Legislature(1997 - 1998)
02/12/1997 03:05 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
JOINT HOUSE/SENATE
HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE
February 12, 1997
3:05 P.M.
SENATE MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Wilken, Chairman
Senator Lyda Green
Senator Jerry Ward
SENATE MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Loren Leman
Senator Johnny Ellis
HOUSE MEMBERS PRESENT
Representataive Con Bunde, Chairman
Representative Joe Green Vice Chairman
Representative Brian Porter
Representative Tom Brice
Representative Allen Kemplen
Representative Fred Dyson
HOUSE MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Al Vezey
OTHER MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Georgianna Lincoln
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Alaska Disability Policy Summit Progress Report
WITNESS REGISTER
Ms. Nancy Dodge, Chairman
Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education
Anchorage, AK
Mr. Jerry Kainulainen
Assistive Technologies of alaska Advisory Council
Sitka, AK
Ms. Jennifer Reynolds
Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education
North Pole, AK
Ms. Susan Loudon
Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education
Fairbanks, AK
Ms. Mary Jo Parks
Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education
Palmer, AK
Mr. Don Brandon, Chairman
Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities
Fairbanks, AK
Mr. David Levy
State Independent Living Council
Anchorage, AK
Ms. Jeri Best
State Independent Living Council
Soldotna, AK
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 97-12, SIDE A
Number 001
CHAIRMAN WILKEN called the Senate Health, Education and Social
Services (HESS) Committee to order at 3:05 p.m. and welcomed
everyone to the joint meeting.
NANCY DODGE, Chairman, Governor's Council on Disabilities and
Special Education, said that she was chosen to introduce the other
four chairmen and the groups they serve.
She said all five of the groups are established under State and
federal statutes with a specific role of advising the legislature
and departments about the issues that impact people with
disabilities in their families.
The other four groups are: the Governor's Committee on Employment
of People with Disabilities with Don Brandon, Chairman; State
Independent Living Council with Joy Anna Geisler, Acting Chairman;
the State Rehabilitation Advisory Council with Thor Williams,
Chairman; and Assistive Technologies of Alaska Advisory Council
with Kathy Privratsky, Chairman.
She said yesterday they conducted the first Alaska disability
summit focusing on public policies in the areas of community
inclusion and support, health-care, education, employment, housing,
and transportation.
Number 81
KATHY PRIVRATSKY, Assistive Technologies of Alaska Advisory
Council, said as long as people with disabilities remain
segregated, non-disabled people do not get to know them and
continue to believe that special training and clinical
certification are needed to support them in their communities.
Inclusion helps communities and citizens to realize they have the
capacity to be with, befriend, care about, work along-side, and
learn with and from people with disabilities. Inclusion also
enables people with disabilities to be full contributors to their
communities.
Physical accessibility and access to transportation may be all that
is need for many persons with disabilities to participate in their
communities.
Some people with disabilities may need individualized supports such
as personal assistance services or on-the-job training and support.
Some people with disabilities may need assistive technologies such
as teletypewriters (TTYs), voice synthesizers, grab bars or Braille
keyboards to be included in their communities.
Some families of people with disabilities may need supports and
resources such as respite care or in-home training in order for the
family member with a disability to continue living at home.
If community inclusion and supports are in place, State activities
around health care, education, employment, housing and
transportation can address and meet the needs of people with
disabilities.
Number 111
JERRY KAINULAINEN, Assistive Technologies of Alaska Advisory
Council, noted some possible legislative solutions to the
presentation Ms. Privratsky just gave.
He urged the Legislature to provide funding to ensure State
compliance with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), to pass
a lemon law for assistive technology devices and equipment, enact
puppy guide-dog legislation, designate American sign language as a
core curriculum requirement for another language under Bachelor of
Arts requirements at all University of Alaska campuses, ensure that
all gavel-to-gavel broadcasts are close captioned, provide adequate
funding for services such as respite, in-home training, infant
learning, orientation and mobility for the blind, interpreters for
the deaf, and personal assistance services.
