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IN BRIEF
It was a pleasure to meet with several members of the Homer City Council, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly and
Alaska Municipal League last week. Their input into what their communities need and what revenue measures they support
are valuable as we work on elements of a fiscal plan. I have been attending the Ways and Means Committee, which met last
week to deal with adjustments to the Oil and Gas Economic Limit Factor (ELF). I believe my previous call for some modest
adjustments to ELF were confirmed. I also believe ELF modification should be incorporated as a part of the state's fiscal
solution. I have been working for a change in the 'Raw Fish Tax' to cover exported unprocessed fish to help our landing
ports. Although I have a bill drafted, the agenda this year will not allow its passage. Hopefully the port cities will work
together before the next legislative session so the bill will have support for early passage next year. I am also suggesting the
port cities work together to request that the Borough invest [possibly one half of the raw fish tax which it receives] in port
projects to support this revenue-generating infrastructure. I would like to thank all of you who participated in the postcard
writing campaign in support of retaining funding for Personal Care Assistants in the State Medicaid budget; your efforts paid
off and those funds were added back in the House Operating Budget, hopefully the Senate will make the same
recommendations.
TOURISM TAXES
I have heard from a number of people in District 35 who are concerned about the various tourism tax bills that have been
introduced. I want you to know that I do not support these taxes because they put too heavy of a burden on the small
businesses operating in the tourism industry. This is especially true in areas where customers are already paying city and
borough taxes. An additional 5% tacked on top of the cost of the service plus the existing taxes may prevent families from
spending their money here in Alaska. It does not appear that any of these measures (primarily HB 537, SB 254, SB 367
and HB 426) have enough support to become law before the legislative session ends on May 11th. I will keep you posted
if/when these bills are scheduled for hearings so you have the chance to call in and testify or send your comments in for the
committee to consider.
HOUSE BILL 498
After last year’s struggle to receive federal Forest Legacy funds to be used for the acquisition of the Diamond Creek parcel, I
introduced HB 498. The Kachemak Heritage Land Trust’s funding to purchase the parcel was deleted from the Senate’s
Capitol Budget, then reinstated on the House side, eventually concurred by the Senate and ultimately vetoed by the
Governor. Thankfully, I was able to convince the Governor of the importance of the Diamond Creek project and we
reinstated the funds through a special budget process last summer. The whole process required a lot of effort and I want to
make the process simpler the next time money is needed to purchase land for other important projects. Hopefully, HB 498
will help future recreational and conservation land purchases come to fruition more easily. Many people feel that buying-up
private land for recreational or conservation purposes ultimately leaves less private land for future generations. When future
private land acquisitions occur, HB 498 provides for sale or trade of an equitable amount of public lands back into private
hands. The provisions of HB 498 only occur when private land is being purchased for public purposes. The bill was heard in
the House Resources Committee and will next heard in the House Finance Committee.
STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
As the first Committee of referral for many bills, State Affairs has continued to meet frequently in order catch-up with the
backlog of bills. Here is our schedule for the week of April 19th: on Tuesday we will hear HB 411-PFD Confidentiality of
Records for the second time; HJR 45-Appointment of U.S. Representatives; HB 520-Regulatory Commission of Alaska;
SJR 31-Federal Funding for Education; we will also rehear SB 327-Rollerbladers Regulated Like Bicyclists. On
Wednesday, the Committee will be hearing: HB 525-Human Rights Commission Procedures; HB 541-Increased
Appropriations Require Offset; we will also rehear HB 523-Voters/Voting/Political Parties/Elections. Thursday we will be
hearing: HB 509-Alaska Gaming Commission, HB 532-Amend Definition of Lobbyist, and HB 544-PF Board Public
Member Removal. Last week we passed HB 331-Amending the Public Employees Retirement System and Teacher’s
Retirement System. The bill is primarily technical adjustments suggested by the administrators of the public retirement
systems. Changes to the system are necessary to accommodate the inclusion of Village Public Safety Officers. The bill had
little opposition and moved out quickly. We also heard and passed SB 309, which requires specific blood tests for some
prisoners. In 2003, roughly 40 Alaska correctional officers were intentionally exposed to blood borne pathogens by inmates.
Under current law, the state may not force a prisoner to submit to a blood test. Under SB 309, if a correctional officer has
been put at risk by a prisoner’s fluids, the prisoner may be required to submit to a blood test. Lat week the Committee also
listened to a presentation from the Public Retirement Systems administrators. Public retirement systems are underfunded. We
learned that the systems are short roughly $5 billion. For this year alone, local municipalities are short over $19 million. The
overview suggested that the retirement systems would need much higher rates of contribution from employers to be able to
cover current employees when they retire. This was brought on by a number of factors including: poor market conditions,
decline of employer contributions, increased health care costs and lengthening retiree’s lifespans. These public retirement
systems include the Public Employee’s Retirement System (PERS), the Teacher’s Retirement System (TRS), and the Judicial
Retirement System (JUROS).
