Assembly Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services
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MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Eightieth Session February 6, 2019 The Committee on Health and Human Services was called to order by Chair Michael C. Sprinkle at 1:35 p.m. on Wednesday, February 6, 2019, in Room 3138 of the Legislative Building, 401 South Carson Street, Carson City, Nevada. The meeting was videoconferenced to Room 4401 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building, 555 East Washington Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada. Copies of the minutes, including the Agenda (Exhibit A), the Attendance Roster (Exhibit B), and other substantive exhibits, are available and on file in the Research Library of the Legislative Counsel Bureau and on the Nevada Legislature's website at www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/80th2019. COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Assemblyman Michael C. Sprinkle, Chair Assemblyman Richard Carrillo, Vice Chair Assemblyman Alex Assefa Assemblywoman Bea Duran Assemblywoman Michelle Gorelow Assemblyman Gregory T. Hafen II Assemblyman John Hambrick Assemblywoman Lisa Krasner Assemblywoman Connie Munk Assemblywoman Rochelle T. Nguyen Assemblyman Tyrone Thompson Assemblywoman Robin L. Titus COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: None GUEST LEGISLATORS PRESENT: None STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Marsheilah D. Lyons, Committee Policy Analyst Karly O'Krent, Committee Counsel Sara Dombrowski, Personal Attaché Minutes ID: 131 *CM131* Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services February 6, 2019 Page 2 Christian Thauer, Committee Manager Terry Horgan, Committee Secretary Alejandra Medina, Committee Assistant OTHERS PRESENT: Brenda Staffan, Chief Operating Officer, Integrated Services, Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority, Reno, Nevada Fergus Laughridge, Captain, Humboldt General Hospital Emergency Medical Services Rescue, Winnemucca, Nevada Stephen Johnson, Clinical Education Services Specialist, MedicWest Ambulance, Las Vegas, Nevada Alex Ortiz, Assistant Director, Department of Administrative Services, Clark County, Nevada Jon Klassen, Deputy Fire Chief, Clark County Fire Department Branden Clarkson, Lieutenant, Emergency Operations Bureau/K9 Section, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Thomas D. Dunn, District Vice President, Professional Fire Fighters of Nevada, Reno, Nevada Mary Horishny, Private Citizen, Sun Valley, Nevada Leo Horishny, Private Citizen, Sun Valley, Nevada Chair Sprinkle: [Roll was taken.] Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome. It is nice to see an audience down south. I will make an effort at every hearing to have an electronic feed to southern Nevada so the folks down there can also participate. I want to make some introductions, and will start with myself. I am Assemblyman Mike Sprinkle, and I represent Assembly District 30 which consists of downtown Sparks and a little bit of southeast Reno. This is the second time that I will be chairing this Committee. It is my fourth legislative session, and all four times I have been on the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee. My background does include health care, as I have been a practicing professional paramedic and firefighter for a long time. I have a passion for health care, and I am so excited to be here with all of you. At this point, I am going to have the Committee members introduce themselves. I will start with my Vice Chair, Mr. Carrillo. Assemblyman Carrillo: My name is Richard Carrillo, and I am representing Assembly District 18 in southern Nevada, which is the southeastern part of unincorporated Clark County. This is my fourth time on the Health and Human Services Committee, and this is my fifth term. I really enjoy this Committee because you learn so much and you know that you can do so much good. Assemblywoman Gorelow: My name is Assemblywoman Michelle Gorelow. I represent Assembly District 35 in the southwest of Las Vegas. If you are heading off Nevada State Route 160 towards Pahrump, Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services February 6, 2019 Page 3 you will go right through my district. This is my first year in the Legislature and first year on the Committee, and I look forward to working with each and every one of you. Assemblywoman Krasner: I am Assemblywoman Lisa Krasner. I represent Assembly District 26 which is southwest Reno and Incline Village. I have a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and a juris doctor degree from the University of La Verne, College of Law. When I am not serving as an Assemblywoman, I am an adjunct professor in the Political Science Department at Truckee Meadows Community College. Prior to that, I was an adjunct professor at the University of Phoenix. I am looking forward to serving on the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services