ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  SENATE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE  April 10, 2009 1:25 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Bettye Davis, Chair Senator Joe Paskvan, Vice Chair Senator Fred Dyson MEMBERS ABSENT  Senator Johnny Ellis Senator Joe Thomas COMMITTEE CALENDAR  CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 10(HSS) Urging the United States Congress to improve health care for veterans. MOVED CSHJR 10 OUT OF COMMITTEE PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION  BILL: HJR 10 SHORT TITLE: VETERANS' HEALTH CARE SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) GUTTENBERG 01/30/09 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 01/30/09 (H) MLV, STA, HSS 02/24/09 (H) MLV AT 1:00 PM BARNES 124 02/24/09 (H) Moved CSHJR 10(MLV) Out of Committee 02/24/09 (H) MINUTE(MLV) 02/25/09 (H) MLV RPT CS(MLV) 6DP 02/25/09 (H) DP: KAWASAKI, OLSON, HARRIS, LYNN, BUCH, GATTO 03/02/09 (H) STA REFERRAL WAIVED 03/10/09 (H) HSS AT 3:00 PM CAPITOL 106 03/10/09 (H) Moved CSHJR 10(HSS) Out of Committee 03/10/09 (H) MINUTE(HSS) 03/12/09 (H) HSS RPT CS(HSS) 7DP 03/12/09 (H) DP: HOLMES, COGHILL, SEATON, LYNN, CISSNA, HERRON, KELLER 03/25/09 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S) 03/25/09 (H) VERSION: CSHJR 10(HSS) 03/27/09 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 03/27/09 (S) HSS, STA 04/07/09 (S) STA AT 9:00 AM BELTZ 211 04/07/09 (S) 04/10/09 (S) HSS AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205 WITNESS REGISTER REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG State Capital Juneau, AK POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced CSHJR 10. ACTION NARRATIVE 1:25:57 PM CHAIR BETTYE DAVIS called the Senate Health and Social Services Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:25 p.m. Present at the call to order were Senators Paskvan, Dyson and Davis. HJR 10-VETERANS' HEALTH CARE  1:26:14 PM CHAIR DAVIS announced consideration of CSHJR 10. 1:27:08 PM CHAIR DAVIS called a brief at ease. 1:27:35 PM CHAIR DAVIS called the meeting back to order. 1:27:45 PM REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG brought before the committee HJR 10, which basically says the money follows the veteran instead of making the veteran go to a veterans' health care facility. Many communities around the state do have a vets' facility, but in many others there is not and veterans have to fly to Anchorage or Fairbanks or Seattle to get care. Many of those communities that do not have a veterans' health care facility do have a Native Health Service clinic or other kind of facility where veterans could be treated if there were an agreement in place between the Veterans' Administration (VA) and the clinics. So this resolution urges Congress to do a better job of bringing veterans' benefits to them. 1:29:02 PM CHAIR DAVIS thanked Representative Guttenberg for his testimony and asked if there were any questions from the committee or anyone signed up to testify on the resolution. Hearing no response, Chair Davis closed public testimony. 1:29:28 PM SENATOR DYSON moved to report CSHJR 10 from committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note(s). There being no objection, the motion carried. 1:29:59 PM There being no further business to come before the committee, Senator Davis adjourned the meeting at 1:29 p.m.