BATON ROUGE — Rep. James Armes of Leesville has introduced legislation dealing with health care issues, waste tire fees and utility terrain vehicles.

Armes, a Democrat, in House Bill 270 wants to stipulate that the state Department of Health and Hospitals can’t limit the period in which a health care provider can submit a Medicaid claim to less than 365 days from the date the service was rendered.

The legislation includes claims submitted by Medicaid managed care organizations that contract with DHH, a prepaid ambulatory health plan, a prepaid inpatient health plan and a primary care case manager.

H.B. 329, by Armes, mandates that the state Office of Group Benefits offer coverage for treatment of morbid obesity through gastric bypass surgery or other methods recognized by the National Institutes of Health. OGB administers health care for 230,000 state employees, teachers, retirees and dependents.

Morbid obesity is defined in the bill as a body mass index of at least 40, or 35 if there are existing conditions like hypertension, cardiopulmonary problems, sleep apnea or diabetes.

In H.B. 479, Armes wants to increase the fees collected at the sale of certain tires and increase the reimbursement to waste tire processors. Present law levies a $2 fee per passenger/light truck tire, $5 per medium truck tire and $10 per off-road tire. 

The bill changes the first two fees to $3 and $7.50. The revenues are deposited into the Waste Tire Management Fund, which is used to operate the waste tire program in the Department of Environmental Quality. 

Waste tire processing facilities are paid a minimum of 0.075 cents per pound of waste tire material that is recycled. Armes want to change that to 9 cents.

H.B. 581 would authorize utility terrain vehicles to be operated at 25 mph or less on any road or street posted with a 35 mph speed limit. 

UTVs are defined as “any recreational motor vehicle designed for and capable of travel over designated roads, traveling on four or more tires; a minimum width of fifty inches but not exceeding seventy-four inches; a minimum weight of at least seven hundred pounds but not exceeding two thousand pounds; and a minimum wheelbase of sixty-one inches but 14 not exceeding one hundred ten inches.”

The bill says they don’t include golf carts or vehicles designed for the disabled, but do include recreational off-highway vehicles, or ROVs. 

UTVs operating on the roads and streets must have signal, tail and break lights; reflectors; mirrors; a safety glass windshield and wipers; a speedometer and odometer; brakes for each wheel, seat belts, and a vehicle identification number.

The Armes proposal requires registration of UTVs with the Office of Motor Vehicles as off-road vehicles and requires display of a state-issued decal. It prohibits operation by an unlicensed driver and requires liability insurance. 

The state highway department and local governments would be permitted to prohibit the operation of UTVs on roads under their jurisdiction.

Louisiana Legislature

MSgt Toby M. Valadie