House Committee on Judiciary (04/05/2010)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Date:	04/05/2010	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:35 PM to 03:55 PM	Court	X
		Gardner B.	*
Place:	HCR 0107	Kagan	X
		King S.	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Miklosi	X
	Representative Levy	Nikkel	X
		Pace	*
This Report was prepared by		Ryden	X
	Jessika Shipley	Waller	X
		McCann	X
		Levy	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
HB10-1237 HB10-1283 HB10-1234		Postponed Indefinitely Postponed Indefinitely Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole

01:36 PM -- House Bill 10-1237

Representative McNulty, prime sponsor, presented House Bill 10-1237 concerning the use of electronic technology to promptly provide accurate information about criminal acts to law enforcement officials and creating a task force to make recommendations to improve access to information about problem drivers. He explained that the bill was recommended by the Legislative Audit Committee. He asked the relevant parties to come together over the interim and discuss the issue.

Representative McNulty asked the committee to postpone the bill indefinitely. Representative Levy commented that she supports the idea behind the bill and endorses the plan of discussing it further over the interim.


BILL:	HB10-1237
TIME:	01:41:09 PM
MOVED:	Court
MOTION:	Postpone House Bill 10-1237 indefinitely. The motion passed on a vote of 10-1.
SECONDED:	Kagan
		VOTE
	Court	Yes
	Gardner B.	Yes
	Kagan	Yes
	King S.	Yes
	Miklosi	Yes
	Nikkel	Yes
	Pace	No
	Ryden	Yes
	Waller	Yes
	McCann	Yes
	Levy	Yes
Final YES: 10 NO: 1 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

01:42 PM -- House Bill 10-1283

Representative Riesberg returned to the committee to continue discussing House Bill 10-1283, which was originally presented on Thursday, March 11, 2010.


BILL:	HB10-1283
TIME:	01:53:10 PM
MOVED:	Nikkel
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.009 (Attachment A). Representative Riesberg and members of the committee commented extensively about the amendment. The motion passed on a vote of 7-4.
SECONDED:	Gardner B.
		VOTE
	Court	No
	Gardner B.	Yes
	Kagan	Yes
	King S.	Yes
	Miklosi	Yes
	Nikkel	Yes
	Pace	No
	Ryden	No
	Waller	Yes
	McCann	Yes
	Levy	No
Not Final YES: 7 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	HB10-1283
TIME:	02:01:02 PM
MOVED:	Nikkel
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 10-1283, as amended, to the Committee on Appropriations with a favorable recommendation. The motion failed on a vote of 5-6.
SECONDED:	McCann
		VOTE
	Court	No
	Gardner B.	Yes
	Kagan	No
	King S.	Yes
	Miklosi	No
	Nikkel	Yes
	Pace	No
	Ryden	No
	Waller	Yes
	McCann	Yes
	Levy	No
Not Final YES: 5 NO: 6 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:	HB10-1283
TIME:	02:01:40 PM
MOVED:	Kagan
MOTION:	Postpone indefinitely House Bill 10-1283. The motion passed on a vote of 6-5.
SECONDED:	Levy
		VOTE
	Court	Yes
	Gardner B.	No
	Kagan	Yes
	King S.	No
	Miklosi	Yes
	Nikkel	No
	Pace	Yes
	Ryden	Yes
	Waller	No
	McCann	No
	Levy	Yes
Final YES: 6 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

02:03 PM

Representative Levy recessed the committee briefly.

02:07 PM -- House Bill 10-1234

Representative Levy called the committee back to order.

02:08 PM

Representative Primavera returned to the committee to discuss House Bill 10-1234, which was originally discussed and sent to the Committee of the Whole on Monday, March 8, 2010. Representative Levy announced that the committee would take further witness testimony to discuss prepared amendment L.006 (Attachment B), which strikes everything below the enacting clause. Representative Primavera explained the strike below amendment.

02:14 PM -- John Stoffel, Colorado Senior Lobby, spoke in support of the bill with amendment L.006. Mr. Stoffel stated that the amendment does not change the position of the Senior Lobby.

02:15 PM -- Aaron Segel, Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG), spoke in support of the bill with amendment L.006. Mr. Segel stated that the changes in the amendment make the bill cleaner and create better transparency in the medical field. He responded to questions from the committee.

02:20 PM -- Melissa Collins, Colorado Chiropractic Association, spoke in support of the bill with amendment L.006. Ms. Collins discussed several other states with similar laws.

02:24 PM -- Jennifer Goodrum, Colorado Dental Association, spoke in support of the bill with amendment L.006. Ms. Goodrum discussed the fact that Metropolitan Life has decided to train Indian-born dentists to review dental insurance benefit claims.

02:26 PM -- Jerry McElroy, Kaiser Permanente, and Julie Hoerner Mowry, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, spoke in opposition to the bill. Mr. McElroy stated that the bill tries to fix a process that is not broken. He indicated that the bill adds levels of complexity that do not benefit anyone. He discussed the definition of "reasonableness" contained in the bill, which complicates insurance claims reviews. Mr. McElroy stated that the bill is overly restrictive with regard to referrals. Ms. Mowry discussed existing statute with regard to the medical review of insurance claims. She expressed her opinion that existing law provides an adequate system of review. Mr. McElroy and Ms. Mowry responded to questions from the committee.

02:46 PM

The committee continued to discuss the review and denial of claims with Mr. McElroy and Ms. Mowry.

02:59 PM -- Bob Ferm, representing the American Insurance Association, Aetna, and Cigna, spoke in opposition to amendment L.006. Mr. Ferm discussed section 1of the amendment, which requires that an individual in active clinical practice with expertise in a particular medical area review insurance benefit claims. He stated that the current system works very well and does not need to be adjusted. Mr. Ferm responded to extensive questioning from the committee.

03:32 PM -- Kelly Campbell, Property and Casualty Insurers Association of America, spoke in opposition to the bill and amendment L.006. Ms. Campbell expressed concern that the bill is too broad and would include many unintended types of insurance. She stated that the definition of "carrier" is also too broad. Additionally, she discussed her concerns about the notions of reasonableness and causation. Ms. Campbell responded to extensive questioning from the committee.

03:39 PM

Representative Primavera addressed committee questions about her intentions with regard to the bill.

03:42 PM -- Christy Chase, Office of Legislative Legal Services, came to the table to respond to committee questions about definitions in the bill and in current statute. She stressed that the definitions in the bill are all contained in article 16 of title 10 of the Colorado Revised Statutes, which governs health care insurance policies only.


BILL:	HB10-1234
TIME:	03:49:20 PM
MOVED:	Levy
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.006 (Attachment B). The motion passed on a vote of 8-3.
SECONDED:	Court
		VOTE
	Court	Yes
	Gardner B.	No
	Kagan	Yes
	King S.	No
	Miklosi	Yes
	Nikkel	Yes
	Pace	Yes
	Ryden	Yes
	Waller	No
	McCann	Yes
	Levy	Yes
Not Final YES: 8 NO: 3 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS


BILL:	HB10-1234
TIME:	03:53:30 PM
MOVED:	Court
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 10-1234, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation. The motion passed on a vote of 7-4.
SECONDED:	Kagan
		VOTE
	Court	Yes
	Gardner B.	No
	Kagan	Yes
	King S.	No
	Miklosi	Yes
	Nikkel	No
	Pace	Yes
	Ryden	Yes
	Waller	No
	McCann	Yes
	Levy	Yes
Final YES: 7 NO: 4 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

03:54 PM

Representative Levy adjourned the committee.