MINUTES OF THE meeting

of the

ASSEMBLY committee on Ways and Means

AND SENATE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

JOINT SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES

 

Seventy-First Session

April 6, 2001

 

 

The Assembly Committee on Ways and Meansand the Senate Committee on Finance Joint Subcommittee on Human Resources was called to order at 8:10 a.m., on Friday, April 6, 2001.  Chairman Chris Giunchigliani presided in Room 3137 of the Legislative Building, Carson City, Nevada.  Exhibit A is the Agenda.  Exhibit B is the Guest List.  All exhibits are available and on file at the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

 

 

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Ms.                     Chris Giunchigliani, Chairwoman

Mrs.                     Barbara Cegavske

Mr.                     Joseph Dini, Jr.

Mr.                     David Goldwater

Ms.                     Sheila Leslie

 

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

 

Ms. Sandra Tiffany (Excused)

 

SENATE COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

           Senator William J. Raggio

           Senator Bob Coffin

           Senator Bernice Mathews

 

  SENATE COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT:

 

           Senator Raymond D. Rawson (Excused)

 

STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Steve Abba, Principal Deputy Fiscal Analyst (Assembly)

Robert Guernsey, Principal Deputy Fiscal Analyst (Senate)

Bob Atkinson, Program Analyst

Kathryn Fosnaugh, Committee Secretary

 

 

BUDGET CLOSINGS

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani reminded the committee, throughout all of the budgets being heard, the following issues would be adjusted as staff worked through the budgets. 

 

• Statewide Cost Allocation

 

• Attorney General Cost Allocation

 

• Intra-Agency Cost Allocation

 

• DoIT Assessments

 

• Purchasing Assessments

 

• Fringe Benefit Adjustments

 

• "Pooling" of Salary Adjustment Funds

 

• State-Owned Building Rent

 

 

 

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, HEALTH DIVISION – BUDGET PAGE HEALTH-10

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked for testimony on the Cancer Control Registry, Budget Account 101-3153. 

 

Bob Atkinson, Program Analyst, Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB), said the LCB staff recommendation was to close this budget as recommended by the Governor. 

 

SENATOR RAGGIO MOVED TO CLOSE THE BUDGET AS RECOMMENDED BY THE GOVERNOR.

 

ASSEMBLYMAN GOLDWATER SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 

 

BUDGET CLOSED. 

 

(Senator Rawson, Assemblyman Dini, and Assemblywoman Tiffany were not present for the vote.)

 

********

 

 

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, HEALTH DIVISION – BUDGET PAGE HEALTH-15

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked for testimony on Consumer Health Protection,

Budget Account 101-3194.

 

Mr. Atkinson said the LCB staff recommended this budget be closed as recommended by the Governor.  He noted S.B. 505, which proposed to move inspections of the dairy industry to the Dairy Commission, according to the division, would have no impact on the budget.

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani pointed out the amount of General Fund that was currently going into the budget and said that it had increased from 27 percent to 40.8 percent due to the decrease in collection fees.  The decrease in fees was because there had not been many plants, or construction going on, to assess the fees.  She said this should be looked at over the interim and during the next session. 

 

 

ASSEMBLYMAN GOLDWATER MOVED TO CLOSE THE BUDGET AS RECOMMENDED BY THE GOVERNOR.

 

ASSEMBLYWOMAN CEGAVSKE SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 

 

BUDGET CLOSED. 

 

(Senator Rawson, Assemblyman Dini, and Assemblywoman Tiffany were not present for the vote.)

 

********

 

 

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, HEALTH DIVISION – BUDGET PAGE HEALTH-34

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked for testimony on Communicable Disease Control, Budget Account 101-3220.

 

Mr. Atkinson said the recommended budget had been adjusted.  He explained none of the expenditures had been adjusted, but the revenue had been adjusted to align with the expenditures that were recommended in the Governor's budget.  This resulted in a savings for the General Fund of $61,473 for FY2001-02 and $58,988 for FY2002-03. 

 

 

SENATOR MATHEWS MOVED TO CLOSE THE BUDGET AS RECOMMENDED BY STAFF.

 

SENATOR RAGGIO SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 

 

BUDGET CLOSED. 

