Joint Labor Committee Minutes for Meeting January 9, 2006

Committee Meeting Information

January 9, 2006

Parkway Plaza

Casper, Wyoming

Committee Members Present

Senator Charles K. Scott, Co-Chairman

Representative Doug Osborn, Co-Chairman

Senator Pat Aullman

Senator John Barrasso

Senator Ken Decaria

Senator Mike Massie

Representative Bruce Barnard

Representative Bob Brechtel

Representative Elaine Harvey

Representative John Hastert

Representative Jerry Iekel

Representative Burke Jackson

Representative Marty Martin

Representative Layton Morgan

Committee Members Absent

None

Legislative Service Office Staff

Gerald W. Laska, Staff Attorney

Others Present at Meeting

Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the Committee Sign-in Sheet
for a list of other individuals who attended the meeting.

Call To Order

Co-Chairman Osborn called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. The following sections summarize the Committee proceedings by topic. Please refer to Appendix 2 to review the Committee Meeting Agenda.

Quality child care incentives 06LSO-0212

Marilyn Patton and Sue Bacon, Department of Family Services, addressed the Committee. Ms. Bacon presented draft legislation, "Quality child care," 06LSO-0212.W4 (Appendix 3). The bill would:

· create a voluntary system to rate the quality of child care facilities;

· provide for sliding scale payments to providers based on their quality rating and the number of at-risk children served;

· provide additional incentive payments for staff professional development;

· offer technical assistance and quality support to facilities;

· require participating facilities to file reports on their use of the payments;

· declare the legislature's findings relative to the bill's benefits;

· provide an appropriation of $14,454,259 for the biennium.

Ms. Bacon distributed to the Committee a projected budget for the next three biennia if the bill were to become law. Costs are projected to rise from approximately $14 Million/biennium to $50 Million/biennium during the period.

The Committee discussed the bill generally, including the cost projections, the need for new facilities, a possible competitive advantage to current facilities, and whether the state could constitutionally provide aid to private child care facilities and parents given Article 16, Section 6 of the Wyoming Constitution.

The following persons spoke in favor of the proposal: Deanna Frey, Wyoming Children's Action Alliance; Bob Jensen, Wyoming Business Council; Kerry Grieser, Basic Beginnings; Peggy Nikkel, UPLIFT; Karen Williams, Ph.D., University of Wyoming, who also distributed written comments (Appendix 5); Pam Walker, McMurray Foundation; Heidi Sides, Home Center Child Care; Bob Lampert, Department of Corrections; Kendra West, Evanston Child Development Center; Gwen Quig, Casper; Allison Sage, tribal liaison; Renee Hayes, Casper; and Dianna Webb, Appletree Daycare Center.

Representative Osborn moved, seconded by Senator Massie, that the Committee sponsor the bill. The Committee amended the bill to:

· prohibit religious discrimination in rating or providing payments to facilities;

· require facilities receiving payments to serve low-income children eligible for other government-subsidized child care programs operated by the Department of Family Services;

· require facilities receiving payments to report monthly to the Department of Family Services the numbers of children and at-risk children served;

· provide that payments be proportional to the size of the facility;

· cap quality incentive payments at 50% of the current statewide market rate for child care, rather than the rate in the community;

· remove the 25% cap on the facilities' match of professional development incentive payments;

· add an additional legislative finding that child care is necessary to support the poor, but cannot be improved for the poor without improving the quality for all families;

· add twelve positions for the Department of Family Services to administer the program.

The motion to sponsor the bill was approved by a vote of 14-0, with Senators Aullman, Barrasso, Decaria, Massie and Scott and Representatives Barnard, Brechtel, Harvey, Hastert, Iekel, Jackson, Martin, Morgan and Osborn voting yes.

Problem solving courts. 06LSO-0213

Rodger McDaniel, Director, Department of Family Services, presented the draft bill, "Drug court amendments," 06LSO-0213.W3 (Appendix 6) to the Committee. The bill would amend existing law to allow drug courts to expand their jurisdiction to other areas of social problems, such as domestic violence, child abuse and neglect and mental health disorders. He distributed copies of a resolution of support for problem solving courts from the Conference of State Court Administrators (Appendix 7) and a newspaper article from the Billings Gazette (Appendix 8) about the success of drug courts in Montana.

The following persons spoke in support of the bill: Gary Hartman, District Court Judge from Worland; Kurt Zunker, Wyoming Drug Court Association; Susan Pauling, Domestic Violence Coalition; Peggy Nikkel, UPLIFT; and Norman Young, District Court Judge, Lander.

