Legislature(2019 - 2020)ADAMS 519
03/18/2020 09:00 AM House FINANCE
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Consideration of Governor's Appointee for the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority: Anita Halterman | |
| Consideration of Governor's Appointee for the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority: Rhonda Boyles | |
| HB268 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 268 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE
March 18, 2020
9:03 a.m.
9:03:09 AM
CALL TO ORDER
Co-Chair Johnston called the House Finance Committee
meeting to order at 9:03 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Neal Foster, Co-Chair
Representative Jennifer Johnston, Co-Chair
Representative Dan Ortiz, Vice-Chair
Representative Ben Carpenter
Representative Andy Josephson
Representative Gary Knopp
Representative Bart LeBon
Representative Kelly Merrick
Representative Cathy Tilton
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Colleen Sullivan-Leonard
Representative Adam Wool
PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE
Anita Halterman, Appointee, Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority Board of Trustees; Rhonda Boyles, Appointee,
Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority Board of Trustees;
Myron Dosch, Chief Financial Officer, University of Alaska;
Deven Mitchell, Executive Director, Alaska Municipal Bond
Bank Authority, Department of Revenue; Luke Welles,
Chairman, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
SUMMARY
HB 268 MUNI BOND BANK: UA, LOAN AND BOND LIMITS
CSHB 268(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with
four "do pass" recommendations and four "no
recommendation" recommendations and with one new
indeterminate note from the University of Alaska
and one new fiscal impact note from the
Department of Revenue.
CONSIDERATION OF GOVERNOR'S APPOINTEES: ALASKA MENTAL
HEALTH TRUST AUTHORITY:
ANITA HALTERMAN
RHONDA BOYLES
Co-Chair Johnston reviewed the meeting agenda.
^CONSIDERATION OF GOVERNOR'S APPOINTEE FOR THE ALASKA
MENTAL HEALTH TRUST AUTHORITY: ANITA HALTERMAN
9:03:09 AM
ANITA HALTERMAN, APPOINTEE, ALASKA MENTAL HEALTH TRUST
AUTHORITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES (via teleconference),
introduced herself and read from a prepared statement.
My name is Anita Marie Halterman. I have been married
for over 35 years and my husband and I have three
daughters and two grandchildren that we've raised in
Alaska. I am happy to be a recent selection for
appointment to the Alaska Mental Health Trust Board of
Trustees. I actively took my role on the board of
trustees in August of 2019 and recently assumed the
role of chair of Audit and Risk Committee. Despite
already starting my work at the trust, I have been
anxiously awaiting my confirmation this session.
Serving on the board of trustees so far has been an
amazing journey, one that has expanded my knowledge
and afforded me new opportunities to pay it back to
society and to learn about new strategies and funding
opportunities that can help shape meaningful reform
for our program. I would very much like to continue
that journey.
Some of you know me from my brief tenure working in
the Alaska State Legislature during the 29th Alaska
legislative session. While I met many of you during
that time period, some of you are new and we have not
yet met. While I have reached out to some of you by
text, email, or phone already, I have not been able to
connect with all of you, but that time will come.
For those of you that don't know me, I first arrived
in Alaska in the 1980s after discharging from the
United States Army and I followed my husband who was
active duty and stationed at Fort Greely and Delta
Junction. We raised our eldest daughter there during
the first few years of her life and fell in love with
Alaska. While we watched the economy suffer, and had
to leave Alaska for a brief time, we came back as soon
as we were able, and we've lived in Eagle River for
over 25 years since moving back.
I earned my MBA from Wayland Baptist University in
Anchorage and I have an extensive background working
mainly within the Department of Health and Social
Services Medicaid program for both Iowa and Alaska.
Spending my last seven years with them, I worked
within senior and disability service programs as a
program manager and a supervisor. I also have
experience working with child support, the Department
of Corrections, public safety and public assistance
programs.
I have worked for the State of Alaska for about 19
years and I have over 6 years of experience working
with the State of Iowa. I have worked through welfare
reform initiatives in two states and helped kick off
Alaska's first food stamp reinvestment plan after the
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
program had been sanctioned for high error rates in
the 1990s. I trained staff on regulations, program and
policy in the welfare offices in and throughout
Alaska, developing programs and reducing error rates.
