SENATE BILL 98
50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011
INTRODUCED BY
Timothy M. Keller
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC HEALTH; ENACTING THE HEALTH IMPACT REPORTING ACT; DIRECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO DIRECT HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTES TO PROVIDE HEALTH IMPACT REPORTS FOR PROPOSED LEGISLATION THAT MAY AFFECT THE HEALTH OF COMMUNITIES; CREATING THE HEALTH IMPACT REPORTING FUND; CREATING AN ANNUAL ASSESSMENT UPON HEALTH INSURERS TO FUND HEALTH IMPACT REPORTING; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--Sections 1 through 4 of this act may be cited as the "Health Impact Reporting Act".
SECTION 2. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Health Impact Reporting Act:
A. "community health" means health from a broad perspective, including access to health services; behavioral, physical and dental population health indices; birth and mortality rates; disease and injury prevention, control and treatment; epidemiology; fitness; nutrition; obesity; respiratory health; health professions; and health delivery systems;
B. "health insurer" means a person duly authorized to transact the business of health insurance in the state, including a nonprofit health care plan, a health maintenance organization and self-insurers not subject to federal preemption;
C. "health policy institute" means:
(1) a division of the department of health;
(2) a health policy institute at a state institution of higher learning; or
(3) a person with expertise in public health with which the department of health contracts; and
D. "superintendent" means the superintendent of insurance.
SECTION 3. [NEW MATERIAL] HEALTH IMPACT REPORTING.--
A. Beginning January 1, 2012, upon the request of the legislative finance committee, the department of health shall direct a health policy institute to prepare a written health impact report containing an analysis of proposed legislation and data supporting that analysis. A health policy institute may request that the committee have a health impact report prepared for a piece of legislation. The analysis shall include the proposed legislation's impact upon community health.
B. The department of health shall provide a health impact report created pursuant to Subsection A of this section on a web site that is readily accessible to the public and make the analysis otherwise available to the public upon request.
C. A health impact report shall be based upon the best available evidence and shall identify:
(1) potential significant community health impacts, including, but not limited to, what areas of community health the proposed legislation will affect;
(2) the research upon which the health policy institute relies for its analysis;
(3) gaps in the data available to the health policy institute for its analysis;
(4) the standards and process that the health policy institute uses for determining the significance of any community health impact; and
(5) alternatives to the proposed legislation that may be considered.
D. As part of its health impact report, the health policy institute shall create a monitoring plan for legislation that it reviews. The monitoring plan shall include the following components as they relate to community health:
(1) goals for monitoring the legislation's effect in the long term;
(2) the outcomes and indicators to be assessed in the monitoring;
(3) lead individuals or organizations to conduct the monitoring;
(4) an identification of resources and data collection tools to conduct, complete and report the monitoring; and
(5) a mechanism to report monitoring outcomes to the legislature and stakeholders.
SECTION 4. [NEW MATERIAL] HEALTH IMPACT REPORTING ASSESSMENT--HEALTH IMPACT REPORTING FUND CREATED--ADMINISTRATION.--
A. The superintendent shall collect annually a health impact reporting fee from health insurers operating in the state. The total annual assessment on all health insurers shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). The superintendent shall pay the fees to the state treasurer, who shall credit the fees to the health impact reporting fund.
B. The "health impact reporting fund" is created in the state treasury. The fund consists of money that is credited to the fund pursuant to Subsection A of this section, reversions to the fund of the unexpended balances of appropriations from the fund, appropriations made to the fund and investment income credited to the fund. Money in the fund shall not revert to any other state fund at the end of any fiscal year and shall not be expended for any purpose except as provided in this section. Income from investment of the fund shall be credited to the fund.
C. Upon warrant of the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the superintendent or the superintendent's authorized representative, disbursements from the health impact reporting fund may be made to the department of health for the costs it incurs in providing or contracting to provide health impact reports pursuant to the Health Impact Reporting Act.
SECTION 5. Section 2-5-4.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1979, Chapter 229, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:
"2-5-4.1. LEGISLATIVE SYSTEMS--COORDINATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES--FISCAL IMPACT INFORMATION--DYNAMIC FORECASTING PILOT PROJECT.--
A. The legislative finance committee shall cooperate with the office of the governor, the department of finance and administration and the taxation and revenue department in designing a timely and accurate system of providing fiscal impact and other pertinent information to the legislature concerning pending legislation.
