Legislature(2001 - 2002)
05/01/2001 09:55 AM House RLS
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE RULES STANDING COMMITTEE
May 1, 2001
9:55 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Pete Kott, Chair
Representative Brian Porter
Representative Vic Kohring
Representative Carl Morgan
Representative Lesil McGuire
Representative Ethan Berkowitz
Representative Reggie Joule
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 135(JUD)
"An Act relating to mental health records, communications, and
information; and providing for an effective date."
- MOVED CSSB 135(JUD) OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE BILL NO. 198
"An Act relating to a post-retirement pension adjustment and
cost-of-living allowance for persons receiving benefits under
the Elected Public Officers Retirement System; and increasing
the compensation of the governor."
- MOVED CSHB 198(RLS) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: SB 135
SHORT TITLE:MENTAL HEALTH INFO/RECORDS/COMMUNICATIONS
SPONSOR(S): RLS BY REQUEST OF LEG BUDGET &
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
03/12/01 0618 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
03/12/01 0618 (S) HES, JUD
04/04/01 (S) HES AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
04/04/01 (S) -- Meeting Postponed to
4/9/01 --
04/09/01 (S) HES AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
04/09/01 (S) Scheduled But Not Heard
04/11/01 (S) HES AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
04/11/01 (S) Moved CS(HES) Out of
Committee -- Meeting
Postponed to 2:45 pm --
MINUTE(HES)
04/12/01 1092 (S) HES RPT CS 5DP SAME TITLE
04/12/01 1092 (S) DP: GREEN, LEMAN, WILKEN,
WARD, DAVIS
04/12/01 1092 (S) FN1: ZERO(HSS)
04/23/01 (S) JUD AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 211
04/23/01 (S) Moved CS(JUD) Out of
Committee
MINUTE(JUD)
04/26/01 1276 (S) JUD RPT CS 3DP 2NR NEW TITLE
04/26/01 1276 (S) DP: TAYLOR, THERRIAULT,
DONLEY;
04/26/01 1276 (S) NR: COWDERY, ELLIS
04/26/01 1276 (S) FN1: ZERO(HSS)
04/27/01 1301 (S) RULES TO CALENDAR 4/27/01
04/27/01 1304 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME
04/27/01 1304 (S) JUD CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT
04/27/01 1304 (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
UNAN CONSENT
04/27/01 1305 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSB
135(JUD)
04/27/01 1305 (S) PASSED Y20 N-
04/27/01 1305 (S) EFFECTIVE DATE(S) SAME AS
PASSAGE
04/27/01 1311 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
04/27/01 1311 (S) VERSION: CSSB 135(JUD)
04/27/01 (S) RLS AT 10:45 AM FAHRENKAMP
203
04/28/01 1296 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
04/28/01 1296 (H) RLS
05/01/01 1427 (H) RLS RPT 4DP 2NR
05/01/01 1427 (H) DP: JOULE, MORGAN, PORTER,
KOTT;
05/01/01 1427 (H) NR: MCGUIRE, BERKOWITZ
05/01/01 1427 (H) FN1: ZERO(HSS)
05/01/01 1439 (H) RULES TO CALENDAR 5/1/01
05/01/01 1439 (H) READ THE SECOND TIME
05/01/01 1439 (H) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
UNAN CONSENT
05/01/01 1439 (H) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSB
135(JUD)
05/01/01 1439 (H) PASSED Y35 E2 A3
05/01/01 1440 (H) EFFECTIVE DATE(S) SAME AS
PASSAGE
05/01/01 1440 (H) RETURN TO (S), TRANSMIT TO
GOV NEXT
05/01/01 1440 (H) VERSION: CSSB 135(JUD)
05/01/01 (H) RLS AT 8:00 AM Speaker's
Chamber
BILL: HB 198
SHORT TITLE:PUB OFFICERS RETIREM'T COLA/COMPENSATION
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S)HUDSON
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
03/19/01 0649 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
