02/17/2023 03:15 PM House LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB63 | |
| HB57 | |
| HB29 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 63 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 57 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 29 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE LABOR AND COMMERCE STANDING COMMITTEE
February 17, 2023
3:15 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Jesse Sumner, Chair
Representative Mike Prax
Representative Stanley Wright
Representative Zack Fields
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Justin Ruffridge, Vice Chair
Representative Dan Saddler
Representative Ashley Carrick
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 63
"An Act repealing the Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission;
relating to decisions and orders of the Workers' Compensation
Appeals Commission; relating to superior court jurisdiction over
appeals from Alaska Workers' Compensation Board decisions;
repealing Rules 201.1, 401.1, and 501.1, Alaska Rules of
Appellate Procedure, and amending Rules 202(a), 204(a) - (c),
210(e), 601(b), 602(c) and (h), and 603(a), Alaska Rules of
Appellate Procedure; and providing for an effective date."
- HEARD & HELD
HOUSE BILL NO. 57
"An Act relating to review organizations and permitting an
emergency medical services provider to establish a review
organization; and relating to patient records."
- HEARD & HELD
HOUSE BILL NO. 29
"An Act relating to insurance discrimination."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 63
SHORT TITLE: REPEAL WORKERS' COMP APPEALS COMMISSION
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) RAUSCHER
02/06/23 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/06/23 (H) L&C, JUD
02/17/23 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
BILL: HB 57
SHORT TITLE: EMERGENCY MED. SVCS: REVIEW ORGANIZATIONS
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) WRIGHT
02/03/23 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/03/23 (H) L&C, HSS
02/17/23 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
BILL: HB 29
SHORT TITLE: INSURANCE DISCRIMINATION
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) MCCABE
01/19/23 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/9/23
01/19/23 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/19/23 (H) L&C, JUD
02/10/23 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
02/10/23 (H) Heard & Held
02/10/23 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
02/17/23 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
WITNESS REGISTER
REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE RAUSCHER
Alaska State Representative
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: As prime sponsor, presented HB 63.
RYAN MCKEE, Staff
Representative George Rauscher
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave the sectional analysis of HB 63 on
behalf of Representative Rauscher, prime sponsor.
ERIC CROFT, Former State House Representative
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave invited testimony during the hearing
on HB 63.
NANCY MEADE, General Counsel
Administrative Staff Office
Office of the Administrative Director
Alaska Court System
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave invited testimony during the hearing
on HB 63.
ALLAN RIORDAN-RANDALL, Staff
Representative Stanley Wright
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave the sectional analysis of HB 57 on
behalf of Representative Wright, prime sponsor.
BRIAN WEBB, Emergency Medical Services Officer
Section of Rural and Community Health Systems
Division of Public Health
Department of Health
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave invited testimony during the hearing
on HB 57.
DR. MICHAEL LEVY, EMS Medical Director
Section of Rural and Community Health Systems
Division of Public Health
Department of Health
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave invited testimony during the hearing
on HB 57.
LORI WING-HEIER, Director
Juneau Office
Division of Insurance
Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave invited testimony during the hearing
on HB 29.
REPRESENTATIVE KEVIN MCCABE
Alaska State Representative
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: As prime sponsor, answered questions during
the hearing on HB 29.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:15:31 PM
CHAIR JESSE SUMNER called the House Labor and Commerce Standing
Committee meeting to order at 3:15 p.m. Representatives Wright,
Prax, and Sumner were present at the call to order.
Representative Fields arrived as the meeting was in progress.
HB 63-REPEAL WORKERS' COMP APPEALS COMMISSION
3:16:17 PM
CHAIR SUMNER announced that the first order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 63, "An Act repealing the Workers' Compensation
Appeals Commission; relating to decisions and orders of the
Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission; relating to superior
court jurisdiction over appeals from Alaska Workers'
Compensation Board decisions; repealing Rules 201.1, 401.1, and
501.1, Alaska Rules of Appellate Procedure, and amending Rules
202(a), 204(a) - (c), 210(e), 601(b), 602(c) and (h), and
603(a), Alaska Rules of Appellate Procedure; and providing for
an effective date."
3:16:31 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE RAUSCHER, Alaska State Representative, as
prime sponsor, presented HB 63. He began a PowerPoint
presentation [hard copy included in the committee packet] on
slides 2 and 3 and stated that HB 63 would save the State of
Alaska $433,000 per year and return jurisdiction for appeals of
workers' compensation to the Alaska Superior Court by repealing
the Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission. The Workers'
Compensation Appeals Commission has two full time employees and
returning those cases to the Alaska Superior Court would not
cause an undue burden for it. He said that the commission had
49 cases in 2007, but the number of cases has declined over the
years, reaching 14 cases in 2022. In 2015, the House Labor and
Workforce Finance Subcommittee found the commission to be
"ineffective."
