Wyoming people want basic regulation of child care
State oversight of home child care providers protects children, more than a dozen child care providers and the people who need their services told the House Labor Health and Social Services Committee hearing Wednesday evening.
The witnesses, including child care providers from Cheyenne, Douglas, and Powell, opposed a proposed bill that would have exempted some home child care providers from state certification.
The legislation, House Bill 239 – Child caring facilities-certification, exempted home child care operations from state certification requirements if they do not accept any state subsidies for providing the care. Sponsor Rep. Lorraine Quarberg (R-HD28, Thermpolis) said she introduced the measure after a Big Horn basin family violated state law that says home care providers can not care for more than two unrelated children unless their business is certified by the state.
Quarberg said there are trustworthy people who can provide such care without certification by the state.
But advocates of child care regulation said the state certification and licensing processes assure parents that at least minimal safety rules would be met. Opponents argued that providers who choose to operate unlicensed would not have central registry background checks or criminal history background checks.
Those background checks are performed by the state Department of Family Services. Several witnesses at the hearing noted that most parents do not have access to the tools needed to check the background of a potential care giver for their children. Mike McGrady, a Cheyenne attorney, said he had access to investigatory tools as he considered child care providers. “But I didn’t know what questions to ask,” he said. Home care providers are “still a business,” he said, and it makes sense to require them to meet basic standards.
Committee member Rep. Frank Peasley (R-HD3, Douglas) asked several opponents if there is any statistical proof that regulation has reduced problems surrounding child care.
“Did abuse go down?” he asked. It seems, he said, that “the more we regulate, the more problems we have.”
He noted his wife put him through school by “baby sitting” and she did so before the state licensed care.
When Cheyenne police detective Joe Hickerson said background checks would keep people clearly unsuited because of a record of violence against children out of the child care business, Rep. Peasley asked him, “Do you want the state more involved in parenting?”
“Common sense would tell you,” Hickerson replied, that basic background checks will protect children.
“If people have a loophole to go through,” Hickerson told Peasley, “… they will take advantage of that.”
Other providers noted the ease of going through the full licensing process in Wyoming. Licensing, one noted, is a breeze compared to the challenges and difficulties of caring for children.
In her closing comments, HB 239 sponsor Quarberg said she was pleased to hear that licensing is not difficult for people who want to operate a child care business. She said people should be more trusting of neighbors who want to offer care to children.
“We can do background checks, but we can’t check for violent tendencies,” she said. Once regulations are adopted, she said, “It is difficult to go backwards. It’s difficult to say we’re not all monsters.”
The committee voted to kill the bill 3-6.
Nay votes were cast by Reps. Joe Barbuto (D-HD48, Rock Springs), Rep. Bernadine Craft (D-HD17, Rock Springs), Gerald Gay (R-HD36, Casper), Keith Gingery (R-HD23, Jackson), Matt Greene (R-HD45, Laramie), and Hans Hunt (R-HD2, Newcastle).
Chairman Elaine Harvey (R-HD26, Lovell) joined Reps. David Miller (R-HD55, Riverton) and Peasley in voting YES for the bill.
Taxing the wind power industry
Taxing the wind power industry to assure that the industry pays it way and that counties have the resources needed to deal with the impacts of wind farm industrialization was considered by the House Revenue Committee Wednesday morning and again in the afternoon.
Rep. Tim Stubson (R-HD56, Casper) and Sen. Drew Perkins (R-SD29, Casper) offered a taxing scheme that would permanently exempt wind projects from the sales tax but impose a $3 per mega-watt-hour tax on power generated by wind turbines. As they presented HB 191 – Wind power taxation, the sponsors suggested a major amendment substantially changing the scheme to finance an impact fund as it generates revenues for the state and counties. Their plan , they said, eliminates potential state sales tax revenues now but ultimately generates greater revenues to the state.
That prospect provided little solace for Carbon County Commissioners Terry Weikum and Jerry Paxton. They said the county’s quality of life has been harmed by wind projects there that have been built recently under state laws that exempt those projects from the sales tax. Without the tax, the county does not have the resources needed to deal with damages to roads, demands for more law enforcement, and increased drug problems in rural communities like Medicine Bow, according to Paxton and Weikum.
The commissioners said existing law, which will lift the sales tax exemption on wind farm construction Jan. 1, 2012 and impose a $1 per mwh power generation tax, would provide resources to deal with the expected impacts of projects now on the drawing boards. The projects would be subject to local-option sales taxes. They worry that the Stubson-Perkins proposal may not leave them in as good a position to deal with new wind power construction projects.
