Legislature(2003 - 2004)
04/20/2004 02:04 PM Senate L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 349-MIDWIFERY BIRTH CENTER LICENSING
CHAIR CON BUNDE announced SB 349 to be up for consideration.
MS. MYRA PUGH, staff to Senator Bettye Davis, sponsor, explained
that currently there are six birth centers in Alaska; five more
are registered and one is licensed. The owners, who are
certified direct entry and certified nurse midwives, unanimously
concluded they need to have one license standard for all birth
centers.
CHAIR BUNDE asked if in other enterprises that involve the
Division of Licensing, the licensees have to bear the cost of
licensing and if that was the case now.
MS. PUGH replied that is the case, but wanted the department to
verify that.
MS. JUDY DAVIDSON, owner and operator, Mat-Su Midwifery, said
she does over 100 births per year.
We feel this bill is very appropriate in that it would
license us for doing what licensed care providers are
already doing. We would prefer to be licensed rather
than registered and [to] adhere to a single standard.
MS. KATHRYN PIATT, owner, Frontier Midwifery, said she serves a
large section of outlying communities and agreed that having one
licensed birth center is a good idea so that the standard of
care is consistent all over the state.
SENATOR GARY STEVENS asked how many births per year happen at
her facility.
MS. PIATT replied about 25, but another birth center in Soldotna
does that many, as well.
MS. KELLY DESIEYES, Women's Way Midwifery, said having a
consistent standard would not only help the birth centers, but
also the families they serve. She supported SB 349.
MS. BARBARA NORTON, Geneva Woods Birth Center, supported SB 349
for the reasons previously stated.
MS. DANA BROWN, Fairbanks, said she is the director of a non-
profit birth center that also serves outlying Bush communities
in the Interior and that she supported SB 349. Licensing will
make a better standard for birth centers throughout the state
and will continue to advance midwifery, which the public really
wants.
MS. KAY KANNE, Executive Director, Juneau Family Birth Center,
said she sat on the board of Certified Direct Entry Midwives
from its inception in 1992 until 2000. She is also the volunteer
lobbyist for the Midwives Association of Alaska. She gave the
committee background on how two kinds of birth centers came
about in Alaska - registered and licensed.
This happened back in 1992 when we passed our original
legislation to create a board of Certified Direct
Entry Midwives for licensure. We also went back to the
Health and Social Services law and changed the
line...where it said, 'The commissioner shall adopt
regulations for the registration of lay midwifery in
the State of Alaska.' Well, we no longer needed that
because we were going to be licensed by the Division
of Occupational Licensing. So, we changed that line to
address one of our other concerns, which was the fact
that the birth center regulations at the time stated
that only a physician or a nurse midwife could attend
births in a birth center. So, basically we changed the
line to say 'the registration of birth centers' and
then we changed the wording to say that 'The
commissioner shall not require that a physician or
nurse midwife be present at a birth', accidentally
leaving the word 'registered' in instead of changing
it to 'licensed'. We didn't notice that until we went
back after the law was passed and the Department said,
'Oh, we can't change these regulations for licensed
birth centers. What you've done is create a whole
different kind of birth center. So, that's how it
happened in 1992. It was never intended....
CHAIR BUNDE asked if anyone opposes this bill. Someone indicated
no.
SENATOR FRENCH moved to pass SB 349 from committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal note.
CHAIR BUNDE objected only to get clarification that the
registration will in deed be handled like other licensing and
actually pay for itself. He asked for the roll. Senators Ralph
Seekins, Hollis French, Gary Stevens, Bettye Davis and Chair Con
Bunde voted yea; and SB 349 moved from committee.
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