3:18:52 PM
RYAN MCKEE, Staff, Representative George Rauscher, Alaska State
Legislature, continued to slide 4 and reiterated that the bill
would repeal the Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission and
move those cases back to the Superior Court. The $433,00 that
would be saved would be from the salaries, travel, and per diem
of the commission's two full-time employees. He added that the
court system has previously testified that it would be able to
absorb the cases without fiscal impact.
MR. MCKEE continued to slides 5 and 6 and reiterated that there
has been a sharp decline in the number of cases handled by the
commission since 2007, that the commission was found to be
ineffective in 2015.
MR. MCKEE continued to slides 7 through 10, stating that
although one of the reasons that the commission was created was
to reduce the amount of time required to decide cases, that
result has not been the case. The proposed legislation would
reduce the number of cases sent to the Alaska Supreme Court, as
more cases decided by the commission are being appealed than
during the time in which cases were being decided by the
Superior Court. He said that Workers' Compensation Tax income
has declined, causing some of the cost of the commission to be
passed onto the general fund.
3:24:32 PM
ERIC CROFT, Former State House Representative, stated that he
has represented workers before the Workers' Compensation Appeals
Commission and the court system. He echoed the point that the
commission has seen a decrease in the number of cases that it
sees. He added that he believes the current work load does not
"sustain" the need for having the commission rather than having
the cases go through the court system.
3:28:12 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked if the members of the Workers'
Compensation Appeals Commission were judges or people with
expertise in that area of law.
3:29:28 PM
NANCY MEADE, General Counsel, Administrative Staff Office,
Office of the Administrative Director, Alaska Court System,
answered that she is unsure about the specific composition of
the commission.
3:29:56 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked if it was correct that the court
system said it would be able to absorb these cases.
MS. MEADE answered that she would submit a zero fiscal note for
the bill because the number of cases would likely mean at most a
single extra case per judge per year. She added that one case
would be the average, with most cases being in more populated
areas. In response to a follow-up question, she stated that the
cases are challenging and time consuming, but the cases are
assigned randomly using a computer system.
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked if there would be a training cost
associated with judges needing to review some of the more arcane
parts of the law dealing with workers' compensation.
MS. MEADE answered that no fiscal cost would be incurred,
although there would be a cost in terms of spending time on a
workers' compensation case rather than another case. She added
that this is something that occurs regardless of a given case.
In response to a follow-up question, she said that there are
other times in which a judge may have to pay extra attention to
a case because it deals with an area of law with which judge has
less experience.
3:36:14 PM
CHAIR SUMNER asked how much of the $433,000 that the bill would
save is dedicated personnel expenses.
MR. MCKEE answered that $433,000 is entirely salary and travel
costs for the commission.
3:37:29 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked whether the commissioners are
administrative law judges or people with specific expertise in
the area of workers' compensation.
MR. MCKEE answered that two of the commissioners have no legal
background.
[HB 63 was held over.]
HB 57-EMERGENCY MED. SVCS: REVIEW ORGANIZATIONS
3:38:15 PM
CHAIR SUMNER announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 57, "An Act relating to review organizations and
permitting an emergency medical services provider to establish a
review organization; and relating to patient records."
3:38:41 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WRIGHT, as prime sponsor, introduced HB 57. He
stated that emergency medical service (EMS) providers currently
are not included in the legal definition for privacy
protections.
3:40:14 PM
ALLAN RIORDAN-RANDALL, Staff, Representative Stanley Wright,
Alaska State Legislature, presented HB 57 on behalf of
Representative Wright, prime sponsor. He stated that it would
modify sections of AS 18.23.07.0 to add EMS personnel to the
definitions for privacy protections. It would reduce excess
litigation against EMS personnel and allow them to perform
better at their jobs.
3:42:04 PM
BRIAN WEBB, Emergency Medical Services Officer, Section of Rural
and Community Health Systems, Division of Public Health,
Department of Health, described EMS providers being without the
same privacy protections as other medical providers as an
"omission." Legislation to protect this privacy for EMS
providers has been enacted in other states. He said that many
rural communities have EMS directors that are volunteers. The
lack of privacy protections that they would otherwise have
causes some to resign.
3:44:43 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked whether medical professionals have
professional liability insurance coverage.
MR. WEBB answered that medical professionals do have such
coverage but added that that coverage does not carry over when a
medical professional is acting as a volunteer EMS director.
3:46:05 PM
DR. MICHAEL LEVY, EMS Medical Director, Section of Rural and
Community Health Systems, Division of Public Health, Department
of Health, stated that EMS is a sub-specialty of board certified
medicine, demonstrating that it is its own unique branch of the
healthcare system. He said that peer review of best practices
in medicine is used to improve the care given by providers that
is largely unavailable to EMS providers because they do not have
the same privacy protections as other healthcare providers.
