Legislature(2001 - 2002)
02/05/2001 03:20 PM House L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 73-EXTENDING BOARD OF VETERINARY EXAMINERS Number 0940 CHAIR MURKOWSKI said the committee would take up HOUSE BILL NO. 73, "An Act extending the termination date of the Board of Veterinary Examiners." REPRESENTATIVE HAYES, sponsor of HB 73, said the bill extends the termination date of the Board of Veterinary Examiners to June 30, 2005. He said the audit of the board was conducted last year and the conclusion reached was that the board is operating in an efficient and effective manner, and should continue to regulate veterinarians. REPRESENTATIVE HAYES relayed that according to the audit, the board is operating in the best interest of the public. He said the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, Division of Legislative Audit ("Legislative Audit"), and the Division of Occupational Licensing, Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), both recommend extending the board until June 30, 2005. REPRESENTATIVE HAYES said the board is composed of four veterinarians and one public member, staggered in four-year increments. He mentioned that there is a zero fiscal note. He said he had a letter from Todd Palmatier, President, Alaska State Veterinarian Medical Association, who is in support of HB 73. Number 1093 CATHERINE REARDON, Director, Division of Occupational Licensing, Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), said the division concurs that the Board of Veterinary Examiners is doing a good job and supports the extension of the board for another four years. MS. REARDON responded to a question about courtesy licenses. She explained that there is a statute, which applies to all boards, that establishes a system for courtesy licenses for individuals who are licensed in other states and who come up [to Alaska] for specific situations. She said this board chose to write regulations, establishing courtesy licenses designed primarily for dog-mushing races. Number 1167 MS. REARDON said because there are both foreign and out-of-state veterinarians coming for the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest, often as volunteers, the courtesy licenses allow them to serve in that capacity on the Iditarod or so forth, for a specific period of time on their out-of-state license; participating veterinarians don't have to go through the whole licensure process, but do pay a fee. She explained that this has eased tensions previously caused by the process. She said the board has done a good job of acting timely and streamlining the process. MS. REARDON said there was a special teleconference a few weeks ago to approve the licenses so everyone would be set to go. Number 1222 CHAIR MURKOWSKI asked if there were any continuing education requirements for veterinarians. She said veterinarians deal with pharmaceuticals for animals and she would think there would need to be some kind of "update" when dealing with drugs used on animals. Number 1243 MS. REARDON said she believed there was a continuing education requirement for the renewal of a veterinarian license. She said the continuing education is to be done in areas that directly relate to the practice of veterinary medicine. She said it is up to the professionals to decide which kind of continuing education to take. She said this is generally the case for all of "their" health care professions. Doctors are told that they need to have American Medical Association (AMA) category 1 continuing education but can pick any topic. She said she doesn't know if "they" are getting it in pharmaceutical areas or not. Number 1293 CHAIR MURKOWSKI asked about animal chiropractors. She said a member of the public suggested that the board should create a new licensing category in Alaska for animal chiropractors. Number 1309 MS. REARDON replied that she thought there was a question, during the past year, about whether a human chiropractor could perform chiropractic [care] on animals, and whether it was within the scope of the chiropractic license. She said she thought the answer was that human chiropractors couldn't, but veterinarians could do chiropractic [care] and didn't need any type of certification. Number 1354 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT asked Ms. Reardon about typical investigations with this group of practitioners. MS. REARDON said there is generally an animal owner who is not happy with the outcome of treatment, much like someone who complains about a human physician. She said there was a big complaint investigation and filing of disciplinary action that related to "euthanizing" animals. She said community members, not an animal owner, brought about the complaint because they felt that the drugs being used for euthanasia were inhumane. She said that was one of the bigger and more expensive cases over the last five years to investigate. This situation was an exception, but one that the veterinary community was quite aware of. MS. REARDON said there are complaints from other practitioners and some from clients. Number 1435 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT said there is a dispute between the board and the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) over the issue of [vaccinating against] rabies, which has held up the distribution of the annual veterinarian handbook until the policy is promulgated by DHSS. He asked Ms. Reardon if she was aware of the issue, based on the recommendations made by the board. Number 1460 MS. REARDON said she hadn't realized that it was still an issue. She said she heard about the topic two years ago and hoped that it was resolved. She said she thought he was referring to the DHSS handbook. She said the board felt that the instructions given in the DHSS handbook didn't match what was believed to be current practice for administering rabies vaccines. She said she believed the board wrote a letter explaining its concerns to DHSS. She said she would check and see how it all came out. Number 1511 CHAIR MURKOWSKI said the [audit] report gives the impression that it has not been resolved. She said the board held back distributing its annual handbook until the Division of Public Health, DHSS, revised state regulation to reflect the recent policy at the national (indisc.). Number 1533 REPRESENTATIVE MEYER referred to the fiscal note, page 2, and said the revenue for 1999 was $111,000, and was $17,000 for fiscal year 2000. He asked Ms. Reardon about the difference [between the two years]. Number 1555 MS. REARDON said fiscal year 1999 was the renewal year, when the vast majority of people paid money to cover the two-year cycle, "so that is why there is the up and the down year." She explained that the fiscal year 2000 [revenue] would have just been from new people coming into the profession. REPRESENTATIVE MEYER asked Ms. Reardon where the board meets because he had observed that the meeting [notices] are published in Juneau, Fairbanks, and Anchorage. He wondered if costs could