CHAPTER 268
SB 427 – FINAL VERSION
02/17/10 0587s
12May2010… 1665h
2010 SESSION
01/04
SENATE BILL 427
AN ACT relative to the duties of the oversight committee on health and human services.
SPONSORS: Sen. Sgambati, Dist 4; Sen. Downing, Dist 22; Rep. Rosenwald, Hills 22; Rep. Harding, Graf 11
COMMITTEE: Health and Human Services
This bill revises the duties of the oversight committee on health and human services. This bill repeals the joint legislative committee on elderly affairs, the oversight committee to review the allocation of funds to persons with developmental disabilities or acquired brain disorders, and the law relative to the capacity of the developmental disability services delivery system and adds those duties to the oversight committee on health and human services. The bill also permits the oversight committee on health and human services to establish ancillary bodies to study specific issues relevant to services offered by the department of health and human services.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
02/17/10 0587s
12May2010… 1665h
10-2826
01/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT relative to the duties of the oversight committee on health and human services.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
268:1 Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services. Amend the section heading of RSA 126-A:13 to read as follows:
126-A:13 Oversight Committee; Establishment; Purpose.
268:2 New Paragraph; Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services; Purpose Added. Amend RSA 126-A:13 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:
III. The oversight committee on health and human services shall provide legislative oversight of the department to support a cost effective, comprehensive, coordinated system of health and human services that is family-centered and community-based. The committee shall promote greater efficiencies by consolidating and centralizing reporting requirements and other responsibilities of the department under this section to avoid duplication of efforts involving other non-regulatory boards, commissions, councils, advisory committees, and task forces.
268:3 Duties of the Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services. RSA 126-A:15 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
126-A:15 Duties of Oversight Committee.
I. The committee shall provide legislative oversight of and informational meetings on the programs, policies, and rules of the department as brought to its attention by committee members, legislators, department personnel, or others. The committee shall monitor the efficiency of operation and the quality of service provided by the department’s programs. The committee’s work may include, but is not limited to, analyzing the efficacy of selected programs, studying the characteristics of target populations, researching trends affecting program costs and participation, and reviewing alternate approaches to programmatic and administrative concerns. The committee may make recommendations to the commissioner and recommendations for legislation as indicated by its findings. The committee shall maintain communications with the department, and any other departments, as necessary to accomplish its work.
II. The oversight committee shall create subcommittees, councils, task forces, or other ancillary bodies as necessary to implement its responsibilities. In developing these bodies, the committee shall take into account major program areas of the department and populations served by the department, such as public health, behavioral health, developmental disabilities, and elderly and adult services. The authorization for each such body shall be repealed on December 31 of the even-numbered year of the biennium. The committee shall:
(a) Establish specific guidelines or outcomes for each such body, including reporting requirements.
(b) Appoint members to each such body, including at least one legislator and, as appropriate, other members as determined by the expertise necessary to accomplish the work of the body. Legislative members need not be a member of the oversight committee.
(c) Appoint a chair of each such body, who shall be a legislator and who shall act as the liaison between the body and the oversight committee.
III. Directly or through an ancillary body, the oversight committee shall review quarterly the allocation of funds to and receipt of services by persons with developmental disabilities and acquired brain disorders, to assure that eligible persons receive services in a timely manner and in accordance with their needs as provided in RSA 171-A.
IV. Directly or through an ancillary body, the oversight committee shall serve as the legislative liaison for the state committee on aging, established under RSA 161-F:7, and shall consider the major problems facing elderly citizens.
V. The committee shall meet at the call of the chair but in no case less than every 2 months.
VI. The committee shall make a report no later than the first day of November of the second year of the biennium as to its activities and recommendations to the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate.
268:4 State Committee on Aging. Amend RSA 161-F:7, I to read as follows:
I. There shall be a state committee on aging which shall consist of 18 members. The governor shall appoint 15 members with the approval of the council. Those appointed by the governor shall include at least one member from each county. The committee shall also include [the chairman of the joint legislative committee on elderly affairs] a legislator appointed by the chair of the oversight committee on health and human services, one representative appointed by the speaker of the house, and one senator appointed by the president of the senate. Each of the members shall serve for a term of 3 years except the legislative members’ terms shall be co-terminous with their 2-year legislative terms. At least 8 members shall be 60 years of age or older at the time of their appointment, and not more than 8 members shall be of the same political party. Nine members shall constitute a quorum. No member shall serve more than 2 consecutive terms, and no member shall have a material financial interest in any agency receiving federal or other funds administered by the division of elderly and adult services.
268:5 Repeals. The following are repealed:
I. RSA 17-H, relative to the joint legislative committee on elderly affairs.
II. RSA 171-A:1-c, relative to the oversight committee to review the allocation of funds to persons with developmental disabilities or acquired brain disorders.
III. RSA 171-A:1-d, relative to the capacity of the developmental disability services delivery system.
268:6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
Approved: July 6, 2010
Effective Date: September 4, 2010