B. If the legislative finance committee finds that the legislation will have an impact on community health, the committee shall request the department of health to direct a health policy institute to prepare a written health impact report pursuant to the Health Impact Reporting Act. The committee shall include the health impact report information in its fiscal impact reporting. For the purposes of this section, "community health" means health from a broad perspective, including access to health services; behavioral, physical and dental population health indices; birth and mortality rates; disease and injury prevention, control and treatment; epidemiology; fitness; nutrition; obesity; respiratory health; health professions; and health delivery systems.
[B.] C. Beginning January 1, 2004, a two-year dynamic forecasting pilot project shall be conducted by the legislative finance committee, the department of finance and administration, the taxation and revenue department and the [state highway and] department of transportation [department] in which fiscal impact information provided to the legislature concerning legislation that proposes one or more changes to laws on taxation shall be prepared on the basis of assumptions that estimate the probable behavioral response of taxpayers, businesses and other persons to the proposed changes. This requirement applies only to legislation:
(1) introduced during the second session of the forty-sixth legislature and the first session of the forty-seventh legislature; and
(2) determined by the legislative finance committee, pursuant to a static fiscal estimate, to have a fiscal impact when fully implemented in excess of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in a fiscal year.
[C.] D. The legislative finance committee shall cooperate with the department of finance and administration and other necessary executive agencies to develop the methodology to implement the dynamic forecasting pilot project pursuant to the requirements of Subsection [B] C of this section.
[D.] E. Following the first session of the forty-seventh legislature, the legislative finance committee shall evaluate the success of the dynamic forecasting pilot project required by Subsection [B] C of this section and determine if dynamic forecasting should become a permanent feature of fiscal impact analyses. In making this determination, the legislative finance committee shall consider if this process:
(1) provides a reliable and reasonably accurate analytic tool to aid legislators in determining the effect of proposed legislation;
(2) can be accomplished with a reasonable amount of resources; and
(3) can be incorporated into fiscal impact estimates in a form that is easily understood and usable."
SECTION 6. Section 59A-6-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1984, Chapter 127, Section 105, as amended) is amended to read:
"59A-6-5. DISTRIBUTION OF DIVISION COLLECTIONS.--
A. All money received by the division for fees, licenses, penalties and taxes shall be paid daily by the superintendent to the state treasurer and credited to the "insurance department suspense fund" except as provided by:
(1) the Law Enforcement Protection Fund Act;
(2) Section 59A-6-1.1 NMSA 1978; and
(3) the Voter Action Act.
B. The superintendent may authorize refund of money erroneously paid as fees, licenses, penalties or taxes from the insurance department suspense fund under request for refund made within three years after the erroneous payment. In the case of premium taxes erroneously paid or overpaid in accordance with law, refund may also be requested as a credit against premium taxes due in any annual or quarterly premium tax return filed within three years of the erroneous or excess payment.
C. The "insurance operations fund" is created in the state treasury. The fund shall consist of the distributions made to it pursuant to Subsection D of this section. The legislature shall annually appropriate from the fund to the division those amounts necessary for the division to carry out its responsibilities pursuant to the Insurance Code and other laws. Any balance in the fund at the end of a fiscal year greater than one-half of that fiscal year's appropriation shall revert to the general fund.
D. At the end of every month, after applicable refunds are made pursuant to Subsection B of this section, the treasurer shall make the following transfers from the balance remaining in the insurance department suspense fund:
(1) to the "fire protection fund", that part of the balance derived from property and vehicle insurance business;
(2) to the insurance operations fund, that part of the balance derived from the fees imposed pursuant to Subsections A and E of Section 59A-6-1 NMSA 1978 other than fees derived from property and vehicle insurance business; [and]
(3) to the general fund, the balance remaining in the insurance department suspense fund derived from all other kinds of insurance business; and
(4) to the health impact reporting fund, that part of the balance derived from the health impact reporting fee imposed pursuant to Subsection A of Section 4 of the Health Impact Reporting Act."
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