Legislature(2017 - 2018)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
04/14/2017 05:15 PM Senate HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB72 | |
| HJR14 | |
| SB72 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 186 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | HJR 14 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 72 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
April 14, 2017
5:17 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator David Wilson, Chair
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Tom Begich
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Natasha von Imhof, Vice Chair
Senator Cathy Giessel
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 72
"An Act adding to the powers and duties of the State Commission
for Human Rights; and relating to and prohibiting discrimination
based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression."
- HEARD & HELD
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 14
Urging the Federal Communications Commission to increase the
Rural Health Care Program budget sufficiently to adjust for
inflation, advances in technology and the services available
with increased broadband, and the increase in demand for
broadband-based services and provide for any unused funds to be
carried forward to future funding years, ensuring that rural
communities in the state continue to have access to affordable
broadband telehealth services.
- MOVED HJR 14 OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE BILL NO. 186
"An Act relating to the donation of food; and relating to food
banks."
- BILL HEARING CANCELED
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 72
SHORT TITLE: DISCRIMINATION: GENDER ID.; SEXUAL ORIENT.
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) GARDNER
03/01/17 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/01/17 (S) HSS, JUD, FIN
03/31/17 (S) HSS AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
03/31/17 (S) Heard & Held
03/31/17 (S) MINUTE(HSS)
04/10/17 (S) HSS AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
04/10/17 (S) -- MEETING CANCELED -
04/14/17 (S) HSS AT 5:15 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
BILL: HJR 14
SHORT TITLE: FCC: INCREASE RURAL HEALTH CARE BUDGET
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) EDGMON
03/06/17 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/06/17 (H) L&C
03/15/17 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
03/15/17 (H) -- MEETING CANCELED --
03/17/17 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM CAPITOL 106
03/17/17 (H) Heard & Held
03/17/17 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
03/20/17 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
03/20/17 (H) Moved HJR 14 Out of Committee
03/20/17 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
03/22/17 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
03/22/17 (H) Moved HJR 14 Out of Committee
03/22/17 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
03/24/17 (H) L&C RPT 7DP
03/24/17 (H) DP: SULLIVAN-LEONARD, STUTES, WOOL,
JOSEPHSON, BIRCH, KNOPP, KITO
04/05/17 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S)
04/05/17 (H) VERSION: HJR 14
04/06/17 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
04/06/17 (S) HSS
04/12/17 (S) HSS AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
04/12/17 (S) -- MEETING CANCELED --
04/14/17 (S) HSS AT 5:15 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
WITNESS REGISTER
TIMOTHY CLARK, Staff
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided an overview of HJR 14.
JON ZASADA, Policy Integration Director
Alaska Primary Care Association
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information in support of HJR 14.
ACTION NARRATIVE
5:17:26 PM
CHAIR DAVID WILSON called the Senate Health and Social Services
Standing Committee meeting to order at 5:17 p.m. Present at the
call to order were Senators Begich, Micciche, and Chair Wilson.
SB 72-DISCRIMINATION: GENDER ID.; SEXUAL ORIENT.
5:17:53 PM
CHAIR WILSON announced the consideration of SB 72 and stated the
following:
At this time, I would like to close public testimony
on [SB 72], "Discrimination: Gender ID, Sexual
Orientation" that was presented by Senator Gardner
which we first heard on March 31.
SENATOR BEGICH objected and explained as follows:
Mr. Chairman, I object to closing testimony on that
bill without proper notification to people. I am
confused by that, could you explain this to me?
CHAIR WILSON explained as follows:
Yes, we can always reopen testimony another time, but
at this time just for, yes, SB 72.
SENATOR BEGICH replied as follows:
You said SB 72.
CHAIR WILSON replied yes.
SENATOR BEGICH noted his objection and concern as follows:
I find that uncomfortable. We have received so much e-
mail, we received phone calls asking about when the
next public testimony is going to be on this and I was
not aware that you were going to do that today. So I
feel a little blindsided by that. I have assured
constituents that I would tell them that if I knew
there was public hearing open still that I would pass
that on to them and I feel a little blindsided by
this. You might want to take an at-ease.
