Legislature(1995 - 1996)
04/28/1995 08:37 AM House HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES
STANDING COMMITTEE
April 28, 1995
8:37 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Cynthia Toohey, Co-Chair
Representative Con Bunde, Co-Chair
Representative Gary Davis
Representative Caren Robinson
Representative Tom Brice
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Al Vezey
Representative Norman Rokeberg
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARINGS:Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
Board of Trustees.
CSSB 117(HES): "An Act establishing a statewide independent living
council and clarifying its relationship with
existing agencies; and providing for an effective
date."
PASSED OUT OF COMMITTEE
WITNESS REGISTER
JOHN PUGH, Dean of Education
Liberal Arts and Sciences
University of Alaska Southeast
1011 D. Street
Juneau, AK 99801
Telephone: (907) 465-6531
POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate.
NELSON PAGE, Managing Shareholder
Law Firm of Burr, Pease & Kurtz
810 "N" Street
Anchorage, AK 99501
Telephone: (907) 346-2667
POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate.
TOM HAWKINS, Senior Vice-president/Chief Operating Officer
Bristol Bay Native Corporation
1820 East 24th Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99508
Telephone: (907) 278-3602
POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate.
JOHN MALONE
Malone & Co., Inc.
P.O. Box 1032
Bethel, AK 99559
Telephone: (907) 543-2902
POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate.
EVELYN TUCKER
112 Beaufort Circle
Anchorage, AK 99515
Telephone: (907) 345-6107
POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate.
STAN RIDGEWAY, Deputy Director
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
Department of Education
801 W. 10th Street, Suite 200
Juneau, AK 99801-1894
Telephone: (907) 465-6932
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of SB 117.
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: SB 117
SHORT TITLE: STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
SPONSOR(S): SENATOR(S) HALFORD
JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION
03/08/95 538 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S)
03/08/95 538 (S) HES, FIN
03/20/95 (S) HES AT 09:00 AM BUTROVICH ROOM 205
03/20/95 (S) MINUTE(HES)
03/21/95 720 (S) HES RPT CS 3DP 2NR SAME TITLE
03/21/95 721 (S) FISCAL NOTE (DOE)
04/06/95 (S) FIN AT 09:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532
04/11/95 (S) FIN AT 09:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532
04/11/95 (S) FIN AT 02:30 PM SENATE FINANCE 532
04/12/95 995 (S) FIN RPT 4DP (HES)CS
04/12/95 996 (S) PREVIOUS FN (DOE)
04/12/95 (S) FIN AT 09:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532
04/13/95 (S) RLS AT 01:15 PM FAHRENKAMP RM 203
04/18/95 1059 (S) RULES TO CALENDAR 4/18/95
04/18/95 1068 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME
04/18/95 1068 (S) HES CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT
04/18/95 1068 (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING UNAN
CONSENT
04/18/95 1068 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSB 117(HES)
04/18/95 1069 (S) PASSED Y18 N1 E1
04/18/95 1069 (S) EFFECTIVE DATE(S) SAME AS PASSAGE
04/18/95 1069 (S) KELLY NOTICE OF RECONSIDERATION
04/19/95 1089 (S) HELD ON RECONSIDERATION TO 4/20
04/20/95 1125 (S) RECONSIDERATION NOT TAKEN UP
04/20/95 1127 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
04/21/95 1418 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S)
04/21/95 1418 (H) HES, FINANCE
04/28/95 1629 (H) HES RPT 3DP 2NR
04/28/95 1630 (H) DP: ROBINSON, TOOHEY, BRICE
04/28/95 1630 (H) NR: G.DAVIS, BUNDE
04/28/95 1630 (H) SENATE FISCAL NOTE (DOE) 3/21/95
04/28/95 (H) HES AT 08:30 AM CAPITOL 106
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 95-45, SIDE A
Number 000
CO-CHAIR CON BUNDE called the meeting of the House Health,
Education and Social Services standing committee to order at 8:37
a.m. Present at the call to order were Representatives Bunde,
Toohey, Brice and Davis. A quorum was present to conduct business.
Co-Chair Bunde read the calendar and announced the order of the
bills.
CONFIRMATION HEARINGS: ALASKA MENTAL HEALTH TRUST AUTHORITY BOARD
OF TRUSTEES
Number 105
JOHN PUGH, Dean of Education, Liberal Arts and Sciences, University
of Alaska Southeast, said his background is in the area of
psychiatric social work. He has a master's in psychiatric
education and social work. His career working in mental health
clinics began in the U.S. Air Force. He continued to work in that
area and in youth corrections after leaving the Air Force. He
then began to work in administrative areas within the Department of
Health and Social Services (DHSS).
MR. PUGH said he is very interested in the services to mental
health beneficiaries. He feels the experience he has had over the
years will be a benefit in developing a comprehensive integrated
mental health plan, and will assist in studying how to best respond
to the income account for the mental health beneficiaries.
