Iowa Nurses Association | Legislative Connection, Volume 4, Number 27 March 8, 2002

LEGISLATIVE CONNECTION
A communication of the Iowa Nurses Association
Volume 4, Number 27 March 8, 2002

CONTACTS NEEDED NOW ON PARITY AND ARNPS!

It is important to contact your legislator at home or at the Capitol, through email or letter. They need to hear from you now about passing mental health parity and changing Medicaid managed care. To find your legislator's email go to http://www.legis.state.ia.us and go to "Find Legislator", put in your home address and email addresses and phone numbers will be provided. The House number is 515/281-3221; the Senate number is 515/281-3371. Thanks to the many members who are using the INA Legislative Alerts to email their legislators. It makes a difference.

For mental health parity, Senate File 2289, contacts are especially needed to the following Senators who could change their position to support with some encouragement: Freeman, Veenstra, Greiner, Lord, Rehberg, Miller, McKinley, and Sexton

For ARNPs and Medicaid managed care barrier, House File HF 2382, calls to the Republican leadership and House Republicans are the most needed.

INA LEGISLATIVE AGENDA AND BILLS OF HIGH INTEREST

ACTIVE BILLS

Safeguarding the Board of Nursing (Support): INA Lobbyists are working to incorporate the language of House Study Bill 624 into the fiscal year 2003 appropriations bill for the Board of Nursing. Appropriations chairs Lamberti and Millage stated this week they are reluctant to allow for fee increases in the Appropriations bill (no bill number yet). As a result Board of Nursing will suffer a further reduction in staff and services. Calls to legislators are needed to encourage language change in appropriations to allow the Board of Nursing to raise fees and keep more than the average 80% of license fees to avoid further reductions in services to licenses.

Award Funds through the Iowa College Aid Commission (Support): Senate File 2191 has been rereferred to Senate Appropriations for consideration; House File 2036 is different version with $500,000 from tobacco monies and is in House Appropriations Committee. Contact your legislator to support.

Mental Health Parity (Support): Senate File 2289 is awaiting debate in the Senate. Negotiations with opponents are heavy. . Calls to Senators for support are needed (515/281-3371). Bill only has until next week to move out of committee or die.

ARNPs as Medicaid Primary Care Providers (Support): HF 2382 is awaiting debate; intense lobbying to oppose the bill. Call your representative to support passage (515/281-3221).

IPERS (Support): HF 2532 is in Senate Judiciary. It removes restrictions for all categories of employees.

Child Drug Treatment: HF 2318 passed the House. Has been assigned to Senate Human Resources. School nurses are deliberating as to whether the bill is appropriate to pass.

Funding the Fiscal Year 2002 Budget: Senate File 2304 was signed by the Governor on March 1. The $120 million FY02 shortfall was funded in part by using the Cash Reserve Funds (Rainy Day funds). The Elderly Wellness portion of the Dept of Public Health budget (funds elderly wellness clinics, local public health nursing and homemaker aides) will be cut by $101,000 in FY 02 and FY 03. Medicaid was protected from cuts. (See detail of SF 2304 later in this issue.) State employees will be furloughed.

Funding the Fiscal Year 2003 Budget: Governor states that Elderly Wellness, Medicaid and other programs will not be cut further in FY03 budget. Contacts need to be made with legislators to support the Governor's recommendations for no further cuts. Tobacco settlement monies would be used for core public health functions, trauma and EMS, prevention initiatives, poison control center, and childhood lead prevention.

Department of Public Health Bill: HF 2547 raises disciplinary fees from $75 to $750 for those brought before their licensing board for disciplinary action.

PASSED AND SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR

Maintain Tobacco Settlement for health care/Medicaid (Support): HF 2245 passed and sent to Governor. Governor signed and itemed vetoed sections of the bill.

NO LONGER ACTIVE THIS SESSION

Assure Collection of Nursing Workforce Data (Support): Bills not recommended.

Assure Accountability in Patient Care (Support): Bills not recommended.

Mandatory Overtime (Support): SF 2127 similar to ANA model language and bill passed in New Jersey. None recommended.

Birth Centers (Support): Intense lobbying by medical societies killed the bill.

ARNPs Sign Death Certificate (Support): HF 2222 failed to come out of committee.

School Nurses (Support): HF 2329 adds "school nurse" to definition of teacher; failed to come out of committee

HIV Transmission (Oppose): SSB 3078 and HF 2283 would allow individual names to be transmitted over radio-based communications systems. Failed to come out of committee.

For a subject listing of all bills of interest to nursing, check out the webpage http://www.iowanurses.org or call the INA office at 515/225-0495.

Next Week

MARCH 15TH is the second funnel when House bills need to be out of Senate Committees, and Senate bills need to be out of House committees. The two chambers will need to alternate between floor work and committee work.

