Legislature(2013 - 2014)SENATE FINANCE 532
04/14/2014 09:00 AM Senate FINANCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB239 | |
| HB240 | |
| HB241 | |
| HB242 | |
| HB234 | |
| HB210 | |
| HB378 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | HB 239 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 240 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 241 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 242 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 234 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 210 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 378 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 75 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 220 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HOUSE BILL NO. 239
"An Act extending the termination date of the Board of
Examiners in Optometry; and providing for an effective
date."
9:11:32 AM
REPRESENTATIVE LORA REINBOLD, explained that HB 239 would
extend the Board of Examiners in Optometry through June 30,
2022. The Division of Legislative audit reviewed the
activities of the board and concluded that the board's
termination date should be extended the full 8 years.
Without the extension optometry licensing would continue
under the direction of the division, rather than the board
and all costs associated with licensing would continue to
be incurred by the division. She explained that the board
adopted regulations to carry out laws governing the
practice of optometry in Alaska; making final licensing
decisions and taking disciplinary action when necessary.
The board consisted of 4 optometrists and 1 public member.
She spoke to the fiscal note reflected that the board had a
current cumulative deficit of $44,755. Fees were raised
during the last biennium and a fee analysis would be
conducted in spring of 2014 in order to determine whether
the fees needed adjustment. She stated that licensees would
renew in December 2014 and any fee adjustments would go out
for public comment in summer 2015. She noted that the board
was working in the best interest of the state to promote
health, welfare and safety of Alaskans.
9:13:45 AM
Co-Chair Meyer queried the deficit reflected in the fiscal
note.
9:14:15 AM
Vice-Chair Fairclough announced that there was an issue of
indirect costs of investigations, spread across all the
professional licensing boards. She stated the division had
come before Legislative Budget and Audit (LB&A) in the past
requesting help with accounting issues, which resulted in
LB&A infusing approximately $1 million in an attempt to
assist the various boards with large deficits. She shared
that the deficit would be seen in fiscal notes for many of
the boards and that LB&A was working to understand how the
department was spreading costs. She said that $64 of
indirect cost was being spread to every licensee across the
state and the subcommittee of LB&A had yet to receive the
necessary information to justify the spread. She noted that
cost spreading among licensing boards was currently not
proportionate.
9:16:02 AM
Representative Reinbold noted that a report from the
Legislative Budget and Audit Committee (LB&A) (copy on
file) that outlined the specifics could be found in member
packets.
9:16:36 AM
Senator Olson queried why the investigation driven increase
in licensing fees should be extended out 8 years, rather
than a shorter amount that would reign in the expenditures
more quickly.
Representative Reinbold deferred the question to the
Division of Legislative Audit.
Senator Olson asked how many optometrists were licensed in
the state, and of those how many had been investigated
under licensing action.
9:17:38 AM
CRYSTAL KOENEMAN, STAFF, REPRESENTATIVE LORA REINBOLD,
deferred to Department of Commerce, Community and Economic
Development.
9:17:58 AM
Senator Olson asked whether other healthcare providers were
governed by the optometrist board.
Representative Reinbold replied that the board was limited
to the scope of optometry.
9:18:55 AM
KRIS CURTIS, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF LEGISLATIVE AUDIT,
explained that the division had conducted a review of the
Board of Examiners in Optometry to determine whether the
public interest was being served and whether the board
should be extended. The division concluded that the board
was serving the public interest by effectively licensing
and regulating optometrists and recommended that the
board's termination date be extended the maximum 8 years,
June 30, 2022. The division made one recommendation to the
Director of the Division of Corporations, Business and
Professional Licensing to continue efforts to improve their
case management system integrity and confidentiality. She
furthered that in past years detailed information about
investigations had been included in audits, but that the
practice had been disregarded because the case management
system was not reliable. The division had been unable to
pull summary investigative information because certain
information in the system was unreliable. She noted that
Page 12 of the audit provided information on board
expenditures and revenues. The licensing fees had been
reduced from $420 to $200 in FY07. That decrease had
effectively reduced any available surplus at that time.
Licensing fees had not been adjusted for the FY11 renewal
period which had contributed to a continuing deficit. She
stated that she could not speak to the reason why the fees
had not been increased.
9:21:06 AM
Senator Olson wondered whether the licensing fee had been a
factor in whether the number of optometrists in the state
was increasing or decreasing.
Ms. Curtis directed committee attention to page 14, which
listed the information on the licensees. From FY06 through
FY12 the board had issued new licenses to 85 applicants.
9:21:37 AM
Senator Olson asked how many licenses were withdrawn or not
renewed.
Ms. Curtis replied that the information was not presented
in the report. She said that a count as of February 28,
2013 there were 174 licensed optometrists in Alaska. She
noted the chart in the report that allocated the new
licenses by fiscal year. She said that the impact of the
setting of fees on the surplus and deficit was examined
every time the division performed a sunset audit. The
division did not issue a recommendation to adjust fees due
to the fact that they had been adjusted for the FY13 cycle
and that that period was not over; therefore, the division
could not gauge how effective the increase in fees was to
address the deficit.
9:22:36 AM
Senator Olson noted that there were only 174 licensees that
were regulated by the board and pointed out that other
boards in the state dealt with several thousand licensees.
He wondered whether the optometrist board could be absorbed
by one of the larger boards.
Ms. Curtis replied that the decision would be a policy call
that would not be made by the division.
9:23:21 AM
Vice-Chair Fairclough stated that the issue of cost being
spread over a small group of people would arise during all
of the licensing hearings. She said that the policy
discussion at LB&A concerned what should be done with
investigations and the cost distribution.
Ms. Curtis added that in 1992 the governor had a task force
to examine boards and commissions, and out of that task
force the structure of allocating investigative costs to
the board came about. She felt that after 20 years
structure should be revisited.
9:25:29 AM
Co-Chair Meyer asked how much the fees for the board were.
SARA CHAMBERS, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF CORPORATIONS,
BUSINESS, AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSING, DEPARTMENT OF
COMMERCE, COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, responded
that the fees were raised in 2013 to $400.
9:25:48 AM
Co-Chair Meyer asked if the amount was adequate to cover
costs going into the future.
Ms. Chambers responded that the department analyzed fees
according to statutory requirements and with the
partnership of the board with the goal of balancing
approximate expenditures and revenues. She believed that
$400 was a reasonable amount to anticipate covering future
deficit.
9:27:01 AM
Co-Chair Meyer OPENED public testimony.
Co-Chair Meyer CLOSED public testimony.
HB 239 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.