Rotunda Review Archive

February 12, 2008

Legislative Bill Status

Advocacy News

Email Your State Senator

Other Advocacy Resources

Where to get current legislative news

The NHA Web site Advocacy page has valuable information resources for your advocacy efforts, including:
 

NHA Legislative bill status Nebraska Legislature online E-mail your state senator Weekly schedule of committee hearings Contact the Nebraska Governor  Contact Nebraska's U.S. Senators and Congressional Delegates House of Representatives United States Senate

The Unicameral Web site has been redesigned and includes comprehensive information about the senators, bill status, legislative calendar and news.

If you have questions or concerns about any state legislation, please contact Bruce Rieker, vice president, advocacy, at 402/742-8146 or brieker@nhanet.org; or Carly Runestad, director of health policy, at 402/742-8153 or crunestad@nhanet.org. 

NHA issues letter to Gov. regarding safe haven legislation

Friday, NHA President, Laura J. Redoutey, FACHE, issued a letter to Governor Dave Heineman outlining the NHA's concerns regarding Nebraska's proposed "Safe Haven" legislation. The Governor has indicated that he will sign LB 157, which will allow anyone to confidentially leave a child of any age at Nebraska's hospitals without being ticketed for child abandonment. Hospitals are responsible for providing necessary health care services and "promptly" alerting the appropriate authorities. The NHA supports the intent of the safe haven legislation, to protect our state's children, however; the legislature neglected to address several issues when it passed the bill, the letter says. Nebraska will either become the 49th or 50th state in the nation to adopt a safe haven law, depending on when Governor Heineman and Alaska’s governor sign their state’s legislative bills to adopt safe haven laws. Read the full letter.

— Christy Rasmussen, director of communications, February 11, 2008.

NHA offers testimony at legislative and regulatory hearings

Click on each bill number to read the testimony.

• Support AHEC Funding – Appropriate funds to the Area Health Education Centers in the state budget
• Support LB 836 – Prohibit smoking in a vehicle when minors are present

• Support LB 911 – (with implementation of advance directives notification) – Provide for REAL ID operator's licenses and state identification cards

• Support LB 954 – Change provisions relating to HIV testing
  Testimony provided by Rita White, RN, Infection Control Practitioner for Nebraska Methodist Hospital, Omaha

• Support LB 1060 – Appropriate funds to the University of Nebraska for College of Nursing facility in Lincoln

• Support LB 1075 - Appropriate funds to the University of Nebraska to support the Nebraska Regional Poison Center

• Oppose LB 1109 – Change distribution of cigarette tax

Hearing schedule for Feb. 11 – 15

The following "bills of interest" to NHA members are being heard in committees this week. Behind each bill number is the committee that will hear testimony. If you would like to share your perspective on a particular bill or are interested in testifying at the hearing, please contact Bruce Rieker, vice president of advocacy, at 402/742-8146 or brieker@nhanet.org, or Carly Runestad, director of health policy at 402/742-8153 or crunestad@nhanet.org.

Monday, February 11
LB 825 (Business) – Require insurance coverage for cochlear implants as prescribed
LB 948 (Business) – Adopt the Volunteer Emergency Responders Job Protection Act
LB 969 (Banking) – Require insurance coverage for prosthetics as prescribed
LB 1016 (Business) – Adopt the Proper Employee Classifications Act
LB 1082 (Business) – Amend the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act to redefine injury and personal injuries

Tuesday, February 12
LB 795 (Appropriations) – Provide appropriations for community health centers
LB 812 (Transportation) – Provide for primary enforcement of occupant protection system laws
LB 842 (Appropriations) – Appropriate funds to the DHHS for developmental disability aid
LB 900 (Banking) – Prohibit use of certain credit information and discriminatory practices in issuing insurance policies and eliminate the Model Act regarding use of credit information in personal insurance
LB 940 (Appropriations) – State legislative intent to increase payments for pharmacy dispensing fees under the Medical Assistance Program
LB 1092 (Transportation) – Require seat belts on school buses
LB 1119 (Appropriations) – Appropriate funds to the Department of Health and Human Services
LB 1158 (Education) – Provide economic development grants for private, nonprofit organizations in high-poverty areas

Wednesday, February 13
LB 884 (Government) – Change provisions relating to the Director of Personnel and employee health benefits
LB 962 (Government) – Change public body meeting provisions of the Open Meetings Act
LB 1029 (HHS) – Provide for contract rates for foster care services
LB 1031 (HHS) – Change confidentiality provisions relating to researchers and auditors accessing adult and child protective services records

Thursday, February 14
LB 889 (Government) – Provide construction alternatives for political subdivisions
LB 994 (Johnson) – Extend termination date of the Behavioral Health Oversight Commission
LB 1123 (HHS) – Change membership on the Children's Behavioral Health Task Force

Friday, February 15 – Recess day

To see this week's complete schedule of committee hearings click here. To search for a specific bill, click here to access the Unicameral's bill finder.

Register now for March 5 Advocacy Day

The Nebraska Hospital Association's annual Advocacy Day is scheduled for Wednesday, March 5, at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln. This half-day workshop will provide hospital CEOs, advocacy team members, trustees, key hospital staff and other health care advocates with important information about state legislative issues. Scheduled speakers include Speaker of the Legislature Sen. Mike Flood (Norfolk); Sen. Deb Fischer (Valentine); Scot Adams, Nebraska Health and Human Services director of division of Behavioral Health; NHA President, Laura J. Redoutey, FACHE; Bruce Rieker, NHA vice president of advocacy; and Carly Runestad, NHA director of health policy. The 2007 Advocacy Team of the Year will also be recognized.

Following the morning's educational programming, you will have an opportunity to educate your senator about how legislation will affect health care in your community at a Legislative Luncheon. Registration is $30 per person. To register online for Advocacy Day, click here.

