SENATE BILL NO. 349 "An Act requiring licensure of midwifery birth centers; and providing for an effective date." This was the first hearing for this bill in the Senate Finance Committee. Co-Chair Wilken stated that this bill would establish a single licensing standard for birthing centers in the State. He noted that of the six birthing centers in the State, five are registered and one is licensed. MYRA PUGH, Staff to Senator Bettye Davis, the sponsor of the bill, stated that the owners of the six birthing centers in the State support the implementation of a single State licensing standard for birthing centers as it would result in a single set of regulations and annual facility inspections are in place. She noted that through a collaborative effort, birth center owners reworked the State's existing licensed birth center regulations that have been in place since 1983 and submitted their recommendations to the rewriting regulation process. Midwifes of Alaska support this legislation and urge the Committee to do likewise. RICHARD BENAVIDES, Staff to Senator Bettye Davis, referred the Committee to the letter [copy on file] to Legislators, dated March 12, 2004, from Kay Kanne, Director of the Juneau Family Birth Center. It explains the legislative history pertaining to registered and licensed birth centers in the State. DANA BROWN, Certified Direct Entry Midwife and Director, Alaska Family Health & Birth Clinic, testified via teleconference from an offnet site in Fairbanks in support of the bill, as it would establish a single standard and licensing process for birth centers in the State. SHELBY LARSEN, Administrator, Certification & Licensing, Division of Public Health, Department of Health and Social Services, testified via teleconference from Anchorage and stated that the Department supports the bill as the consensus is that licensing standards for this industry should be established. Co-Chair Green moved to report the bill from Committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, SB 349 was REPORTED from Committee with $19,400 fiscal note #1, dated February 24, 2004, from the Department of Health and Social Services.