REPRESENTATAIVE BRICE asked regarding the lemon-law if, for
instance, a wheelchair breaks down that was just purchased, when
would Medicaid buy a new chair. MR. KAINULAINEN replied that once
every five years Medicaid would buy a new wheelchair. If a piece
of equipment is defective and can't be repaired, they would not
replace it for five years.
SENATOR GREEN asked him to clarify the guide-dog legislation. MR.
KAINULAINEN replied that the Americans with Disabilities Act
provides for non-discrimination for people who have service animals
for entrance into restaurant facilities, etc. and there has been
some problems with some of the animals in their training,
especially when they are puppies that haven't been certified.
SENATOR GREEN asked if there are universities and schools that
accept sign language as a substitute for a recognized foreign
language requirement. MR. KAINULAINEN replied that they want to
require it to be offered, not make it a requirement.
Number 243
REPRESENTATIVE KEMPLEN asked if his organization noticed any
differences about life in the far north for people in wheelchairs,
for instance, people who sometimes have to make their way in
streets because sidewalks aren't shoveled. MS. DODGE said she
thought the Transportation Committee would be addressing that
issue. She added that you can't get onto sidewalks, into buses,
into lift vans, etc.
SENATOR WARD asked where the Americans with Disabilities Act falls
short in reference to the Alaskan way-of-life. MS. DODGE replied
that there are so many areas that we are not in compliance on that
it would take a long time. SENATOR WARD noted that he has been
working with the DOTPF on the ferry system which has new elevators
on the smaller vessels and on ports and harbors and Prince of Wales
Island. Even with the lack of regulations, he said, they are doing
an excellent job of addressing accessibility.
Number 319
MS. JENNIFER REYNOLDS , Governor's Council on Disabilities and
Special Education, said she is a parent of a child with a
disability. These are some thoughts she has collected from people
from all over the State. Alaskans with disabilities have
identified the lack of adequate health care and insurance as a
major barrier to independent living and employment.
The high cost of health insurance means that some people with
disabilities go without health insurance.
Some parents have had to relinquish custody of their children to
the State to get medical coverage for them until a Medicaid waiver
can be obtained.
Although many people with disabilities have some private health
insurance, few have adequate coverage that they can depend on to
meet their needs, given preexisting condition exclusions, minimal
benefit packages and benefit caps.
The common needs of people with disabilities for durable medical
equipment, assistive technology and personal assistance services
are rarely fully covered.
Many Alaskans with disabilities depend on public sector funding for
health care; access to adequate and affordable health insurance is
a major barrier to employment, since public health insurance is
generally only available to people who are not working.
Funding for eyeglasses, hearing aids, acute dental care and
occupational therapy is not available to adults with disabilities
who depend on Medicaid for their health care needs.
SUSAN LOUDON, Governor's Council on Disabilities and special
Education, said she has a daughter who has developmental
disabilities. She introduced some possible legislative solutions
to the problems just stated. The first is to restore Medicaid
funding for vision, hearing, acute dental and occupational therapy
services for adults.
The second is to enact legislation for private insurance coverage
that limits preexisting condition exclusions, improves portability
and is affordable.
The third is to ensure that whatever health care reform is
implemented in Alaska includes the following features: adequate
consumer information; quality standards; adequate appeal and
grievance procedures; and consumer governance.
Forth, re-prioritize Medicaid options list to emphasize home and
community-based services.
Fifth, ensure that savings from the closure of the Harborview
Developmental Center and the downsizing of the Alaska Psychiatric
Institute are reinvested in home and community-based services for
people with developmental disabilities and/or severe mental
illness.
Number 385
REPRESENTATIVE DYSON asked if she had some model legislation from
other states that could help them get started. MS. LOUDON said she
believed there was and they would be happy to find it for them.
