State health and social welfare institutions.

WORKING DRAFT
2008
STATE OF
WYOMING
08LSO-0250

SENATE FILE
NO.
SF0034

State health and social welfare institutions.

Sponsored by:
Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Interim Committee

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to the administration of government; providing for a study of the state's health and social welfare institutions; creating a select legislative committee on state institutions; creating a governor's planning committee on state institutions; prescribing duties of the committees; requiring reports; authorizing temporary positions; providing appropriations; providing for a delayed repeal date; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of
Wyoming
:

Section 1.

(a)

There is created the select committee on state institutions consisting of the following members:

(i)

Four (4) members of the Wyoming senate appointed by the president of the senate and six (6) members of the Wyoming house of representatives appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, subject to the following:

(A)

The president and the speaker shall coordinate their appointments to include in the membership of the select committee, to the extent feasible, current or former members of the joint appropriations interim committee, the joint judiciary interim committee, the joint labor, health and social services interim committee, the select committee to study developmental programs and the select committee on mental health and substance abuse services;

(B)

The president and the speaker shall each designate a cochairman unless they jointly designate a chairman.

(b)

The select committee shall have the power to introduce legislation, to make recommendations to the governor and the legislature and to make the reports required by this act and any related reports deemed useful by the committee.

(c)

There is created a governor's planning committee on state institutions consisting of the following members:

(i)

The directors of the departments of health and family services;

(ii)

Three (3) persons appointed by the governor who may be either state employees or private citizens and who shall serve at the pleasure of the governor. Private citizen appointees shall be compensated for their service on the committee in the same
amount
as legislators;

(iii)

A chairman designated by the governor from among the persons appointed pursuant to paragraphs (i) and (ii) of this subsection.

(d)

The governor's planning committee on state institutions shall have the power to make recommendations to the governor and the legislature and, with the consent of the governor, to recommend legislation to the legislature. The planning committee may submit a concurrence, dissent or supplement to the reports made by the select committee on state institutions and may make such additional relevant reports as the committee deems appropriate, including advice to the governor on personnel
issues
at the institutions.

(e)

The select committee on state institutions and governor's planning committee on state institutions shall ordinarily meet jointly, but each committee shall have the power to meet separately. When meeting jointly, the committees shall be known as the joint legislative-executive committee on state institutions, with the appointed chairmen serving as cochairmen.

(f)

Meetings of the committees established by this section shall be open to the public. The joint committee on state institutions shall have the power to consider and make recommendations to the governor on staffing levels and utilization in the state institutions.

Section 2.

(a)

The joint legislative-executive committee on state institutions shall conduct a study of the facilities and functions of the Wyoming state hospital, the Wyoming state training school, the Wyoming pioneer home, the Wyoming retirement center, the Wyoming boys' school, the Wyoming girls' school and the veterans' home of Wyoming, subject to the following:

(i)

The committee shall develop a long term strategy for serving institutional needs of populations covered by the study, including consideration of privatization of services, provision of services in home or community based settings and provision of services in a state institution;

(ii)

The committee shall develop a long term strategy for the utilization of the institutions' physical facilities;

(iii)

The committee shall develop a long term capital plan to ensure the institutions are capable of implementing the recommended strategy. The capital plan shall provide for the retention, renovation as necessary and new construction of facilities needed to implement the recommended strategy. The capital plan shall also provide for the sale, demolition, decommissioning or conversion to other uses of the institutions' physical facilities not needed to implement the recommended strategies.

(b)

The study shall include the following components:

(i)

Identification of special populations for which the state has a responsibility and for whom institutional care may be appropriate for at least some of the population some of the time, including but not limited to:

(A)

Persons with severe and persistent mental illness who are adults, children, adolescents or persons needing nursing home care due to aging or progressive degenerative illness;

(B)

Persons found not guilty of a crime due to mental illness or deficiency without responsibility and subject to disposition pursuant to W.S. 7
‑
11
‑
306(c) or (d);

(C)

Persons, including persons accused of a crime, who are temporarily placed in the custody of the state for purposes of a psychiatric examination;

(D)

Persons with a developmental disability, including children or adults with a severe disability, adults whose family care givers are no longer available to care for the person with a disability and geriatric persons with a disability who need assisted living or nursing home services;

(E)

Children adjudicated delinquent or in need of supervision;

(F)

Persons who are incarcerated felons and in need of nursing home care;

(G)

Persons with acquired brain injuries;

(H)

Persons eligible for placement in the
Wyoming
pioneer home;

(J)

Veterans eligible for placement in the veterans' home of
Wyoming
or a nursing home;

(K)

Persons who are in need of nursing home care but who have conditions such that private nursing homes are unable or unwilling to care for them;

(
M
)

Persons with Alzheimer's disease or functionally similar senile dementia;

(
N
)

Persons with a long term contagious disease and needing special isolation and quarantine facilities not available in hospitals;

(
O
)

Other special populations the joint committee may identify, not including those persons in need of general health care or incarcerated persons who are not otherwise described in this paragraph.

(ii)

For each special population identified in paragraph (i) of this subsection, the joint committee shall identify the degree to which institutional placement is needed, the projected size of the population in need of institutional placement, the special characteristics of the institution needed to serve the population, necessary or recommended limitations on commingling with other populations and a summary of current services to the population;

(iii)

A physical inventory of the facilities available at the institutions, including:

(A)

The current uses of each facility;

(B)

Currently known information about the physical condition of each facility and known defects or problems;

(C)

Special features which make a facility useful for a particular population;

(D)

Known limitations on the facility which render it inappropriate for use by a particular population.