Governor Signs SF 2304, SF 165

On Friday, Governor Vilsack signed SF 2304 BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS and SF 165 OFFICIAL ENGLISH. The Governor said that he believed that his plan to use $120 million from the reserve fund was a better plan that the combination of reserve funds and spending cuts approved by the Legislature, but he said that the SF 2304 was better than across-the-board cuts. Governor Vilsack said that he is unhappy with some of the provisions but he said that signing the bill is likely to be the best solution to the FY 2002 problem.

The Governor said that he signed SF 165 because the Legislature promised an additional $1 million to help for English as a second language courses. (See HF 2404)

The Legislature must now address a potential $250 million problem in the next fiscal year, due to the revenue declines and the built-in spending increases. Senator Lamberti said that the Legislature may need to look at education spending to find the necessary reductions, including looking at cuts to the teacher pay program approved last year.

Governor Releases Budget Proposal

Governor Vilsack said that his proposal is modeled on the framework of SF 2304. His proposal deals with the $132 million shortfall with cuts of 20%, other fund transfers of 49%, and transfers from the Economic Emergency fund of 31%. The transfer from the reserve fund will be about $45 million. His proposal also retains the $60 million scoop of funds, which would otherwise go into the RUTF.

Vilsack said that his budget will include $60 million of new general fund monies for K-12 education, although the base for determining the rate of allowable growth still needs to be agreed on. The Governor said that his budget protects children and seniors, while maintaining a 6% total budget reserve. He draws the line at any further cuts to human services, including protection of children, older Iowans and persons with disabilities and their families. Vilsack said that the Department of Public Defense is the only state department, which will get more money in FY 2003 than FY 2002, and that only Dept of Public Defense, Dept of Public Safety, Dept of Corrections and Dept of Human Services are the only four departments, which will receive more in FY 2003 than FY 2001.

Iowa is experiencing the lowest revenue growth in 50 years and the lowest spending growth in 30 years.

Responses from Legislators and Others

Senator Iverson said that the Governor's budget starts with an $80 million hole by including $60 million in a transfer from the RUTF and $16 million from the end of the Iowa-Illinois reciprocity agreement. Iverson said that the Senate is delaying bringing HF 2116 IRC UPDATES, with a prohibition against ending that agreement, out of committee, and that the Governor has agreed to delaying revoking the reciprocal agreement while the Dept of Revenue is still negotiating with Illinois on transfer payments. Senator Iverson said that it is possible that the state will need to use the Economic Emergency Fund.

Senator Kramer said that Republicans are concerned with finding a solution to the budget problem rather than in adopting a rigid framework. She said that many state employees support the furlough proposal as a way of helping the state and that those are the kinds of employees who usually give the best service to the public.

Senate Democrats said that the Governor's budget will increase support to local schools and community colleges, protect human service efforts, and protect environmental efforts from additional budget cuts.

Rep. Myers said that the Governor's new budget "remains balanced and protects the priorities of Iowans."

Doug Gross, a Republican candidate for governor, said that the state should look at freezing employee salaries and looking to find more savings in the Medicaid program to deal with revenue shortfall in FY 2003

State will Consider reducing Premium Tax Rates

Both Republicans and Democrats said that the state needs to look at reducing the insurance premium tax from 2% to 1% to compete with the states that have already adopted a lower tax. Senator Iverson said that the Republicans will introduce a bill to reduce the tax to 1% from 2003 to 2006. The phase-out will be accompanied by an increase in the payments of estimated taxes, which will keep the measure revenue-neutral until 2006.

Republicans are supporting the measure to avoid Iowa insurance companies moving jobs out of state and because Iowa companies are subject to a retaliatory tax from states with the lower rate. They said that lowering the rate is essential to protecting Iowa jobs, and possibly increasing the number of insurance jobs in Iowa.

Senator Lamberti said that the Republicans believe that the state revenue situation will have improved by FY 2006 when the state could begin to lose money from the lowered tax rate. The rate reductions could be partially offset by increases in collections due to increased premiums, but the state is be looking at a loss of $30 to $40 million without such offsets.

Lowering the premium tax also has support among the Democrats. Senator Gronstal managed the bill in the 1980's to reduce the tax rate on annuities, which Senator Kramer said helped the insurance industry become "one of the fastest growing parts of Iowa's economy, growing by 39% since 1988."

(There is some thought that this tax reduction will be passed in exchange for a mental health parity bill.)

