Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Administrative Regulations Nullification topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee advances bill that nullifies regulations found deficient by administrative reviews
Summary
Senate Bill 65, which compiles regulations found deficient by the Administrative Regulations Committee and renders them statutorily null and void for the year, passed the committee 9-0 after extended explanation of a Medicaid regulation dispute.
Senator Steve West presented Senate Bill 65 to the Senate State and Local Government Committee, describing the measure as the fifth annual iteration of a bill that compiles regulations the Administrative Regulations Committee found deficient and makes those regulations null and void by statute for that year.
"The essence of the regulation at hand was a reg that was proposed by the Department for Medicaid Services and it simply added new... a master's degree requirement to behavioral health associates," West said, summarizing the subject matter that the committee ultimately found deficient. Under current requirements, those positions required a bachelor’s degree; the proposed regulation would have required a master's degree.
West told the committee the Department for Medicaid Services and providers engaged in extended negotiation, with the committee asking the cabinet to defer the regulation on eight occasions so parties could try to reach agreement. "They deferred on 8 different occasions," West said. "We said, 'Go work it out. Go behind closed doors. Work this thing out. Come to a solution.' They can never ever really reach a solution."
Providers had warned committee members that the proposed master's requirement would cause an immediate loss of behavioral-health providers statewide; the committee concluded the proposed change would have a detrimental effect on access to services and therefore included that subject area in this year's compilation. West said that over the committee's year of review across thousands of regulations, only one subject-matter area was found deficient and therefore placed into SB 65.
After questions from newer committee members about the regs review process and cabinet responses, the committee voted 9-0 to advance SB 65 with a favorable recommendation.
SB 65, as described in committee, is a procedural bill that packages the committee’s annual findings and nullifies regulations the committee formally found deficient during its monthly reviews. The bill’s practical effect depends on which regulations are included in the compiled list each year; in this session the identified subject area concerned the Department for Medicaid Services’ proposed educational requirement for behavioral-health personnel.
