02/05/2009 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE

           SB  83-VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION COMMITTEE                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
1:35:26 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR PASKVAN announced SB 83 to be up for consideration.                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  THOMAS  moved  to adopt  CSSB  83(L&C)  26-GS1024\R  and                                                               
objected for discussion purposes.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
1:36:13 PM                                                                                                                    
PAULA  SCAVARA,  Legislative  Liaison, Department  of  Labor  and                                                               
Workforce  Development (DOLWD),  said  SB 83  complies state  law                                                               
with  federal  law  by  changing   the  Governor's  Committee  on                                                               
Employment  of  People with  Disabilities  (GCEPD)  to the  State                                                               
Vocational  Rehabilitation  Committee.   Nothing  else  has  been                                                               
subtracted or added other than  what was required by federal law.                                                               
Section  1 repeals  the GCEPD  and creates  the State  Vocational                                                               
Rehabilitation Committee  and section 2 inserts  the appointment,                                                               
number  and  composition  of   the  committee  members.  Actually                                                               
instead of  putting in the  number, which is  constantly changing                                                               
in  federal law,  they  put in  the federal  code.  So now  those                                                               
changes  can be  made without  coming  to the  legislature for  a                                                               
statute change.  Section 3  addresses the selection of the chair;                                                               
Section 4  provides for how  many times the committee  shall meet                                                               
and that the meetings can  be conducted telephonically; Section 5                                                               
addresses  the  transition  of  current  members  of  the  GCEPD;                                                               
Section 6 is a revisor's note  changing the name of the committee                                                               
throughout  statute   to  the  State   Vocational  Rehabilitation                                                               
Committee.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  PASKVAN asked  her  to relate  the changes  in  CS to  the                                                               
original SB 83.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
MS. SCAVARA  explained this is  probably the smallest CS  she has                                                               
ever seen and  that it corrected a  typo in Section 2  on page 2,                                                               
line that changes U.S.C. Code "3001" to "3003".                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
1:38:51 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR BUNDE asked if members can also vote telephonically.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHERYL  WALSH, Director,  Division of  Vocational Rehabilitation,                                                               
Department of  Labor and Workforce Development  (DOLWD), answered                                                               
yes.                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
1:40:49 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR  MEYER asked  if they  currently  get 70  percent of  the                                                               
funding for this committee from the feds.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
MS. WALSH answered yes.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR MEYER asked  if that amount was subject to  change in the                                                               
future.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
MS. WALSH replied  the feds use a formula that  she would get for                                                               
him and the state has matching requirements. Now it is 70/30.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR MEYER asked if it had been that way for a long time.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MS. WALSH answered yes.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR MEYER  said the  committee membership  changes frequently                                                               
and asked if that's one of the reasons for the bill.                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
MS. WALSH  answered yes.  The composition  could change  when the                                                               
Rehabilitation  Act  is reauthorized  and  they  wanted to  avoid                                                               
making  changes  each time  that  happens  by simply  citing  the                                                               
federal regulation.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR MEYER said it may end  up costing the state in the future                                                               
if the number of members can increase.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
MS. WALSH replied  that they would have  more telephonic meetings                                                               
rather than have that happen. There  are other ways of doing cost                                                               
saving.  For  instance,  the  committee needs  to  have  a  broad                                                               
representation of  people with disabilities  and people  from the                                                               
business community;  so they could  find one person to  fill that                                                               
requirement.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR MEYER thought they could maybe  do a sunset in five years                                                               
to see if matching money from the feds changes.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
MS.  WALSH replied  that the  difficulty with  that is  that this                                                               
committee is required for them  to receive the federal funding to                                                               
run the  Vocational Rehabilitation  program itself. This  is just                                                               
the  oversight committee  for the  program. A  sunset date  could                                                               
impede their ability to receive federal dollars.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR THOMAS removed his objection.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR PASKVAN  announced that without further  objection CSSB 83,                                                               
version R, was adopted.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR PASKVAN  asked for  further testimony on  the CS  and found                                                               
none.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR THOMAS moved  to report CSSB 83(L&C)  from committee with                                                               
individual  recommendations and  accompanying fiscal  note. There                                                               
were no objections and it was so ordered.