The ESPC noted that other energy industries pay property, sales and severance taxes. The wind power industry should pay property, sales and MWH taxes.
The vote:
The committee approved HB191, as amended with regard to distribution of the tax revenues.
Ayes: Chairman Pat Childers (R-H50, Cody); Representatives Greg Blikre (R-H53, Gillette), Patrick Goggles (D-H33, Ethete), Owen Petersen (R-H19, Mountain View), Clarence Vranish (R-H49, Evanston).
Noes: Representatives Rita Campbell (R-H34, Shoshoni), David Miller (R-H55, Riverton), Mark Semlek (R-H1, Moorcroft)
Excused: Rep. Mike Madden (R-H40, Buffalo)
Elsewhere Wednesday
The House Labor Committee also approved a bill that advocates contend will require the Workers’ Compensation Division to use a guide to rating physical impairments that is more fair to injured workers than the guide now used by the division. (House Bill 232 – Workers’ Compensation impairment ratings)
In Committee of the Whole, the House killed HB131 – Tip sharing. Opponents said the bill unfairly required employees to surrender tips to a pool that then could be used by employers to meet the legal requirement to bring other tipped employees up to the federally required minimum wage of $7.25 hour from the tipped minimum wage of $2.13/hr.
Participate
Citizens can register their opinions on specific legislation by using the “Online Hotline” or the telephone Hotline – 1-866-966-8683 or, in Cheyenne, 777-8683.
Showing posts with label Rep. Lorraine Quarberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rep. Lorraine Quarberg. Show all posts
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Speaking of the Affordable Care Act ...
House Labor rehabilitates HB 35
The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee worked hard – and late – on a nullification act that challenges the Affordable Care Act. It is sponsored by Rep. Bob Brechtel R-HD38, Casper) and a dozen other legislators, at least a few of them itching to prove their anti-federalism credentials.
House Bill 35 – Health care choice and protection act proclaims the ACA unconstitutional and thus null and void in Wyoming. As drafted, the bill imposed a $5,000 fine and a felony conviction on any state employee, official, or public servant found to be enforcing the ACA.
But the sponsors ran into a storm of criticism from a wide variety of interest groups. Wyoming Public Employees Association lobbyist Bob Kuchera expressed worries that the bill puts state employees at risk of committing a felony if they simply went about their work of implementing the new federal law.
Sheila Bush of the Wyoming Medical Society said her members are divided in their opinion of the ACA. Nevertheless, she noted that some doctors in the state are making significant investments in health information technology with the assistance of incentives in the ACA.
“What does it say to our providers … if we say they are breaking the law by doing so?” Bush asked.
Lobbyist Tom Jones of the Wyoming Health Care Association said he believed the bill as proposed could make it legal for a Wyoming resident to refuse to pay taxes that fund Medicaid. And he said the legislative assertion in the bill that the ACA is unconstitutional is meaningless. He noted the Supreme Court reserved the right to rule on the constitutionality of all laws in the early 19th century.
The legislature’s opinion of the ACA “ … doesn’t matter in the end,” Jones said.
Lobbyists for the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society noted the ACA brings many health benefits to people. Jason Mincer of the ACS asked, “What is (HB35)’s intent toward cancer survivors?”
Proponents said the act mirrored the Firearms Freedom Act approved last year. Rep. Keith Gingery, (R-HD 23, Jackson) pushed the committee to amend the bill to more closely mirror that bill. He offered successful amendments to change the felony crime to a misdemeanor carrying a $2,000 fine and made a number of other significant changes.
Rep. Frank Peasley (R-HD 3, Douglas) called the objections to the bill, especially fears of prosecution, “a lot of hooey.”
“We need to make a stand or we don’t make a stand,” he said. When it became clear there was no consensus on the committee over the meaning of some of its sections, Peasley later commented, “I guess we have to pass this bill before we know what’s in it.”
That remark sparked a few guffaws in the committee room and a retort from Chairman Elaine Harvey, who said Congress passes bills it does not understand, not the Wyoming legislature.
“I read this bill as the state is not going to go out and participate,” co-sponsor Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, (R-HD28, Thermopolis) said, and would refuse to allow state employees to enforce the bill. She argued that it does not say doctors cannot take grant money available because of the ACA without committing a crime.