03/19/01 0649 (H) STA, FIN
04/03/01 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 102
04/03/01 (H) Heard & Held
04/03/01 (H) MINUTE(STA)
04/26/01 1233 (H) STA RPT CS(STA) NT 6DP 1AM
04/26/01 1233 (H) DP: WILSON, STEVENS, JAMES,
FATE,
04/26/01 1233 (H) HAYES, COGHILL; AM: CRAWFORD
04/26/01 1233 (H) FN1: (ADM)
04/26/01 1233 (H) FN2: ZERO(GOV)
04/26/01 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 102
04/26/01 (H) Moved CSHB 198(STA) Out of
Committee
04/26/01 (H) MINUTE(STA)
04/27/01 (H) FIN AT 1:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE
519
MINUTE(FIN)
04/28/01 1304 (H) FIN RPT CS(FIN) NT 4DP 1DNP
5NR
04/28/01 1305 (H) DP: DAVIES, HUDSON, FOSTER,
WILLIAMS;
04/28/01 1305 (H) DNP: WHITAKER; NR: BUNDE,
HARRIS,
04/28/01 1305 (H) CROFT, LANCASTER, MULDER
04/28/01 1305 (H) FN1: (ADM)
04/28/01 1305 (H) FN2: ZERO(GOV)
04/28/01 (H) FIN AT 8:30 AM HOUSE FINANCE
519
04/28/01 (H) Moved CSHB 198(FIN) Out of
Committee
MINUTE(FIN)
04/30/01 (H) RLS AT 2:00 PM Speaker's
Chamber
04/30/01 (H) <Recessed to a call of the
Chair>
MINUTE(RLS)
05/01/01 1424 (H) RLS RPT CS(RLS) NT 5DP 2NR
05/01/01 1425 (H) DP: MCGUIRE, JOULE, MORGAN,
PORTER,
05/01/01 1425 (H) KOTT; NR: KOHRING, BERKOWITZ
05/01/01 1425 (H) FN1: (ADM)
05/01/01 1425 (H) FN2: ZERO(GOV)
05/01/01 1425 (H) FN3: INDETERMINATE(H.RLS/ADM)
05/01/01 1435 (H) RULES TO CALENDAR 5/1/01
05/01/01 1435 (H) READ THE SECOND TIME
05/01/01 1436 (H) RLS CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT
05/01/01 1436 (H) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING 5/2
CALENDAR
05/01/01 (H) RLS AT 8:00 AM Speaker's
Chamber
WITNESS REGISTER
REPRESENTATIVE HUGH FATE
Alaska State Legislature
Capitol Building, Room 416
Juneau, Alaska 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented CSSB 135(JUD).
ELMER LINDSTROM, Special Assistant
Office of the Commissioner
Department of Health & Social Services
PO Box 110601
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0601
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions regarding CSSB 135(JUD).
ANNE HENRY, Special Projects Coordinator
Division of Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities
Department of Health & Social Services
PO Box 110620
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0620
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions regarding CSSB 135(JUD).
REPRESENTATIVE BILL HUDSON
Alaska State Legislature
Capitol Building, Room 502
Juneau, Alaska 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as the sponsor of HB 198.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 01-14, SIDE A
CHAIR PETE KOTT called the House Rules Standing Committee
meeting to order at 9:55 a.m. Representatives Kott, Porter,
Morgan, and McGuire were present at the call to order.
Representatives Kohring, Berkowitz, and Joule arrived as the
meeting was in progress.
SB 135-MENTAL HEALTH INFO/RECORDS/COMMUNICATIONS
[The tape counter numbers indicate the number of minutes that
have elapsed.]
CHAIR KOTT announced that the first order of business would be
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 135(JUD), "An Act relating to mental
health records, communications, and information; and providing
for an effective date."
00.7
REPRESENTATIVE HUGH FATE, Alaska State Legislature, presented SB
135. He explained that SB 135 would do the following two
things. The bill would require agencies to report the exact
consumer data as recommended by the state auditor. The bill
would hold harmless agencies for breech of confidentiality in
reporting that data which settled a pending lawsuit.
