government officials provided valuable insight.”

Menor, Rep. Roy Takumi, D-Pearl City-Pacific Palisades, and Greg Marchildon, executive director of senior advocacy group AARP Hawaii, met with Maine’s governor, attorney general and legislative leaders to study developments in Maine’s first-in-the-nation prescription drug legislation.

Menor and Takumi helped to write a similar Hawaii law that passed in 2002 and will take effect next July. The new law, modeled after the Maine law, is intended to make prescription drugs available to about 228,000 Hawaii residents without drug coverage.

The two legislators said during a conference call with Hawaii media Friday that they plan to introduce legislation during next year’s session to amend the 2002 law to incorporate changes Maine is making in its law and to assure that it will withstand any legal challenges.

The original Maine law was challenged by the pharmaceutical industry, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in May that the drug makers did not adequately show why Maine’s plan should be blocked.

The amended Maine law, called Rx-Plus, authorizes the state to seek discounts by entering into rebate agreements with drug manufacturers.

“The meetings gave us a renewed commitment on how we can make this law work on behalf of thousands in Hawaii who have no or inadequate coverage,” Marchildon said.

“Maine strongly supported us and urged us to continue,” Menor said.

Takumi said $200,000 appropriated to implement the 2002 Hawaii law has not been released by Gov. Linda Lingle because of legal concerns. He said he and Menor hope to win support from the prescription drug task force appointed by Lingle. Takumi is a member of that task force.

Lingle on July 1 announced a privately funded Hawaii Prescription Care plan that would provide free or low-cost drugs to Hawaii’s poor. Executive director Sharon Hicks said the program is expected to help 20,000 patients get vital medication.

But that plan doesn’t go far enough, Menor said.

“The governor’s plan is short-term and temporary,” Takumi said.

“We would like to sit down with the governor and make a presentation and hopefully persuade her of the merits of our program,” Menor said. “To make the program a reality, it’s going to require cooperation of the governor and Legislature and bipartisan support.”

Congress should deal with the nation’s prescription drug problem, but until then, Hawaii can take action at the state level, Menor said.

“If Maine and Hawaii can move forward, we will see a tidal wave of states going forward,” which would force Congress and the Bush administration to take a look, Marchildon said.

The AARP arranged the trip and paid Marchildon’s expenses, but Menor’s and Takumi’s expenses were covered by the Legislature.