BILLS SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR

SF 2304 BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS - Makes spending cuts and shifts of up to $126.5 million for FY 2002. Shifts: Emergency Economic Fund: $45 million for K-12; Other: $51.2 Million Endowment for Healthy Iowans (Gambling) $15 million; (General Fund) $7.5 million Healthy Iowans Tobacco Trust ($6 million) Recreational Trails ($5.5 million); Environment First Fund ($3.0 million); REAP ($2.8 million); Vehicle Depreciation ($4.0 million); Regents Infrastructure ($2.8 million); Property Tax Risk Pool ($1.5 million); Strategic Investment ($1 million) Brucellosis Eradication ($1 million) Pooled Technology ($700,000) Value-Added Agriculture ($500,000); Aviation Revolving Loan Fund ($360,0000). Furloughs & Salary Cuts:: Requires a ½ day furlough for every two week pay periods for state employees. Requires elected officials to take a 5% pay cut through the rest of the year. Executive furloughs ($11.7 million); Judicial furloughs ($1.1 million). Gives departments the option of using furloughs or other cost reductions to meet budget reductions. Other Reductions: Makes a 1% cut in the Executive Branch ($15.9 million); Judicial Branch ($1.2 million). Makes a 2.6% cut to the Legislature ($660,000). Allows the Judicial Branch to use $500,000 from the Enhanced Court Collection fund to offset cuts. Protected agencies and programs: K-12 funding, community colleges and the Regent special schools, the College Student Aid commission and tuition replacement, Medicaid, prisons and the Department of Public Defense, ICN debt service and the Department of Commerce, property tax replacement, child and family service programs and the FaDSS program. Effective upon enactment.

SF 2018 LEGISLATIVE PAY - Limits the pay for expenses for the 2002 session to 90 days. Effective immediately.

SF 165 OFFICIAL ENGLISH - Makes English the official language of the state. Creates exceptions to allow the use of other languages in certain circumstances.

FLOOR ACTION

House Floor Action

HF 2487 CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL - Directs the DHS to designate a children's hospital meeting the criteria for a voting member of the National Association Of Children's Hospitals And Related Institutions as qualifying member for the receipt of disproportionate share hospital payments under Medicaid. Directs the DHS to seek a waiver.

The House PASSED the Bill, 90-0; it now goes to the Senate

FAILED TO APPROVE

HF 2217 STATE OVERTIME - Directs to DOP to determine job classifications subject to the overtime requirements of FLSA. Effective upon enactment.

H-8079 by Appropriations - A Strike & Replace. Allows only hourly employees overtime pay.

H-8097 by Millage - Exempts executive, administrative and professional employees from overtime standards. ADOPTED

H-8199 by Millage - Makes the bill applicable to all pending claims. ADOPTED

H-8079 as amended. ADOPTED

The House FAILED to PASS the Bill, 43-47

SF 2144 BAC 0.08% - Lowers the blood alcohol level for OWI offenses at 0.08%.

S-5104 by Hansen - Delays the effective date for a year. FAILED

S-5108, S-5125 - WITHDRAWN

Senate Floor Action

Bills to the House:

SF 2155 OUT-OF-HOSPITAL RESUSCITATE - Directs the Department of Public Health to develop a standard form and a personal identifier for Do Not Resuscitate orders outside of a hospital setting. Includes definitions and establishes the scope and content of a such an order. Makes it a serious misdemeanor to destroy or to conceal such orders.

The Senate PASSED the Bill, 48-0; it now goes to the House

SF 2190 WORKERS COMPENSATION - Keeps records which could identify an injured employee, or the employee's dependent, confidential. Includes exempt household and agricultural workers under workers' compensation if those workers are covered by a workers' comp insurance policy. Establishes new subrogation procedures and allows an employer to subrogate the recovery of an injured employee. Prohibits health care providers from seeking payment for fees from employers when the provider and the insurance company are disputing the fee. Prohibits debt collection against an employer during a contested case proceeding. Defines a day of incapacity to mean eight hours and allows those hours to be collected over more than three days. Prohibits insurance plans from denying benefits to an employee because of a dispute over the employer's liability. Eliminates the requirement to present a certified copy of a decision in order to enforce it.
S-5099 by McKibben - Strikes the inclusion of employers in provisions which prevent health care providers from sending bills while the liability for a workers' compensation case is still in dispute.

The Senate PASSED the Bill, 47-0; it now goes to the House

HF 2340 WELL-BEING VISITS - Authorizes the DHS to conduct well-being visits to families which have lost their cash assistance under FIP, if funding is available, on an optional basis. Effective immediately.

The Senate PASSED the bill, 43-5; it now goes to the Governor

SF 2230 - WITHDRAWN

SF 2118 CLONING BAN - Prohibits human cloning or knowingly doing destructive research on human embryos, or knowingly transferring a human embryo that will be subjected to destructive research. Includes both reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning. Makes violations an aggravated misdemeanor.