Keith Kautz, District Court Judge, Douglas, and David Park, District Court Judge, Casper, spoke against the bill.

Senator Scott, seconded by Representative Osborn, moved that the Committee sponsor the bill. The Committee amended the bill to:

· require that each court choose which of the additional functions that it will undertake and adopt a name descriptive of those functions;

· appropriate $1,050,000 in general funds to the Department of Health to administer the act and fund the additional special court functions.

The motion to sponsor the bill was approved by a vote of 10-4, with Senators Aullman, Decaria, and Scott and Representatives Barnard, Harvey, Hastert, Iekel, Jackson, Martin, and Osborn voting yes, and Senators Barrasso and Massie and Representatives Brechtel and Morgan voting no.

Partnerships for children, families and individuals. 06LSO-0214

Senator Massie recommended to the Committee that consideration of the bill entitled "Partnerships for children, families and individuals," 06-LSO-0214.W2 (Appendix 9) should be deferred to the general session. His motion to table the bill was approved on a voice vote.

Lunch Recess

The Committee recessed for lunch at 12:05 p.m. and reconvened at 1:35 p.m..

Report from Select Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

Senator Schiffer reported to the Committee on the bills sponsored by the mental health and substance abuse select committee.

· "Substance abuse insurance parity" would mandate substance abuse coverage in all health insurance policies issued in the state;

· "Wyoming state hospital psychiatrists-recruitment" would facilitate psychiatrist recruitment by paying for moving expenses and up to $100,000/year in student loan repayments in exchange for a psychiatrist's four-year service commitment at the state hospital;

· "Advanced practice registered nurses in psychiatry" would authorize the University of Wyoming to create an advanced practice R.N. program in psychiatry, with the state paying $10,000/student/semester in exchange for a service commitment following graduation;

· "Department of family services contracts for residential services-juveniles" would allow for-profit entities to provide residential services under contract with the department;

· "Mental health insurance parity" would mandate mental health coverage in all health insurance policies issued in the state;

· "Mental health and substance abuse appropriations" is an omnibus appropriations bill that would appropriate $40 Million/biennium to fund a Wyoming State Hospital facilities study, a Protection and Advocacy liaison position at the state hospital, community mental health service enhancements, clinical service enhancements, emergency psychiatric services, a 200- slot Medicaid waiver program for children's mental health out-of-home placements, bereavement counseling in the case of public service deaths, a mental health "SWAT" team, involuntary commitment transportation costs and a continuation of the select committee.

Magnet hospital grants. 06LSO-0263

Senator Massie presented the bill now entitled "Hospital improvement grants," 06LSO-0263.C2 (Appendix 10). The bill would appropriate $850,000 to the Department of Health to provide grants to three hospitals seeking certification as "Magnet Hospitals" under the program operated by the American Nurses Association. Magnet hospital certification requires an extensive audit of hospital operations for quality of work environment and patient care. The bill includes grant criteria, timelines and payback requirements. The bill would also appropriate $200,000 to the Department of Health to provide grants to smaller critical access hospitals to promote quality nursing practices, improved working environments, nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.

Senator Massie moved, seconded by Representative Hastert, that the Committee sponsor the bill. The Committee amended the bill to change the reference to the American Nurses Credentialing Center criteria to those in effect on January 1, 2006 instead of July 1, 2006.

Cheryl Koski, Wyoming Board of Nursing, reported to the Committee on the status of the nursing shortage in Wyoming. She distributed a printout of a PowerPoint presentation (Appendix 11) and a report entitled "Nurse Staffing in Wyoming Long-term Care Facilities" (Appendix 12). Ms. Koski reported the following statistics:

· Wyoming is projected to have a 63% nursing shortage by 2020;

· Wyoming ranks 49^th among the states in RN salaries and 39^th in LPN salaries;

· The number of licenses granted by endorsement to out-of-state nurses doubled from 2004 to 2005, but requests from other states for verification of Wyoming nurses' licenses also doubled and are increasing;

· Based on endorsements and verifications, Wyoming will probably soon have a net outflow of nurses;

· The number of new nursing students in Wyoming has increased substantially in response to legislative initiatives, but the dropout rate and rate of licensures in other states has been high.

Senator Scott suggested that the Committee conduct a more in-depth study during the next interim of how many nurses are graduating and where they are going for work.

Dan Perdue, Wyoming Hospital Association, supported an interim study and suggested that the license application process could be streamlined and background checks expedited.

Meeting Adjournment

There being no further business, Co-Chairman Scott adjourned the meeting at 5:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Senator Charles K. Scott, Co-Chairman

Representative Doug Osborn, Co-Chairman