I have devoted my life's work to working with
populations that are underserved and I find it
rewarding to improve the programs and systems that
they utilize in order to provide the provision of
services to the beneficiaries of those programs.
9:07:48 AM
Ms. Halterman continued to review her background with a
prepared statement:
After leaving the Alaska Legislature, I started my own
consulting business, joining the ranks of the private
sector. I obtained licenses as an insurance producer
with lines of authority for accidents in Alaska,
health and life and with lines of authority for
Washington with life and disability. I also began
working with an information technology company working
as an account executive. Positioning risk management
and human resource solutions for businesses has given
me a new perspective about the healthcare needs for
privately insured individuals and it has expanded my
understanding of more global workforce issues that
Alaska faces as we move forward.
I very much hope to take my experiences and help
reform the program for the future so that we can
sustain them for our populations that need them most.
I look forward to continuing to work to improve the
lives of the trust beneficiaries as we work in
partnership with the Department of Health and Social
Services and other stakeholders, to build that
comprehensive mental health program that better meets
our trust beneficiaries' needs. I want to thank you
all for your consideration. I appreciate your support
and I look forward to working with all of you to
protect the trust and maximize the benefits to solve
Alaska's mental health problems.
9:08:55 AM
Co-Chair Johnston acknowledged Representative Carpenter had
joined the meeting.
Representative Knopp thanked Ms. Halterman for her
testimony. He remarked on her testimony that she had been
in Alaska since the 80s and worked for the state for 19
years. He was curious about her experience with the Iowa
Medicaid system for a period of six years. He asked when
her work in Iowa had taken place.
Ms. Halterman answered that she and her husband had left
Delta Junction for six years in the late 1980s during the
recession. She detailed that they had moved back to Iowa
for nine years, where she had worked for state government.
She elaborated that at the time, welfare reform was just
beginning to hit the nation, and Iowa had just finished
some sanctions for error rates. She had come on at a time
when they were aggressively learning public policy,
understanding the federal guidelines, food stamp law, and
Medicaid law. She had worked in emergency assistance and
emergency relief programs in Iowa. Additionally, she had
done a significant amount of appeals work in Iowa and
Alaska. After approximately six years with the Iowa
Department of Health and Social Services, she began working
with the Iowa Department of Corrections as an inmate
grievance officer for a brief time before her husband had
taken a position with the State of Alaska in early 1995.
Ms. Halterman continued that they had brough all three of
their daughters to Alaska (two of them currently lived in
Eagle River and one lived in Hawaii). She had spent a good
number of years working out of state because of the
recession. There had been no opportunities for her in
Alaska at that time.
9:11:22 AM
Representative Tilton referenced the extensive work Ms.
Halterman had done in telehealth and telemedicine. She
asked for brief remarks on the subject.
Ms. Halterman replied that she had been involved in
telehealth since approximately 1999 when AFHCAN [Alaska
Federal Health Care Access Network] and ATAC [Alaska
Telehealth Advisory Council] helped form a foundation for
Alaska Medicaid to build reimbursement methodologies. In
1999 she had drafted the first telemedicine reimbursement
methodologies for Medicaid programs anywhere in the
country. The regulations had been mirrored throughout the
country and served many Medicaid populations globally.
Ms. Halterman continued that she had carried HB 234, a
mental health parity bill, in the 2016 legislative session.
She detailed that the bill had encouraged better use of
technology for mental health services, which had already
been proven very valuable for a Medicaid population. She
had been introduced to the Alaska Collaborative for
Telemedicine and Telehealth (AKCTT) through those efforts.
She had been exposed to the Alaska State Hospital and
Nursing Home Association's (ASHNHA) involvement with AKCTT.
She was currently serving as the director of AKCTT and had
served as president and treasurer in the past. She was
watching with bated breath that the COVID-19 crisis was
creating an atmosphere that would encourage better use of
technology and Medicare rules were being loosened. She was
sharing insight daily about activities on a national level.
She was on notice that AMHTA would be stepping in and
providing funding opportunities to advance some solutions.
She was hoping to know more in the near future. She
concluded that telemedicine had been in her blood since its
inception in Alaska and she was excited to be a part of it.
She believed it would provide some meaningful relief for
numerous beneficiaries served by the trust.
Representative Tilton thanked Ms. Halterman for her work.
