FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 521
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR BANKS.
Read 1st time March 1, 1999, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
S2190.01I
AN ACT
To repeal section 191.825, RSMo 1994, relating to the joint committee on health care policy and planning, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject.
Section A. Section 191.825, RSMo 1994, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 191.825, to read as follows:
191.825. 1. There is established a permanent joint committee of the general assembly to be known as the "Joint Committee on Health Care Policy and Planning". The joint committee shall be comprised of five members of the house of representatives appointed by the speaker of the house and five members of the senate appointed by the president pro tempore of the senate. The appointment of each member shall continue during his term of office as a member of the general assembly or until a successor has been duly appointed to fill his place when his term of office as a member of the general assembly has expired. Not more than three members of the senate or three members of the house shall be of the same political party.
2. Members of the joint committee shall receive no compensation in addition to their salary as members of the general assembly, but may receive their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties as members of the joint committee. Such expenses shall be paid from the joint contingency fund. The meetings of the joint committee shall be in Jefferson City.
3. The joint committee shall meet within ten days after its establishment and organize by selecting a chairman and a vice chairman, one of whom shall be a member of the senate and the other a member of the house of representatives. The joint committee shall meet at least quarterly. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum.
4. The joint committee may, within the limits of its appropriations, employ such persons as it deems necessary to carry out its duties. The compensation of such personnel shall be paid from the joint contingency fund. The joint committee may, within limits of appropriations for that purpose, enter into contracts to provide such professional, legal or technical assistance as may be necessary for it to perform its functions.
5. The duties of the joint committee shall include, but not be limited to:
(1) Monitoring the design and implementation of initiatives enacted by this act to ensure that mechanisms are established to permit effective evaluation of the efficiency and efficacy of those initiatives;
(2) Monitoring the effect of this act and other legislative action upon the delivery of health care services in Missouri. The joint committee shall provide for an independent evaluation of the costs and benefits of the initiatives enacted in this act, using funds designated for that purpose from the health initiatives fund established by section 191.831;
(3) Analyzing and developing policy proposals to improve the delivery of health care services in Missouri;
(4) Making recommendations for administrative or procedural changes in the internal management or organization of the state agencies which provide or regulate the delivery of health care services;
(5) Compiling a report of its activities which shall be submitted to the members of the general assembly and the governor not later than January fifteenth of each year;
(6) Making recommendations to the general assembly for legislative action regarding health care policy and planning;
(7) Developing a health care plan for spending by January 1, 1997, considering health care expenditures, costs, resources and practices including expansion of public health services and managed care organizations, preferred providers, caps, curbs on malpractice suits, choice of physicians and antitrust relief to enable physicians to negotiate fees with any government board setting budgets.
6. Any state funded agency which provides or regulates health care services shall cooperate with and assist the joint committee in the performance of its duties and shall make available all books, records and information as requested by the joint committee.
7. The joint committee shall have the power to subpoena witnesses, take testimony under oath, compel the attendance of witnesses, the giving of testimony and the production of records.
8. The provisions of this section shall expire on December 31, [1999] 2004.