Legislature(2007 - 2008)CAPITOL 106
03/20/2007 03:00 PM House HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB135 | |
| HB178 | |
| HB113 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 135 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 178 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 113 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 173 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 178-EMPLOYM'T OF PEOPLE W/ DISABILITIES COM. 3:51:29 PM CHAIR WILSON announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 178, "An Act relating to the Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities; and providing for an effective date." 3:51:32 PM ROBERT MYERS, Intern to Representative Peggy Wilson, presented HB 178, on behalf of the sponsor, paraphrasing from a prepared statement, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: We have brought HB 178 before you as a request from the Governor's Council on Employment of People with Disabilities. Congress has changed the requirements for these committees, and we need to change our statute to comply in order to continue to receive federal money for the program. Their budget is 70 percent federal, so this is important to them. Sections 1 and 5 are for a name change. They add "and Rehabilitation" to the title of the committee. Sections 2 through 4 gives the changes required to bring us into compliance with federal law. These provisions include allowing for more people on the council, the selection of committee members as per federal statute, an elected rather than appointed chair, and new requirements for meetings. Section 6 gives the bill an immediate effective date. 3:53:15 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON called the committee's attention to page 2, line 19 and 20, and asked for clarification of the number of meetings to be attended in person. CHAIR WILSON responded that one meeting per year will include all members in person, and the other three meetings will be teleconferenced. MR. MYERS affirmed Representative Wilson's interpretation. 3:54:27 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON asked whether there is an enforceable penalty for non-compliance of attendance requirements by members. 3:54:56 PM REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER acknowledged that attendance for any committee is difficult. 3:55:45 PM GALE SINNOTT, Director, Statewide Programs, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Labor & Workforce Development, stated that members are allowed to meet telephonically three times per year, and meet once face-to-face. 3:56:27 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON offered [Conceptual Amendment 1] for page 2, line 20, and strike the words "all members attend the" and substitute, after shall, "be a meeting in person." CHAIR WILSON suggested inserting "shall be a group meeting." REPRESENTATIVE SEATON noted that the drafters can correct a conceptual amendment. 3:57:46 PM REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH expressed her opinion that there is a contradiction. The language could be interpreted to mean that each member must attend at least one meeting in person. MS. SINNOTT confirmed that the members meet four times a year, in fact, it does not specify in federal regulations that members meet telephonically or face-to-face. She suggested that the entire sentence be deleted. CHAIR WILSON stated that if the federal guidelines require one face-to-face meeting per year this language should stay for funding purposes. 3:59:07 PM PAULA SCAVERA, Special Assistant, Office of the Commissioner, Department of Labor & Workforce Development, stated that Conceptual Amendment 1 was the original language provided to the drafters and it was removed. Ms. Scavera said that she informed the drafters that three meetings could be telephonic, but one meeting per year should be face-to-face and with a quorum. 4:00:04 PM CHAIR WILSON objected to Conceptual Amendment 1. 4:00:19 PM REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH remarked: ... there are exceptions where people will not be able to be at the meeting and so they may designate a meeting that is, this is the in person meeting, and be able to offer travel arrangements but the agreement between the parties that are serving on the committee is that if they don't make it by chance, they would show up to a different meeting and be flown in to a different meeting, if necessary, to meet the one per ... year requirement of face-to-face. MS. SCAVERA agreed. She then said that this language is in the meeting section of the bill and not in the composition, or selection of members, section. REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH remarked: In, Representative Seaton, that was his specific point, on trying to drive it differently and so we interpreted that everyone had to be there. And then his follow-up question was, "What's the consequence for not attending?" And that's why I actually pulled the statute and I don't really see a consequence inside of [AS] 23.15. 4:01:51 PM MS. SINNOTT said that there is no consequence in the bill. She informed the members that each governor's committee has a set of bylaws for that purpose. 4:02:16 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES offered an amendment to Conceptual Amendment 1, which read: Members may participate in quarterly meetings telephonically, except that one meeting each year shall be in person. CHAIR WILSON objected for discussion purposes. She then said: My interpretation is that there has to be four meetings a year and the only qualification that one of them has to be a meeting where everyone is invited to the same spot. And that's all. MS. SCAVERA said that Representative Wilson is correct. She suggested to include "there shall be one public meeting", but said that the bottom line is that you have to have four meetings a year and one must be a public meeting with members in attendance, and the others can be telephonic. CHAIR WILSON said that "all members" should be removed. 