MR. PUGH said his vision for the board is that this authority has
an opportunity to bring together a broad number of services within
the DHSS and the Attorney General's Office within the Department of
Corrections to try to serve the beneficiaries. It is a great
opportunity to serve with the board. He thinks there are many ways
to make service delivery better.
Number 278
CO-CHAIR BUNDE announced that Representative Robinson joined the
meeting at 8:40 a.m.
Number 338
NELSON PAGE, Managing Shareholder, Law Firm of Burr, Pease & Kurtz,
testified via teleconference that he got involved in mental health
issues on a personal level. His wife was working at the neonatal
intensive care unit at Providence Hospital in Anchorage when she
came across a problem which was a very serious and expensive one
for the state of Alaska. She discovered that there were no ways to
deliver services to infants who lived in rural areas but who had
very intense medical needs that required they be in a hospital
setting.
MR. PAGE said this problem was primary because there was no way to
care for these children outside of the hospital. Mr. Page and his
wife took in one of the small children from a village in Southwest
Alaska as a foster son. They cared for him and created a program
designed to bridge the gap between the need for intense medical
care and the need for people to get back to their families and
villages.
MR. PAGE said as a result of that experience, he has continued to
try to create programs to help people get out of hospitals and into
more natural settings. He got involved in the whole issue of what
services were available and how they were delivered. He spent
several years on the Mental Health Board with some of the other
candidates in this confirmation hearing. All those individuals
worked very hard to try and solve the mental health lands
litigation.
MR. PAGE said his vision for the Trust Authority has many facets.
He wants the board to become a canvas, or a place where
imaginations can roam to create ways of delivering mental health
services in the state to match the state's needs. He also would
like the board to make some of those hard decisions, providing the
legislature with a comprehensive budget each year.
MR. PAGE said he felt the board members want to present the
legislature with a budget that is realistic. The board also has a
role to play in the enhancement of the coordination of the
comprehensive mental health plan. That will be an area in which
the board can create efficiencies and produce a better mental
health program, hopefully the best in the country. The board can
do this by making sure it meets the needs of the people.
Number 562
REPRESENTATIVE CAREN ROBINSON said she has heard a rumor that the
board has made a decision to move the executive director position
to the Anchorage office. She was curious if that was true, and if
so, why that would be, considering the Administration and the
legislature is in Juneau. The real importance of having the
executive director in Juneau is for those reasons.
MR. PAGE answered that the Trust Board, in its first meeting, did
make a decision that it would focus its staff in Anchorage. That
decision has been made. The reasons for it are many. One of them
is that there is a responsibility to deal not just with the
Administration and what goes on centrally in Juneau in terms of the
legislative process. There is also a responsibility to monitor and
work with the mental health trust lands through the Department of
Natural Resources that is headquartered in Anchorage.
MR. PAGE said the board has an opportunity with the resources that
have been granted as part of the trust. The opportunity is to
really generate a lot of activity on land that has been pretty
inactive for many years. The board felt it was very important to
be close to the mental health trust lands. The board was also
aware of the fact that many constituent groups and other planning
bodies the board needs to work with are located in Anchorage.
Number 685
MR. PAGE added that the board was also concerned about making sure
the Trust Authority was accessible throughout the state. That was
also a consideration in making a decision to focus in Anchorage.
He noted that the board very clearly understands that much of what
the board does relates to what is going on in Juneau. Exactly how
the board will be dealing with the issue of the work that needs to
be done in Juneau, and how board members will represent themselves
and their constituents in the legislature and with the
Administration is something the board is still trying to make
decisions about.
MR. PAGE said the board does expect to have an ongoing presence in
Juneau.
Number 738
REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON requested that the board rethink that
decision. She has seen problems arise with other boards and
commissions because they are not located in Juneau. The
legislature forgets about them. The facts are that the
commissioner of DHSS is in Juneau, as well as the commissioner of
the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). All the mental health
staff is in Juneau also. She is very concerned about the amount of
money and time spent on board members who have to fly to Juneau and
spend the whole session.
REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON noted that it is not just with this board,
she has seen this happen with others. The board ends up paying for
their executive directors to live in a hotel for the 120 days that
the legislature is in Juneau. She asked Mr. Page to realize how
that decision is going to impact what the board is going to be
requesting.
MR. PAGE appreciated that concern, and Representative Robinson is
not the first person to raise that concern. Therefore, it is an
issue that will be reinvestigated.
Number 830
CO-CHAIR TOOHEY commented that if Mr. Page had said the executive
director's position was going to be in Juneau, she would have
suggested that it be relocated to Anchorage. She does not think
there will be that much interaction with the legislature. There
are people in Juneau who are on the board that can be appointed as
liaisons. She is very happy the position is located in Anchorage,
for economic and work reasons.
Number 910
TOM HAWKINS, Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, Bristol
Bay Native Corporation, testified via teleconference from Anchorage
that he has a collection of job experiences primarily in the area
of natural resources for both the public and private sector. He
looks forward to serving on the Mental Health Board. The job is an
important one. Although the challenges seem daunting in the early
months of the existence of the board, there are wonderful
opportunities to focus and provide the efficient delivery of a
broad range of mental health services while effectively managing
the money, resources and assets of the trust in a way that serves
the beneficiaries.