9:14:14 AM
Vice-Chair Ortiz stated that when Ms. Halterman had begun
with the AMHTA board, COVID-19 had not yet occurred. He
observed that the virus was front and center in terms of
the immediate future. He set the issue aside and asked what
her observations had been about current and future
challenges facing AMHTA.
Ms. Halterman replied that there was significant
uncertainty with regards to what the mental health
structure would look like going forward. Although, the
trust had currently made numerous recommendations for
crisis intervention and funding for homelessness programs,
she would continue to study the issues. With her background
with the Department of Health and Social Services she hoped
to have a laser view and focus to redirect some of the
trust's funding efforts to focus on populations that had
been underserved by the trust over the years. She reported
that the trust did well at some things and some things
needed improvement.
Ms. Halterman highlighted that the trust administrative
staff worked very hard and were very talented individuals.
She equated trying to absorb the large amount of
information about the trust's responsibilities, governance,
and audit requirements and timing to drinking through a
fire hose. She wanted to ensure some of the mistakes made
in the past were not repeated. She would like to see the
trust move more in creative ways, working cooperatively
with other departments to solve the problems of
beneficiaries that crossover between all state agencies and
burden all of the state systems.
Ms. Halterman wanted to find solutions that did not
continue to burden the systems. Additionally, she hoped to
get people back on their feet and highlighted that dealing
with substance abuse and mental health issues was critical
to solving many of the problems that followed suit with
populations in need of services. She hoped to continue to
learn from the current AMHTA leadership. She would continue
to read as much information as possible and would reach out
to others for advice and input on what had worked well and
what had not. She had learned in her many years of working
with health and social services programs that the complaint
department was the place to identify ways to improve
programs. She highlighted the importance of listening to
people who had used the programs because they raised the
issues that need to be resolved and they may do it in
creative ways. She concluded that listening to the
populations the programs were intended to serve helped
focus on meaningful solutions.
9:17:34 AM
Co-Chair Johnston OPENED and CLOSED public testimony. She
thanked Ms. Halterman for her testimony.
^CONSIDERATION OF GOVERNOR'S APPOINTEE FOR THE ALASKA
MENTAL HEALTH TRUST AUTHORITY: RHONDA BOYLES
9:18:15 AM
RHONDA BOYLES, APPOINTEE, ALASKA MENTAL HEALTH TRUST
AUTHORITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES (via teleconference), discussed
her background. She shared that she had lived in Interior
Alaska for 44 years. She relayed that three years back she
had brought her husband to Phoenix due to his diagnosis
with a very difficult form of dementia called diffuse lewy
body. She detailed that he had worsened rapidly, and she
had not been able to bring him home to Alaska. They built a
home in Phoenix where she had hired staff and could keep
him at home with her under the care of their Alzheimer
research. Her husband had passed away on April 1, 2019 and
she had gone back to Alaska immediately. She had decided
she wanted to live closer to her son in Anchorage and
purchased a townhome there.
Ms. Boyles detailed that when she had moved back to Alaska,
the governor's office had asked if she would submit her
resume for the AMHTA. She shared that she had known very
little about the trust when she had been asked to apply due
to the constant training she had undergone when caring for
her husband. Prior to that, she had owned three Wendy's
restaurants and had served as mayor of the Fairbanks North
Star Borough. She expressed gratitude to elected officials
for the challenging work they took on. After her work as
mayor she had returned to her previous work in nursing and
had worked in the state Pioneer Home for almost four years
taking care of Alaskans without supervising anyone. She
highlighted that her favorite wing was dementia. She
explained that her interest in AMHTA was that its
beneficiaries were in that category, as well as many
others.
Ms. Boyles detailed that her resume was quite diversified.
She had experience in land management, formal and personal
trust management, and financial management. She believed
the current market conditions would be a short-term issue
with regard to AMHTA. She had been educated at Yale and was
born and raised in Maine. She loved Alaska and was anxious
to contribute to the state. She wanted to serve in a
substantive capacity. She had volunteered over 40 years in
the state on many commissions and boards. She stated that
serving on the AMHTA was different than any other work she
had done in the past and it was more substantive than many
things she had done, which had piqued her interest.
9:22:21 AM
Representative LeBon shared that he had known Ms. Boyles
for many years. He referenced their strong business,
professional, and personal friendship history. He thanked
her for her willingness to serve.
