Legislature(1997 - 1998)
04/22/1998 09:08 AM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 353-ADOPTION BY REFERENCE IN REGULATIONS
BRUCE CAMPBELL, staff to Representative Pete Kelly, sponsor of HB
353, made the following remarks. HB 353 will allow a state agency,
when it adopts a regulation that incorporates a document by
reference, to incorporate future amended versions of that document
with the condition that the document is explicitly authorized by
statute. HB 353 provides statutory authorization to incorporate
updated versions of any of the items listed on pages 2-3, as long
as the appropriate notification requirements are met. Notification
requirements include publication in the Administrative Journal, as
well as notification of other interested individuals, and the
regulations attorney in the Department of Law. HB 353 is a
paperwork reduction measure. Currently, state agencies must
distribute complete sets of regulations being re-promulgated for
the purpose of incorporating an updated document. If HB 353 is
enacted, state agencies will be able to notice only the issue being
updated. HB 353 contains a specific list of codes which are
updated by various agencies each year; most of the items on the
list for DHSS are the numeric codes used to identify medical
treatments and prescriptions for insurance and billing purposes.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN asked Mr. Campbell to comment on the amendments
before the committee.
MR. CAMPBELL stated Representative Kelly supports the three
amendments.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN clarified that the amendment labeled Lauterbach A.1
is Amendment #1 by Senator Leman; A.2 is Amendment #2, and the
conceptual amendment will be Amendment #3.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to adopt Amendment #1.
MR. CAMPBELL deferred to a representative from the Department of
Labor to comment on Amendment #1.
PAUL GROSSI, Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation in
the Department of Labor (DOL), made the following comments. The
intent of Amendment #1 is to allow the adoption, in regulation, by
reference of future editions of documents presently used.
Amendment #1 refers to the United States Department of Labor's
"Selected Characteristics of Occupations Defined in the Revised
Dictionary of Occupational Titles," which describes both the
physical and mental demands of an occupation so that the Division
of Workers' Compensation can determine whether an injured worker is
capable of performing those duties. Allowing DOL to use updated
editions of that document requires a statutory change. Mr. Grossi
cautioned the amendment may need a technical change to ensure that
all future references could be adopted because DOL changes the
names of the documents it uses. The amendment refers to the United
States Department of Labor's "Selected Characteristics of
Occupations Defined in the Revised Dictionary of Occupational
Titles." That is the current publication available, however DOL is
not using that edition, it uses the 1981 edition. He suggested
using language that refers to future amended versions, editions,
revisions, or replacements. DOL is currently looking at using a
computerized system called "ONET" in the future. That program will
not be a revision of the Revised Dictionary, it will be an
electronic replacement. DOL is in support of this legislation but
the amendment may need to be revised.
Number 461
MR. CAMPBELL noted Jack Chenoweth, the bill drafter, was present.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN asked if that technical change could be worked out
among the interested parties and brought back to the committee.
MR. CAMPBELL noted the bill was provided to the Department of Law
which created the draft version from it. The difference in the
committee substitute is that the Department of Law suggested that
a set of rules be created in the first section of the bill that
occur within the Administrative Procedures Act. Amendment #1
provides for the specificity required for that process in the
Department of Labor's actual code.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN asked what committee the bill is next referred to.
SENATOR GREEN replied the Senate State Affairs Committee.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN thought this issue might be appropriately addressed
by the Senate Judiciary Committee. He asked if Amendment #1 needs
to be amended.
JACK CHENOWETH, Assistant Attorney General, stated Mr. Grossi's
concern is answered on page 2 of the existing bill. Lines 15-21
take into consideration the possibility that a document that is
identified with a very specific title may have that title changed.
The language on those lines reads:
(d) A change in the form, format, or title in a future
amended or revised version of a document or material
incorporated by reference in a regulation under this section
does not affect the validity of the regulation ...."
The language goes on to say the regulation attorney shall correct
the title in the Alaska Administrative Code under the editorial
authority. If the title cited in the language of Amendment #1
should change, and another document that serves the same purpose is
substituted, the regulation attorney would simply update that in
the regulation so that DOL could continue to make use of the most
recent version of the document as the basis of whatever
applicability it may have.
Number 491
SENATOR GREEN questioned whether that would be true even if the
document precedes the revised dictionary of occupation titles.
MR. CHENOWETH said it would not. The documents referenced in the
bill would act as the baseline reference.
MR. CAMPBELL stated the document adopted by DOL regulation is the
"Selected Characteristics of Occupations Defined in the Revised
Dictionary of Occupational Titles." DOL would like to be using the
current version which has not been adopted by regulation.
MR. GROSSI said that was incorrect. The edition that was adopted
by statute is not the revised edition, it is the "Selected
Characteristics of Occupations Defined in the Dictionary of
Occupational Titles." DOL cannot update the version used, by
regulation, because it is strictly defined in statute. That is one
reason why DOL supports this amendment.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN asked Mr. Campbell to work on the necessary
revisions and bring the bill back to the committee at a later date.
SENATOR LEMAN suggested including language in the bill regarding
the notification process that is similar to the standard language
used when code upgrades occur.
Number 518
SENATOR GREEN commented she has seen a couple of letters in
opposition to the bill. She asked Mr. Campbell to address the
issues in those letters.
MR. CAMPBELL stated he is only aware of one letter of objection
that was not sent to the sponsor nor any of the committees in which
the bill has been heard. The author of that letter did not address
the topic of the bill. The author is concerned about the nature of
the computer program used to adopt uniform billing codes. That
concern may be valid but nothing in this bill addresses how Claim
Check works.
MR. CAMPBELL asked Chairman Wilken if he would like a new committee
substitute prepared.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN said he would.
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