HOUSE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE April 28, 1995 8:37 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Cynthia Toohey, Co-Chair Representative Con Bunde, Co-Chair Representative Gary Davis Representative Caren Robinson Representative Tom Brice MEMBERS ABSENT Representative Al Vezey Representative Norman Rokeberg COMMITTEE CALENDAR CONFIRMATION HEARINGS:Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority Board of Trustees. CSSB 117(HES): "An Act establishing a statewide independent living council and clarifying its relationship with existing agencies; and providing for an effective date." PASSED OUT OF COMMITTEE WITNESS REGISTER JOHN PUGH, Dean of Education Liberal Arts and Sciences University of Alaska Southeast 1011 D. Street Juneau, AK 99801 Telephone: (907) 465-6531 POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate. NELSON PAGE, Managing Shareholder Law Firm of Burr, Pease & Kurtz 810 "N" Street Anchorage, AK 99501 Telephone: (907) 346-2667 POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate. TOM HAWKINS, Senior Vice-president/Chief Operating Officer Bristol Bay Native Corporation 1820 East 24th Avenue Anchorage, AK 99508 Telephone: (907) 278-3602 POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate. JOHN MALONE Malone & Co., Inc. P.O. Box 1032 Bethel, AK 99559 Telephone: (907) 543-2902 POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate. EVELYN TUCKER 112 Beaufort Circle Anchorage, AK 99515 Telephone: (907) 345-6107 POSITION STATEMENT: Confirmation hearing candidate. STAN RIDGEWAY, Deputy Director Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Department of Education 801 W. 10th Street, Suite 200 Juneau, AK 99801-1894 Telephone: (907) 465-6932 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of SB 117. PREVIOUS ACTION BILL: SB 117 SHORT TITLE: STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL SPONSOR(S): SENATOR(S) HALFORD JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION 03/08/95 538 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S) 03/08/95 538 (S) HES, FIN 03/20/95 (S) HES AT 09:00 AM BUTROVICH ROOM 205 03/20/95 (S) MINUTE(HES) 03/21/95 720 (S) HES RPT CS 3DP 2NR SAME TITLE 03/21/95 721 (S) FISCAL NOTE (DOE) 04/06/95 (S) FIN AT 09:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532 04/11/95 (S) FIN AT 09:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532 04/11/95 (S) FIN AT 02:30 PM SENATE FINANCE 532 04/12/95 995 (S) FIN RPT 4DP (HES)CS 04/12/95 996 (S) PREVIOUS FN (DOE) 04/12/95 (S) FIN AT 09:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532 04/13/95 (S) RLS AT 01:15 PM FAHRENKAMP RM 203 04/18/95 1059 (S) RULES TO CALENDAR 4/18/95 04/18/95 1068 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME 04/18/95 1068 (S) HES CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT 04/18/95 1068 (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING UNAN CONSENT 04/18/95 1068 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSB 117(HES) 04/18/95 1069 (S) PASSED Y18 N1 E1 04/18/95 1069 (S) EFFECTIVE DATE(S) SAME AS PASSAGE 04/18/95 1069 (S) KELLY NOTICE OF RECONSIDERATION 04/19/95 1089 (S) HELD ON RECONSIDERATION TO 4/20 04/20/95 1125 (S) RECONSIDERATION NOT TAKEN UP 04/20/95 1127 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H) 04/21/95 1418 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S) 04/21/95 1418 (H) HES, FINANCE 04/28/95 1629 (H) HES RPT 3DP 2NR 04/28/95 1630 (H) DP: ROBINSON, TOOHEY, BRICE 04/28/95 1630 (H) NR: G.DAVIS, BUNDE 04/28/95 1630 (H) SENATE FISCAL NOTE (DOE) 3/21/95 04/28/95 (H) HES AT 08:30 AM CAPITOL 106 ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 95-45, SIDE A Number 000 CO-CHAIR CON BUNDE called the meeting of the House Health, Education and Social Services standing committee to order at 8:37 a.m. Present at the call to order were Representatives Bunde, Toohey, Brice and Davis. A quorum was present to conduct business. Co-Chair Bunde read the calendar and announced the order of the bills. CONFIRMATION HEARINGS: ALASKA MENTAL HEALTH TRUST AUTHORITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Number 105 JOHN PUGH, Dean of Education, Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Alaska Southeast, said his background is in the area of psychiatric social work. He has a master's in psychiatric education and social work. His career working in mental health clinics began in the U.S. Air Force. He continued to work in that area and in youth corrections after leaving the Air Force. He then began to work in administrative areas within the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS). MR. PUGH said he is very interested in the services to mental health beneficiaries. He feels the experience he has had over the years will be a benefit in developing a comprehensive integrated mental health plan, and will assist in studying how to best respond to the income account for the mental health beneficiaries. MR. PUGH said his vision for the board is that this authority has an opportunity to bring together a broad number of services within the DHSS and the Attorney General's Office within the Department of Corrections to try to serve the beneficiaries. It is a great opportunity to serve with the board. He thinks there are many ways to make service delivery better. Number 278 CO-CHAIR BUNDE announced that Representative Robinson joined the meeting at 8:40 a.m. Number 338 NELSON PAGE, Managing Shareholder, Law Firm of Burr, Pease & Kurtz, testified via teleconference that he got involved in mental health issues on a personal level. His wife was working at the neonatal intensive care unit at Providence Hospital in Anchorage when she came across a problem which was a very serious and expensive one for the state of Alaska. She discovered that there were no ways to deliver services to infants who lived in rural areas but who had very intense medical needs that