MINUTES  SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE  March 15, 2001  9:41 AM  TAPES  SFC-01 # 43, Side A   CALL TO ORDER  Co-Chair Pete Kelly convened the meeting at approximately 9:41 AM. PRESENT  Senator Dave Donley, Co-Chair Senator Pete Kelly, Co-Chair Senator Jerry Ward, Vice Chair Senator Loren Leman Senator Lyda Green Senator Gary Wilken Senator Alan Austerman Senator Lyman Hoffman Also Attending: REPRESENTATIVE ELDON MULDER; HANS NEIDIG, Staff to Senator Green SUMMARY INFORMATION  SB 112-LONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN; MENTAL HLTH AUTH The Committee heard from the sponsor, adopted a committee substitute and MOVED the bill from Committee. HB 90-MUNICIPAL SCHOOL BOND REIMBURSEMENT The Committee heard from the sponsor and the bill was HELD in Committee. HOUSE BILL NO. 112 "An Act relating to information and services available to pregnant women and other persons; and ensuring informed consent before an abortion may be performed, except in cases of medical emergency." This was the first hearing for this bill in the Senate Finance Committee. Senator Green moved for adoption of CS SB 112 22-LS0423\L, 3/12/01, as a working draft. Without objection, it was ADOPTED. HANS NEIDIG, Staff for Senator Green, read a statement into the record as follows. SB 112 would place employees of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (AMHTA) in the exempt service, while establishing a minimum salary for the Long Term Care Ombudsman. SB 112 was introduced at the request of the AMHTA to address concerns about their ability to function efficiently as a state corporation. Unlike other state boards, commissions and authorities whose employees are placed in the exempt service under AS 39.25.110(11), the AMHTA's employees are not in the exempt service. This is despite the fact that the fiduciary duty owed to the beneficiaries by the Trust requires that employees perform at the highest levels of competency, since their actions could jeopardize the assets and/or management of the Trust. Additionally, this legislation establishes a minimum salary for the Long Term Care Ombudsman at a Range 21. Establishing a minimum salary of the Long Term Care Ombudsman will help ensure that a qualified individual can be hired for this crucial position. Senator Green pointed out that the MHTA brought a request for this legislation to the Senate Health, Education and Social Services Committee. She added that the request is in response to the relocation of the Long Term Care Ombudsman position to the MHTA. Senator Hoffman asked why Section 4 was eliminated from the original bill in the committee substitute. This section allows the legislation to take effect only if Executive Order 102 takes effect. Senator Green shared that the governor had introduced the executive order that transfers the Long Term Care Ombudsman to the MHTA. She explained that the deadline in which the legislature could object to the EO has passed, and therefore the order became effective and Section 4 is no longer necessary. Senator Ward offered a motion to report, CS SB 112 22-LS0423\L, 3/12/01 from Committee, with accompanying zero fiscal note from the Department of Revenue, Mental Health Trust Authority Budget Request Item (BRU). There was no objection and the bill MOVED from Committee. AT EASE 9:45 AM / 9:46 AM HOUSE BILL NO. 90 "An Act relating to reimbursement of municipal bonds for school construction; and providing for an effective date." This was the first hearing for this bill in the Senate Finance Committee. REPRESENTATIVE ELDON MULDER, Sponsor of the bill, referred to HB 281 and 282 from the previous session, authorizing a bond debt reimbursement and school construction throughout the state. He stressed that HB 90 is "purely a clean-up of HB 281. He explained that when the latter bill was drafted, the intention was for bond debt reimbursement, not only prospectively, but retroactively as well for Anchorage and the Northwest Arctic Borough. Instead, he pointed out, the actual language somehow excluded the retroactive or "look-back" provision. HB 90, he stated, grants that authorization as originally intended. Senator Wilken asked if this fixes the incorrect date included in a portion of HB 281, which prevented the Anchorage School District from participating. Representative Mulder answered that it does and pointed out that this is the companion bill to SB 2, sponsored by Senator Torgerson and heard by the Committee earlier in the session. Co-Chair Kelly noted that there could be some amendments to this bill. He ordered the bill HELD in Committee. ADJOURNMENT  Co-Chair Pete Kelly adjourned the meeting at 09:49 AM