Ken Stettler, Director of Utah's Office of Licensing, who has met with GAO officials for two years on this topic, said GAO wanted to know a lot about what the state has already put in place and what is working. Stettler said he also talked with the committee's staff about what the state has done, and that some of the provisions of Miller's bill came right out of Utah's regulations.

Stettler said Utah is ahead of most states in monitoring these programs and setting up regulations for them.

"We've been at the game for 20-plus years now," he said. "It's always been a state responsibility to license and monitor these facilities in the state. That, I think, is the best way."

At Wednesday's committee meeting, Republicans complained that the bill created standards that many states already have in place and is creating more work for the program rather than letting them focus on helping those enrolled in the program. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., called provisions of the bill "duplicative and totally unnecessary."

McKeon said the dual system of federal and state oversight created in the bill was not best idea to help stop the reported abuse and neglect in the programs. He offered his owned version of the bill with several changes, but the committee rejected it.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, pointed out that Utah has a law in place "that is far stricter than what is proposed."

Bishop said the bill had several issues and offered an amendment limiting personal identification information that would be available to the public through reporting requirements and a web-based database created in the bill. The amendment passed via voice vote. Bishop voted no on the bill's final passage.

The bill still needs to be voted on by the full House and in the Senate before going to President Bush to sign into law.

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E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com