SB 47-EXTEND BOARD OF NURSING  SB 48-EXTEND BOARD OF MIDWIVES  CHAIR CON BUNDE called the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. and announced SB 47 to be up for consideration. All members were present. MS. AMY SEITZ, staff to Senator Wagoner, sponsor of SB 47, said the purpose of SB 47 is to extend the sunset date of the Board of Nursing from June 30, 2003 to June 30, 2011. She explained: The Board of Nursing was established to insure the protection of the public's health, safety and welfare. The Board accomplishes this by setting a minimum of education and experience an individual needs to become a licensed professional and also by investigating any complaints against these professionals. The Division of Legislative Audit reviewed the board and concluded that due to their success in carrying out these responsibilities, the termination date should be extended until the year 2011. CHAIR BUNDE said the Division of Legislative Budget and Audit (LBA) made two recommendations: to develop procedures to notify the Board of Pharmacy of changes in the status of prescription authority to various nursing licensees; and to develop a self- evaluation monitoring check list for organizations that utilize certified nursing aide training programs. He asked if those recommendations had been addressed. MS. SEITZ replied that the Board is working on them now. SENATOR FRENCH asked if those two recommendations would be the subject of later legislation. MS. SEITZ replied that she thought so. MR. RICK URION, Director, Division of Occupational Licensing, said he supported both SB 47 extending the Board of Nursing and SB 48, which extends the Board of Midwives. CHAIR BUNDE asked if the Board was making progress on meeting the recommendations of LB&A. MS. NANCY SANDERS, Chair, Board of Nursing, said that both recommendations were administrative procedures and were being addressed by the board. SENATOR SEEKINS asked if these are relatively minor things that could be taken care of administratively. MS. SANDERS replied, "Absolutely." SENATOR SEEKINS said that it shouldn't take a meeting of the Board of Nursing to accomplish. MS. SANDERS agreed that it could be taken care of in-house fairly quickly. MS. PAT DAVIDSON, Director of LBA, agreed that no statutory fixes are necessary. The eight-year extension of the Board of Nursing takes into account the minor operational deficiencies. CHAIR BUNDE said there has been an increase in applicant for licensure. He asked if that increase would begin to address the nursing shortage. MS. SANDERS replied that they hope so. SENATOR SEEKINS moved to pass SB 47 from committee with individual recommendations and its zero fiscal note. There were no objections and the roll was called. SENATORS DAVIS, FRENCH, STEVENS, SEEKINS and BUNDE voted in favor therefore SB 47 was passed from committee. CHAIR BUNDE announced SB 48 to be up for consideration. MS. SEITZ, Staff to Senator Wagoner, sponsor of SB 48, explained that it extends the sunset date for the certified direct entry midwives to 2007. They have done a good job according to LB&A. MS. KAYE KANNE, Executive Director, Juneau Family Birth Center, said she is a Juneau midwife and served on the Board of Certified Direct Entry Midwives for eight years. She testified that the board had done a good job of writing and implementing regulations and continues to keep them up to national standards. She pointed out that Alaska certified direct entry midwives delivered almost 10 percent of Alaska babies last year. That number has grown considerably since the board's inception in 1992. In the Mat-Su Borough midwives delivered 25 percent of the babies, in Fairbanks 12 percent of the babies and in Juneau 15 percent of the babies. Nationwide, midwives attend the births of 5 percent or less. She said the midwives have delivered the babies with really good outcomes. SENATOR SEEKINS moved to pass SB 48 from committee with individual recommendations and its zero fiscal note. SENATORS DAVIS, FRENCH, STEVENS, SEEKINS and BUNDE voted in favor, therefore SB 48 passed from committee.