House Health and Welfare Committee sends five bills to House floor with due-pass recommendations

The House Health and Welfare Committee on Thursday voted to send five bills to the House floor with due-pass recommendations, advancing a package of rule-to-statute cleanups and a measure changing how Medicaid recognizes provider scope.

The package included House Bill 199, which moves provisions governing refugee medical assistance from department rules into statute; House Bill 91, a code-repeal/cleanup measure; House Bill 110, which limits Medicaid’s role in defining provider scope of practice; House Bill 198, which codifies laboratory quality-assurance and related rules; and House Bill 133, which moves long-standing tobacco and clean-air rules into statute.

House Bill 199: refugee medical assistance Representative John Vandewada, presenting House Bill 199, said the measure “basically takes the section of rules and puts them into statutes in regards to the refugee Medicaid, medical assistance act and then deletes the rules out of the rule section and puts it into statute and also determines their eligibility.” The committee approved sending the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation. Committee records show two members sought to be recorded as voting no: Representative Bell and Representative Egbert; otherwise the motion carried.

House Bill 91: code clean-up Representative Jordan Redmond described House Bill 91 as a broad cleanup, saying it “repeals 150 sections of code” and that the changes are mostly unused provisions. Representative McCann moved the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion carried on a voice vote.

House Bill 110: Medicaid provider scope Representative Redmond presented House Bill 110 and declared a Rule 80 conflict, noting ownership interests in pharmacies that accept Medicaid. He said the bill “makes sure that the legislature and licensing boards set the scope of practice and not the Medicaid program” and preserves written provider-agreement requirements with Medicaid while preventing Medicaid from vetoing licensing-board or legislative decisions about who may provide services.

Representative Rubel asked for concrete examples of when Medicaid had refused to cover services after a licensing board expanded scope. Redmond answered that licensing boards sometimes expand scope for nurses or “bridge-year physicians” and that “Medicaid might try to put a stop on that, and we're saying, no. We want them to be paid through Medicaid services for those.” Representative Kaler moved the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the committee approved it on a voice vote.

House Bill 198: laboratory rules Representative David Levitt said House Bill 198 moves existing administrative rules into statute for clinical laboratory quality assurance, the state drinking-water laboratory certification program and clandestine laboratory cleanup. Levitt said the change has “no real financial impact” and estimated a savings of about $61 per printed page for the rules being codified. The committee approved sending the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation.

House Bill 133: tobacco and clean-air rules Representative Rob Beissinger presented House Bill 133 as a cleanup of decades-old definitions and rules related to tobacco prevention and clean-air provisions. Beissinger said the bill primarily transfers existing rule language into statute and is not expected to introduce new policy. Representative Healy moved the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the committee approved it on a voice vote.

Votes at a glance - House Bill 199 (medical assistance for refugees): sent to floor with due-pass recommendation; two recorded no votes (Representative Bell and Representative Egbert); remainder of committee voice-voted aye. - House Bill 91 (code repeal/cleanup): sent to floor with due-pass recommendation; voice vote carried. - House Bill 110 (practice authority / Medicaid provider scope): sent to floor with due-pass recommendation; voice vote carried. - House Bill 198 (laboratory rules into statute): sent to floor with due-pass recommendation; voice vote carried. - House Bill 133 (tobacco prevention / clean-air rules into statute): sent to floor with due-pass recommendation; voice vote carried.

The committee chair closed by noting the group had advanced five bills that morning and that several remaining request-sessions (RS) measures were still under consideration; the committee then adjourned.