Co-Chair Johnston OPENED and CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair Foster read a statement pertaining to the
forwarding of the governor's appointees' names to a future
joint session for confirmation:
The House Finance Committee has reviewed the
qualifications of the governor's appointees and
recommends that the following names be forwarded to a
joint session for consideration:
• Anita Halterman, Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority, Member
• Rhonda Boyles, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority,
Member
This does not reflect intent by any of the members to
vote for or against these individuals during any
further sessions for the purposes of confirmation.
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered.
Co-Chair Johnston thanked Ms. Halterman and Ms. Boyles for
calling in.
HOUSE BILL NO. 268
"An Act relating to the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank
Authority."
9:23:55 AM
Co-Chair Johnston asked for a brief reintroduction of the
bill.
REPRESENTATIVE BART LEBON, SPONSOR, detailed that HB 268
would remove the project scope limitation on projects with
the University of Alaska and gave them an opportunity
during the current low interest rate environment to
potentially refinance some of their debt. The bill would
also increase the [project participation] cap from $87
million to $500 million [for the university]. In relation
to regional health organizations, HB 268 would remove the
49 percent project participation limitation on the Alaska
Municipal Bond Bank and increased participation to
100 percent, which would save regional health organizations
money in refinancing or placing money through the bond bank
without having to find partners that increased complexity
and expense. The bill would increase the project limit from
$102.5 million to $250 million for a single regional health
organization project. Additionally, HB 268 would increase
the total funding for regional health organizations to
$500 million. He listed individuals available online to
testify.
9:26:19 AM
Co-Chair Johnston requested a fiscal note review.
MYRON DOSCH, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA
(via teleconference), shared that the University of Alaska
supported the bill and had previously submitted a letter of
support. He spoke to the benefits of the bill if the
university were to use the mechanism to obtain credit
through the bond bank. For example, a $50 million bond over
30 years at interest rates as of March 5 would provide a
benefit of about $50,000 per year or $1.5 million over the
life of the bond.
9:27:55 AM
DEVEN MITCHELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALASKA MUNICIPAL BOND
BANK AUTHORITY, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE (via teleconference),
reviewed the fiscal note from the Department of Revenue,
OMB Component Number 121. The fiscal note included a "not
to exceed" amount for the activity that could be generated
by the proposed legislation. He explained that the bond
bank had a floor of annual expenditures and expenditures
increased as lending activity took place. He elaborated
that there was a not to exceed amount rather than a budget
the bond bank fully expected to expend during a fiscal
cycle. The authorization for up to $360,000 per year would
be directly related to any additional lending activity
undertaken by the bond bank as a result of making
additional loans to the university or regional health
organizations. He furthered they would be provided for out
of cost of issuance accounts that were funded from the
proceeds of the bond issuance. He elaborated that they
would be incorporated into the interest expense the
borrower would be repaying. Program receipts, not general
fund receipts, would provide for the potential annual
expenditure.
9:29:43 AM
Representative Josephson asked the bill sponsor to provide
a hypothetical scenario relative to a regional health
organization's use of the bill.
Representative LeBon complied. He relayed that a number of
projects were in the design or developmental stage. He used
a hypothetical small regional health organization in
Cordova (one of the locations for a potential project) as
an example. The organization would go through its period of
underwriting and showing justification for the project and
would seek assistance from the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank.
The bond bank would help in showing the repayment ability,
the capacity to perform. The bond bank would work with
stakeholders, potential clients, and potential users in
surrounding communities that would benefit from the
regional health organization. He detailed that it would all
need to come together in a way that justified the project
to a level where bond purchasers were interested in
supporting the project. It would be necessary to show
capacity to repay and establish the need and clientele
base. The idea would be to enable a regional health
organization to have a one-stop shop with the bond bank
instead of going out to find two or three other partners.
Co-Chair Johnston noted that Luke Welles from the Alaska
Native Tribal Health Consortium was available online.
Representative LeBon replied that Mr. Welles could answer
Representative Josephson's question.
Co-Chair Johnston asked if Mr. Welles had anything to add.
