Legislature(1993 - 1994)
01/19/1994 09:00 AM Senate FIN
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 370 - APPROP: FY 95 OPERATING AND LOAN BUDGET A presentation was made by Commissioner Nancy Bear Usera, Department of Administration. A presentation was also made by Commissioner Darrel Rexwinkel, Department of Revenue. The overview by the Department of Community & Regional Affairs was canceled and will be rescheduled. DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION OVERVIEW CO-CHAIR FRANK invited Commissioner Nancy Bear Usera to join the members at the committee table and proceed with the department presentation. COMMISSIONER USERA said that her presentation would be brief. She would like to focus on a few budget priorities and would respond to any questions the committee might have. She provided the committee with a handout titled "State of Alaska, Department of Administration, FY 95 Budget Overview" (copy on file). Turning to page 5, Ms. Usera said that some additions had been made to the department since last year. She went on to explain that the commissioner's office is comprised of one special assistant, two deputy commissioners, and the Division of Administrative Services which reports directly to her. One of the deputy commissioners is in charge of operations and services state agencies which include finance, general services, personnel, retirement & benefits, risk management and information services. Because of the close association with the telecommunications function, public broadcasting is also included on that side. The public services are ones that go directly to the Alaskans. This deputy commissioner is located in Anchorage because of the population base being served which includes the Division of Senior Services (created as a result of the combining of Pioneer Benefits and the Older Alaskans Commissioner), Public Defender Agency, Office of Public Advocacy, Public Offices Commission, and the Permanency Planning Board. On page 7, Ms Usera said the pie chart illustrates the fact that the Department of Administration comprises 8 percent of the total state operating budget for general funds. That 8 percent breaks down as follows: 47 percent for grants to individuals and non-profits, 28 percent for direct services to Alaskans, 15 percent for leasing, and 10 percent for core operations. On page 8, a bar chart translates into real dollars how most overhead agency costs have gone down significantly except the primary formula program which include longevity bonus, and senior services administration. On page 8, a spreadsheet shows a five-year real dollar operating budget comparison. SENATOR PHILLIPS asked Ms. Usera why the Longevity Bonus had increased from $73.4 to $73.7. She answered that the phase out went into effect this year but FY95 growth of the program had significantly slowed. A real reduction will not be seen for three years. She asked the committee to turn to the chart on page 10 and 11 which is in nominal dollars. Even by these standards, she felt the growth was where it was expected to be in the formula programs and the operating dollars had been kept down to a maintenance budget for the last three years. She felt page 11 would be of most interest to the committee in comparing FY94 authorized budget with the FY95 budget. She pointed out that the FY94 authorized column did not include supplements. She said supplementals had been requested in Longevity Bonus, Leasing & Facilities, Public Defender, Office of Public Advocacy and Personnel. Discussion followed between Ms. Usera, Senators Frank, Rieger, and Phillips regarding the supplemental for the Longevity Bonus. Ms. Usera said that there is always some adjustment on an annual basis, which does include new applicants. Page 107 provides a projection for the Longevity Bonus Program as of January 2, 1994. Senator Kerttula voiced his concern that the state may be open for lawsuits because of the new stair-stepping program. Ms. Usera said that this was not entered into lightly but the administration felt that the phase-out program would hold up in court. Senator Kerttula again reiterated that he hoped there was good legal counsel to defend this legislation as he felt it was a conspiracy to end the program. Senator Phillips asked for information on the Pioneer Homes. Ms. Usera said that a 1992 ruling said that the residency requirement for the Pioneer Homes was unconstitutional. The administration decided not to contest the ruling and just buy time. In a year and half, there was another law suit pending. At this point, the Dept of Law began to look for a method where preference can be shown to long-time Alaskans and for people who are in need of the Pioneers Home. The Governor felt that managing the waiting list for this program might be a better way to allocate this resource for Alaskans in an equitable fashion. Senator Phillips asked if the waiting time on the list was approximately 2 years. Ms. Usera said residency in the Pioneer Home has changed significantly over the past 5-7 years. The average entrance age for Alaskans is 82 years old, the average age of residents in the home is 84 years old, and the average stay is 4.4 years. She pointed out that other programs like senior housing apartments, and senior centers have filled the need of congregate housing. The Pioneer Home residents today have special needs that cannot be filled anywhere else. About 90 percent of the people have some form of ADRD, which includes alzheimer's disease. She said that if a person is in need of nursing care and only wants to be admitted to a single home, they would have a longer wait because they have narrowed their options. If a person is willing to go to any of the homes, the wait is much shorter. She said that about 150 people a year are served off of the waiting list. Today, the list consists of approximately 250 people. In answer to Co-chair Frank, Ms. Usera pointed