REPRESENTATIVE DYSON said he had just spoken with a person who told
him that it took about $2,000 for the State to get him a pair of
sweat pants with zippers on the outside with big enough rings so
that he could dress himself. It took seven visits with whomever it
was he had to interface with in the State in order to get a pair of
pants that cost $150. He asked if that was a typical problem and
if they could easily solve that type of problem. MS. REYNOLDS
replied that as consumers interface with State government more, it
is becoming more family friendly. She said she would like to hear
from the man he talked with to see what the policy problems were
and added that there are a number of problems similar to that.
REPRESENTATIVE DYSON said he understood the administration was
revising the purchasing procedures within the State to address
issues like this and he wanted feedback from them on it.
Number 413
REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE said he wanted to set the record straight -
that the legislature set the budget, it was the administration's
choice to take away the eyeglasses and the hearing aids.
Number 428
SENATOR GREEN asked if the Kennedy/Kassebaum legislation would
impact Ms. Loudon's second concern of private insurance coverage
limiting preexisting condition exclusion. MS. LOUDON said it
should. She added that maybe the administration did this, but
people with disabilities have no other resources and are always
working towards going forward in their lives. If their glasses
break or they need new ones, it takes hundreds of dollars which
they don't have. She strongly urged that insurance coverage be
restored. MS. REYNOLDS commented that the Mental Health Trust
Authority put up $1.5 million in its budget to bolster the State's
part which she thought showed very good faith.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE said he sat on the budget subcommittee under
the Hickel administration when that happened and they had asked
what options would fall off the table if Medicaid was cut. He
wanted to clarify that it was a policy decision that was made by
the legislative budget subcommittee in the Hickel Administration
for FY95.
MARY JO PARKS, Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special
Education, said she was here to speak on education and had a 25-
year old mentally retarded woman with her. She said she had gone
through the education system with enough funding so she was able to
lead a full life. As a child she was able to get infant learning
programs to get the kind of stimulation she needed to enhance her
skills. When she entered school at age three she was able to get
the physical and speech therapy and other academic assistance she
needed. As she entered kindergarten, she entered into a school
district which gave her a free and appropriate public education.
The individual education plans that were written for her and then
followed-through with helped lead her into a life knowing how to
read and write, how to speak for herself and to interact with other
students. The people who were with her learned also.
The cost incurred from the inclusionary setting she was in was
there, because the teachers needed to be trained. In fact, the
entire school system needed to learn about how to deal with her and
her disabilities. Training is a very essential part to make
inclusion work. Education was the key that changed her life and
the life of her family - and society.
Ms. Parks said she is here today to ask them to support the changes
to the education foundation funding formula which would decrease
the overidentification of special education students and encourage
prevention and early intervention activities in schools. It will
also begin to provide the training needed by educators.
She commented that American sign language is a program they would
like to be accepted as equal curriculum standards for other
requirements such as a foreign language or an English program in
the Bachelor of Arts degrees. Learning how to communicate with one
another takes many different forms.
REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE asked her to explain "overidentification."
MS. PARKS responded that as we have tied money to students and
identification of a disability, there have been places where people
have been able to overidentify by taking certain tests and
qualifying. The Department of Education would like to address that
problem perhaps by changing the funding formula and the process by
which the department allocates monies for special education.
Number 533
REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN asked if she felt that the amount of money
allocated to education is proportionately granted to the teacher
and the students themselves or may there be siphons before it gets
to them that impair the quality of education. Because teachers are
required to do more things than just teach, should there be a whole
different look given to education. Maybe teachers should educate,
but maybe something else needs to be done with all the social
problems that teachers are facing in schools. MS. PARKS said she
did feel that there is a strong need to have administrators to deal
with the regulations and paper work that have to be monitored.
