Legislative Committee to Launch Study of Health Care

A legislative committee that oversees issues related to health and human services during the interims between legislative sessions will meet June 2 in Helena to chart its work for the next 15 months.

The Children, Families, Health, and Human Services Interim Committee of the Montana Legislature will meet at 10 a.m. in Room 102 of the Capitol.

The committee will review and adopt a work plan that outlines how much time it will spend on two studies assigned to the committee by legislative leaders. They are:

• A study requested through Senate Joint Resolution 35 of matters relating to health care, including monitoring of federal health care reforms and reviewing proposals from state groups to reform health care and reduce health care costs, and
• A House Joint Resolution 39 study of community services for people with developmental disabilities and mental illness.

The committee also will decide how to proceed with its legal responsibility to provide oversight to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Senate members of the committee are Roy Brown, R-Billings; Christine Kaufmann, D-Helena; Rick Laible, R-Darby; and Trudi Schmidt, D-Great Falls. House members are Mary Caferro, D-Helena; Gary MacLaren, R-Victor; Penny Morgan, R-Billings; and Diane Sands, D-Missoula. Schmidt, the senator with the most seniority, will act as chairman until members elect officers.

For more information, visit the committee's web page at leg.mt.gov/cfhhs or contact Sue O'Connell, legislative research analyst, at 406-444-3597 or soconnell@mt.gov.