required they be in a hospital setting. MR. PAGE said this problem was primary because there was no way to care for these children outside of the hospital. Mr. Page and his wife took in one of the small children from a village in Southwest Alaska as a foster son. They cared for him and created a program designed to bridge the gap between the need for intense medical care and the need for people to get back to their families and villages. MR. PAGE said as a result of that experience, he has continued to try to create programs to help people get out of hospitals and into more natural settings. He got involved in the whole issue of what services were available and how they were delivered. He spent several years on the Mental Health Board with some of the other candidates in this confirmation hearing. All those individuals worked very hard to try and solve the mental health lands litigation. MR. PAGE said his vision for the Trust Authority has many facets. He wants the board to become a canvas, or a place where imaginations can roam to create ways of delivering mental health services in the state to match the state's needs. He also would like the board to make some of those hard decisions, providing the legislature with a comprehensive budget each year. MR. PAGE said he felt the board members want to present the legislature with a budget that is realistic. The board also has a role to play in the enhancement of the coordination of the comprehensive mental health plan. That will be an area in which the board can create efficiencies and produce a better mental health program, hopefully the best in the country. The board can do this by making sure it meets the needs of the people. Number 562 REPRESENTATIVE CAREN ROBINSON said she has heard a rumor that the board has made a decision to move the executive director position to the Anchorage office. She was curious if that was true, and if so, why that would be, considering the Administration and the legislature is in Juneau. The real importance of having the executive director in Juneau is for those reasons. MR. PAGE answered that the Trust Board, in its first meeting, did make a decision that it would focus its staff in Anchorage. That decision has been made. The reasons for it are many. One of them is that there is a responsibility to deal not just with the Administration and what goes on centrally in Juneau in terms of the legislative process. There is also a responsibility to monitor and work with the mental health trust lands through the Department of Natural Resources that is headquartered in Anchorage. MR. PAGE said the board has an opportunity with the resources that have been granted as part of the trust. The opportunity is to really generate a lot of activity on land that has been pretty inactive for many years. The board felt it was very important to be close to the mental health trust lands. The board was also aware of the fact that many constituent groups and other planning bodies the board needs to work with are located in Anchorage. Number 685 MR. PAGE added that the board was also concerned about making sure the Trust Authority was accessible throughout the state. That was also a consideration in making a decision to focus in Anchorage. He noted that the board very clearly understands that much of what the board does relates to what is going on in Juneau. Exactly how the board will be dealing with the issue of the work that needs to be done in Juneau, and how board members will represent themselves and their constituents in the legislature and with the Administration is something the board is still trying to make decisions about. MR. PAGE said the board does expect to have an ongoing presence in Juneau. Number 738 REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON requested that the board rethink that decision. She has seen problems arise with other boards and commissions because they are not located in Juneau. The legislature forgets about them. The facts are that the commissioner of DHSS is in Juneau, as well as the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). All the mental health staff is in Juneau also. She is very concerned about the amount of money and time spent on board members who have to fly to Juneau and spend the whole session. REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON noted that it is not just with this board, she has seen this happen with others. The board ends up paying for their executive directors to live in a hotel for the 120 days that the legislature is in Juneau. She asked Mr. Page to realize how that decision is going to impact what the board is going to be requesting. MR. PAGE appreciated that concern, and Representative Robinson is not the first person to raise that concern. Therefore, it is an issue that will be reinvestigated. Number 830 CO-CHAIR TOOHEY commented that if Mr. Page had said the executive director's position was going to be in Juneau, she would have suggested that it be relocated to Anchorage. She does not think there will be that much interaction with the legislature. There are people in Juneau who are on the board that can be appointed as liaisons. She is very happy the position is located in Anchorage, for economic and work reasons. Number 910 TOM HAWKINS, Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, testified via teleconference from Anchorage that he has a collection of job experiences primarily in the area of natural resources for both the public and private sector. He looks forward to serving on the Mental Health Board. The job is an important one. Although the challenges seem daunting in the early months of the existence of the board, there are wonderful opportunities to focus and provide the efficient delivery of a broad range of mental health services while effectively managing the money, resources and assets of the trust in a way that serves the beneficiaries. CO-CHAIR TOOHEY asked