5:19:03 PM
At ease.
5:20:13 PM
CHAIR WILSON called the committee back to order. He explained
the purpose of closing public testimony on SB 72 as follows:
So this being the closing down into the interim,
prepping for the interim, we found it best to sort of
close public testimony so that we don't, folks waiting
for to come back to testify and we can take this up
and open testimony at a later date in time when we
have a bill to come back before us another day.
SENATOR BEGICH withdrew his objection as follows:
Mr. Chairman, thank you for that explanation, I
withdraw my objection.
[CHAIR WILSON held SB 72 in committee for future consideration,
and public testimony was closed.]
HJR 14-FCC: INCREASE RURAL HEALTH CARE BUDGET
5:20:50 PM
CHAIR WILSON announced the consideration of HJR 14. He noted
that the legislation is time sensitive and his intention is to
hear the bill, take public testimony, and hopefully move the
resolution out of committee.
5:21:15 PM
TIMOTHY CLARK, Staff, Representative Bryce Edgmon, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of the resolution, provided
the following overview of HJR 14:
HJR 14 has to do with a Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) funded broadband support program for
rural centers in Alaska and across the country. Rural
Alaska has made great strides in recent years in the
long distance delivery of health care via tele-
medicine; these broadband services expand locally
available treatment options for an increasing number
of maladies including treatment for substance abuse,
they accelerate diagnosis and treatment, and help
Alaskans avoid expensive travel for care, but despite
these advances, we are about to hit a roadblock.
The existence of such services depends on the FCC
Rural Health Care Universal Service Support Program.
The budget for the program has been capped at the same
level since it was established in 1997, 20-years ago.
The program is funded through Universal Service
charges, there is no state-funding obligation. For
most of the program's existence, the $400 million
budget has been enough to meet demand, but as you can
imagine after decades of advances in technology,
increases in demand, and the effect of inflation, the
FCC expects the demand exceed the budget cap for the
first time in 2017.
HJR 14 urges the FCC to increase the Rural Health Care
Universal Support budget sufficiently to adjust for
inflation, to keep up with advances in technology and
services available to increase broadband, and to meet
the increased demand for these broadband-based
services; additionally, the resolution encourages the
FCC to index the program budget for inflation and to
allow any unused funds to be carried forward to future
funding years, this will allow health-care providers
to continue improving access to health care in rural
locations.
5:24:24 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE said he respects the noted names and
organizations that support HJR 14. He asked Mr. Clark if he was
aware of any opposition to HJR 14.
MR. CLARK answered none that he was aware of. He noted that when
the resolution crossed the floor of the House concern was
expressed regarding the way programs from the Universal Service
charges are funded. He opined that the objection may have been
related to the potential for increased costs to consumers. He
pointed out that a $200 million increase to the budget would
equate to pennies on consumers' bills because the fund is a
nationwide program.
CHAIR WILSON asked Mr. Zasada if he had any comments to add.
5:26:50 PM
JON ZASADA, Policy Integration Director, Alaska Primary Care
Association, Anchorage, Alaska, addressed the need to increase
the rural health-care budget as follows:
This issue is moving quickly, federally. For the
current fiscal year that we are in, some community
health centers are already seeing a drop in the
subsidy that they are receiving through this fund,
meaning that some providers' monthly internet bills
are going up from $500 a month to almost $4,000 a
month. The cap-increase effort is very timely, we are
working so that it doesn't occur for the fiscal year
that starts July 1.
Additional ramifications that I wanted to just share
with the committee, certain SB 74 redesign components
could also be endangered if the cap is not raised and
these include: the ability of rural providers to fully
use tele-health, to undertake care coordination, to
continue to support mental-health parity in rural
communities and in their efforts to address the opioid
epidemic.
Basically, rural health providers have built their
care systems around dedicated internet that is
subsidized through this program and it is very
important. We believe the state of Alaska showed its
full support to the federal government as we go
through the process of having the cap increased.
