General Assembly Committee Bill No. 5898
January Session, 2013 LCO No. 5292
*05292HB05898GAE*
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
General Assembly
Committee Bill No. 5898
January Session, 2013
LCO No. 5292
*05292HB05898GAE*
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION ON ENHANCING AGENCY OUTCOMES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) The Commissioner of Developmental Services, or the commissioner's designee, shall lead a working group that shall develop a plan to deinstitutionalize the residents of Southbury Training School. Such working group shall include the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, or the secretary's designee and four persons selected by the commissioner, each of whom shall represent one of the following: (1) The residents of the school, (2) state employees who work at the school or a union representing such employees, (3) an advocacy group for the residents, and (4) a private provider of services needed by such residents. The plan to deinstitutionalize the residents of the school shall consider the feasibility to safely move the residents into new settings in the community. The group shall consider the following: (A) The relationships built between the residents and the staff, and (B) whether it is appropriate for state employees to continue to deliver services to the residents or whether private providers should deliver such services, or both. Any recommendations contained in the plan shall be developed using a cost-benefit analysis that considers both financial costs as well as quality of care issues.
(b) Not later than six months after the effective date of this section, the Commissioner of Developmental Services shall report a plan to deinstitutionalize the residents of Southbury Training School developed under subsection (a) of this section, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to government administration and to the Governor.
Sec. 2. (Effective from passage) (a) The Commissioner of Children and Families, or the commissioner's designee, shall lead a working group that shall develop a plan to deinstitutionalize the patients of Riverview Hospital for Children and Youth. Such working group shall include the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, or the secretary's designee, the Commissioners of Mental Health and Addiction Services and Public Heath, or the commissioners' designees, the Child Advocate and four persons selected by the Commissioner of Children and Families, each of whom shall represent one of the following: (1) The patients of the hospital, (2) state employees who work at the hospital or a union representing such employees, (3) an advocacy group for the patients, and (4) a private provider of services needed by such patients. The group shall consider the following: (A) The quality of care provided to the patients, (B) the promotion of home and community-based care, (C) whether it is appropriate for state employees to continue to deliver services to the patients or whether private providers should deliver such services, or both, (D) the possibility of downsizing staff without compromising the quality of care, and (E) alternative prevention and intervention treatment programs that could result in an avoidance of inpatient care. Any recommendations contained in the plan shall be developed using a cost-benefit analysis that considers both financial costs as well as quality of care issues.
(b) Not later than six months after the effective date of this section, the Commissioner of Children and Families shall report the plan to deinstitutionalize the patients of Riverview Hospital for Children and Youth developed under subsection (a) of this section, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to government administration and to the Governor.
Sec. 3. (Effective from passage) (a) Not later than three months after the effective date of this section, the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall (1) develop and implement a plan to reduce the manager and supervisor-to-employee ratio for agencies in the executive branch to not more than one manager or supervisor for every ten employees, and (2) report such plan, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to government administration and to the Governor. The plan shall ensure that such ratio is achieved as a bottom-line number spread across all such agencies not later than nine months from the date of the completion of the plan.
(b) Not later than nine months after the reporting of such plan under subsection (a) of this section, any executive branch agency that fails to comply with any goal established for such agency in such plan, shall report the agency's reasons for lack of compliance, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to government administration and to the Governor.
(c) As used in this section, "executive branch agency" includes each "budgeted agency", as defined in subparagraph (A) of subdivision (11) of section 4-69 of the general statutes, except the offices of the Attorney General, the State Treasurer, the State Comptroller and the Secretary of the State.
Sec. 4. Section 3-119a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) The Comptroller shall develop, implement and maintain a comprehensive retirement data base system and shall regularly consult and inform the State Employees Retirement Commission concerning the system.
(b) The Comptroller, in conjunction with the Commissioner of Administrative Services, shall develop, implement and maintain a state-wide time and attendance system. The system shall be integrated with the central payroll system and compatible with the development of the comprehensive retirement data base system.
(c) On or before July 1, 2014, each agency shall implement and maintain its employee time and attendance system in an electronic format that is compatible with the state-wide time and attendance system developed pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective from passage) The state shall furnish a record of hours worked and gross earnings as described in section 31-13a of the general statutes, as amended by this act, in electronic format, to each employee, unless the employee requests to receive such record in writing.