Representative Fate emphasized that this [legislation] will
settle a pending lawsuit by community agencies. He explained
that the state maintains all records in a confidential manner
using sophisticated encryption methods. Representative Fate
specified that this is really about accountability for state
grant funds. The auditor was unable to track grant funds under
the current system. Therefore, this [legislation] is the fix.
In response to Chair Kott, Representative Fate stated that CSSB
135(JUD) is the companion to HB 174.
REPRESENTATIVE McGUIRE asked whether there is any other way to
disclose the confidential mental health information of a
patient.
02.3
ELMER LINDSTROM, Special Assistant, Office of the Commissioner,
Department of Health & Social Services (DHSS), explained that
the community mental health centers are funded in two ways by
DHSS. The community mental health centers are funded through
Medicaid and the grant aid program. He pointed out that all the
information being sought for the grant funds through this bill
are already provided through the Medicaid management information
system. Therefore, the legislative auditor noted that although
that information is available through the Medicaid program,
there is no way to determine who is receiving services and what
type of services from the grant program. As the Medicaid budget
grew, there was some concern from those requesting the audit
that there should be knowledge regarding how these grant funds
are being spent, particularly in relation to the services being
provided by Medicaid.
MR. LINDSTROM highlighted that DHSS deals with confidential
records in every aspect of its business. In the ten years that
he has worked with DHSS he was unaware of any circumstance in
which the department has inappropriately divulged that
information. He noted that the information does have to be
client-specific information, which is aggregated. Although this
is a necessary fix to a specific statute, it isn't extraordinary
in regard to the way [DHSS] does business elsewhere.
04.1
REPRESENTATIVE McGUIRE referred to Section 1 of CSSB 135(JUD)
which says "when disclosure is authorized under AS 47.30.540,
47.30.590, 47.30.845, 47.31.032." She asked what those statutes
are.
MR. LINDSTROM answered that he believes those statutes are the
underlying health statutes for the community mental health grant
program. He explained that the point of that provision is that
providers must provide that information to the department.
Therefore, the department wants the providers to have immunity
for doing so. Without the clarification, the providers were
concerned that they could be sued by a person in the community
for providing that information. This bill makes it clear that
the provider must provide that information to the department and
it also makes it clear that the community mental health centers
can't be sued for doing so.
REPRESENTATIVE McGUIRE asked if there would be any harm in
narrowing the language such that it would require that the
patient must agree to the release of their records.
MR. LINDSTROM deferred to Ms. Henry because he wasn't certain of
the release that patient's currently sign. He explained that
the clients in these cases don't have a contractual relationship
with the department because it is a grant and aid process rather
than (indisc.) the community mental health center.
05.5
ANNE HENRY, Special Projects Coordinator, Division of Mental
Health & Developmental Disabilities, Department of Health &
Social Services, informed the committee that the person's name
and social security number are not required. Rather, there is a
unique identifier that includes initials, date of birth, and the
last for digits of the person's social security number.
Currently, there is no release required for this information
because it is encrypted. Ms. Henry also informed the committee
that due to the federal regulations that will be coming on line,
all individuals that use any type of health care will be using a
unique identifier in the next two or three years.
06.5
REPRESENTATIVE PORTER moved to report CSSB 135(JUD) out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSSB 135(JUD) was
reported from the House Rules Standing Committee.
HB 198-PUB OFFICERS RETIREM'T COLA/COMPENSATION
CHAIR KOTT announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 198, "An Act relating to a post-retirement
pension adjustment and cost-of-living allowance for persons
receiving benefits under the Elected Public Officers Retirement
System; and increasing the compensation of the governor."
07.5
REPRESENTATIVE PORTER moved to adopt CSHB 198 labeled 22-
LS0723\S, Cramer, 4/30/01, as the working document before the
committee. There being no objection, version S was before the
committee.
