Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Committee Actions topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Finance committee adopts substitutes for early-intervention expansion and licensing changes, refers bills to Rules
Summary
The Alaska Senate Finance Committee adopted committee substitutes for Senate Bill 178 (expanding early-intervention services) and House Bill 173 (changes to physical/occupational therapy licensing, including background checks) and sent the measures to the Rules Committee; fiscal notes were noted as forthcoming.
The Alaska Senate Finance Committee on an unspecified date adopted committee substitutes for multiple bills and sent them on to the next committee of referral. By unanimous consent, the committee adopted a substitute for Senate Bill 178, which expands early-intervention services and requires the bill sponsor and the Department of Health to coordinate on a new effective date and a plan to amend the state's Medicaid plan.
"What this CS does is the bill sponsor and Department of Health work together to come up with a new effective date for the conditional language in here," said Liz Hartfield, staff to Senator Olsen and to the Senate Finance Committee, describing the substitute. She said the change gives the Department of Health additional time to create and submit a plan for Medicaid-plan changes.
The committee also advanced what the transcript records as a substitute for Senate Bill 184 to the Rules Committee with attached and forthcoming fiscal notes; there was no recorded objection. Details for that measure were not discussed at length during the session.
On a second calendar item, the committee adopted a substitute for House Bill 173. Hartfield said the substitute would add an executive administrator to the State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board and would add background-check language to statute, changes requested by the bill sponsor and coordinated with the Department of Public Safety. She said the background-check provisions would apply to existing interstate compacts and to a new compact the state is considering for occupational therapy.
Committee members asked whether the changes would require a new fiscal note; staff and members replied that a fiscal note "may" be required and that fiscal notes and recommendations were forthcoming. The committee adopted the substitute for HB 173 and sent it to the Rules Committee.
The meeting concluded with the chair announcing the next meeting at 9 a.m. the following day and adjourning.