That comment prompted Harvey (R-HD26, Lovell) to note that the state also cannot stop the IRS from impounding property to enforce the IRS code. Quarberg replied that the state needs to stand up to the federal government.
“This is a gutsy move,” replied Quarberg. “You dig down deep.”
Gingery pushed his amendments through, including one that pared down the list of those specifically in position to be accused of a felony. He trimmed wording that said “Any official, agent, employee or public servant of the state of Wyoming” would be found guilty of a felony if they attempted to enforce compliance with “this article.”
As the bill left the committee it said simply “Any public servant” who tried to enforce compliance with the ACA as defined in HB35 would be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Though he took some heat, Peasley may be right that at least some of the committee members did not understand the effect of what they did until they review the amendment on the House floor.
The bill was narrowly approved on a 5-4 vote. Rep Gerald Gay (R-HD36, Casper), Rep. Matt Green (R-HD45, Laramie) and Rep. Hans Hunt (R-HD2, Newcastle) joined Peasley and Gingery in supporting the bill.
Rep. Joe Barbuto (D-HD48, Green River), Rep. Bernadine Craft (D-HD17, Rock Springs), and Rep. David Miller (R-HD55, Riverton), joined Harvey in opposing the bill.
Quick notes on Wednesday action on bills of interest –
Senate File 3 – Campaign finance – organizations was approved in the Senate’s Committee of the Whole with a disclosure amendment that will require corporations and other organizations engaging in independent expenditure campaigns to name their top three donors in the advertisements they buy. The Senate seemed a little uneasy about how it will work, so we’re watching for amendments that might ease disclosure needed to keep elections honest.
Senate File 14 – Counties – election districts likewise made it through first reading. We still have fears that the “flexibility” in the bill allows counties to establish a combination of at-large and single-member districts is subject to mischief. At worst, in counties with a substantial minority population, it could lead to a “political quarantine” of the minority group. Sen. Wayne Johnson, R-SD 6, Cheyenne, mentioned similar concerns in comments on the floor.
Health Care Freedom resolutions – The legislature is determined to send a message to Washington, D.C. and the rest of the country that it intends to resist the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress last year. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a heavily amended version of SJ 2 which would place a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot that asserts the federal government has never been granted the power to make decisions regarding lawful healthcare services. That power is reserved to the state of Wyoming and its people, the amended version says. It says the attorney general may assist any state resident in litigation to protect the right to make those decisions. The committee included several sections lifted from SJ 3, a similar but less strident proposal. Those sections denote the Legislature’s intention to continue its own authority to mandate care under Workers’ Compensation, at the state’s prisons, and at other institutions.
Contract validity?
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard more than an hour of testimony on SJF 5 – Defense of Marriage – constitutional amendment. Proponents argued the amendment is necessary to somehow protect the institution of marriage from gays, lesbians, and transgendered people. Opponents said they’re merely seeking the same legal protections that society extends to heterosexual couples.
Jason Marsden of the Matthew Shepard Foundation said the proposal will void valid existing contracts, something the Legislature simply would not allow to happen to existing business contracts.
The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee worked hard – and late – on a nullification act that challenges the Affordable Care Act. It is sponsored by Rep. Bob Brechtel R-HD38, Casper) and a dozen other legislators, at least a few of them itching to prove their anti-federalism credentials.
House Bill 35 – Health care choice and protection act proclaims the ACA unconstitutional and thus null and void in Wyoming. As drafted, the bill imposed a $5,000 fine and a felony conviction on any state employee, official, or public servant found to be enforcing the ACA.
But the sponsors ran into a storm of criticism from a wide variety of interest groups. Wyoming Public Employees Association lobbyist Bob Kuchera expressed worries that the bill puts state employees at risk of committing a felony if they simply went about their work of implementing the new federal law.
Sheila Bush of the Wyoming Medical Society said her members are divided in their opinion of the ACA. Nevertheless, she noted that some doctors in the state are making significant investments in health information technology with the assistance of incentives in the ACA.
“What does it say to our providers … if we say they are breaking the law by doing so?” Bush asked.
Lobbyist Tom Jones of the Wyoming Health Care Association said he believed the bill as proposed could make it legal for a Wyoming resident to refuse to pay taxes that fund Medicaid. And he said the legislative assertion in the bill that the ACA is unconstitutional is meaningless. He noted the Supreme Court reserved the right to rule on the constitutionality of all laws in the early 19th century.
