03/25/2002 09:17 AM Senate FIN

                                                                                                                                
     CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 342(HES)                                                                                            
     "An Act relating to the long term care ombudsman."                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
This  was the first  hearing  for this  bill in  the Senate  Finance                                                            
Committee.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
Senator  Green,  Chair  of  Senate  Health,   Education  and  Social                                                            
Services Committee,  spoke to the  bill. She reminded the  Committee                                                            
about the previous year  when the Long Term Care Ombudsman authority                                                            
was transferred from the  Department of Administration to the Mental                                                            
Health Trust  Authority (MHTA).  She noted  this change was  made to                                                            
prevent a  potential conflict  of interest.  In the process  of this                                                            
transfer, she stated that  a provider of assisted living and nursing                                                            
care informed  the MHTA that the Long Term Care Ombudsman  would not                                                            
be  permitted on  their  premises  due to  certain language  in  the                                                            
enabling statute.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
Senator Green  stated this legislation  corrects the language  error                                                            
and provides  access of the Long Term  Care Ombudsman to  facilities                                                            
that  provide  assisted living  or  nursing  care services  for  the                                                            
purpose  of investigating  complaints. She  stressed this  ombudsman                                                            
oversight is required by  the federal government, which provides the                                                            
majority of the funding for the ombudsman activities.                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
JEFF  JESSEE, Executive  Director,  Mental Health  Trust  Authority,                                                            
Department of  Revenue, testified via teleconference  from Anchorage                                                            
that he is available to answer questions.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
Senator Green offered a  motion to report SB 342 from Committee with                                                            
individual recommendations.                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
There  was  no  objection  and  the CS  SB  342  (HES),  MOVED  from                                                            
Committee with accompanying  zero fiscal note #1 from the Department                                                            
of Administration.