 

(Senator Rawson, Assemblyman Dini, and Assemblywoman Tiffany were not present for the vote.)

 

********

 

 

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, HEALTH DIVISION – BUDGET PAGE HEALTH-42

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked for testimony on Sexually Transmitted Disease Control, Budget Account 101-3215. 

 

Mr. Atkinson said there had been no changes to expenditures, but revenues had been adjusted to align with the expenditures, resulting in a reduction to the General Fund of $29,116 in FY2001-02 and $19,333 in FY2002-03. 

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked if the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) would still continue with the revenues that were anticipated. 

 

Mr. Atkinson said the division had indicated while there had been a decline in cases, the decline was not expected to continue, so the budget had been left flat.  

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani said that made sense, as the assumption had been that the case amounts would go down and then increase again. 

 

Mr. Goldwater asked if the federal government was going to provide the same type of funding and Chairwoman Giunchigliani said yes.

 

 

SENATOR RAGGIO MOVED TO CLOSE THE BUDGET AS RECOMMENDED BY STAFF.

 

ASSEMBLYWOMAN LESLIE SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 

 

BUDGET CLOSED. 

 

(Senator Rawson, Assemblyman Dini, and Assemblywoman Tiffany were not present for thevote.)

 

    ********

 

 

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, HEALTH DIVISION – BUDGET PAGE HEALTH-46

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked for testimony on the Immunization Program, Budget Account 101-3213.

 

Mr. Atkinson said decision unit E-900 requested six positions be moved from this budget account to the Health Administration account.  He pointed out that four of the position transfers had already been approved by various actions of the Interim Finance Committee (IFC).  The LCB staff recommended that the decision unit be approved to transfer the final two positions. 

 

Mr. Atkinson continued and explained that in the base budget and decision unit M-301 there were a few technical adjustments to remove revenue and expenditures that had accidentally been left in from the Demonstration Projects to Promote Public Health Information (INPHO) grant, which had expired March 31, 2001. 

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani said, within the motion, it should be noted that the transferred positions be solely supported by indirect costs, and not from state funds.  

 

Mr. Atkinson explained the positions that were to be transferred had originally been created to be funded federally with the INPHO grant.  The division had proposed to move the positions to the Health Administration budget account where the positions would be funded through indirect costs.  The LCB staff wanted assurance that the positions would continue to be funded through indirects and that somewhere "down the road" the state would not need to support the positions from the General Fund. 

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani said that the usual procedure was to do a Letter of Intent and asked Senator Raggio for confirmation.  Senator Raggio said he was more concerned about the childhood series of immunizations.  He said he wanted to make sure they did not run out of funding in that situation.  He said if that were the case, the IFC would have to be approached.  He said a Letter of Intent was appropriate. 

 

 

SENATOR RAGGIO MOVED TO CLOSE THE BUDGET AS RECOMMENDED BY STAFF WITH A LETTER OF INTENT TO COME BACK TO THE INTERIM FINANCE COMMITTEE IF GRANT MONEY WAS TO BE REDUCED, AND WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT INDIRECT COSTS WOULD SUPPORT THE POSITIONS THAT WERE TRANSFERRED TO THE HEALTH ADMINISTRATION'S BUDGET ACCOUNT.

 

ASSEMBLYWOMAN LESLIE SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 

 

BUDGET CLOSED. 

 

(Senator Rawson, Assemblyman Dini, and Assemblywoman Tiffany were not present for the vote.)

 

********

 

 

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, HEALTH DIVISION – BUDGET PAGE HEALTH-62

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked for testimony on the WIC Food Supplement Budget Account 101-3214.

 

Mr. Atkinson said the LCB staff recommended that this budget be approved as recommended by the Governor.  He added that decision unit E-710 would provide for the purchase of 25 printers each year of the biennium at the cost of $5,000 each year.  The printers were worn out by printing vouchers for the WIC program. 

 

 

SENATOR RAGGIO MOVED TO CLOSE THE BUDGET AS RECOMMENDED BY THE GOVERNOR WITH DECISION UNIT E-710.

 

SENATOR MATHEWS SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 

 

BUDGET CLOSED. 

 

(Senator Rawson and Assemblywoman Tiffany were not present for the vote.)

