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Committee hears bill to move certificate‑of‑need notices from newspapers to DPHHS website
Summary
Senate Bill 88 would let the Department of Public Health and Human Services publish certificate‑of‑need letters of intent on its website instead of in a newspaper of general circulation; the Office of Inspector General told the committee that changing newspaper habits make compliance by newspaper publication difficult.
Senator Dave Fern introduced Senate Bill 88 as an agency bill from the Department of Public Health and Human Services that would allow letters of intent under the certificate‑of‑need program to be published on the department website rather than in a newspaper of general circulation.
The change responds to shifting newspaper practices, Fern told the House Health and Human Services committee: "are we able to reach the same or more people who would be interested in this subject matter by going exclusively to the department's website?" He described the proposal as an agency housekeeping update and asked for the committee's green vote.
Leslie Howe, GrAMA Support and Improvement Section supervisor for the Office of Inspector General, testified the OIG manages the certificate‑of‑need program and is seeking the change because many Montana newspapers "do not publish the newspaper daily or publish legal notices daily," meaning the OIG cannot reliably satisfy the current statutory publication requirement. "For compliance, we would like to publish notices on the certificate of need website," Howe said, explaining that letters of intent are required before projects involving capital expenditure thresholds or service expansions.
Committee members asked no substantive policy questions during the hearing and there were no opponents or informational witnesses. Fern closed by urging members to support the update as a modernization that will meet the public where it now gets information.
The committee closed the hearing on SB 88 with no recorded formal action at this session; the bill will next be considered by the committee if and when it is scheduled for executive action.