S-5110 by Hammond, et al - Strikes any references to therapeutic cloning. FAILED, 16-31

S-5094 by Redwine - Changes the definition of destructive research to specifically exclude in vitro fertilization, the accompanying embryo transfer or any related diagnostic tests. Changes a reference to the transfer of products of cloned human embryos to just cloned human embryos. ADOPTED

S-5109 by Redwine & Dvorsky - Specifically exempts stem cell research from cells that are derived outside the state. ADOPTED

The Senate PASSED the Bill, as amended, 32-16; it now goes to the House

COMMITTEE ACTION

House Human Resources: Voted Out:

SF 2179 FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION - Makes it a Class C felony to mutilate female genital tissue. Makes exceptions for medical procedures. Prohibits the use of custom as a defense. Requires the DPH to carry on education efforts, and to seek private funds for the work. PASSED 16 -2 Floor Manager: Smith

SF 2195 ORGAN DONATIONS - Includes an organ donation statement on a driver's license and an entry in a donor registry as a document of gift for organ donation purposes. Makes a document of gift that is not revoked sufficient authority for an organ donation without Defines the donor registry. Allows medical examiners, fire fighters, police officers and EMS workers to release information to organ procurement organizations. Grants them immunity from liability for good faith attempts to comply with the organ donation laws. Includes funeral establishments or directors in the immunity from liability for good faith attempts to comply with the organ donation laws. PASSED 18 -0 Floor Manager: Tymeson

SF 2231 HOSPITAL CHECKS - Authorizes hospitals to have access to the abuse registries for the purpose of employment checks. Allows a hospital to establish a single contact repository. PASSED 18 -0 Floor Manager: Hoversten

COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

House Committees

House Human Resources: Assigned to Subcommittee:

SF 2195 ORGAN DONATIONS - Tymeson (C), Boal, Smith

SF 2179 FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION - Smith (C), Boddicker, Reynolds

SF 2118 CLONING BAN - Boddicker (C), Carroll, Hoversten, Kreiman, Smith

House Labor: Assigned to Subcommittee:

SF 2190 WORKERS COMPENSATION - Horbach (C), Dotzler, Millage

Senate Committees

Senate Appropriations: Assigned to Subcommittee:

SF 2191 NURSE RECRUITMENT - Redfern (C), Horn, Kramer

Senate Human Resources: Assigned to Subcommittee:

HF 2318 CHILD DRUG TREATMENT - Redwine (C), Boettger, Holveck

HF 2264 INFORMED CONSENT - Redwine (C), Boettger, Harper

HF 2390 REFLEXOLOGY LICENSING - Redwine (C), Holveck, Veenstra

HF 2399 CASE PERMANENCY PLANS - Hammond (C), Redwine, Tinsman

HF 2453 DEATH & MEDICAL EXAMINERS - Dvorsky (C), Behn, Redwine

Senate Judiciary: Assigned to Subcommittee:

HF 2532 IPERS BILLS - Redfern (C), Holveck, Maddox

Senate State Government: Assigned to Subcommittee:

HF 2532 IPERS BILLS - Rittmer (C), Drake, Kibbie

RESOLUTIONS INTRODUCED

HCR 120 HEALTH CARE REVIEW (Warnstadt) Requests the Legislative Council to create an interim committee to review licensing, certification, and accreditation of health care workers, facilities, and services.

GOVERNOR'S APPOINTEES

Patrick Greenwood, J.D. of Lamoni and currently serving on the Board of Nursing, has been formally appointed for confirmation by the Iowa Senate. He serves as a consumer member.

BILLS INTRODUCED OF INTEREST TO NURSES

Many bills in this listing are active bills receiving new numbers.

House Files

HF 2582 FEDERAL BLOCK GRANTS (Appropriations; Successor to HSB 679) Appropriates federal Block Grants for various programs. Includes procedures for adjusting the grants if the grant amounts increase or decrease. Floor Manager: Roberts

Senate Files

SF 2312 MEDICAL SAVINGS ACCOUNTS (Redwine) Creates the Medical Savings Accounts. Authorizes tax deductible contributions to allow the account holder to pay for medical expenses for the account holder, or the spouse or dependents of the account holder. (Ways & Means)

Senate Study Bills

SSB 3183 SALES TAX INCREASE - Raises the State sales Tax from five to six percent. Eliminates local option sales taxes. Puts the extra 1% in a school infrastructure/property tax relief fund. Requires any district not in a current local option county that wants infrastructure money to get sixty percent approval on a ballot initiative, otherwise their portion of the 1% goes to property tax relief to lower the levies for bonds and schools. Allows school districts in counties that had a local option tax to continue at get funds at their current level for up to ten years or until the local option initiative expires, whichever is sooner, if they notify Revenue & Finance by July 1, 2002. Requires school districts that keep the existing level to use the money for bond or loan payments. Gives school districts in local option counties, which don't continue current funding levels to get funds based on the number of students in their district. Allows districts which choose to continue the existing funding to switch to the per pupil formula. Sunsets July 1, 2022. Effective on enactment. (Ways & Means) McKibben (C), Rehberg, Flynn

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