 

********

 

 

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, HEALTH DIVISION – BUDGET PAGE HEALTH-66

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani asked for testimony on the Emergency Medical Services, Budget Account 101-3235.

 

Mr. Atkinson said a number of small adjustments had been made on this account. 

 

• Under the Personnel category, a position had been vacated after The Executive Budget's recommendation.  The level was reset at the midpoint, the rate at which a new employee would be hired, and the longevity associated with the previous employee was eliminated. 

 

• Under the In-State Travel category, an adjustment was made in FY2001-02 of $4,085 that was an increase recommended by the Governor.  He said with the subcommittee's approval, there would be an increase of the In-State Travel category by about $1,800 to compensate for some of the programs in this budget account that had not gotten off the ground as yet, due to the late purchase of things in the base year. 

 

• Under the Operating Expense category, the printing costs for some forms were included in the budget twice and that was adjusted which caused a savings of $4,382 each year of the biennium. 

 

• Under the EMS Training category, the travel expense had been adjusted to the FY1999-2000 level.  There was also a small increase requested in conference fees paid to the University of Nevada, School of Medicine, for the annual EMS Conference.  There was an interlocal agreement for the support of that conference in the amount of $5,000 so the budget was adjusted to reflect that amount, reducing the General Fund support in the amount of $4,079 for FY2001-02 and $1,543 in FY2002-03. 

 

• Under the EMS Grants category, which was supported by a $5 incremental certification fee, there was a small problem in the alignment of the amount of the fees to be collected with the amount expenditure authority.  That had been corrected, bringing the fee level to the level that had been collected in the base year. 

 

• Under the EMS Rural Health Initiative category, in the previous session $20,000 each year of the biennium had been put into this category to purchase a van to do training in the rural areas.  The recommended budget had been adjusted to remove the one-time cost of the equipment purchases of the van and some other equipment.  Travel money and medical supplies were left in the budget. 

 

• Under the Radio Network category, an adjustment had been made to remove rack and channel rent which had been included twice, and this reduced the General Fund support in the amount of $63,399 each year of the biennium.

 

Senator Raggio asked Don Hataway, Deputy Director, Budget Division, Department of Administration, if the division had any objection to the changes recommended by the LCB staff.  Mr. Hataway answered no. 

 

SENATOR RAGGIO MOVED TO CLOSE THE BUDGET WITH THE ADJUSTMENTS RECOMMENDED BY STAFF.

 

SENATOR COFFIN SECONDED THE MOTION.

 

Mr. Dini asked for clarification of the EMS Training category.  Chairwoman Giunchigliani said the EMS Training category was for the training program that was held at the University of Nevada, Reno, and asked Mr. Atkinson for clarification of the category.  Mr. Atkinson said in the EMS Training category, the base expenditures had been included, and recommended, in the upcoming biennium.  The travel had been increased by an amount that had not been explained and the support for the EMS Conference had been increased.  The LCB staff removed the increase, and changed the amounts back to the level that had been recommended in the base, still allowing $5,000 a year in support for the EMS Conference, which would help pay for speakers, staff attendance, and travel to attend the conference.

 

Mr. Dini said it was his understanding that the purpose of this category was to train people in the rural areas.  Mr. Atkinson said that issue was covered in the combination of both the EMS Training category and the EMS Grants category. 

 

Chairwoman Giunchigliani explained that a portion of the Rural Initiative included the $1 million that had been allocated to the University of Nevada Reno (UNR) School of Medicine the previous year out of the tobacco money for the purpose of rural area training.  This EMS Training category's purpose included helping to bring people to the EMS Conference.   Both categories had been impacted.  A portion of the $1 million continued to be available, as the Rural Initiative program had not been implemented by the UNR School of Medicine as soon as had been planned.  The adjustments to the budget did not negatively impact the program.  The $1 million was to go to the University of Nevada, School of Medicine. 

 

THE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 

 

BUDGET CLOSED. 

(Senator Rawson and Assemblywoman Tiffany were not present for the vote.)

 

********

 

Being no further business, Chairwoman Giunchigliani adjourned the meeting at 8:27 a.m.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

 

Kathryn Fosnaugh,

Committee Secretary

APPROVED BY:

 

 

                       

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, Chairwoman

 

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