A senate bill, by request of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, which aims to ease state laws on telemedicine and background checks for healthcare workers has hit a roadblock in the Alaska House of Representatives after being sent back to the rules committee. Senate Bill 3006 relates to the rights of patients to have a support person present during treatment and during stays at certain facilities, utilizing review requirements, making temporary changes to state law in response to the novel coronavirus disease, relating to telemedicine and telehealth, background checks and providing for an effective date.
The House deliberated on several amendments including one on the rights of patients to have a support person present during treatment and during stays at certain facilities, which was sponsored by District 31 Rep. Sarah Vance.
Rep. Vance explained:
“Senate Bill 3006, which is the governor’s healthcare telehealth bill, was brought to the floor for a second reading after it had passed out of the health and social services committee. It went through only one meeting in that committee and did some changes in that body before coming to the house floor. We brought forth our own amendments, however, shortly after that, the house majority voted to return the bill to the rules committee where they adjourned for the evening and started to talk about what they wanted to do with the bill. We did not have a floor session today. It was scheduled to take up Senate Bill 3006 again.
The House Majority canceled the floor session on Monday, which a frustrated Vance says:
“We wasted another day of this legislative session because they chose not to move on the bill. I find that highly concerning that they did not respect the democratic process of legislators to be able to bring forth amendments on the house floor and fight for the rights of Alaskans.”
The Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association said that Rep. Vance’s amendment was a distraction to the COVID-19 efforts. Rep. Vance said:
“Jared Kosin of ASHNHA has been speaking with media and other lawmakers and has now said that he doesn’t feel that if the amendment number 4 was in that piece of legislation, that it should pass at all. it was highly concerning to me that he would make such a statement to throw away the entire bill that provided telehealth and help in the background checks that so many of the healthcare providers have been needing to hire employees that he was willing to throw away the entire bill because he did not want to allow the provision of having a support person in the hospitals when they need it most.”
Gavel Alaska reports that the Tuesday House Floor Session has also been canceled.