[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 74 (Thursday, May 20, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5737-S5738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-122. A joint resolution adopted by the General Assembly 
     of the Commonwealth of Virginia relative to the Omnibus 
     Reconciliation Act of 1993; to the Committee on Finance.
                                  ____


                    Senate Joint Resolution No. 490

       Whereas, prior to 1993, federal Medicaid regulations 
     allowed states flexibility in the treatment of assets in 
     determining eligibility; and
       Whereas, Connecticut, New York, Indiana, and California 
     were able to establish public/private long-term care 
     partnerships to provide incentives for the purchase of long-
     term care insurance; and
       Whereas, under these partnership programs, if a 
     policyholder requires long-term care and eventually exhausts 
     his private insurance benefits, the policyholder is permitted 
     to keep more of his assets while still qualifying for 
     Medicaid coverage; and

[[Page S5738]]

       Whereas, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 
     included a provision, Sec. 13612 (a) (C), that discourages 
     additional states from implementing such partnerships; and
       Whereas, this provision requires states to make recovery 
     from the estates of persons who had enjoyed enhanced Medicaid 
     asset protection, thereby making the asset protection 
     provided by the public/private partnerships only temporary; 
     and
       Whereas, the General Assembly, pursuant to Senate Joint 
     Resolution No. 365 (1997), urged Congress to repeal 
     Sec. 13612 (a) (C) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act 
     of 1993; and
       Whereas, the Governor has requested that Congress remove 
     Sec. 13612 (a) (C) and allow additional states to establish 
     asset protection programs for individuals who purchase 
     qualified long-term care insurance policies without requiring 
     that states recover such assets upon a beneficiary's death; 
     and
       Whereas, the removal of Sec. 13612 (a) (C) would make such 
     partnerships much more attractive to potential participants, 
     especially if they are motivated by a desire to pass some of 
     their assets on to their children; and
       Whereas, having long-term care insurance reduces the 
     possibility that individuals will spend down to Medicaid 
     eligibility levels; and
       Whereas, long-term care insurance, by reducing the Medicaid 
     expenditures for policyholders, helps states control Medicaid 
     costs; and
       Whereas, Congress has not yet acted to repeal Sec. 13612 
     (a) (C) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993; 
     now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate the House of Delegates concurring, 
     That the Congress of the United States be urged to establish 
     a limited pilot program which exempts the Commonwealth of 
     Virginia from the provisions of Sec. 13612 (a) (C) of the 
     Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 requiring states to 
     make recovery from the estates of persons who had enjoyed 
     enhanced Medicaid asset protection; and, be it
       Resolved Further, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit a 
     copy of this resolution to the President of the United States 
     Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the 
     Congressional Delegation of Virginia in order that they may 
     be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia 
     in this matter.
       POM-123. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Maine relative to the interstate truck weight 
     limits; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
     Transportation.
                                  ____


                            Joint Resolution

       We, your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and 
     Nineteenth Legislature of the State of Maine, now assembled 
     in the First Regular Session, most respectfully present and 
     petition the President of the United States and the United 
     States Congress, as follows:
       Whereas, the issue of interstate truck weight limits is of 
     great concern for a number of reasons; and
       Whereas, economic development interests in northern and 
     central Maine are increasingly frustrated at their loss of 
     transportation productivity due to the disparity in weight 
     limits between the state highways and the Interstate Highway 
     System; and
       Whereas, this disparity has resulted in the diversion of 
     heavy through trucks from the Interstate Highway System to 
     more congested State highways, raising safety concerns in the 
     Legislature and in municipal groups. A fatal crash on Route 9 
     in Dixmont and a fuel truck crash in Augusta have further 
     raised concern; and
       Whereas, an increase in the interstate gross vehicle weight 
     limit for 6-axle combination vehicles, from 80,000 pounds to 
     between 90,000 and 95,000 pounds, is supported by an 
     engineering review that was recently conducted by the Maine 
     Department of Transportation; and
       Whereas, a recommendation to increase interstate weight 
     limits is also supported by the Maine State Police, the Maine 
     Department of Economic and Community Development, the Maine 
     Turnpike Authority, the Maine Better Transportation 
     Association, the Maine Chamber and Business Alliance and the 
     Maine Motor Transportation Association, now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That We, your Memorialists, request that the 
     President of the United States and the United States Congress 
     amend federal law to increase the interstate gross vehicle 
     weight limits for 6-axle combination vehicles to between 
     90,000 and 95,000 pounds and maintain the current freeze on 
     longer combination vehicles; and be it further
       Resolved, That suitable copies of this resolution, duly 
     authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to 
     the Honorable William J. Clinton, President of the United 
     States; the President of the United States Senate; the 
     Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States 
     and each member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.

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