4:04:00 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES explained his amendment to Conceptual Amendment 1. He said that Representative Seaton's interpretation is that there are [four] meetings and for one of the meetings the attempt is made to have all of the members in the same room. However, Representative Fairclough's interpretation is that if a member did not participate in the face-to-face meeting, the member could personally attend a different meeting. Representative Roses stated that both interpretations were confirmed by Ms. Scavera. 4:05:00 PM MS. SCAVERA remarked: ... if we had a public meeting and not all members were able to attend that public meeting, we would not have a telephonic meeting and fly one person in and the rest not. We ... try very hard, give different dates, to have a public meeting, once a year for this committee, where all members can attend. And we, it's a scheduling nightmare, but we try to make that happen. 4:05:54 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON opined that crossing out the last "meeting" in line 20 would not be a problem, but taking out "for at least one" is problematic because the committee may wish to meet in person more than once. 4:06:38 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES withdrew his amendment to Conceptual Amendment 1. 4:06:49 PM MS. SCAVERA suggested taking out the word "all" on line 20. 4:07:07 PM REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER expressed her understanding that this committee is being changed from 12 members to the new federal mandate. Referring to the fiscal note, she asked whether the committee now has only three members. CHAIR WILSON clarified that there will be three additional members. 4:07:44 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA offered, for discussion, that "a quorum of members may participate in quarterly meetings telephonically, except for at least one meeting each year shall be in person." She added that it is a good idea to always have a quorum. MS. SINNOTT affirmed that a quorum is needed at all meetings to conduct business. 4:09:01 PM MS. SCAVERA stated that Representative Cissna's suggestion would be an acceptable conceptual amendment. 4:09:20 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON restated Conceptual Amendment 1 that would read as follows: Members may participate in quarterly meetings telephonically except for at least one meeting each year shall be a meeting in person. 4:09:52 PM REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH said that she would be voting against Conceptual Amendment 1 due to the fact that the attorneys at Legislative Legal and Research have already removed that language. 4:10:17 PM CHAIR WILSON observed that the drafters could be instructed to follow the committee's direction. 4:10:38 PM REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN pointed out that the governor will be notified if a member is not attending appropriately, and that would make the language in the bill applicable. 4:11:39 PM MS. SINNOTT stated that the federal guidelines require the employment committee to meet four times per year, but not all members have to meet four times per year. She agreed that "all" should be removed. 4:12:17 PM REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER expressed her belief that the language needs to be clarified by the drafters. 4:12:56 PM MS. SCAVERA offered to work with the chair's staff and the drafters to correct the language. 4:13:23 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA asked for the next committee of referral. 4:13:34 PM CHAIR WILSON responded that the next committee of referral is the House Finance Committee. 4:14:06 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES recommended that the bill be moved out of committee. CHAIR WILSON recalled that there is an amendment to consider. 4:14:19 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA asked whether the committee bylaws will address the question of the number of required meetings. MS. SINNOTT replied no. She further advised that the retention of members is not a part of state statute or federal regulation, but is addressed in the committee bylaws. 4:15:03 PM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON reminded the committee that the amendment is conceptual and that the chair's staff is aware of its intent. CHAIR WILSON removed her objection. There being no further objection, Conceptual Amendment 1 was adopted. 4:15:21 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES moved to report HB 178, as amended, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. 4:15:45 PM REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH objected to Conceptual Amendment 1. REPRESENTATIVE ROSES withdrew the motion to report HB 178, as amended, from committee. 4:16:09 PM CHAIR WILSON called for a roll call vote. REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked for a reading of the amendment. REPRESENTATIVE SEATON re-read Conceptual Amendment 1 as follows: Members may participate in quarterly meetings telephonically except that at least one meeting each year shall be a meeting in person. 4:16:42 PM REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA asked for discussion of the objection. 4:16:51 PM REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH restated that the original language is correct. 4:17:31 PM A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Seaton, Cissna, Gardner, Roses, and Wilson voted in favor of Conceptual Amendment 1. Representatives Fairclough and Neuman voted against it. Therefore, Conceptual Amendment 1 passed by a vote of 5-2. 4:18:08 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES moved to report HB 178, as amended, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHB 178(HES), was reported out of the House Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee.
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