1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to health; including pesticide poisoning 
  1.3             treatment as an emergency service for purposes of 
  1.4             general assistance medical care eligibility; requiring 
  1.5             reporting of pesticide poisoning; requiring pesticide 
  1.6             poisoning education; appropriating money; amending 
  1.7             Minnesota Statutes 1994, sections 144.34; and 256D.03, 
  1.8             subdivision 3; proposing coding for new law in 
  1.9             Minnesota Statutes, chapter 144. 
  1.10  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.11     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 144.34, is 
  1.12  amended to read: 
  1.13     144.34 [INVESTIGATION AND CONTROL OF OCCUPATIONAL 
  1.14  DISEASES.] 
  1.15     Any physician having under professional care any person 
  1.16  whom the physician believes to be suffering from poisoning from 
  1.17  lead, phosphorus, arsenic, brass, silica dust, carbon monoxide 
  1.18  gas, wood alcohol, pesticides, or mercury, or their compounds, 
  1.19  or from anthrax or from compressed-air illness or any other 
  1.20  disease contracted as a result of the nature of the employment 
  1.21  of such person shall within five days mail to the department of 
  1.22  health a report stating the name, address, and occupation of 
  1.23  such patient, the name, address, and business of the patient's 
  1.24  employer, the nature of the disease, and such other information 
  1.25  as may reasonably be required by the department. The department 
  1.26  shall prepare and furnish the physicians of this state suitable 
  1.27  blanks for the reports herein required. No report made pursuant 
  2.1   to the provisions of this section shall be admissible as 
  2.2   evidence of the facts therein stated in any action at law or in 
  2.3   any action under the workers' compensation act against any 
  2.4   employer of such diseased person.  The department of health is 
  2.5   authorized to investigate and to make recommendations for the 
  2.6   elimination or prevention of occupational diseases which have 
  2.7   been reported to it, or which shall be reported to it, in 
  2.8   accordance with the provisions of this section.  The department 
  2.9   is also authorized to study and provide advice in regard to 
  2.10  conditions that may be suspected of causing occupational 
  2.11  diseases.  Information obtained upon investigations made in 
  2.12  accordance with the provisions of this section shall not be 
  2.13  admissible as evidence in any action at law to recover damages 
  2.14  for personal injury or in any action under the workers' 
  2.15  compensation act.  Nothing herein contained shall be construed 
  2.16  to interfere with or limit the powers of the department of labor 
  2.17  and industry to make inspections of places of employment or 
  2.18  issue orders for the protection of the health of the persons 
  2.19  therein employed.  When upon investigation the commissioner of 
  2.20  health reaches a conclusion that a condition exists which is 
  2.21  dangerous to the life and health of the workers in any industry 
  2.22  or factory or other industrial institutions the commissioner 
  2.23  shall file a report thereon with the department of labor and 
  2.24  industry. 
  2.25     Sec. 2.  [144.492] [COMMISSIONER'S DUTIES RELATING TO 
  2.26  PESTICIDE POISONING.] 
  2.27     The commissioner of health, in consultation with the 
  2.28  departments of labor and industry and agriculture, shall: 
  2.29     (1) study and determine the extent of pesticide poisoning 
  2.30  in Minnesota; and 
  2.31     (2) conduct outreach and education programs to inform 
  2.32  individuals at risk of pesticide poisoning and their employers 
  2.33  of the health risks associated with pesticide use. 
  2.34     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 256D.03, 
  2.35  subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
  2.36     Subd. 3.  [GENERAL ASSISTANCE MEDICAL CARE; ELIGIBILITY.] 
  3.1   (a) General assistance medical care may be paid for any person 
  3.2   who is not eligible for medical assistance under chapter 256B, 
  3.3   including eligibility for medical assistance based on a 
  3.4   ~~spend-down~~ spenddown of excess income according to section 
  3.5   256B.056, subdivision 5, and: 
  3.6      (1) who is receiving assistance under section 256D.05 or 
  3.7   256D.051, or who is having a payment made on the person's behalf 
  3.8   under sections 256I.01 to 256I.06; or 
  3.9      (2)(i) who is a resident of Minnesota; and whose equity in 
  3.10  assets is not in excess of $1,000 per assistance unit.  No asset 
  3.11  test shall be applied to children and their parents living in 
  3.12  the same household.  Exempt assets, the reduction of excess 
  3.13  assets, and the waiver of excess assets must conform to the 
  3.14  medical assistance program in chapter 256B, with the following 
  3.15  exception:  the maximum amount of undistributed funds in a trust 
  3.16  that could be distributed to or on behalf of the beneficiary by 
  3.17  the trustee, assuming the full exercise of the trustee's 
  3.18  discretion under the terms of the trust, must be applied toward 
  3.19  the asset maximum; and 
  3.20     (ii) who has countable income not in excess of the 
  3.21  assistance standards established in section 256B.056, 
  3.22  subdivision 4, or whose excess income is spent down pursuant to 
  3.23  section 256B.056, subdivision 5, using a six-month budget 
  3.24  period, except that a one-month budget period must be used for 
  3.25  recipients residing in a long-term care facility.  The method 
  3.26  for calculating earned income disregards and deductions for a 
  3.27  person who resides with a dependent child under age 21 shall be 
  3.28  as specified in section 256.74, subdivision 1.  However, if a 
  3.29  disregard of $30 and one-third of the remainder described in 
  3.30  section 256.74, subdivision 1, clause (4), has been applied to 
  3.31  the wage earner's income, the disregard shall not be applied 
  3.32  again until the wage earner's income has not been considered in 
  3.33  an eligibility determination for general assistance, general 
  3.34  assistance medical care, medical assistance, or aid to families 
  3.35  with dependent children for 12 consecutive months.  The earned 
  3.36  income and work expense deductions for a person who does not 
  4.1   reside with a dependent child under age 21 shall be the same as 
  4.2   the method used to determine eligibility for a person under 
  4.3   section 256D.06, subdivision 1, except the disregard of the 
  4.4   first $50 of earned income is not allowed; or 
  4.5      (3) who would be eligible for medical assistance except 
  4.6   that the person resides in a facility that is determined by the 
  4.7   commissioner or the federal health care financing administration 
  4.8   to be an institution for mental diseases. 
