04/15/1997 01:38 PM Senate L&C

                  SB 152 CERTIFIED NURSE AIDES                                
                                                                              
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN announced  SB 152  to be up for consideration.                 
                                                                               
 MS. ANNETTE KREITZER, Staff to Senator Leman, sponsor, explained              
 that the Alaska Nurses Association requested SB 152 which deals               
 with certified nurse aides.  Although certification of nurse aides            
 has been administered by the Division of Occupational Licensing,              
 there is no provision for revocation of certificates for                      
 inappropriate behavior.  In response to changes in federal law, SB
 allows for the creation of a certified nurse aide registry to             
 include the information required when a nurse aide is found to have           
 committed abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of property in                  
 connection with their employment as a nurse aide.  SB 152 provides            
 a mechanism for the Department of Health and Social Services to               
 alert the Board of Nursing to inappropriate behavior by a certified           
 nurse aide when that occurs in a state licensed facility.                     
                                                                               
 The legislation protects the health, safety, and welfare of a                 
 vulnerable population served by certified nurse aides as well as              
 ensuring competency in the performance of nurse aide duties.                  
                                                                               
 She said basically the bill creates new sections giving the Board             
 of Nursing the authority to regulate and certify nurse aides.                 
                                                                               
 MS. KREITZER noted there was one amendment that corrects an                   
 oversight on page 3, lines 14 - 15, use of the title by inserting             
 the abbreviation "(CNA)".                                                     
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN asked if anyone was opposed to SB 152.  There were             
 no objections to it.  He noted that he had Ron Cowan, Dorothy                 
 Fulton, Patricia Senner, and Louise Dean signed up to testify via             
 teleconference and said if he could enter their support on record.            
 There were no objections.                                                     
                                                                               
  MS. REARDON , Division of Licensing, said that the House had some            
 issues with the companion bill to SB 152.  She said the                       
 Administrative Procedures Act that came up in committee exempted              
 the Division of Occupational Licensing and Board of Nursing from              
 the APA in more places than they intended to exempt themselves                
 which raised some concerns about due process in the other body.               
 The effect of this amendment would be to limit their exemption from           
 the APA to only the actions referred to on page 4, line 15.  If the           
 Department of Health and Social Services has already given due                
 process to someone and found the person to have abused a patient,             
 they can immediately revoke their license without having to give a            
 second hearing since they just had their first hearing in HESS.               
 This is the only procedure from which they wanted an exemption from           
 the APA.                                                                      
                                                                               
  TAPE 97-19, SIDE B                                                           
                                                                               
  SENATOR KELLY  moved to adopt amendment #1.  There were no                   
 objections and it was adopted.                                                
                                                                               
  SENATOR MACKIE  moved to adopt amendment #2.  There were no                  
 objections and it was adopted.                                                
                                                                               
    MS. REARDON  clarified amendment #3 was on page 3, line 1 changed          
 "may" to "shall".  She said it was pointed out that the board                 
 "shall" issue certification to a qualified person.  It's not an               
 optional activity.  The final item is saying when they mail out               
 notice to an individual that their license has been revoked due to            
 their appearance on the abuse registry, they need to send it                  
 certified so there is proof of mailing.                                       
                                                                               
  SENATOR MACKIE  moved to adopted amendment #3.  There were no                
 objections and it was adopted.                                                
                                                                               
  MS. REARDON  said the last issue was concerning line 22 regarding a          
 single subject, rules, and titles which lead them to want to                  
 eliminate section 16.  This has to do with when other agencies can            
 reveal confidential information from their investigations of abuse            
 to them.  She said this needs to be clarified, but it causes                  
 problems in this bill.                                                        
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN said he thought that health professionals, other               
 than nurse aides, should be covered under other legislation.  MS.             
 REARDON said that was her initial impression also.  Department of             
 Law raised the possibility that specifically mentioning CNAs                  
 weakens their legal claim to ever get that information out for                
 other professionals because the legislature specifically addressed            
 it for these people.                                                          
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN LEMAN explained that amendment #4 deleted section 16.                
                                                                               
  MR. RON COWAN  asked if they could wait to adopt amendment #4 until          
 they could talk to other agencies that are going to be affected by            
 that change.  They are not certain that deleting the entire section           
 16 is needed to fix the problem.  CHAIRMAN LEMAN said that whatever           
 is taken out can be put back in and if this is going to get through           
 the legislature this year, it needed to be moved.  MR. COWAN                  
 withdrew his objection.                                                       
                                                                               
  SENATOR MACKIE  moved to delete section 16 as amendment #4.  There           
 were no objections and it was so ordered.                                     
                                                                               
 SENATOR MACKIE moved to pass CSSB 152(L&C) from committee with                
 individual recommendations.  There were no objections and it was so           
 ordered.