Legislature(2021 - 2022)DAVIS 106
03/10/2022 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB297 | |
| HB265 | |
| HB292 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 265 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 292 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 297 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 297-MILITARY MEMBER CHILD PROTECTION
3:09:53 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY announced that the first order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 297, "An Act relating to the duties of
the Department of Health and Social Services; relating to child
protection; and relating to children of active duty military
members." [Before the committee was CSHB 297(MLV).]
3:10:55 PM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
3:11:02 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY opened public testimony on CSHB 297(MLV).
After ascertaining there was no one who wished to testify, she
closed public testimony.
3:12:04 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ moved to adopt Amendment 1 to CSHB
297(MLV), labeled 32-LS1249\B.1, Foote, 3/9/22, which read:
Page 1, line 13:
Delete "15"
Insert "seven"
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY objected for the purpose of discussion.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ explained that the bill had been
amended in a previous committee to give the department up to 15
days to notify the proper authorities at the duty station after
receiving a report of harm. She reported that the committee has
heard from the Office of Childrens Services (OCS) that it
believes a maximum of seven days would be better as OCS would
prefer to get information to military bases as soon as possible.
She stated that Amendment 1 was brought forward to ensure that
the bill did not have the unintended consequence of delaying
notice of neglect or abuse to a military base. She emphasized
that OCS had shared that the deadline of seven days was well
within its standard operating practices and could be comfortably
reached.
3:13:06 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY agreed with the reasoning behind
Amendment 1 and shared his understanding that other states have
no deadline at all under the assumption that the information
would be shared immediately. He commented that the point behind
having a deadline was to move from assumption to assurance that
the information would be delivered to the military bases quickly
and that in his experience OCS has the capability to handle
reports of harm quickly. He mentioned that the other amendment
in the committee packet was one he sponsored that would make the
deadline sooner.
3:14:22 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY removed her objection.
3:14:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY objected because of the similar nature of
the amendments.
3:14:48 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX suggested proposing an amendment to
Amendment 1 that would change the deadline from seven to five
days.
3:15:11 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ indicated she would welcome the
amendment to her amendment and would like OCS to be given the
opportunity to comment. She shared that she supported the
shortest possible timeline for notification but wanted to verify
that OCS had the ability to comply with a shorter time frame.
3:15:35 PM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
3:15:40 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY directed Representative Sponholz's question to
the division operations manager of OCS.
3:16:04 PM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
3:16:29 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ stated that the inclination of the
committee was to ask OCS to report harm to duty stations as
quickly as possible and asked what time frame would be practical
for OCS in terms of compliance.
3:16:58 PM
TRAVIS ERICKSON, Division Operations Manager, Office of
Childrens Services, Department of Health and Social Services,
advocated for the seven-day time frame as being the most viable
because the majority of reports OCS receives are categorized as
"priority three," which already have a maximum of seven days to
report. He explained that there are several priority levels,
including emergencies which require immediate response, so
having flexibility built into the notification requirement would
help maintain OCS's ability to address all cases. Further, he
stated that a seven-day requirement would align with their
existing workload management systems.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ requested a description of a "priority
three" case and why seven days was an appropriate response time
for these cases.
MR. ERICKSON expressed his understanding that the proposed
legislation would not prevent OCS from giving notification
sooner than seven days in urgent cases where immediate
intervention was necessary, which was the policy already in
place. In contrast, he described a hypothetical case in which a
teacher may have reported concern for the long-term care of an
older student who was not in immediate danger. He said this was
an example of a priority three case that could appropriately be
reported within seven days.
3:19:40 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY removed his objection to Amendment 1 to
CSHB 297(MLV). There being no further objection, Amendment 1
was adopted.
3:20:15 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY noted that Amendment 2 would not be offered.
3:20:25 PM
The committee took a brief at-ease at 3:20 p.m.
3:20:34 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER moved to report CSHB 297(MLV), as amended, out
of committee with individual recommendations and the
accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHB
297(HSS) was reported out of the House Health and Social
Services Standing Committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 292, LOS received since 3.10.22.pdf |
HHSS 3/10/2022 3:00:00 PM |
HB 292 |
| CSHB 297 Amendments and Actions.pdf |
HHSS 3/10/2022 3:00:00 PM |
HB 297 |
| CSHB 265 Amendments and Actions.pdf |
HHSS 3/10/2022 3:00:00 PM |
HB 265 |