The Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor was called to order by Chairman Randolph J. Townsend, at 9:40 a.m., on Monday, February 22, 1999, in Room 2135 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada. Exhibit A is the Agenda. Exhibit B is the Attendance Roster. All exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

Senator Randolph J. Townsend, Chairman

Senator Ann O’Connell, Vice Chairman

Senator Mark Amodei

Senator Dean A. Rhoads

Senator Raymond C. Shaffer

Senator Michael A. (Mike) Schneider

Senator Maggie Carlton

GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT:

Bill R. O’Donnell, Clark County Senatorial District No. 5

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

Scott Young, Committee Policy Analyst

Kathryn Lawrence, Committee Secretary

OTHERS PRESENT:

Bruce Bannister, D.O., State Board of Osteopathic Medicine, stated he would like to address the costs now incurring within our program and raising our fees. He stated in one of the programs, which is called "Impaired Physicians," is a program in which a physician who is impaired by any means can be referred to this program before any complaints are lodged; it is preventative medicine. He stated it is costly and there is a need to be able to adjust fees in that particular area in registration. He suggested the board needs to have the flexibility to adjust fees. Senator O’Connell stated the Legislature has never allowed a board to simply say they want to establish fees by regulation. She suggested presenting a budget to the committee. Senator O’Connell asked if Dr. Bannister had consulted with the board. Dr. Bannister stated we have approval of the board, but not of the total osteopathic members of the State of Nevada. There are guidelines set up by the federation of state medical boards called "A Guide to the Essentials of Modern Medical Practice Act," and we use this as an outline to see how we can best function in the state.

Dr. Bannister stated in the bill the changes have to do with the training of osteopathic physicians and licensure. He stated we have proposed to bring it up to date with current medical training. He explained this would allow a separation of those who graduate before 1995 to the training of standards at that time, and those after 1995 with current medical training which does not recognize the 1-year post-graduate training as being a route to any board certification. He declared currently osteopathic physicians can get a license after 1 year and work outside of the residency; medical doctors cannot. He emphasized it would be quite beneficial to require more training such as 2 years. He stated he had been on the board since 1988 and members are basically made to be consistent with the guidelines for licensure for all physicians that govern all the boards. He explained the board would appreciate suggestions in learning how to handle complaints.

Robert L. Kersey, D.O., Secretary-Treasurer, State Board of Osteopathic Medicine, stated the board represents the citizens of the state, not the physicians in the state; we do consider complaints of all types. Senator O’Connell stated that is the normal practice.

Senator O’Connell closed the hearing on S.B. 199 and opened the hearing on S.B. 85.

Senator Bill R. O’Donnell, Clark County Senatorial District No. 5, stated a constituent of his called him with a complaint that she was inundated with requests because the State Board of Nursing sells mailing lists of nurses. He explained that a person cannot get a list of teachers, doctors, or real estate people, but can get a list of nurses. He stated the state should not be in the business of selling the lists for nurses as it is an invasion of privacy.

Kathy Apple, Lobbyist, State Board of Nursing, stated the board does not support this bill. She stated the board does have a public information policy to what it considers to be public information. She acknowledged the list includes the name of a licensee, their home address, the license type, the status of the license, the expiration of the license, and disciplinary action taken by any board. She explained all of this information has been published since 1957. She stated this is the way the board tracks our nurses; by home addresses. She maintained the board does that because it provides us consistently with the right information in order to send renewals. Chairman Townsend stated it is two different matters to keep track of the nurses as a regulatory agency and quite another to release the information out to the public. He inquired if the nurses are allowed to respond whether or not they wish their names to be on a list. Ms. Apple stated the original intent was that was the way facilities found nurses and an actual list was published. She acknowledged the board does sell mailing lists particularly to organizations affiliated with nursing organizations. She stated she took a proposal to her board to amend the public information policy, which was prompted by a conversation with Senator O’Donnell. She asserted the board did not want to do anything until the outcome of this bill was determined, but it will be on the board meeting next week.

Senator O’Donnell stated he would give them another week to act upon this matter. He stated he was concerned because a nurse could be assigned to a person in the hospital for a few days and that individual could have access to the nurse’s home address and telephone number. He stressed the amount of money the nursing board is making selling the lists is not worth these people’s safety.

Samuel P. McMullen, Lobbyist, State Board of Nursing, stated Senator O’Donnell’s comment has been duly noted.

Chairman Townsend stated he would like to know the outcome regarding the mailing lists after the meeting of the board. Ms. Apple stated she would provide that to the committee.

Chairman Townsend closed the hearing on S.B. 85 and opened the hearing on S.B. 176.

Tom Morris, Certified Audiologist, Nevada Hearing Specialists, stated he has been practicing since 1979. He stated it is important for the committee to understand that two governing boards currently regulate audiologists. He stated that while hearing-aid dispensers are now trained very similar to an apprenticeship, audiologists have a formal education. He stated that he felt the audiology board should merge with the hearing-aid specialist board to have their own governing board. He referred to his statement (Exhibit C) where 23 states permit audiologists to dispense hearing aids without having to hold the hearing dispenser licenses; but in the State of Nevada, this would be unrealistic to propose. He emphasized the current Board of Hearing Aid Specialists feels very strongly that anyone who dispenses hearing aids should take and pass both a practical and written exam. He stated he wants to create a new board called the Board of Audiologists and Hearing Aid Specialists. He stated the State of New Hampshire has provided a board of hearing care providers and he submitted a written statement to the committee (Exhibit D). He explained the only significant change would be adding one member to the board where there would be two audiologists and two instrument-hearing specialists, but currently the board is only composed of one each. Chairman Townsend advised Mr. Morris to consult with the other two boards and see if his concerns cannot be met.

David Barber, Board of Hearing Aid Specialists, stated Mr. Morris had some good suggestions. He stated the board licenses all the audiologists who dispense hearing aids and, from a consumer perspective, the bill really "guts" what is presently being done on the benefit of the consumers. He stated he is distressed about this bill and how it is being presented. He presented his written statement to the committee (Exhibit E). Senator O’Connell advised the committee it was very important to have an understanding of the financial impact on the two boards. She stated the bill will need to have a fee limit. Mr. McMullen stated in section 28 "The board shall charge fees which must not be greater than the following:"; that is the ceiling.

Written statements (Exhibit F, Exhibit G, and Exhibit H) were submitted to the committee, no testimony was given.

Chairman Townsend closed the hearing on S.B. 176.

Harvey Whittemore, Lobbyist, Nevada Resort Association (NRA), stated the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 651.030 and NRS 651.040 had limitations on giving resorts the flexibility that they need to deal with special events. He stated resorts need to be able to provide the consumer with the flexibility to book special events far enough in advance as to make the law flexible with respect to how those rates are posted and what information must be given to the consumer. He stated NRA was asking for a bill draft request (Exhibit I) to modify the existing NRS 651.030 and NRS 651.040 to provide for that flexibility.

Senator O’Connell asked Chairman Townsend to modify NRS 624.3017 via a bill draft request per Jack Kennedy. She stated he had submitted to the committee an amended copy of NRS 624.3017 (Exhibit J).

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The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

Kathryn Lawrence,

Committee Secretary

APPROVED BY:

Senator Randolph J. Townsend, Chairman

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