HB 60-RUNAWAYS; DFCS/DOH: DUTIES/LICENSING/INFO  3:04:11 PM CHAIR PRAX announced that the first order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 60, "An Act relating to the licensing of runaway shelters; relating to advisors to the board of trustees of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority; relating to the sharing of confidential health information between the Department of Health and the Department of Family and Community Services; relating to the duties of the Department of Health and the Department of Family and Community Services; and providing for an effective date." 3:04:59 PM HEATHER CARPENTER, Health Care Policy Advisor, Department of Health, introduced HB 60 on behalf of the bill sponsor, House Rules by request of the governor. She summarized how, under Executive Order (EO) 121, the former Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) was bifurcated into the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Family and Community Services (DFCS). She explained that the proposed legislation seeks to perform the anticipated "clean-up" to clarify the changes that resulted from creating the two departments. She then turned to Deputy Commissioner Clinton Lasley to discuss the proposed legislation. 3:06:20 PM CLINTON LASLEY, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Family and Community Services, on behalf of the sponsor, House Rules by request of the governor, spoke about the goals of HB 60. He said the proposed legislation would ensure that DOH and DFCS share information, including confidential and protected information, as necessary to administer programs and services for Alaskans; it is the same authority as DHSS had. Next, HB 60 would add a commissioner to DFCS to the advisory board of the Alaska Mental Health Trust, which is a substantive change supported by the trust. The bill would clarify statute related to licensing duties assigned to the former DHSS and related to runaway shelters and foster homes. He explained that it is necessary to point the right authority to the appropriate departments. He further explained that the category of runaway shelters needs to be moved under the purview of DOH. Finally, he noted that there is an amendment that would define the term department in AS 18.65.340 to include DFCS. 3:09:02 PM MS. CARPENTER offered the sectional analysis for HB 60 [included in the committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Section 1 Amends AS 12.62.400(a) to assign responsibility for criminal history checks for the licensing of runaway shelters to the Department of Health rather than the Department of Family and Community Services. This is done to correct a mistake from EO 121 that assigned the licensing of runaway shelters to Department of Family and Community Services even though a division of Department of Health performs this work. Sections 4-9 also implement this correction. Section 2 Amends AS 44.25.260 to add the Department of Family and Community Services Commissioner to the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority board of advisors. Section 3 Amends AS 47.05 by adding a new section: (1) requiring the Department of Health and Department of Family and Community Services share identifiable health information between and within departments as necessary to enable the efficient and effective administration and operation of both departments; (2) establishing that information acquired, used, disclosed, and stored under this section be stored in a confidential and secure environment; (3) establishes the definition of "identifiable health information" with the existing definition in AS 18.15.395. Sections 4-9 Amends statute to identify that the Department of Health holds responsibility for the licensure of programs and drafting regulations related to runaway minors. Sections 10 Amends AS 47.32.032 to provide clarifying language in licensing statute to identify that the Department of Family and Community Services is responsible for foster home licensing. This corrects a mistake from EO 121 that assigned the licensing of foster homes to Department of Health even though a division of Department of Family and Community Services performs this work. Section 11-15 Amends AS 47.32 to provide clarifying language in licensing statute about the respective departments having responsibility for actions related to the entities they license. Section 16 Establishes an immediate effective date. 3:13:08 PM REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER questioned what is considered "necessary" in terms of confidential information shared. MS. CARPENTER explained that an employee [of DOH or DFCS] would have access only to information within the scope of his/her work. REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER referenced Section 2 of HB 60 and offered clarification regarding the aforementioned advisory board of the Alaska Mental Health Trust by stating, "There is no separate advisory board to which these commissioners are members." MS. CARPENTER replied that Representative Saddler is correct, and said that misinformation would be fixed. She confirmed, "The commissioners are statutory advisors to the board of trustees." 3:15:37 PM REPRESENTATIVE RUFFRIDGE, referencing Section 3, regarding access to identifiable health information, suggested this is redundant, since those departments are covered already under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). MS. CARPENTER emphasized the importance of ensuring that all those who follow in the footsteps of current [DOH] employees know the expectation is they will share information with [DFCS] employees, which is also covered by HIPAA. In response to a follow-up question, she said sometimes leadership encourages the sharing, but clarity in statute will ensure no barriers in helping the public. 3:18:00 PM REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER asked whether the split resulted in the wished for benefits. 3:18:24 PM DEPUTY COMMISSIONER LASLEY answered that DOH has expressed it is pleased with the way that this reorganization is working in providing "more bandwidth" and allowing DOH to focus on its resources and provide support and meet technical needs. He pointed out that the change happened just eight months ago, but there have been positive changes already. REPRESENTATIVE SADDLER mentioned a backlog in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and inquired whether the bifurcation of DHSS played a part in it. 3:19:44 PM MS. CARPENTER responded that she would not say it was a direct correlation. She stated that the split of DHSS has allowed Commissioner Designee Heidi Hedberg to focus solely on the Division of Public Assistance. Before the department was split, it was so large that [working there was like going] "from fire to fire." MS. CARPENTER, in response to Chair Prax, noted there would be an upcoming technical amendment for HB 60. [HB 60 was held over.]