be saved by publishing announcements in just one paper or on the Internet. He said only a select group is interested in the meetings but areawide coverage is being paid for. MS. REARDON explained that the board always meets once a year in Anchorage, and usually once in Fairbanks, but not necessarily Juneau. She said the board moves around, but has at least one meeting in Anchorage. She said reducing the number of papers that run the ad could save some money, and has been done in recent years. She said the details were discussed with Legislative Audit, and said that a similar paragraph exists in all of the audits. Number 1641 MS. REARDON referred to page 10 [of the audit report], "Location, date, and time of upcoming board meetings and notices and proposed changes regulations are published in those three papers." She said advertisements always appear in the Anchorage Daily News because it is the paper of largest circulation in the state. When a meeting is taking place in another spot, then an advertisement shows up there as well. She said there are different practices for proposed regulation changes that are more widely advertised. She said the sentence [on page 10 of the audit report] covers both things, which is why it looks that way. MS. REARDON said she could provide the actual policy and procedure on advertising. She said the comment about advertising on the Internet was helpful. It would take some statutory changes to get rid of the requirement about the advertisement in the paper, which appears in the legal section of the classified ads. She said it is an expense without much value other than complying with the law. She said most citizens don't look in that section for meetings. MS. REARDON said most people can't afford display ads on a frequent basis, which would be the logical way to advertise. She said it might be a more valuable legal requirement to post public notices online, along with mailing to people on the Interested Parties List. She said it might be different with regulations because "they" may like to point to the fact that regulations were publicly noticed. She said many payments are made to the classified sections that probably aren't resulting in value. Number 1737 MS. REARDON said public notice of examinations is another example of possible ineffective advertising, since people needing to take an examination do not start at the paper. She said prospective licensees call the division and ask them how to do it. She said the division writes back to people about the exam, if they qualify to take it. Anyone who sees it in the paper, by definition, doesn't qualify to take the test. There are probably some cost savings that could be done. She said it is her responsibility to bring statutory changes to the committee - those necessary to achieve the changes. Number 1775 REPRESENTATIVE MEYER referred to the expenditures and asked for an example of contractual services. MS. REARDON said personnel services would be salaries of division staff, such as the licensing examiner, a [pay] range 12 position who does the board's agenda, deals with the public, reviews applications, and so forth. She said investigator time would also be considered a personnel service. MS. REARDON said contractual services are services purchased from sources outside of the division including: telephone services, postage, legal services, expert witness agreements, and examination purchases. She said the national examination is purchased and then people are charged to take it. She said the portion of money paid to the department as a whole for the personnel or fiscal division also shows up that way. REPRESENTATIVE MEYER asked Ms. Reardon what percentage of time a range-12 position would be dedicated to the board. Number 1861 MS. REARDON said half to three-fourths of the range-12's time would be dedicated to this, depending on the time of year. She said a range 12 [position], step A, costs about $42,000 a year including benefits. She said this person is probably at a higher step, which would be a little more than that. She said the hearing officer's salary would fall under the personnel cost. MS. REARDON said half time would [probably] be more accurate [referring to the range 12's time dedicated to the board]. She said that person also works with the Board of Dispensing Opticians and in licensing of underground storage-tank workers. Number 1916 REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked Ms. Reardon where the board is in the licensing cycle. He said fiscal year 2000 was when license revenue was received. MS. REARDON responded by saying that "they" renewed December 31, 2000. She said there are no increments in the fiscal note; there is a zero fiscal note because no additional expenditure authority is needed. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said he was referring to the increase last year and asked if the board voted on a fee increase. Number 1979 MS. REARDON said there was a fee increase, which required a consultation with the board. The members of the board were not happy that it was increasing but they understood. She said she met with the veterinarian association in Seward to discuss the fee situation back in November or December [2000]. MS. REARDON said there was a fee increase, related primarily to a deficit because of the investigation, legal action, and discipline related to the euthanasia topic, mentioned earlier. She said it is a relatively small profession, one where people are not highly compensated, so the fee [increase] affects them a lot. She said she believed the association fee was around $45. She mentioned that veterinarians are a fiscally conservative group. Number 2024 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT asked Ms. Reardon about the budget and audit report and said the same recommendation was made in 1996 to the board members, to establish a hard-core minimum test score for veterinarians. He asked if she'd had any discussions with the board or heard any dialog "that's taken place on the board as to why they haven't put that hard-core number into regulation yet." Number 2047 MS. REARDON said she didn't know why the board hadn't but said "we" will do it. She said she was pretty sure that last time, as part of the sunset audit legislation, there were substantial revisions regarding which test was required. She said she would make sure that "we" do a regulation establishing a minimum test score. She said there has always been a minimum test score but, as was pointed out in the audit, the problem has been that Alaska's definition of "passing" is different than other states. MS. REARDON mentioned that she would check on the rabies issue, mentioned earlier. Number 2116 REPRESENTATIVE HALCRO made a motion to move HB 73 from committee with individual recommendations and the attached fiscal note, and asked for unanimous consent. There being no objection, HB 73 moved from the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.
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