LUKE WELLES, CHAIRMAN, ALASKA NATIVE TRIBAL HEALTH
CONSORTIUM, (via teleconference), replied that
Representative LeBon had provided a good answer. He
explained that the bill offered another financing option
for the projects. He elaborated there were five upcoming
joint venture projects that represented about $700 million
in potential construction over the next few years. The
Indian Health Service would cover the cost of operating,
maintenance, and staffing after the projects were built. It
was incumbent on the regional health organizations to fund
the capital infrastructure, which would open up new
incoming revenues along with opening up new healthcare
facilities in rural Alaska.
Co-Chair Johnston asked Mr. Welles to put his name on the
record.
Mr. Welles complied.
9:32:38 AM
AT EASE
9:34:29 AM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Foster MOVED to REPORT CSHB 268(FIN) out of
committee with individual recommendations and the
accompanying fiscal notes.
Representative Carpenter OBJECTED. He understood that
adding tools to the toolbox is a good thing and that the
bond bank staff would make good decisions on how to finance
things. However, the bill was asking the committee to
accept an increased risk to the state. Under the current
circumstances, where the future was unknown, he did not
believe it would be prudent to increase the state's risk.
He highlighted that no one knew how long the current
financial crisis would last. He reasoned that if the
discussion had taken place ten years earlier when the state
was flush with oil money it may have been a wiser decision.
He did not support increasing risk to the state under the
current circumstances.
Representative LeBon understood and appreciated the
concerns expressed by Representative Carpenter. He saw two
immediate benefits of the bill including the opportunity to
potentially refinance university debt at a significantly
lower rate. He pointed out that the debt already existed.
He elaborated that it would be up to the university to seek
out the opportunity on a case-by-case basis. He informed
the committee that the university held nearly $300 million
in debt. He explained that the bill provided an important
potential savings on existing debt. He addressed the
regional health organization component and highlighted it
was in the state constitution "that we take care of
ourselves."
Representative LeBon believed they should take full
advantage if the regional health organization concept could
be used to deliver primary healthcare services in rural
Alaska at a cost savings while providing for improved
services. The bill would allow the organizations to access
the bond bank for 100 percent of the project instead of
seeking out a partner that could ask for a higher interest
rate on debt. He explained that when forcing an
organization to split the financing among several entities,
there was not always parity in the debt pricing. He
expounded that the bond bank may be cheaper than another
financial institution. He did not want to hamper
organizations. He noted that an organization may find a
partner that matched the rate, which was great. He
concluded that the bill provided an option.
9:37:46 AM
Co-Chair Johnston shared that she may have been less
interested in the bill ten years earlier. She was
interested in the bill under the existing circumstances and
wanted to see it move forward from committee. She believed
all of the tools were needed in the coming year. She would
prefer to have the tools with a fiscally responsible
organization that would assess risk and take advantage of
any forthcoming financing and any stimulus package. She
noted that currently "our" federal rate was cut to zero.
She considered that she may have been a "no" vote ten years
earlier, but she supported the legislation at present.
9:38:48 AM
A roll call vote was taken on the motion to report the bill
from committee.
IN FAVOR: Josephson, LeBon, Merrick, Ortiz, Johnston,
Foster
OPPOSED: Carpenter, Tilton
Representative Sullivan-Leonard, Representative Wool, and
Representative Knopp were absent from the vote.
The MOTION PASSED (6/2).
There being NO further OBJECTION, CSHB 268(FIN) was
REPORTED out of committee with four "do pass"
recommendations and four "no recommendation"
recommendations and with one new indeterminate note from
the University of Alaska and one new fiscal impact note
from the Department of Revenue.
9:39:29 AM
Co-Chair Johnston shared that everything [with the
schedule] would be very fluid. She asked for patience and
relayed that the agenda would be changed as needed. She
felt it was incumbent upon the committee to continue to do
its work. She reviewed the schedule for the following
meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
9:40:47 AM
The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Anita Halterman Resume_Redacted.pdf |
HFIN 3/18/2020 9:00:00 AM |
AMHTA Appointee |
| Anita Halterman Board Application_Redacted.pdf |
HFIN 3/18/2020 9:00:00 AM |
AMHTA Appointee |
| Rhonda Boyles Board Application_Redacted.pdf |
HFIN 3/18/2020 9:00:00 AM |
AMHTA Appointee |
| Rhonda Boyles Resume_Redacted.pdf |
HFIN 3/18/2020 9:00:00 AM |
AMHTA Appointee |