with our Chair Mike Sprinkle. Assemblyman Hambrick: My name is John Hambrick. I represent Assembly District 2 and this is my final session. My first session was in 2009, so I am one of the senior Assemblymen in the building. I have been privileged to be on this Committee with Chair Sprinkle in the past. He does a good job. This Committee also handles human trafficking—one of the areas I am passionate about fighting. Because we have a lot of hard work ahead of us, I am eager to get going. Assemblywoman Nguyen: I am Rochelle Nguyen. I represent Assembly District 10 which is central Las Vegas. This is my first session. I was appointed to this seat in late December, and I am very excited and ready to get to work. Assemblyman Assefa: My name is Alex Assefa. I represent Assembly District 42 which is primarily in the Spring Valley area of Las Vegas. I am a small business owner in the trucking world, and I am looking forward to serving the great people of the state of Nevada. Assemblywoman Munk: My name is Connie Munk. I am the Assemblywoman from Assembly District 4, which is in the Lone Mountain/Centennial area of Las Vegas. I am a retired mental health professional, addiction counselor, and sexual assault counselor. I am very pleased and excited to be on this Committee. Assemblywoman Duran: My name is Bea Duran. I represent Assembly District 11, and I was appointed in December. I represent part of downtown Las Vegas. For the last 12 years, I have been working as a grievance specialist for the Culinary Workers Union. I am looking forward to getting policy in place. Assemblyman Hafen: My name is Gregory Hafen II, and I am from District 36, which includes Nye County, Lincoln County, Pahrump, and parts of Clark County. This is also my first session, and I am looking forward to serving on this Committee. Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services February 6, 2019 Page 4 Assemblywoman Titus: Good afternoon; I am Dr. Robin Titus, Assemblywoman from District 38. I represent most of Lyon County and all of Churchill County. I am a family practice physician in a small family practice and have been for 38 years. I still practice full time, see patients on Saturdays, and wear a lot of hats. I am a long-term care medical director, and the Lyon County Public Health Officer, amongst many other things. I am happy to be here on this Committee. Assemblyman Thompson: Good afternoon; I am Tyrone Thompson, Assemblyman for District 17. I am a proud native of Nevada and was actually born and raised in the City of North Las Vegas. I am proud to represent the new, growing part of North Las Vegas. Our area was one of the hardest hit by foreclosures back in the day, and it is weird to see that we are now growing and booming with new projects coming on board. I was appointed in 2013, so this is my 3.35 session because I was appointed to serve the last 40 days of the 2013 Session. I am looking forward to being on this Committee. I have been on it since day one of being in the Legislature. Most of my life's work has been around health, community, and neighborhood services, so I am glad to be here. Chair Sprinkle: Committee, thank you all for your introductions. I have always been so proud of the colleagues I have had on this Committee, the work we do, the questions we ask, and how seriously we take these issues. I have no doubt that this session will be exactly the same. Now, I will introduce our staff. First of all, Sara Dombrowski is serving as my personal attaché. She is from Washington State and moved to Nevada ten years ago to attend the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). She now lives in Gardnerville where she runs a web design business. This will be Sara’s second session. Going on, we have Christian Thauer who is our committee manager. He is from Germany, yet he, his wife, and two children consider Reno and Nevada their home. Christian has a background in political science. This is his first session in the Assembly, and he is excited to be here. Terry Horgan is serving as our committee secretary. She has lived in Carson City since 1975 and is a retired bookkeeper. Terry has worked as a committee secretary for many sessions, mainly in the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services. Last session she did an amazing job, so I am glad to have her back again. Alejandra Medina is our committee assistant. She is a Nevada native, born in Reno. She received her undergraduate degree from UNR, and this is her first session. I am glad to have her here. Finally, I want to recognize Jan Brase, a research policy assistant who will be working with Marsheilah Lyons, our committee policy analyst. Jan has served as committee secretary and Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services February 6, 2019 Page 5 legislative assistant during three legislative sessions. This is her first session with the Legislative Counsel Bureau's (LCB) Research Division, and she looks forward to assisting us with Health and Human Services Committee issues.