  4.9      (b) Eligibility is available for the month of application, 
  4.10  and for three months prior to application if the person was 
  4.11  eligible in those prior months.  A redetermination of 
  4.12  eligibility must occur every 12 months. 
  4.13     (c) General assistance medical care is not available for a 
  4.14  person in a correctional facility unless the person is detained 
  4.15  by law for less than one year in a county correctional or 
  4.16  detention facility as a person accused or convicted of a crime, 
  4.17  or admitted as an inpatient to a hospital on a criminal hold 
  4.18  order, and the person is a recipient of general assistance 
  4.19  medical care at the time the person is detained by law or 
  4.20  admitted on a criminal hold order and as long as the person 
  4.21  continues to meet other eligibility requirements of this 
  4.22  subdivision.  
  4.23     (d) General assistance medical care is not available for 
  4.24  applicants or recipients who do not cooperate with the county 
  4.25  agency to meet the requirements of medical assistance. 
  4.26     (e) In determining the amount of assets of an individual, 
  4.27  there shall be included any asset or interest in an asset, 
  4.28  including an asset excluded under paragraph (a), that was given 
  4.29  away, sold, or disposed of for less than fair market value 
  4.30  within the 30 months preceding application for general 
  4.31  assistance medical care or during the period of eligibility.  
  4.32  Any transfer described in this paragraph shall be presumed to 
  4.33  have been for the purpose of establishing eligibility for 
  4.34  general assistance medical care, unless the individual furnishes 
  4.35  convincing evidence to establish that the transaction was 
  4.36  exclusively for another purpose.  For purposes of this 
  5.1   paragraph, the value of the asset or interest shall be the fair 
  5.2   market value at the time it was given away, sold, or disposed 
  5.3   of, less the amount of compensation received.  For any 
  5.4   uncompensated transfer, the number of months of ineligibility, 
  5.5   including partial months, shall be calculated by dividing the 
  5.6   uncompensated transfer amount by the average monthly per person 
  5.7   payment made by the medical assistance program to skilled 
  5.8   nursing facilities for the previous calendar year.  The 
  5.9   individual shall remain ineligible until this fixed period has 
  5.10  expired.  The period of ineligibility may exceed 30 months, and 
  5.11  a reapplication for benefits after 30 months from the date of 
  5.12  the transfer shall not result in eligibility unless and until 
  5.13  the period of ineligibility has expired.  The period of 
  5.14  ineligibility begins in the month the transfer was reported to 
  5.15  the county agency, or if the transfer was not reported, the 
  5.16  month in which the county agency discovered the transfer, 
  5.17  whichever comes first.  For applicants, the period of 
  5.18  ineligibility begins on the date of the first approved 
  5.19  application. 
  5.20     (f)(1) Beginning October 1, 1993, an undocumented alien or 
  5.21  a nonimmigrant is ineligible for general assistance medical care 
  5.22  other than emergency services.  For purposes of this 
  5.23  subdivision, a nonimmigrant is an individual in one or more of 
  5.24  the classes listed in United States Code, title 8, section 
  5.25  1101(a)(15), and an undocumented alien is an individual who 
  5.26  resides in the United States without the approval or 
  5.27  acquiescence of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. 
  5.28     (2) This subdivision does not apply to a child under age 
  5.29  18, to a Cuban or Haitian entrant as defined in Public Law 
  5.30  Number 96-422, section 501(e)(1) or (2)(a), or to an alien who 
  5.31  is aged, blind, or disabled as defined in United States Code, 
  5.32  title 42, section 1382c(a)(1). 
  5.33     (3) For purposes of paragraph (f), "emergency services" has 
  5.34  the meaning given in Code of Federal Regulations, title 42, 
  5.35  section 440.255(b)(1), except that it also means services 
  5.36  rendered because of suspected or actual pesticide poisoning. 
  6.1      Sec. 4.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  6.2      $....... is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  6.3   commissioner of health for the biennium ending June 30, 1997, 
  6.4   for the purposes of sections 1 to 3. 
  6.5      Sec. 5.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  6.6      Sections 1 to 3 are effective the day following final 
  6.7   enactment.