Taking money away from students is a mistake; the money has to get
to the classroom and meet the needs of every student. She thought
it was important for all agencies to work together as a unified
body to enhance students' lives. She used the COMPASS program as
an example.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked how consistent were special education
programs across the State. He elaborated that the foundation
formula allows for a certain amount of money for children with
special needs. That money is built into the foundation formula and
the legislature passes that money to school districts to provide
special education programming. He asked how consistently is that
money applied to the various classrooms for special education
across the State, for instance the same for Fairbanks as the
Iditarod school district. MS. PARKS said she couldn't answer that,
but people from the Department of Education could and she could
research it and get back to him on it.
Number 573
SENATOR LINCOLN said that she represented about 92 small
communities throughout Alaska in which she thought there were
special education needs, but not necessarily the resources to deal
with those needs. A lot of that has to do with the transportation
system and as long as people with disabilities remain segregated,
non-disabled people do not get to know them and continue to believe
that special training is required.
Seeing more of the services being put into the population centers,
moving special education people away from their families, SENATOR
LINCOLN asked Ms. Parks if she would say it is correct that the
resources are generally not there to address individual needs of
special education students.
TAPE 97-12, SIDE B
MS. PARKS replied that the resources are differently approached.
An example is the Special Education Service Agency which serves all
of Alaska in the rural bush areas to meet the needs of the more
severely disabled, but it's on a once a month or twice a month or
to meet the needs of the student. It is not every day contact like
her students get. So it is definitely different.
One of the things the Governor's Council has looked at is trying to
make sure that in the education system through the universities
that all teachers learn how to work with kids with disabilities.
This really needs to be expanded so that kids have their needs met
by the teacher they see daily.
Number 582
MS. DODGE commented with the closing of Harborview they are looking
at bringing people back into their home communities.
REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN noted that we don't fare well compared to
other states and the country doesn't fare well when we compare our
children's scores against many other countries (the U.S. is 14th in
the world). He said clearly there has been a change over the last
couple of decades. He asked if there is a need to look at
alternate types of skills and is the mainstreaming concept working,
in her estimation. Is there a need to separate those students who
are doing well from those who aren't and then concentrate our
efforts on those who are not. MS. PARKS replied that she has a
very strong bias in favor of public education. She has looked at
our country's system as well as others and we are getting more for
our money today than most countries get. What we are looking at, in
many ways, is a different society. We have a society now where a
lot of the support at home and the belief in education is so low
that kids are not as motivated to get education. That is a major
factor that we are facing.
She said that recently they looked at Japan and one of the things
that is different at the high school and junior high level is that
the students concentrate on small amounts of subjects where our
students are dealing with eight subjects a day. Just that kind of
education alone is something that educators are looking at and
asking if we are overloading our kids and that's why our test
scores are down. She said there is room for charter schools, but
we don't want to start segregating kids; we want inclusion because
everyone benefits from learning together.
MS. PARKS emphasized that school size might be an issue to look at.
Number 550
REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE said he hears from parents frequently about
the difference between mental and physical disabilities. He asked
what he should say to parents that a behavioral problem takes 50 -
75% of the teacher's time while the other 20 children have settle
for 25% of the teacher's time. MS. PARKS replied that if that is
happening, the teacher has not had the proper training and the
student is not getting the kind of support they need to make the
inclusion situation appropriate. A teacher needs to be trained to
say when she needs the help of an aide to get the student moving
along in an appropriate situation so that everyone can learn. The
parents need to be talked to and the student has a right to be
there and peer examples work. Helping the whole classroom resolve
the issue of one student taking too much time makes a powerful
society and classroom.
Number 533
DON BRANDON, Chairman, Governor's Committee on Employment of People
with Disabilities, said that first of all disability is normal.
People who experience them are normal people; it's our approach
toward dealing with disability that is abnormal. We have come a
long way in our society, but we still have some major barriers to
overcome attitudinally in responding to people with disabilities.
He said that 66% of Alaskans with disabilities are unemployed or
underemployed.