(iv)

A compilation and summary of recent studies conducted by the state on the institutions and services to the special populations identified in the study;

(v)

A recommended strategy for serving the special populations identified with emphasis on the more acutely affected populations for whom institutional care is appropriate, including a strategy for the most appropriate use of the inventoried facilities. In developing the strategy, consideration shall be given to:

(A)

Privatization or continuation of the private delivery of services for the populations identified;

(B)

Home or community placement in public, private for profit or private nonprofit facilities;

(C)

The historical and expected difficulties in obtaining adequate professional and paraprofessional staff in some communities;

(D)

The cost effectiveness of various strategies and the cost to the state of various institutional strategies;

(E)

The possible capital cost to the state of various strategies for use of institutional facilities;

(F)

The availability of family and community support services and the overall quality of life for members of the identified populations under various service options;

(G)

The safety of members of the identified populations under various service options;

(H)

Other factors which the joint committee deems relevant.

(c)

In conducting the study required by this act, the joint committee shall:

(i)

Before July 31, 2009, visit each of the institutions identified in subsection 2(a) of this act, conduct a public hearing at each institution and conduct at least two
(2)
other public hearings in other locations within the state;

(ii)

Make a preliminary report
to the governor and the legislature
by November 30, 2008 on the joint committee's activities with recommendations for immediate legislation, if any;

(iii)

Make a final report
to the governor and the legislature
by August 1, 2009 concerning paragraphs (b)(i), (iii) and (iv) of this section;

(iv)

Make a preliminary report by November 1, 2009 on the overall strategy for serving the identified populations;

(v)

Make a report to the governor and the joint appropriations interim committee by November 1, 2009 to include any recommendations for appropriations in the 2010-2011 biennial budget for facility construction and remodeling studies to meet the recommended service strategies. The report shall also include recommendations for the sale, demolition, decommissioning or conversion of facilities not needed to meet the recommended service strategies.

(d)

The select committee on state institutions shall sponsor legislation making any statutory changes in the missions of the institutions needed to implement preliminary strategies identified by the joint legislative-executive committee on state institutions.

(e)

The select committee on state institutions by December 1, 2010 shall recommend a final strategy for the state institutions and, if possible, a timetable for capital construction to meet identified needs. The select committee shall have the power to sponsor legislation in the 2011
g
eneral
s
ession even if the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives abolish the select committee by failing to appoint or reappoint members to the select committee from the legislature commencing in January, 2011.

(f)

The select committee on state institutions shall expire with the
end of the
term of the 60
th

Wyoming
legislature, unless the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives extend the term of the committee until March 31, 2012 by appointing members to the committee during or within thirty (30) days of the end of the 2011
g
eneral
s
ession.

(g)

The governor's planning committee on state institutions shall expire
on January 11, 2011
unless the select committee on state institutions is extended and the governor chooses to appoint members to t
he planning committee
, in which case t
he planning committee
shall expire on March 31, 2012.

Section 3.

(a)

The legislative service office is authorized three (3) additional full-time temporary positions for the purposes of this act. The positions shall expire June 30, 2012. The positions shall include a project director and two
(2)
assistants. The project director shall serve as executive secretary for both the select committee on state institutions and the governor's planning committee on state institutions, except that the governor may designate a separate executive secretary for the governor's planning committee.

(b)

The governor may temporarily assign other executive branch employees to assist in the work of the joint legislative-executive committee on state institutions under the supervision of the project director.

Section 4.

(a)

There is appropriated six hundred fifty thousand dollars ($650,000.00) from the general fund to the legislative service office. This appropriation shall be for the period beginning with the effective date of this act and ending June 30, 2012. This appropriation shall only be expended for the purpose of the operations of the select committee on state institutions. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this appropriation shall not be transferred or expended for any other purpose and any unexpended, unobligated funds remaining from this appropriation shall revert as provided by law on July 1, 2012. This appropriation shall not be included in the legislative service office's 2011-2012 biennial budget request.

(b)

There is appropriated five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000.00) from the general fund to the legislative service office. This appropriation shall be for the period beginning with the effective date of this act and ending June 30, 201
2
. This appropriation shall only be expended for the purpose of hiring consultants to assist in the study required by this act. The legislative service office may transfer funds as needed between the appropriations in subsections (a) and (b) of this section. Notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as provided in the preceding sentence, this appropriation shall not be transferred or expended for any other purpose and any unexpended, unobligated funds remaining from this appropriation shall revert as provided by law on July 1, 2012. This appropriation shall not be included in the
legislative service office's
2011-2012 biennial budget request.

(c)

There is appropriated forty-five thousand dollars ($45,000.00) from the general fund to the governor's office. This appropriation shall be for the period beginning with the effective date of this act and ending June 30, 2012. This appropriation shall only be expended for the purpose of the operations of the governor's planning committee on state institutions. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this appropriation shall not be transferred or expended for any other purpose and any unexpended, unobligated funds remaining from this appropriation shall revert as provided by law on July 1, 2012. This appropriation shall not be included in the governor's 2011-2012 standard biennial budget request.

Section 5.

This act is repealed effective June 30, 2012.

Section 6.

This act is effective immediately upon co
m
pletion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constit
u
tion.

(END)

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SF0034