March 4, 1999

Mr. Speaker:

Your APPROPRIATIONS AND FINANCE COMMITTEE, to whom has been referred

HOUSE CONSUMER AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL 739

has had it under consideration and reports same with recommendation that it DO PASS, amended as follows:

1. On page 2, line 4, after "means" strike the remainder of the line and strike all of lines 5 through 9 and insert in lieu thereof "a unit of local government when making transfers to the fund pursuant to the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act or from other sources; the department when making transfers to the fund from appropriations made for the purposes of the Rural Primary Health Care Act; or a state institution that makes transfers to the fund for the purposes of obtaining benefits pursuant to the Health Care Access Act;".

2. On page 2, line 13, strike "medically" and insert in lieu thereof "health care".

3. On page 2, line 14, strike "medically" and insert in lieu thereof "health care".

4. On page 3, line 16, strike "contributed" and insert in lieu thereof "transferred".

5. On page 3, line 18, after "department" insert "or human services department".

6. On page 4, line 1, strike "Effective July 1, 1999," and insert in lieu thereof "Each fiscal year, by a deadline established by rule of the department,".

7. On page 4, line 4, after "department" insert "or human services department".

8. On page 4, line 7, before "is" insert "or human services department".

9. On page 4, line 10, after the period insert "If, within that time frame, the department or the human services department is able to match the money transferred by the contributing entity, distributions shall be made from the fund pursuant to Section 5 of the Health Care Access Act.".

10. On page 4, line 16, strike "payments" and insert in lieu thereof "distributions".

11. On page 4, line 19, after "access" insert a comma.

12. On page 4, line 22, strike "Payments" and insert in lieu thereof "Distributions".

13. On page 4, lines 24 and 25 and on page 5, line 1, strike Paragraph (1) in its entirety and insert in lieu thereof:

"(1) a non-department contributing entity shall be benefitted by payments from the fund in the same proportion as its contributions to the total contributions made by all non-department contributing entities to the fund;

(2) the department shall develop a formula based on the indigency level of a county population as a percentage of the indigency level of the state population, which will be extrapolated from income level, and distribute funds being allocated under the Health Care Access Act based on that percentage. If a county contributes less than its maximum allowable contribution percentage, the department shall proportionately increase the maximum allowable contribution percentage for the other counties;

(3) in no instance shall a county receive a distribution from the fund that is less than its contribution to the fund;

(4) voluntary local government transfers to the fund and the resulting amounts after matching with available funds shall be distributed to the contributing local governments in proportion to the amounts transferred by the local governments to meet the purposes of the Health Care Access Act;

(5) state appropriations and transfers to the fund and the resulting amounts after matching with available funds shall be distributed in proportion to the amounts transferred to meet the purposes of Section 24-1A-3.1 NMSA 1978; and".

14. Renumber the succeeding paragraph accordingly.

15. On page 5, line 2, strike "payments" and insert in lieu thereof "distributions".

16. On page 7, lines 1 and 2, strike "by essential community providers".

17. On page 7, line 3, after the period insert "The department shall be benefited by distributions from the fund for the purposes of the Rural Primary Health Care Act in the same proportion as the transfers made by the department to the fund.".

18. On page 12, line 8, strike "of health".

Respectfully submitted,

Max Coll, Chairman

Adopted Not Adopted

(Chief Clerk) (Chief Clerk)

The roll call vote was 17 For 0 Against

Yes: 17

Excused: None

Absent: None

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