§ 126-A:15 — Duties of Oversight Committee

New Hampshire § 126-A:15

• Jurisdiction: New Hampshire
• Title X: PUBLIC HEALTH
• Ch. 126-A: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Text

I. The committee shall provide legislative oversight of and informational meetings on the programs, policies, and rules of the department as brought to its attention by committee members, legislators, department personnel, or others. The committee shall monitor the efficiency of operation and the quality of service provided by the department's programs. The committee's work may include, but is not limited to, analyzing the efficacy of selected programs, studying the characteristics of target populations, researching trends affecting program costs and participation, and reviewing alternate approaches to programmatic and administrative concerns. The committee may make recommendations to the commissioner and recommendations for legislation as indicated by its findings. The committee shall maintain communications with the department, and any other departments, as necessary to accomplish its work.
II. The oversight committee shall create subcommittees, councils, task forces, or other ancillary bodies as necessary to implement its responsibilities. In developing these bodies, the committee shall take into account major program areas of the department and populations served by the department, such as public health, behavioral health, developmental disabilities, and elderly and adult services. The authorization for each such body shall be repealed on December 31 of the even-numbered year of the biennium. The committee shall:
(a) Establish specific guidelines or outcomes for each such body, including reporting requirements.
(b) Appoint members to each such body, including at least one legislator and, as appropriate, other members as determined by the expertise necessary to accomplish the work of the body. Legislative members need not be a member of the oversight committee.
(c) Appoint a chair of each such body, who shall be a legislator and who shall act as the liaison between the body and the oversight committee.
III. Directly or through an ancillary body, the oversight committee shall review quarterly the allocation of funds to and receipt of services by persons with developmental disabilities and acquired brain disorders, to assure that eligible persons receive services in a timely manner and in accordance with their needs as provided in RSA 171-A.
IV. Directly or through an ancillary body, the oversight committee shall serve as the legislative liaison for the state commission on aging, established under RSA 19-P:1, and shall consider the major problems facing elderly citizens.
V. The committee shall meet at the call of the chair but in no case less than every 2 months.
VI. The committee shall make a report no later than the first day of November of the second year of the biennium as to its activities and recommendations to the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate.

Legislative History

1995, 310:1. 1998, 140:2. 2001, 39:1. 2003, 78:2. 2005, 175:20. 2006, 46:1. 2007, 181:4. 2010, 268:3, eff. Sept. 4, 2010. 2019, 152:3, eff. July 1, 2019.