Sec. 6. Section 31-13a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
[With] Except as provided in section 5 of this act, each wage payment each employer shall furnish to each employee in writing a record of hours worked, the gross earnings showing straight time and overtime as separate entries, itemized deductions and net earnings, except that the furnishing of a record of hours worked and the separation of straight time and overtime earnings shall not apply in the case of any employee with respect to whom the employer is specifically exempt from the keeping of time records and the payment of overtime under the Connecticut Minimum Wage Act or the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Sec. 7. Section 1 of public act 09-206 is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) The Commissioners of Social Services and Administrative Services and the Comptroller, in consultation with the Commissioner of Public Health and the Insurance Commissioner, shall develop a plan to (1) implement and maintain a prescription drug purchasing program and procedures to aggregate or negotiate the purchase of pharmaceuticals for pharmaceutical programs benefiting state-administered general assistance, HUSKY Plan, Part B, Charter Oak Health Plan and ConnPACE recipients, inmates of the Department of Correction, and persons eligible for coverage under the group hospitalization and medical and surgical insurance plans procured under section 5-259 of the general statutes, and (2) have the state join an existing multistate Medicaid pharmaceutical purchasing pool. Such plan shall determine the feasibility of subjecting some or all of the component programs set forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection to the preferred drug lists adopted pursuant to section 17b-274d of the general statutes.
(b) The Commissioner of Social Services shall submit the plan authorized by subsection (a) of this section, including (1) a timetable for its implementation, (2) anticipated costs or savings resulting from its implementation and maintenance, (3) a timetable for achievement of any such savings, and (4) proposed legislative recommendations necessary to implement such plan to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to government administration, public health and human services, not later than [December 31, 2009] ninety days after the effective date of this section, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes. The commissioner shall submit to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services any proposed Medicaid state plan amendment that may be required to implement the provisions of such plan.
Sec. 8. Section 4a-60b of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2013):
(a) For the purposes of this section:
(1) "Reverse auction" means an on-line bidding process in which qualified bidders or qualified proposers, anonymous to each other, submit bids or proposals to provide services, goods or supplies pursuant to an invitation to bid or request for proposals; [and]
(2) "Contracting agency" means a state agency with statutory authority to award contracts for services, goods or supplies, or a political subdivision of the state or school district; and
(3) "Services" means any (A) laundry and cleaning service, (B) pest control service, (C) janitorial service, (D) security service, (E) rental, repair or maintenance of equipment, machinery or other personal property owned by the state, a political subdivision of the state or a school district, (F) advertising, (G) photostating, (H) mimeographing, or (I) other service arrangements, other than construction or construction management services, where such services are provided by persons other than employees of the state, a political subdivision of the state or a school district.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, whenever a contracting agency determines that the use of a reverse auction is advantageous to the contracting agency and will ensure a competitive contract award, the contracting agency may use a reverse auction to award a contract for services, goods or supplies, in accordance with any applicable requirement of the general statutes and policies of the contracting agency. The contracting agency may contract with a third party to prepare and manage any such reverse auction.
Sec. 9. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) All state agencies shall use modern procurement practices in their routine purchasing in order to achieve a ten per cent reduction in the cost of contracting for the state. Such practices shall include, but not be limited to, reverse auctions as described in section 4a-60b of the general statutes, as amended by this act, job-order contracting, on-line submission of bids, membership in purchasing cooperatives, as described in section 4a-53 of the general statutes, performance-based contracting and contingency contracting.
(b) The Department of Administrative Services shall establish guidelines concerning such modern procurement practices for state agencies and shall post such guidelines on the Internet web site of the department.
(c) For the purposes of this section, "job-order contracting" means a method of contracting where the competitively bid contract uses a set of customized, prepriced, common construction tasks contained in a catalog and sets parameters such as the types of work that can be done, location of the work, design criteria and maximum amount of work to be awarded; "performance-based contracting" means a method of contracting where the agency states the result it wants achieved and allows contractors to make bids detailing their proposed solutions or methods of achieving the result and where the agency is charged with developing clear ways to measure the result as well as the contractors' performance over the course of the contract; and "contingency contracting" means a method of contracting where the contractor is paid on a percentage basis of the savings or revenue collected by the agency that is attributable to the contract.
Sec. 10. (Effective from passage) Not later than ninety days after the effective date of this section, the Commissioner of Social Services shall submit a report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to government administration concerning the return of unused prescription drugs by long-term care facilities to vendor pharmacies in accordance with section 17b-363a of the general statutes. Such report shall include, but not be limited to: (1) The name of each long-term care facility that the commissioner has notified of a failure to comply with the provisions of section 17b-363a of the general statutes and the amount of each penalty assessed by the commissioner pursuant to subsection (f) of section 17b-363a of the general statutes; (2) the total number of long-term care facilities that the commissioner has reason to suspect have failed to comply with the provisions of section 17b-363a of the general statutes and the reasons that a long-term care facility may have failed to comply with such provisions; (3) a description of efforts made by the commissioner to increase compliance with the provisions of section 17b-363a of the general statutes; and (4) recommendations for increasing compliance with section 17b-363a of the general statutes.
