HB 323-EXTEND PT & OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY BOARD  3:19:33 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS announced that the first order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 323, "An Act extending the termination date of the State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board; and providing for an effective date." 3:19:52 PM TANNER FRITSINGER, Staff, Representative Grier Hopkins, Alaska State Legislature, on behalf of Representative Hopkins, sponsor, introduced HB 323 and provided the sectional analysis. He explained that HB 323 would extend the State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board's termination date eight years to 6/30/2030 as recommended by the Division of Legislative Audit. Extending this board's termination date, he continued, is important in protecting Alaskans who need physical therapy. These [therapy] services are utilized by everyone, and the bill ensures that practitioners are properly licensed and that appropriate standards and practices in the industry are enforced. 3:21:08 PM MR. FRITSINGER provided the sectional analysis for HB 323. He said Section 1 would amend statute to change the termination date of the State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board from 6/3/22 to 6/30/30. Section 2 states that the Act becomes effective immediately upon signature. Timestamp CO-CHAIR FIELDS opened invited testimony on HB 323. 3:21:42 PM KRIS CURTIS, CPA, CISA, Legislative Auditor, Division of Legislative Audit, provided invited testimony on HB 323. She confirmed that the Division of Legislative Audit conducted a sunset audit of the State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board. She explained that the purpose of a sunset audit is to determine whether a board or commission is serving the public's interest and whether it should be extended. She noted that a copy of the audit, dated 4/2/21, can be found in each committee member's meeting packet. She said the division found that, overall, the board served the public's interest by conducting meetings in accordance with state laws; amending certain regulations to improve the professions of physical therapy and occupational therapy; and effectively licensing and regulating physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, occupational therapists, and occupational therapy assistants. The division, she continued, is recommending an eight-year extension, the maximum allowed for in statute. MS. CURTIS pointed out some of the standard information that is included in every occupational sunset audit. She turned to the licensing information on page 5 of the audit report and related that as of January 2021 there were 1,762 active licenses and permits, an increase of 53 percent since the prior sunset audit of 2013 that can be attributed to telehealth. She brought attention to the schedule of revenues and expenditures for the board on page 7 and specified that as of January 2021 the board had a surplus of just over $211,000. She moved to the schedule of license and permit fees depicted on page 6 and noted that fees were decreased in fiscal year 2020 (FY 2020) in response to the surplus. MS. CURTIS stated that the report makes no recommendations. She said responses to the audit begin on page 19, and both the commissioner of the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED) and the board chair agree with the report conclusions. 3:23:49 PM REPRESENTATIVE NELSON asked how much travel cost was reduced in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and meetings being conducted online [rather than in person]. MS. CURTIS replied that travel significantly decreased to be almost exclusively teleconference or video conference. 3:24:36 PM SARA CHAMBERS, Director, Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (DCBPL), Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED), confirmed that [meetings by teleconference and video conference] are the main reasons for the reduction in travel costs. She said none of DCBPL's boards were meeting in person during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 3:25:08 PM REPRESENTATIVE NELSON asked whether this board would continue to meet online or transition back to in-person meetings. MS. CHAMBERS responded that the division is taking a hybrid approach, as are many organizations. The division typically has a standard of business need to meet in person - a board needs to demonstrate that it has a reason to come together, especially since technology has improved so much over the last couple of years. The division implemented online board meetings in 2018 and some discretion is left to the boards. The division does encourage the boards to meet in person if they have a business need to do so, but many of them don't want to because they appreciate the efficiencies of being home with their families. Sometimes boards have two days of work and that is an exhausting online meeting, but this board often is efficient and has shorter meetings. 3:26:16 PM REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY observed an estimated annual expenditure of $230,000 on page 2 of the fiscal note. He said the revenue doesn't seem to fit that and requested that this be addressed. MS. CHAMBERS answered that this fiscal note only pertains to this bill, it isn't an overview of the entire program. According to the sunset section of Alaska statute, AS 08.03, the licensing activities revert to the division upon the sunset of a board, so the division would continue to license physical therapists and occupational therapists and that would be outside of this bill. This bill is only to reauthorize the board itself, so these expenses are related only to the activities of the board and not the activities of the entire licensing program which goes unchanged regardless of the outcome of the bill. REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY surmised that this board sustains itself from the fees collected. MS. CHAMBERS replied that for the most part, with just a few recent changes including the FY 23 governor's budget, all the division's licensing programs are self-sustaining through fees. The division has received a little bit of general fund to knock down some of those fee increases during COVID-19 especially, but the bulk of programs are self-sustaining, and the division does balance those through fee increases and decreases after an annual overview. HB 323 was held over.