The legislature’s opinion of the ACA “ … doesn’t matter in the end,” Jones said.
Lobbyists for the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society noted the ACA brings many health benefits to people. Jason Mincer of the ACS asked, “What is (HB35)’s intent toward cancer survivors?”
Proponents said the act mirrored the Firearms Freedom Act approved last year. Rep. Keith Gingery, (R-HD 23, Jackson) pushed the committee to amend the bill to more closely mirror that bill. He offered successful amendments to change the felony crime to a misdemeanor carrying a $2,000 fine and made a number of other significant changes.
Rep. Frank Peasley (R-HD 3, Douglas) called the objections to the bill, especially fears of prosecution, “a lot of hooey.”
“We need to make a stand or we don’t make a stand,” he said. When it became clear there was no consensus on the committee over the meaning of some of its sections, Peasley later commented, “I guess we have to pass this bill before we know what’s in it.”
That remark sparked a few guffaws in the committee room and a retort from Chairman Elaine Harvey, who said Congress passes bills it does not understand, not the Wyoming legislature.
“I read this bill as the state is not going to go out and participate,” co-sponsor Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, (R-HD28, Thermopolis) said, and would refuse to allow state employees to enforce the bill. She argued that it does not say doctors cannot take grant money available because of the ACA without committing a crime.
That comment prompted Harvey (R-HD26, Lovell) to note that the state also cannot stop the IRS from impounding property to enforce the IRS code. Quarberg replied that the state needs to stand up to the federal government.
“This is a gutsy move,” replied Quarberg. “You dig down deep.”
Gingery pushed his amendments through, including one that pared down the list of those specifically in position to be accused of a felony. He trimmed wording that said “Any official, agent, employee or public servant of the state of Wyoming” would be found guilty of a felony if they attempted to enforce compliance with “this article.”
As the bill left the committee it said simply “Any public servant” who tried to enforce compliance with the ACA as defined in HB35 would be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Though he took some heat, Peasley may be right that at least some of the committee members did not understand the effect of what they did until they review the amendment on the House floor.
The bill was narrowly approved on a 5-4 vote. Rep Gerald Gay (R-HD36, Casper), Rep. Matt Green (R-HD45, Laramie) and Rep. Hans Hunt (R-HD2, Newcastle) joined Peasley and Gingery in supporting the bill.
Rep. Joe Barbuto (D-HD48, Green River), Rep. Bernadine Craft (D-HD17, Rock Springs), and Rep. David Miller (R-HD55, Riverton), joined Harvey in opposing the bill.
Quick notes on Wednesday action on bills of interest –
Senate File 3 – Campaign finance – organizations was approved in the Senate’s Committee of the Whole with a disclosure amendment that will require corporations and other organizations engaging in independent expenditure campaigns to name their top three donors in the advertisements they buy. The Senate seemed a little uneasy about how it will work, so we’re watching for amendments that might ease disclosure needed to keep elections honest.
Senate File 14 – Counties – election districts likewise made it through first reading. We still have fears that the “flexibility” in the bill allows counties to establish a combination of at-large and single-member districts is subject to mischief. At worst, in counties with a substantial minority population, it could lead to a “political quarantine” of the minority group. Sen. Wayne Johnson, R-SD 6, Cheyenne, mentioned similar concerns in comments on the floor.
Health Care Freedom resolutions – The legislature is determined to send a message to Washington, D.C. and the rest of the country that it intends to resist the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress last year. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a heavily amended version of SJ 2 which would place a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot that asserts the federal government has never been granted the power to make decisions regarding lawful healthcare services. That power is reserved to the state of Wyoming and its people, the amended version says. It says the attorney general may assist any state resident in litigation to protect the right to make those decisions. The committee included several sections lifted from SJ 3, a similar but less strident proposal. Those sections denote the Legislature’s intention to continue its own authority to mandate care under Workers’ Compensation, at the state’s prisons, and at other institutions.
Contract validity?
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard more than an hour of testimony on SJF 5 – Defense of Marriage – constitutional amendment. Proponents argued the amendment is necessary to somehow protect the institution of marriage from gays, lesbians, and transgendered people. Opponents said they’re merely seeking the same legal protections that society extends to heterosexual couples.
Jason Marsden of the Matthew Shepard Foundation said the proposal will void valid existing contracts, something the Legislature simply would not allow to happen to existing business contracts.
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