Mr. Brandon said he wanted the committee to remember four things:
attitude, access, accommodation, and appropriate health care
coverage. He thought if they could remember those four words, they
could address some employment issues of people with disabilities.
He explained that because of our separate attitude, we build
facilities that are not accessible.
Access to a working environment is denied. However, accommodation
is becoming more a more prominent issue because of the Employment
of Americans with Disabilities Act. 88% of the costs for
accommodating a person with a severe disability costs less than
$1,000. Fourthly, when you look at some of the barriers to
employment, you have to look at appropriate health care coverage.
Some legislative solutions he proposed are to enact legislation for
private insurance coverage that limits preexisting condition
exclusions, improves the transportability and affordability of
health care coverage for people who are working; ensure that
adequate health care and long term supports - including personal
assistance services and assistive technology - are available to
people with disabilities who are employed, seeking employment or
changing jobs; provide funding to enforce the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA); and establish a guaranteed business loan
program to promote entrepreneurship by people with disabilities.
Mr. Brandon noted that special consideration was given to the State
of Alaska and the arctic wilderness environment when ADA was
passed. Title 5 of ADA requires a wilderness study looking at
parks and recreation facilities.
Number 488
REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN asked how the degree of disability is
determined considering there is such a tremendous spectrum. MR.
BRANDON said they have based the definition of disability on the
functional limitation that a disease or impairment causes on an
individual who experiences the disability.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked how real is the loss of medical coverage
to a person with a disability as a barrier to employment. MR.
BRANDON answered that it is real significant because many times the
job the person with a disability is applying for does not come with
the health benefit coverages that are necessary to maintain a
person's existence; that is the barrier of finding the right job.
SENATOR WARD asked him to expand on loan opportunities. MR.
BRANDON said that now there is nothing available, but he envisions
a program within State government which has been talked about in
the legislature over the last 10 years. He used the example of an
electrician who had his arm blown off and had paralysis in some
lower parts of his body. When he became medically stable and able
to go to work, job opportunities would come open and he would go
and apply for them, but the jobs would be given to people who were
able-bodied. This went on for two years. So he sat down in his
garage and started thinking about what he could do to survive and
he started selling T-shirts out of his own garage. In the last 15-
years he has become the largest producer of specialty advertising
in interior Alaska. He said that many people with disabilities
have the ability to produce a business that is successful for them.
Number 421
REPRESENTATIVE PORTER asked if he knew what was happening to the
bill the legislature passed last year requiring the State to
guarantee the loan programs for assistive technology. MR. BRANDON
replied that that loan program is available now.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked what could the legislature do to make
government more consumer friendly. MR. BRANDON said he didn't know
that it was unfriendly, but Mr. Duane French, Director, Vocational
Rehabilitation, could give him the information.
Number 408
DAVID LEVY, State Independent Living Council, said he would be
speaking about housing issues and that people want at least two
things in life - a phone call from Ed McMann saying they won the
$10 million sweepstakes and the other is access to affordable
housing. He suggested they look at fully funding the Alaska
Housing Finance Corporation, specifically to include $2.5 million
in special needs housing and $750,000 in homeless services. It has
been estimated that 40% of homeless individuals in the State of
Alaska experience some form of a disability.
Secondly, he suggested for them to provide some direction and
support to the AHFC to provide some grant writing and other
technical skills to service providers so they can figure out how to
bring more federal dollars into the State to utilize as a match.
Thirdly, they should target State housing dollars towards rural
communities.
Finally, they should amend AHFC statutes and establish a down-
payment program that would allow people with disabilities to own
their own homes or remain in their existing homes.
SENATOR WARD asked if he had taken these requests to the AHFC
Board. MR. LEVY replied that they have had initial discussions
with them and they have expressed some interest and they are
continuing to work with them to make a joint proposal to the
legislature, both administratively and legislatively.