CO-CHAIR TOOHEY asked if she and Mr. Hawkins have met, and he said
they met during her campaign. She asked if Mr. Hawkins was pro- or
anti-development, and he said he was pro-development.
Number 1010
JOHN MALONE, Malone & Co., Inc., testified via teleconference that
he first became involved in the concerns of the mentally ill and
mentally disabled during his tour as a state trooper in the 1960s.
One of his first involvements was an investigation of the Alaska
Psychiatric Institute immediately after it was opened. Thereafter,
Mr. Malone spent several years in the Aleutians and in Western
Alaska. He has made several contacts with residents of psychiatric
hospitals.
MR. MALONE said during that period, he helped develop a nonprofit
corporation, Bethel Community Services, and also started the first
mental health program in this region. Later he also helped begin
the first program in the region for those with developmental
disabilities. He has been affiliated with those organizations on
and off for about 20 years, as a direct provider, board member and
chairman of the board.
MR. MALONE has been involved with the issues of the board ever
since former Governor Cowper originally filed a case in 1982.
Later he was involved as a five-year member of the Alaska Mental
Health Board, when Chapter 48, the original settlement, was passed
by the legislature.
MR. MALONE said most recently, he was representing the coalition of
beneficiary groups and the successful resolution of issues. He
feels extremely privileged to have this opportunity to further the
settlement and the implementation of the settlement in this manner
through the Trust Authority. He thinks the Trust Authority is
probably the finest achievement for a public purpose that the state
has arrived at in the settlement.
Number 1181
EVELYN TUCKER testified via teleconference that it was about 1985
or 1986 that she was meeting with other Alaskan Natives who were
becoming aware of the number of suicides in the Native communities.
At that time, she was serving on a Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI)
nonprofit board. The suicide and accident rate was very high among
Native young people, aged 20 to 30. There was a lot of drinking
and driving, and a lot of substance abuse. She was following the
mental health litigation, and thought there might be some resources
that would make a difference in the Native community.
MS. TUCKER said she subsequently applied for the first Mental
Health Board under what she thought was a settlement that turned
out to be the first of several settlements. At one point, she
served two terms for the Mental Health Board, and served two years
as chair.
Number 1248
MS. TUCKER began to think about becoming a candidate for the Trust
Authority, and she felt her experience with setting up the first
Mental Health Board would be very useful to the authority. She was
attracted to the challenges and opportunities of the settlement.
She primarily is concerned with her fiduciary responsibilities to
the beneficiaries of the trust.
Number 1349
CO-CHAIR BUNDE thanked all those who testified, and read the
following statement, "This does not reflect an intent by any member
to vote for or against these individuals during any further
sessions for the purpose of confirmation."
SB 117 - STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
Number 1414
STAN RIDGEWAY, Deputy Director, Division of Vocational
Rehabilitation, Department of Education, said this bill was
introduced at the request of the Department of Education by Senator
Halford. In order for Alaska to continue to receive federal funds
for independent living, the state must establish in statute a
Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC). There has been a
council functioning for the last year and a half, but last year
there were questions raised about the legality of the council.
Former Governor Hickel had to reappoint a council so it could get
federal funds in October.
MR. RIDGEWAY stated that SB 117 establishes the council in statute.
There is a fiscal note of $142,000 that is already in the budget
and is being spent by the council. This enables the state to
receive about $900,000 in federal money. There is $602,000 in
state money that has been going to the independent living centers
in Alaska, and there is a $39,000 match to that.
MR. RIDGEWAY said the council that is established spends about 9
percent of this money on operations. That is the $142,000 fiscal
note.
Number 1475
CO-CHAIR TOOHEY noted that Mr. Ridgeway had said the $142,000 is
already in the budget.
MR. RIDGEWAY said that was correct.
CO-CHAIR TOOHEY asked if there will be a reappropriation of money
the next year.
MR. RIDGEWAY said yes, there would be. It is a part of the roughly
$1 million that is already appropriated from federal and state
money.
Number 1499
REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON asked if the SILC was located within the
DHSS.
MR. RIDGEWAY said no, actually the SILC is located within the
Department of Education. The language in the bill exempts it from
that, and places it in the Department of Education.
Number 1517
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS asked if the SILC was considered to be a part
of the Human Resources Investment Council (HRIC). He noted that
the SILC was not included in the HRIC as far as the merger of
councils.
MR. RIDGEWAY said Representative Davis was correct. On a federal
and state level, vocational rehabilitation has been mentioned in
the HRIC, but it has been exempted.
CO-CHAIR BUNDE closed public testimony and asked for the wish of
the committee.
REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON moved CSSB 117(HES) with attached backup
documents, accompanying fiscal notes, and individual
recommendations. There were no objections, and the bill passed
from the House Health, Education and Social Services Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
CO-CHAIR BUNDE adjourned the meeting at 9:05 a.m.
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