if she and Mr. Hawkins have met, and he said they met during her campaign. She asked if Mr. Hawkins was pro- or anti-development, and he said he was pro-development. Number 1010 JOHN MALONE, Malone & Co., Inc., testified via teleconference that he first became involved in the concerns of the mentally ill and mentally disabled during his tour as a state trooper in the 1960s. One of his first involvements was an investigation of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute immediately after it was opened. Thereafter, Mr. Malone spent several years in the Aleutians and in Western Alaska. He has made several contacts with residents of psychiatric hospitals. MR. MALONE said during that period, he helped develop a nonprofit corporation, Bethel Community Services, and also started the first mental health program in this region. Later he also helped begin the first program in the region for those with developmental disabilities. He has been affiliated with those organizations on and off for about 20 years, as a direct provider, board member and chairman of the board. MR. MALONE has been involved with the issues of the board ever since former Governor Cowper originally filed a case in 1982. Later he was involved as a five-year member of the Alaska Mental Health Board, when Chapter 48, the original settlement, was passed by the legislature. MR. MALONE said most recently, he was representing the coalition of beneficiary groups and the successful resolution of issues. He feels extremely privileged to have this opportunity to further the settlement and the implementation of the settlement in this manner through the Trust Authority. He thinks the Trust Authority is probably the finest achievement for a public purpose that the state has arrived at in the settlement. Number 1181 EVELYN TUCKER testified via teleconference that it was about 1985 or 1986 that she was meeting with other Alaskan Natives who were becoming aware of the number of suicides in the Native communities. At that time, she was serving on a Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI) nonprofit board. The suicide and accident rate was very high among Native young people, aged 20 to 30. There was a lot of drinking and driving, and a lot of substance abuse. She was following the mental health litigation, and thought there might be some resources that would make a difference in the Native community. MS. TUCKER said she subsequently applied for the first Mental Health Board under what she thought was a settlement that turned out to be the first of several settlements. At one point, she served two terms for the Mental Health Board, and served two years as chair. Number 1248 MS. TUCKER began to think about becoming a candidate for the Trust Authority, and she felt her experience with setting up the first Mental Health Board would be very useful to the authority. She was attracted to the challenges and opportunities of the settlement. She primarily is concerned with her fiduciary responsibilities to the beneficiaries of the trust. Number 1349 CO-CHAIR BUNDE thanked all those who testified, and read the following statement, "This does not reflect an intent by any member to vote for or against these individuals during any further sessions for the purpose of confirmation." SB 117 - STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL Number 1414 STAN RIDGEWAY, Deputy Director, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Education, said this bill was introduced at the request of the Department of Education by Senator Halford. In order for Alaska to continue to receive federal funds for independent living, the state must establish in statute a Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC). There has been a council functioning for the last year and a half, but last year there were questions raised about the legality of the council. Former Governor Hickel had to reappoint a council so it could get federal funds in October. MR. RIDGEWAY stated that SB 117 establishes the council in statute. There is a fiscal note of $142,000 that is already in the budget and is being spent by the council. This enables the state to receive about $900,000 in federal money. There is $602,000 in state money that has been going to the independent living centers in Alaska, and there is a $39,000 match to that. MR. RIDGEWAY said the council that is established spends about 9 percent of this money on operations. That is the $142,000 fiscal note. Number 1475 CO-CHAIR TOOHEY noted that Mr. Ridgeway had said the $142,000 is already in the budget. MR. RIDGEWAY said that was correct. CO-CHAIR TOOHEY asked if there will be a reappropriation of money the next year. MR. RIDGEWAY said yes, there would be. It is a part of the roughly $1 million that is already appropriated from federal and state money. Number 1499 REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON asked if the SILC was located within the DHSS. MR. RIDGEWAY said no, actually the SILC is located within the Department of Education. The language in the bill exempts it from that, and places it in the Department of Education. Number 1517 REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS asked if the SILC was considered to be a part of the Human Resources Investment Council (HRIC). He noted that the SILC was not included in the HRIC as far as the merger of councils. MR. RIDGEWAY said Representative Davis was correct. On a federal and state level, vocational rehabilitation has been mentioned in the HRIC, but it has been exempted. CO-CHAIR BUNDE closed public testimony and asked for the wish of the committee. REPRESENTATIVE ROBINSON moved CSSB 117(HES) with attached backup documents, accompanying fiscal notes, and individual recommendations. There were no objections, and the bill passed from the House Health, Education and Social Services Committee. ADJOURNMENT CO-CHAIR BUNDE adjourned the meeting at 9:05 a.m.