07.8
REPRESENTATIVE BILL HUDSON, Alaska State Legislature, testified
as the sponsor of HB 198. Representative Hudson explained that
the revised bill will make whole a small group of former public
officers who have now retired or who are the surviving spouses
of people who are a part of the Elected Public Officers
Retirement System (EPORS). The EPORS legislation came about in
1976 and covered the governor, the lieutenant governor, and all
of the legislators at that time. That legislation increased
the salary of those folks, but a public referendum resulted in
the repeal of the legislation, which essentially rolled the
salaries back to their level prior to the legislation. There is
a constitutional bar against lowering a benefit and thus those
were the only folks able to retire under that program.
Therefore, this bill attempts to pick up only those people who
have received no cost of living increases since their
retirement, which would include the governor and lieutenant
governor at the time, and members of the legislature who went on
to become the governor or lieutenant governor.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said he believes that only four people
would be effected by this legislation. These four people have
not received a salary increase in the last 15 years [and have
been retired for at least 15 years]. Representative Hudson
suggested that [the retirement threshold] be changed to ten
years, which would include an additional spouse. He noted that
he is not permitted to use the names of these people because
retirement information is personal. However, he did inform the
committee that the four include a governor, a lieutenant
governor, a spouse of a lieutenant governor, and one more
individual if [the retirement threshold] is changed to ten
years. Representative Hudson pointed out that everyone else in
that category has received pay emollients or benefits or cost of
living increases.
10.5
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said, "We do some wrong things with our
governor and lieutenant governor salaries in this state." The
salaries of the governor and lieutenant governor are simply
dealt with in the statute. He explained that other [state
employees] who have retired with the post retirement pension
adjustment (PRPA) that automatically increases the TERS and PERS
retirees [retirement pay] by 50 percent of the annual CPI
adjustment if the retiree is under the age of 65 or by 75
percent of the annual CPI adjustment if the retiree is over the
age of 65. The people addressed in the bill have never received
any increase in their retirement pay. After being brought to
his attention, Representative Hudson felt that these people
should be treated as everyone else.
12.0
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON turned to Chair Kott's suggestion of
adding a study to the legislation. Representative Hudson
pointed out that there is a February 21, 1989, study, which was
fairly comprehensive. This 1989 study made the following salary
recommendations. For the Speaker of the House [the study]
suggested a salary of $40,500 and for the legislators it
suggested a salary of $40,000. The [study] suggested that the
governor's salary be tied to a Range 30A, which would amount to
about $100,000 in 1989. Representative Hudson pointed out that
the current governor is making the same as the 1970s governor
who this legislation would seek to give a cost of living
increase. The governor and lieutenant governor's salaries have
not been increased in all these years. Originally, HB 198
included language that would have elevated the governor's
salary; however, at the request of Governor Knowles, that was
taken out of the bill to be done in separate legislation.
Representative Hudson offered to make copies of the 1989 study
for the commission proposed in the current bill.
CHAIR KOTT remarked that the 1989 study would make the job of
the commission easier than what was initially anticipated.
13.8
REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ turned to the new portion included in
the CS. He asked if any thought had been given to using the
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) [approach]. He explained,
"In essence the decision doesn't come back to the legislative
body." He noted the difficulty in the legislature voting to cut
its salaries.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said that he didn't believe that there is
anything in the legislation that would stimulate anything beyond
the cost of living increase for the few EPORS members and the
study. He reiterated the presence of the 1989 study.
15.0
REPRESENTATIVE PORTER related his belief that the final decision
[regarding salaries] should rest with the legislative body that
does appropriations. He didn't believe that such [a decision]
could be delegated.
CHAIR KOTT noted his agreement with Representative Porter.
15.7
REPRESENTATIVE PORTER moved to report CSHB 198 [22-LS0723\S,
Cramer, 4/30/01] out of committee with individual
recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being
no objection, CSHB 198(RLS) was reported from the House Rules
Standing Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Rules Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 10:16 a.m.
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