5:28:44 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE asked if Mr. Zasada believes that Alaska enjoys
more support from the program than what the state likely pays
into the program.
MR. ZASADA replied that Senator Micciche's query is probably the
case. He detailed that Alaska uses about $100 million out of the
$400 million fund: $38 million for community health, $27 million
for rural hospitals, and other care entities take up the rest.
SENATOR MICCICHE explained that his question related to the
concern about increased costs and pointed out that Alaskans
enjoy much more benefit on a dollar value than what is paid in.
MR. CLARK stated that his assumption is that Alaskans enjoy a
considerable benefit from the program, far short of what is
being contributed to the program.
5:30:44 PM
SENATOR BEGICH commended Senator Micciche for his question that
underscored the state receiving 25 percent of the fund. He asked
Mr. Zasada to verify that the state receives 25 percent of the
fund.
MR. ZASADA answered correct.
SENATOR BEGICH agreed that the state really is benefitting from
the fund to a great degree.
CHAIR WILSON disclosed that during his time at Eastern Aleutian
Tribes he was able to see some of the tele-health technologies
and its capabilities. He said he could only imagine what some of
the health-care centers are doing now in some of the rural
entities to try to hopefully lower health-care costs.
5:32:09 PM
CHAIR WILSON opened public testimony on HJR 14.
5:32:24 PM
CHAIR WILSON closed public testimony on HJR 14.
5:32:39 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE moved to report HJR 14, version J, [30-
LS0422\J], from committee with individual recommendations and
attached zero-fiscal note.
5:32:49 PM
CHAIR WILSON announced that being no objection, HJR 14 moved
from the Senate Health and Social Services Standing Committee.
5:32:56 PM
At ease.
SB 72-DISCRIMINATION: GENDER ID.;SEXUAL ORIENT.
5:34:05 PM
CHAIR WILSON called committee back to order and recognized
Senator Micciche.
SENATOR MICCICHE commented on closing public testimony on SB 72,
stating the following:
Mr. Chairman, I do think sometimes the public doesn't
understand when we temporarily close down public
testimony. I think I appreciate your explanation, the
fact is we are in the last couple of days and we will
be prioritizing to just a few bills and the bills that
are in this stage of the process will not be taken up
until next year. So I just wanted to make sure on the
SB 72 issue that people understood that we don't leave
public testimony open over the interim and when the
bill is going to be heard it gets picked back up.
Sometimes people just call in, they may be kind of new
to this process and they just call in for that bill
and don't realize that that's not an unusual thing. So
I just wanted to clarify a little bit more, but I
appreciate you doing your part earlier to clarify for
the public. I think our process can be confusing.
CHAIR WILSON agreed with Senator Micciche. He added that his
office is always still open to take comments, questions or
concerns on SB 72.
SENATOR BEGICH thanked Chair Wilson for his commitment to
appreciating that the process can continue in the following
session on SB 72.
[SB 72 was held in committee with public testimony closed.]
5:35:43 PM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Wilson adjourned the Senate Health and Social Services
Committee at 5:35 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HJR14 Version J.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |
| HJR 14 Sponsor Statement 3.7.2017.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |
| HJR 14 Fiscal Note HJR014-1-1-032417-L&C-N.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |
| HJR14 Additional Documentation--AK Health Center Utilization of FCC RHC Support Funds 3.13.17.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |
| HJR14 Additional Documentation--Alaska Communications Graphic 3.8.2017.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |
| HJR14 Additional Documentation--Universal Services Fact Sheet 3.17.2017.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |
| HJR14 FCC Summary--Universal Service Rural Health Care Programs.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |
| HJR14 Letters of Support.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |
| HJR14 Additional Documentation--Universal Service Disbursements 2015 3.20.2017.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |
| HJR 14 Increasing the Rural Healthcare Fund White Paper--Alaska Communications 3.7.2017.pdf |
SHSS 4/14/2017 5:15:00 PM |
HJR 14 |