REPRESENTATIVE KEMPLEN said in Scandinavia there is a concept of
co-housing where people join forces and pool their abilities to
support one another in a home environment and asked if our disabled
community had looked at. MR. LEVY said he had read some material
on this and he would be happy to get more information for them on
it and thought it would be very interesting to explore it.
Number 358
JERI BEST , State Independent Living Council, fitting together a
piece of her wheelchair, said she wanted to illustrate that until
you have been in a wheelchair and gone into a public restroom in an
airport or a ferry and had to take your wheelchair apart and then
get stuck and rescued - not fully clothed, you haven't really
lived. She said that people with disabilities have to make
themselves fit into a situation which isn't always the best answer.
Accessible transportation is one of the keys to community
inclusion. She said a lot of improvement has been made in the last
five years and in the last year substantial improvement has been
made in the transportation system. She said that a lot of agencies
have been funded to buy vans, but they only serve their own
clientele and won't stretch the rules.
She said a minimum of four DOTPF people came to their summit and
was another step in the right direction. She said only a few
Alaskan communities have public transportation and even there it's
limited because they have to be within 1/2 mile of the corridor.
There are eligibility restrictions and limited hours of service and
there are very few companies that provide accessible
transportation.
In addition to the elimination of physical barriers, transportation
access for people with disabilities includes the removal of
structural, communication and environemtnal barriers. She
mentioned that there are still a few curbs that need to be moved.
Expanded visual access such as signage, electronic message boards
and teletypewriter are needed for the hearing impaired so they can
contact a lot of the transportation facilities. They also need
auditorial detectable warnings as well as some braille which is an
easy accommodation, but they need to be made policies and
priorities.
Ms. Best said some legislative solutions were to provide additional
operating and capital funds, including flexible capital for
maintenance and operations, in order to expand public transit in
Alaska and to fund more accessible rural transit services and other
forms of rural transportation for both the general public and
people with disabilities.
Number 252
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked if it was easy to access transportation
once she arrived in Juneau. MS. BEST replied that Juneau is really
great because several agencies have gotten together. Under ADA you
can apply for an ADA paratransit card. This means you can go any
place and ride the paratransit system.
Number 227
REPRESENTATIVE KEMPLEN said there is the issue of money and being
able to fund transportation for people and said other northern
communities create quality living environments for all members of
their society and recognize it is a lot more efficient and cost
effective if they can concentrate their dollars into smaller areas.
He thought it would be a lot easier to maintain an urban
environment in a concentrated area. MS. BEST replied that that
would not be giving her free choices and America is about free
choice. If she makes the choice to live in south Anchorage she
should have the same access as downtown Anchorage. She, as a
disabled person, should not be forced to live in an environment
that is more conducive to her disability. She said disabled people
want to be a part of everyone else's lives.
Number 172
SENATOR WARD noted that not all hotels were handicapped accessib
He said about four years ago there was a special ordinance for five
cabs that were handicapped permitted and asked her if she knew
anything about it. MS. BEST replied that she had talked with Guy
[indisc] who owns Alaska Cab and he has no more handicapped
accessible cabs because they had worn themselves out and he didn't
have the funds available to purchase any more. SENATOR WARD asked
if there were other places that did that. MS. BEST said she has
some demonstration projects and other information that she would be
glad to forward to him.
Number 144
MS. DODGE thanked the committee on behalf of everyone for allowing
them to speak to the committee today. She said they would be
answering their questions within the next few weeks and would
forward them a copy of yesterday's summit report. She said they
have a State number which is 269-8990.
CHAIRMAN WILKEN said that it had been a great meeting and the
Legislature had a plan to balance the budget over the next four
years. He didn't want them to lose confidence in what they can do.
He said the government is not going to pass the pain down to their
customers, but send it up the ladder. He asked them to let the
legislature know if they felt they were being pinpointed to balance
the budget. He congratulated them on their summit and the way they
have presented their ideas.
He then adjourned the meeting at 4:40 p.m.
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