Sponsor Statement for HB 167

House Bill 167 repeals two provisions of Alaska statute that mandate fish tickets for salmon reflect the current salmon price and that a processor will post the current salmon price at each location where salmon is purchased.

With salmon prices changing throughout a fishing season, the posted price on a salmon ticket does not necessarily reflect the final price. This leaves the possibility that a dishonest buyer could claim a preliminary price as the "final" price because once the fish ticket is signed by the fisherman, it conceivably becomes a binding contract.

Processors usually do not know the final price before or during the season. The current law is unenforceable and impractical. For example, some processors, before the start of the fishing season, are posting a 5 cents per pound price since they do not know what the wholesale price will be. Posting prices before the start of the season puts both the harvesters and the processors in a non-competitive situation.