3:48:36 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked whether professional liability
insurance is available to EMS providers.
DR. LEVY answered that malpractice insurance is available to EMS
personnel. He added that the importance of peer review is to
improve care, but without privacy protections, EMS personnel
could face "discovery" for potential civil proceedings.
[HB 57 was held over.]
HB 29-INSURANCE DISCRIMINATION
3:51:25 PM
CHAIR SUMNER announced that the final order of business would be
HB 29, "Insurance Discrimination."
3:52:09 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS asked what the number of umbrella policies
available is.
3:52:27 PM
LORI WING-HEIER, Director, Juneau Office, Alaska Division of
Insurance, Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic
Development answered that she was unsure of the exact number but
noted that there are "not a lot."
3:52:54 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS asked whether the legislature should be
concerned about the potential of increased prices or reduced
insurance availability if it passed a bill requiring insurance
companies to make umbrella insurance policies available to its
members.
MS. WING-HEIER answered that because Alaska is a small market,
anything that affects insurance companies could become a
concern. In response to a follow-up question, she said that
there is not an effective way to gauge the potential impact that
the bill would have on prices or insurance companies leaving for
certain.
3:55:37 PM
CHAIR SUMNER asked whether HB 29 could potentially affect
insurance policies other than just umbrella coverage.
MS. WING-HEIR answered that her department was unable to find
any record of a complaint in the State of Alaska for any elected
official being unable to find primary homeowner's, automobile
liability, or watercraft insurance. The issue seems to arise
only when it comes to excess liability insurance. She added
that the Department of Administration, Division of Risk
Management self-insures for the executive branch and the
legislature. In response to a follow-up question, she
reiterated that no elected officials submitted a complaint that
they were unable to obtain primary insurance.
3:57:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked the bill sponsor if he believed the
bill could cause some insurance providers to leave the state.
3:58:45 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KEVIN MCCABE, Alaska State Representative, as
prime sponsor of HB 29, answered that such a possibility had
been considered. He said that he was unable to find any
insurance providers that either could or would answer the
question. He gave his opinion that if the bill passes, the most
likely scenario is that legislators will have to pay more for
umbrella policies than those who are deemed to be "lower risk,"
in a manner similar to how a person that has received multiple
traffic citations has higher insurance premiums than a person
who is a "safe" driver.
3:59:48 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FIELDS asked if Representative McCabe had
personally experienced denial of an umbrella insurance policy
due to his status as an elected official.
REPRESENTATIVE MCCABE answered that he has. In response to a
follow-up question, he said that the insurance company did not
articulate any specifics as to why his status as an elected
official caused it to deny him an umbrella policy.
4:00:55 PM
CHAIR SUMNER asked whether there is anything preventing an
Alaskan from buying an umbrella insurance policy in another
state.
MS. WING-HEIR answered that the first step in purchasing an
umbrella insurance policy is to fill out an application, which
includes listing a place of residence. The insurance broker
selling the policy would need to have a license to sell
insurance in the State of Alaska, and Alaska statutes would
apply. In response to a follow-up question, she said a physical
address is required and a U.S. Post Office box (P.O. box) would
not be accepted.
4:02:37 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WRIGHT asked what the consequences would be if
someone were to use a P.O. box rather than their actual physical
address for the purpose of obtaining an umbrella policy.
MS. WING-HEIR answered that such a scenario would potentially
constitute as insurance fraud.
4:03:46 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX commented that insurance companies are very
skeptical of fraud and will refuse to pay out a claim if fraud
is likely to have occurred.
CHAIR SUMNER replied that the issue is particularly relevant to
Alaska, as many Alaskans spend significant time out of state
during the winter months.
MS. WING-HEIER added that a physical address can be different
from a mailing address; if someone were to own property in
another state, that person could purchase an umbrella policy in
that state for that property but have the mail sent to his/her
Alaska residence without any issues.
[HB 29 was held over.]
4:07:18 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Labor and Commerce Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at
4:07 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 63 Sectional Analysis.pdf |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 63 |
| HB 63 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 63 |
| HB 57 Sectional Analysis.pdf |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 57 |
| HB 57 - Sponsor Statement.pdf |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 57 |
| HB63 Fiscal Note.pdf |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 63 |
| HB57 Fiscal Note.pdf |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 57 |
| HB 63 powerpoint.pptx |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 63 |
| HB0063A.PDF |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 63 |
| HB0057A.PDF |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 57 |
| Testimony Response to L&C Questions.pdf |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
|
| 03.03.2023 Brian Webb Invited Testimony in House L&C for HB 57.pdf |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 57 |
| 02.17.2023 Brian Webb Invited Testimony in House L&C for HB 57.pdf |
HL&C 2/17/2023 3:15:00 PM |
HB 57 |