House Health and Welfare Committee sends five bills to the House floor

At its 9 a.m. meeting, the House Health and Welfare Committee voted to send five bills to the House floor, approving due-pass recommendations for House Bill 199 (medical assistance for refugees), House Bill 91 (code clean-up), House Bill 110 (provider scope and Medicaid), House Bill 198 (laboratory rules moved into statute) and House Bill 133 (tobacco/clean air rule codification).

The recommendations move each measure to the full House for further consideration. Sponsors and committee members framed most bills as administrative or technical cleanups; one bill on provider scope prompted questions about how Medicaid interacts with professional licensing boards.

Representative John Vandewada, District 22, said of House Bill 199, which moves existing rules into statute for refugee medical assistance, "House Bill 199 basically takes the section of rules and puts them into statues 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 a motion to send HB199 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; committee discussion included a note that one virtual testimony slot had been reserved but no witness appeared. During the roll call on the motion, two members were recorded as voting no: Bell and Egbert; the motion nevertheless carried.

House Bill 91, which Representative Jordan Redmond described as a code-repeal and cleanup measure that "repeals 150 sections of code," was presented as noncontroversial. Representative McCann moved to send HB91 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion passed on voice vote.

House Bill 110 drew more substantive questioning. Representative Jordan Redmond, District 3, described the bill as intended to "make sure that the legislature and licensing boards set the scope of practice and not the Medicaid program," saying the bill would prevent Medicaid from effectively vetoing expansions of provider scope approved by licensing boards. Representative Rubel asked whether the bill could be read broadly (for example, whether providers could perform services not expressly banned), and Redmond responded that the bill is intended to align Medicaid coverage with licensing-board determinations and past legislative decisions such as recognition of bridge-year physicians. Representative Kaler moved to send HB110 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion passed on voice vote.

House Bill 198, presented by Representative David Levitt, District 25, would move several laboratory-related rules into statute, covering clinical laboratory quality assurance, the state drinking-water laboratory certification program and clandestine laboratory cleanup. Levitt told the committee the change would reduce printing costs, citing a figure of $61 saved per page. A motion to send HB198 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation was made and approved.

House Bill 133, presented by Representative Rob Beissinger, was described as a multidecade clean-up moving tobacco- and clean-air-related rules into statute for easier legislative analysis. Representative Healy moved to send HB133 to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion passed on voice vote.

Committee chairing and procedure: the committee approved minutes from its Feb. 11 meeting at the start of the session. Members were reminded to declare potential conflicts under Rule 80 where appropriate; Representative Redmond declared a Rule 80 conflict on House Bill 110 because of ownership interests in pharmacies that accept Medicaid. The chair noted that staff and the committee co-chair would brief the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on budget-related recommendations.

The committee concluded after sending five bills to the floor; the chair said the approvals reduced the committee’s list of pending items and adjourned the meeting.

Votes at a glance

- HB199 (Medical assistance for refugees): Motion to send to floor with due-pass recommendation made by Representative Jordan Redmond; outcome approved; named no votes: Bell, Egbert; virtual testimony slot reserved but no witness appeared. Referenced authority: refugee Medicaid/medical assistance rules moved into statute.

- HB91 (Code repeal/cleanup): Presented by Representative Jordan Redmond; motion to send to floor with due-pass recommendation moved by Representative McCann; outcome approved.

- HB110 (Practice authority / Medicaid payment scope): Presented by Representative Jordan Redmond; Representative Kaler moved to send to floor with due-pass recommendation; outcome approved. Representatives discussed whether the bill could expand which licensed providers Medicaid would reimburse and whether that could be read broadly; Representative Redmond said the intent is to align Medicaid coverage with licensing-board scope decisions.

- HB198 (Laboratory regulations into statute): Presented by Representative David Levitt; motion to send to floor with due-pass recommendation moved (motion recorded); outcome approved. Levitt cited an estimated print-cost savings of $61 per page.

- HB133 (Tobacco / clean-air rule codification): Presented by Representative Rob Beissinger; motion to send to floor with due-pass recommendation moved by Representative Healy; outcome approved.

What the committee did not decide

The committee made due-pass recommendations for each bill; none of the measures were amended or tabled in this meeting. Several members asked questions or requested clarifications during presentations, but the committee did not direct staff to prepare specific amendments or further reports in this session.

Next steps

Each bill will appear on the House floor for further debate and votes. The chair said staff would continue processing remaining request statutes (RS) and other bills for committee consideration in the coming days.