out that it was her understanding that seniors today prefer to live independently as possible, as long as possible. She agreed that many factors have caused the evolution in the Pioneer Home. A big factor is that the state is providing services on the lower end, and going into an institution is one of the last options a senior citizen chooses. Senator Kerttula added that the longevity bonus and the tax break allows seniors to stay in their own accommodations. He felt those two key factors kept them out of Pioneer Homes. He said that if it would not have been for those two benefits, the Pioneer Home population would be much higher. Senator Kerttula urged legislation be supported to allow a senior a three-time drop-back off the Pioneer Home list. Ms. Usera agreed that a statute would be stronger than a resolution, but she said that as the list is managed today, seniors are given three opportunities to come into the home before they are bumped to the bottom. The program is designed and managed to keep as many beds filled as possible at any given time. She pointed out that the more complicated the list management becomes, the longer it could take to fill a vacancy. Senator Sharp said he was encouraged by his conversation with the Department of Law and some of the legislation suggested regarding equitable "bumping" on the list. He felt strongly that the list of 36 people that signed up in July should not be incorporated with the existing list of people that did abide by regulations. The last thing he wanted to see was someone forced to enter the Pioneer Home for fear of losing his/her place on the list. He said there were a lot of hard feelings regarding this issue and that the state was leaving itself open for lawsuits. Ms. Usera agreed but reminded the committee that their first obligation was to continue good care for the 600 seniors in the Pioneer Home today. She also felt that seniors were uncomfortable with change, and are vulnerable because they have few options to change their lifestyle. They need to know that they will continue to receive quality care. Senator Kerttula said that preceding Ms. Usera's time, there was a misunderstanding from a memo by the administration and the residents of the Pioneer Home were crying and packing their bags. He did not want the seniors upset by such rhetoric and was distressed over such occurrences. He also wanted to know who was monitoring the contract food programs. He hoped the administration was monitoring it all times. Ms. Usera said the Pioneer Home Advisory Board was comprised of seniors and they monitored those sorts of things. She felt there were enough checks and balances in the system that she would hear if anything was wrong. Ms. Usera continued with page 11 and said that there were a few increments she would like to discuss. Budget priorities were shown on pages 12 and 13 for the Dept of Administration. She pointed out that in order to achieve significant savings in efficiencies throughout state government, adequate resources have to be provided to the policy development and the implementation of procedures that are going to achieve statewide savings. She said those opportunities were in centralized divisions, finance, personnel and general services. She believed there were opportunities to save money in government but not unless necessary money was spent necessary to support the systems that can derive the savings. At some point, the state has to say that the resources are not there to do the job to protect the state from risk and liability. How much risk is the state willing to take on in terms of the core government functions because each of these programs have an extreme amount of liability associated with the non-performance for their duties? Ms. Usera said that page 14 illustrated the increment requests for these core areas. She also said that she also wanted to point out the real losses, such as purchasing pioneer home supplies or renewing leases without competitive bids because of the lack of an RFP. She believed that the primary mission was the economical delivery of state services and that could best be done by centralized policy development and de-centralized implementation requiring monitoring and training. Senator Phillips asked the committee to look at the Alaska Public Broadcasting Commission. He said it had been brought to his attention that money had been spent on video productions that have been competing with the private sector at below market value. Co-chair Frank concurred with Senator Phillips' concerns. Ms. Usera reiterated that funding priorities were in the core government services. There was significant savings to be achieved but many departments were bare bones and unable to keep up to help departments operate efficiently. Discussion was held by Ms. Usera and the committee regarding the special issues in the FY95 budget priority report on page 15 as follows: Office of Public Advocacy and Public Defenders Agency funding, status of labor contract negotiations, consolidation of Senior Services-94 proposals, Pioneers' Homes residency and rate structure, Longevity Bonus phase out, lease management, satellite interconnect update, and Permanency Planning Board model program. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE OVERVIEW Co-chair Frank then invited Commissioner Darrel Rexwinkel to join the members at the committee table and proceed with the department presentation. Log notes of the meeting, handouts distributed by the departments, and tape recordings of the meeting are on file in the office of the Senate Finance Committee Secretary, Room 520, State Capitol Building, Juneau, Alaska (465-4935) and may be obtained through that office or the Legislative Finance Division, P.O. Box 113200, Juneau, Alaska 99811-3200 (465-3795). ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at approximately 11:00 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|