October 10, 2006
Representative
Randall Luthi, Chairman
Senator
Ken Decaria
Senator
John Hanes
Senator
Kit Jennings
Senator
Kathryn Sessions
Representative
Roy Cohee
Representative
Debbie Hammons
Representative
Pete Illoway
Representative
Marty Martin
Senator
Grant Larson
Senator John Schiffer
Barbara
J. Rogers, Program Evaluation Manager
Please
refer to Appendix 1 to review the Committee Sign-in Sheet for a list of other
individuals who attended the meeting.
Meeting materials and
handouts provided to the Committee by the Legislative Service Office (LSO),
public officials, lobbyists, and the public are referenced in the Meeting
Materials Index, attached to the minutes. These materials are on file at the LSO and are
part of the official record of the meeting.
Chairman Luthi called the
meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. The
following sections summarize the Committee proceedings by topic. Please refer to Appendix 2 to review the
Committee Meeting Agenda.
Representative Illoway moved
to approve the minutes from the July 26, 2006 meeting, and Representative Martin seconded. Representative Cohee noted that Senator
Decaria’s name was not included on the list of attendees at that meeting, and
since the Senator had been in attendance, he asked for this correction to be
made. Chairman Luthi noted that this
would be a technical correction, the maker of the motion and the seconder
agreed, and the motion to approve the minutes with this correction carried.
Per W.S. 28-8-107 (c), Chairman
Luthi resolved the Committee into Executive Session for consideration of a follow-up
on the 2004 report, Court-Ordered
Placements at Residential Treatment Centers.
The Committee discussed the report’s findings and recommendations
with officials from the Department of Family Services.
Chairman Luthi opened the
meeting. Representative Illoway moved
and Senator Jennings seconded a motion to release the follow-up on Court-Ordered Placements at Residential
Treatment Centers immediately. The motion
carried.
Discussion followed during
which Chairman Luthi and other members commended DFS Director Rodger McDaniel
and his staff for the changes they have instituted and the progress they have
made in dealing with the tough, expensive issues associated with out-of-home
placements of young persons.
Representative Hammons noted that DFS’ presentation had shown that some
communities have much higher rates of such placements than others, and she requested
that DFS continue working with those communities to bring their numbers of
placements more in line with the rest of the state. Mr.
McDaniel agreed his agency would do this.
He handed out materials related to the topic (these are listed in Attachment
1, Committee Meeting Materials Index).
Chairman Luthi requested that
the Committee work the two pieces of draft legislation prepared by LSO, to
prepare the draft bills for circulation and public comment. He said the Committee could vote to approve
them at a December meeting.
Concerning 07LSO-0127.W1,
Drug court steering committee, Senator Decaria moved to work the draft bill and
Senator Jennings seconded the motion.
The motion carried. Senator
Jennings noted that an additional purpose for this committee should be added to
the list, that being the need to develop a single statewide standard of
success. Following discussion, members agreed
to direct LSO to add the following wording to the draft bill:
Page
4, line 6: (vii) The steering committee shall develop
performance measures for evaluation on a statewide basis.
Dr. Cary Heck from the
Senator Jennings suggested
reducing the number of judges on the committee from four to three, and adding a
new committee member who would represent the
Representative Cohee moved to
strike the word “court” on page 3 line 2, and on page 3 line 3 to strike the
words “and from judges.” Representative
Martin seconded the motion and it carried.
Representative Illoway moved to direct LSO to make these changes and
post the bill on the LSO website; Senator Jennings seconded the motion and it carried
unanimously.
Concerning 07LSO-0067.W1,
State employee compensation commission, Senator Jennings moved and
Representative Illoway seconded a motion to work the bill. The motion carried. Senator Jennings questioned whether page 3,
line 15 of the bill would give the commission subpoena power in a case where an
agency head might not willingly supply needed information. Chairman Luthi stated that the bill draft
does not specifically grant the commission that authority. Representative Illoway moved that the bill be
posted on the LSO website and circulated to members of the Compensation
Commission for their comments, and Senator Hanes seconded. Discussion followed as to whether the word
“Shall” on page 4 line 2 should be changed to “may.” Members agreed to leave the wording as is,
pending testimony and possible change at the December meeting. Chairman Luthi directed staff to send copies
of the bill to the Commission, and agreed to request that Commission members
attend the December meeting to testify as to their reaction to the bill. The motion carried unanimously.
Chairman Luthi requested an
update from Ms. Rogers as to work in progress and possible meeting dates. She reported that the entire program
evaluation staff is working on the study of A&I
Hiring Practices in anticipation of a mid-December meeting at which the
Committee will consider the draft
report. Committee members discussed
possible dates and agreed to meet in
Chairman Luthi led the
Committee in a discussion of requests for scoping papers, which help the
Committee identify new topics and potential issues for consideration. Ms. Rogers said two scoping papers, on the Retirement
System and the State’s Construction Bid Process, have been completed; two more were
requested for the December meeting:
Worker Safety: Injury and
Mortality Rates; and Game and Fish Department:
Impact of Non-Game Expenses. For
the Game and Fish topic, Chairman Luthi stated that certain aspects of it are
being worked on by the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife, and Cultural
Resources Interim Committee and by the Joint Appropriations Interim Committee. Chairman Luthi will check with the chairmen
of those committees to determine if the issues of concern are sufficiently
covered, and will report that information to the Management Audit Committee. If
already covered in other interim work, the Management Audit Committee may
forego the request for this scoping paper.
Concerning the requested
scoping paper on Worker Safety, Representative Hammons stated that the
Department of Employment recently published information that covers her
concerns about accidents, but the question about fatalities on the job
remains. She said
Senator Jennings suggested
another potential topic for a scoping paper: coal bed methane and production of excess
water. Committee interest centered
around how DEQ fulfills its contract with EPA to manage coal bed methane water,
and DEQ’s rule-making process in this regard.
Representative Illoway moved and Senator Jennings seconded a motion to
direct staff to prepare a scoping paper on this topic. The motion carried with Senators Decaria and
Sessions voting no.
There being no further
business, Chairman Luthi adjourned the meeting at 12:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Representative Randall Luthi,
Chairman