Session: State Capitol, Room 514 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Forwarded from FBX: 451-5501 Juneau Phone: (907) 465-3709 Fax: (907) 465-4714 Personal Web Site: www.garywilken.com Interim: 1851 Fox Ave. Fairbanks, AK 99701 Phone: (907) 451-5501 Fax: (907) 456-4714

Sponsor Statement for SB 297
Mental Health Trust Land Unit Employees

An Act moving employees of the Alaska mental health trust land unit of the Department of Natural Resources from the partially exempt service to the exempt service.

Senate Bill 297 was introduced at the request of the Mental Health Trust Authority. It places employees of the Mental Health Trust Authority lands unit into exempt service.

The Mental Health Trust Land Unit is located in the Department of Natural Resources. Its sole purpose is to manage Alaska Mental Health Trust land on behalf of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. Its operating costs are funded entirely by income generated from the cash and land assets of the Trust, not by general funds.

The Unit maintains a core operating staff of nine. This legislation will provide the MHTA with the means of retaining trained staff that are being solicited by, and relocating to, other agencies offering better compensation packages not afforded by the current "partially exempt" status of MHTA lands unit employees. Additionally, it will align the Unit with the management framework of the Trust Authority staff, which was converted to fully exempt status for similar reasons last year.

Please support this legislation and thereby allow the AMHTA to more efficiently manage their personnel structure, to reward performance, and establish a long-term fix for their efforts to recruit, train, and retain key staff.

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