Sec. 11. (NEW) (Effective from passage) Not later than ninety days after the effective date of this section, the Commissioner of Social Services shall develop and implement a plan to (1) increase by not less than five per cent the usage of generic substitute prescription drug products by recipients of benefits under the state's medical assistance programs, and (2) lower the amount the state pays for generic substitute prescription drug products for recipients of benefits under the state's medical assistance programs to an amount not more than the national average paid by states for generic substitute prescription drug products under the Medicaid program. Such plan shall include, but not be limited to, a description of policy changes to be implemented that will reduce the number of brand name drugs for which prior authorization is granted by the Department of Social Services or an independent pharmacy consultant acting on behalf of the department. Not later than September 1, 2013, the commissioner shall submit such plan to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to government administration in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes.
Sec. 12. (Effective from passage) The Department of Social Services' pharmacy program personnel shall direct the drug utilization review board to study (1) the average number of drug prescriptions issued, annually, to each recipient of benefits under the state's medical assistance programs, (2) the reasons for the high number of such drug prescriptions, as compared with the number of such drug prescriptions issued in other states, and (3) recommendations concerning the issuance of such drug prescriptions. Not later than ninety days after the effective date of this section, the Commissioner of Social Services shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to government administration concerning the findings of the drug utilization review board.
Sec. 13. (Effective July 1, 2013) The Department of Revenue Services shall increase the number of auditors and collection and enforcement personnel employed by the department from the number employed by the department on June 30, 2013.
Sec. 14. (Effective from passage) (a) For the purposes of this section, "lean techniques" means a method of improving administrative processes that (1) is based upon a focus on a customer service perspective that seeks to optimize value delivered to the public, (2) involves employees, the regulated community and the public in continual improvements and the finding of solutions, (3) uses a continual improvement framework that emphasizes rapid implementation rather than lengthy planning, (4) seeks to reduce the complexity of the process, and (5) uses metrics and visual controls to improve decision-making and problem solving.
(b) There is established the Lean Government Steering Committee to develop a plan to implement lean techniques in state agencies. The Governor shall appoint five members of the business community who have experience with lean techniques as follows: One member from the banking industry, one member from the service sector, one member from the manufacturing sector, one member from the healthcare industry and one member from a collective bargaining unit. A representative from the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology shall be a nonvoting member of said committee.
(c) All appointments to the committee shall be made not later than thirty days after the effective date of this section. Any vacancy shall be filled by the appointing authority.
(d) The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, or a designee, shall serve as the chairperson of the committee. Such chairperson shall schedule the first meeting of the committee, which shall be held not later than thirty days after the effective date of this section.
(e) The Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology shall assist said committee to develop a plan for the implementation of lean techniques in state agencies, including, but not limited to, which agencies should implement lean techniques first, which processes should be made more efficient, a method for such implementation and the goals of such implementation.
(f) Not later than sixty days after the effective date of this section, the committee shall submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the Governor, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president pro tempore of the Senate and the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to government administration, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes.
Sec. 15. (Effective from passage) Not later than ninety days after the effective date of this section, the Commissioner of Social Services shall apply for a Medicaid waiver, pursuant to Section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act, in order to provide home and community-based services for elderly and disabled persons receiving benefits under the Medicaid program. The commissioner shall take such action as is necessary to consolidate all Medicaid waivers under which home and community-based services are provided to elderly and disabled persons, as permitted by federal law.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Sec. 2 from passage New section
Sec. 3 from passage New section
Sec. 4 from passage 3-119a
Sec. 5 from passage New section
Sec. 6 from passage 31-13a
Sec. 7 from passage PA 09-206Section 1
Sec. 8 July 1, 2013 4a-60b
Sec. 9 from passage New section
Sec. 10 from passage New section
Sec. 11 from passage New section
Sec. 12 from passage New section
Sec. 13 July 1, 2013 New section
Sec. 14 from passage New section
Sec. 15 from passage New section
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
from passage
New section
Sec. 2
from passage
New section
Sec. 3
from passage
New section
Sec. 4
from passage
3-119a
Sec. 5
from passage
New section
Sec. 6
from passage
31-13a
Sec. 7
from passage
PA 09-206Section 1
Sec. 8
July 1, 2013
4a-60b
Sec. 9
from passage
New section
Sec. 10
from passage
New section
Sec. 11
from passage
New section
Sec. 12
from passage
New section
Sec. 13
July 1, 2013
New section
Sec. 14
from passage
New section
Sec. 15
from passage
New section
Statement of Purpose:
To implement any recommendations of the Commission on Enhancing Agency Outcomes that have not yet been implemented legislatively.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: REP. HWANG, 134th Dist.; SEN. MCLACHLAN, 24th Dist.
Co-Sponsors:
REP. HWANG, 134th Dist.; SEN. MCLACHLAN, 24th Dist.
H.B. 5898