Sponsorships available — In 2007, the Advocacy Day luncheon was attended by more than 150 from across the state, including 28 senators. If you are interested in sponsoring Advocacy Day, contact Bruce Rieker, vice president of advocacy at brieker@nhanet.org or 402/742-8146.

Lawmakers approve safe haven bill

After several years of arguing over the details of bills that would allow desperate mothers to legally leave their child in a safe place, senators gave final approval Thursday to Nebraska’s version of a “safe haven” law. And depending on when Gov. Dave Heineman signs the bill into law, Nebraska will become the 49th or 50th state to provide places — generally hospitals and fire stations — where women can leave a baby, no questions asked.

Alaska’s governor is expected to sign that state’s safe haven bill into law at noon February 11 in the Juneau Capitol. Heineman is expected to sign the Nebraska bill, but Jen Rae Hein, spokeswoman for the governor, had no other information. Nebraska’s simple, two-sentence law is unique. It allows a parent to leave a child of any age at a hospital, without fear of prosecution for abandonment or child neglect.

“This is cutting-edge,” said Sen. Rich Pahls, one of two senators who last year sponsored safe haven bills. “There is nothing comparable.” Most other states have set age limits of 72 hours to 30 days so that only infants can be left at a safe haven.

And if that twist — no age limit — becomes a problem, then senators in the future can change the law, said Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center, who made the issue his priority bill. Read the full article.

— Nancy Hicks, Lincoln Journal Star, February 7, 2008.

UNMC seeking money for new nursing facility

At the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) College of Nursing’s Lincoln division, two out of every three qualified applicants are turned away. The reason: Nursing hopefuls far outnumber classroom seats in the college’s rented space at the Commerce Court building downtown.

That, nursing leaders say, is an alarming fact given predictions that Nebraska will be 4,000 registered nurses short by the year 2020. And it’s why UNMC is asking for $175,000 in state money so it can plan for new digs for its Lincoln branch.

A legislative bill introduced last week by Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln would give that planning money to UNMC, which hopes to open the new nursing building by 2012 on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus. Read the full article.

— Melissa Lee, Lincoln Journal Star, February 4, 2008.

Should patients be informed they're getting HIV test?

When Nebraskans go to the doctor for a routine physical, they generally have blood work done — testing for diabetes, thyroid disease, liver and kidney disease, cholesterol. They sign a form giving permission for these tests, not knowing what specifically tests will be run.

At least part of Nebraska’s health establishment wants to make testing for HIV a part of that routine, eliminating the special permission now required to do it. The AIDS stigma has lessened, and there are enormous benefits in treating for the AIDS virus long before serious symptoms appear, said supporters of an HIV testing bill.

The measure (LB 954) would eliminate the state’s requirement that patients be told they will be tested for HIV. Supporters include the Nebraska Hospital Association and the Nebraska Medical Association. But opponents of the measure say AIDS is not viewed the same as, say, high cholesterol, and fear and stigma remain. Patients still need more detailed information and counseling and the chance to refuse or opt out of the HIV test, opponents said in letters and in personal testimony during a hearing last week before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.

“People are more comfortable discussing this issue, and testing is not taboo any longer,” said Sen. Cap Dierks of Ewing, sponsor of the bill. AIDS is no longer a death sentence; it is evolving into a chronic disease, said Rita White, RN, Nebraska Methodist Hospital, representing the Nebraska Hospital Association. Testing is no longer just a diagnostic tool, but a screening device, sometimes with enormous benefits, she said. Read the full article.

— Nancy Hicks, Lincoln Journal Star, February 10, 2008.

Senators likely to debate bill on stem cell research

LINCOLN — A bill limiting embryonic stem cell research in state institutions most likely will be debated this session by the full Legislature, Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood said Friday.

Flood, of Norfolk, said that considerable work went into the bill and that some senator probably will make it a priority for the Legislature's consideration. "I would imagine that it will find its way to the floor one way or another," Flood said. The session concludes in mid-April.

The bill is an effort at compromise between the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where embryonic stem cell research is conducted, and abortion opponents and Catholic groups that contend human embryonic stem cell research is unethical because an embryo is killed in the process.

"There's a lot of history between these folks, and that the university would make these concessions, I think . . . is a positive step," said State Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha. The bill, LB 606, would prohibit state funds and state facilities from being used to destroy human embryos for research. The bill also would prohibit using state money and facilities to create an embryo through a process sometimes called therapeutic cloning, or somatic cell nuclear transfer. Read the full article.

— Rick Ruggles, Omaha World Herald, February 8, 2008.

Proposed changes to child abuse disclosure rules advance

Senators gave first-round approval Feb. 5 to a bill that would expand the state’s ability to release information in child abuse and neglect cases. LB 782, introduced by Omaha Sen. Gwen Howard at the request of the governor, would permit the Nebraska HHS Director of Children and Family Services or the department’s CEO to release information in child abuse cases under limited circumstances.

Among the situations when disclosure would be allowed are those involving the death or near death of a child, when a child is missing from an HHS placement or when information related to a case has already been made public by sources outside of HHS. “The public has a legitimate interest to know more in these cases,” Howard said. Read the full article.

— Nebraska Unicameral Update Online, February 5, 2008.

For more information about health-related legislative bills or resolutions, contact: Bruce Rieker, vice president, advocacy at (402) 742-8146 or brieker@nhanet.org.

NHA Rotunda Review is published by the Nebraska Hospital Association, 3255 Salt Creek Circle, Lincoln, NE 68504. Phone (402) 742-8140, Fax (402) 742-8191. Visit our Web site at http://www.nhanet.org. Christy Rasmussen, editor, at 402/742-8151, or email, crasmussen@nhanet.org.

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