Legislature(2001 - 2002)
05/06/2002 02:01 PM House FIN
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
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CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 299(FIN)
An Act relating to the establishment of an additional
south-central panel to the Alaska Workers' Compensation
Board and to appointments to that panel; and providing
for an effective date.
DEBORAH GRUNDMANN, STAFF, SENATOR BEN STEVENS, stated that
CSSB 299 (FIN) would amend the Workers' Compensation Act to
provide for an additional panel for the Alaska Workers'
Compensation Board in the South-central venue. She
indicated that was needed to help provide more hearings in
the area and would address the need to reduce lag time
between when a worker files a claim and obtains a hearing.
The bill would relieve growing caseloads.
Ms. Grundmann added that the Alaska Workers' Compensation
Act requires hearings to be conducted by panels of the
Workers' Compensation Board. A panel consists of a labor
member and an industry member, with a designee of the
commissioner of the Department of Labor and Workforce
Development. The commissioner's designee is an employee of
the State of Alaska; the other two members are lay
volunteers who receive a $50 per day stipend.
Ms. Grundmann pointed out that the industry seat members of
the panels usually work in some management position, while
the labor members are usually officers of labor unions,
which makes for a "good mix" in deciding the types of cases.
Panel members also have full time jobs outside of the
division, and have limited time to devote to hearings.
Consequently, there are only so many hearings that can be
conducted with the current component of panel members. With
the adoption of the committee substitute in the Senate
Finance Committee, the effective date of the bill was
changed to January 1, 2003. Enactment of SB 299 would
provide much needed relief to the Worker's Compensation
Board.
Representative Foster MOVED to report CS SB 299 (FIN) out of
Committee with individual recommendations and with the
attached fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so
ordered.
CS SB 299 (FIN) was reported out of Committee with a "do
pass" recommendation and with fiscal note #1 by Department
of Law.
#SB345
SENATE BILL NO. 345
An Act relating to medical assistance for
rehabilitative services for certain children with
disabilities; relating to agreements to pay medical
assistance for covered services paid for or furnished
to eligible children with disabilities by a school
district; and providing for an effective date.
JERRY BURNETT, STAFF, SENATOR LYDA GREEN, commented that
under the federal Individuals Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), school districts are required to provide
rehabilitative services to qualifying students. Currently,
the federal government pays approximately 16% of the cost
for services required by IDEA. The balance is paid out of
the foundation formula with a mix of State and local
funding. To the extent that the students qualify for
Medicaid, federal law allows for schools to bill the State
Medicaid program for many of the services. However, Alaska
State law does not authorize school districts to be Medicaid
providers.
Senate Bill 345 authorizes the Alaska Department of Health
and Social Services to promulgate the necessary regulations
and to contract with school districts to reimburse for
rehabilitative services for students who qualify under the
Medicaid program. Currently, forty-two other states fund
school-based services through the Medicaid program.
Mr. Burnett stated that under the provisions of SB 345, the
school district would pay the State match for the Medicaid
services it receives. The only State cost under the bill,
would be the cost of promulgating the regulations and some
small administrative costs.
Mr. Burnett added that school districts would benefit by
receiving federal matching dollars under the Medicaid
program for services that they must provide, regardless of
how they are funded. For each school district dollar
expended for the services, the school district would receive
approximately $1.50 in additional federal dollars. Mr.
Burnett claimed that money could help defray the costs of
providing special education services.
JON SHERWOOD, DIVISION OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE, DEPARTEMNT OF
HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES, noted that the Department
supports the bill. He stated that it was a cooperative
effort between Department of Health & Social Services and
Department of Education & Early Development. Mr. Sherwood
offered to answer questions of the Committee.
Mr. Sherwood pointed out that there are two fiscal notes.
One of the notes is for Medicaid services. The bill would
enable the school districts to bill Medicaid for services
provided to Medicaid-eligible children in special education
programs. Districts would reimburse the Department of
Health & Social Services for the State match required.
There would be no net increase in State general fund match
for Medicaid.
The other fiscal note would cover the small administrative
fees for expenses associated with making the claim payments.
Claim payments for the new service and a small amount of on-
going staff support would be needed to policy development.
Vice-Chair Bunde asked if the Medicaid reimbursement would
be "trading dollars".
Mr. Sherwood acknowledged that was correct, noting that
currently, the federal government pays 60% of the cost for
Medicaid services.
Vice-Chair Bunde pointed out that schools claim that the
State would be responsible for paying for a portion of those
costs.
Mr. Sherwood agreed that was correct, noting that those
State dollars would already have been spent.
Representative Foster MOVED to report SB 345 out of
Committee with individual recommendations and with the
accompanying fiscal notes. There being NO OBJECTION, it was
so ordered.
SB 345 was reported out of Committee with a "no
recommendation" and with fiscal note #1 and #2 by the
Department of Health & Social Services.
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