SHALLOW NATURAL GAS LEGISLATION UPDATES
HB 531 moved from the House Resources Committee on April 16th but will be returned so an amendment can be offered to
give surface owners the absolute right of refusal for a gas lease-holder to enter the land. The problem we are addressing is
language from the AK Constitution and the Statehood act, which trumps a state statute. The issue will be discussed again at
the next Resources Committee meeting on April 19th. However, as I stated in the subcommittee meeting on HB 395 and HB
531, I know that inclusion of any direct change in the split estate would not only run into a constitutional argument but would
provide the ammunition for opponents of the bill to kill it entirely. We are squeaking these bills along through Committees now
but I think that the momentum we have gained would stop if this amendment is adopted - just as it would if we changed HB
364 back into a buy-back bill. HB 395 now contains two facets, one approach is to amend the Shallow Natural Gas
program and related statutes as they stand today, the other approach takes affect in the event that HB 531 passes. The effect
of this bill on future and currently let shallow natural gas leases remains the same either way. HB 395 codifies significant
increased protections for water quality/quantity, public notice, bonding, and public complaint resolution. HB 395 also repeals
the Deputy Commissioner of DNR’s override authority of local ordinances. HB 531 now repeals the SNG best interest
finding, includes DEC regulation of SNG produced water, requires demonstration of necessity by lessee before a surface use
bond is issued, mandates constraint on the director of Oil and Gas to extend existing leases, terminates the current SNG
program, and also repeals the Deputy Commissioner of DNR’s override authority of local ordinances. SSHB 364-Homer
Shallow Natural Gas Leases- This bill was moved out of the Oil and Gas Committee, and is scheduled for a hearing on
Monday, April 19th. The Finance Committee referral has been removed, as the bill no longer instructs DNR to buy-back the
leases. As I have indicated in past newsletters, this Sponsor Substitute, as amended, preempts the reissuance and extension
of the recently issued shallow natural gas leases in the Homer area if the leases are not proven economically viable by the end
of their three-year term. The bill also establishes a moratorium on future Shallow Natural Gas leases in the Homer area. This
is a much less expensive and more politically feasible way of safeguarding the interests of local residents.
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
The Education Committee heard and moved from Committee HB 551, an act that would bar the Department of Education
from issuing a Teaching Certificate to a person that has been convicted of misconduct involving a controlled substance
involving a minor. Currently, the Professional Teaching Practice Commission could issue a certificate to an individual with
such a conviction after review of their case.
HOUSE BILL 84
Last week we passed a bill out of the Education Committee, which would require state development of a new one-semester
course in Alaska History. If HB 84 passes, this new course would become a requirement for graduation from high school.
The bill has numerous House cosponsors but I am concerned about adding another requirement, which by necessity would
eliminate one elective per student. Of course, each school district currently has the ability to create and require such a course
for their students without the legislature mandating it. When this bill was heard in the Education Committee I amended the bill
so it now say that school districts “may” develop and implement such a course, rather than that they saying “shall,” thereby
giving individual districts the choice to add this requirement. This bill will be before me again in the HESS Committee, so if
you have any comments please let me know.
HESS COMMITTEE
The HESS Committee met for one extended meeting last week in order to discuss HB 543-Relating to medical assistance
coverage for prescription drugs. We also considered HB 434- Relating to the practice of naturopathic medicine. Both of
these bills were heard and held over for further discussion in hopes that we may reach a consensus on the best way to
proceed. Neither of these bills are on this week’s agenda, so be sure to check next week’s schedule for hearing times. This
week we will meet Tuesday and Thursday from 2-7pm to consider: HB 176-Noncash Child Support, SB 373-Physician
Residents and Interns, SB 179-Criminal Background Checks/Teachers, SB 274-Housing Programs, HB 186-Licensing
Radiologic Technicians, and HB 239-ID Systems for Prescriptions.
FISHERIES COMMITTEE
The legislature, and more specifically the House Fisheries Committee, has been struggling with a request for a moratorium on
new entrants into any state water groundfish fishery. This includes all saltwater species other than shellfish, salmon, herring,
and halibut. The request for this moratorium came from the Board of Fisheries’ concern with conforming to a potential GOA
federal "rationalization." The original version of SB 347 was based on vessel ownership instead of fishery permit holders,
which has been the state policy since limited entry was created in 1972. Although this is a 'temporary' plan, it would set the
train on tracks that most Alaskans fought two years ago in the HB 206 process that allowed corporate ownership of fishing
privileges for the first time. HB 206 limited consideration of a vessel owner based system to only the Korean Hair Crab and
Scallop fisheries and mandated that a vessel-base program could only be used if the traditional fishing permit based system
could not work. That vessel policy change sunsets in five years. However, CFEC adopted both fisheries as vessel-based
systems because they argued it was more "efficient." CFEC also said "a vessel-based permit program...is similar to the
federal license limitation program..." and finally, "is least disruptive ..."(CFEC March 25, 2004 page 4). Since CFEC
developed these types of criteria, I expect all future entry permit programs will be vessel-based if we allow CFEC the option
of developing state policy. SB 347 also has a life of 4 years with an extension of 2 years and splits up the Gulf of Alaska into
20 specific fisheries in which the vessel would have had to participate at least once since 1998 to be able to fish during the
moratorium. Unfortunately, CFEC and the ADF&G maintain that we would have to allow participation during these years to
count towards future allocation because of "recent participation" and "dependence on the fishery" issues. Another problem
created by the moratorium proposal is conflict with the Alaska Supreme Court opinion, which says that limited entry is only
allowed when necessary and in a way that least impinges on 'open access' to the commonly held resource. Article VIII
Section 15 of the Alaska Constitution allows a special privilege of fishery for resource conservation and to prevent economic
distress among fishermen. However, many of the fisheries that SB 347 would close to new entrants are not fully utilized.
Even the state water Pacific cod fishery guideline harvest has never been met in Prince William Sound and many miscellaneous
finfish species in each area go under harvested. How do we justify closing entry for 6 years into fisheries we are trying to
develop? The Fisheries Committee has been working on compromises; one was a permit area and gear endorsement, which
would have functioned the same way as the vessel system. A combination requiring both types of permits has also been
proposed. However, the fishery area and gear were assigned to the vessel and fishermen could go anywhere and operate any
gear. This policy would therefore likely assign the production to the area and gear - i.e. vessel - and again would give CFEC
the policy flexibility to design the vessel-based program.
BILL ACCESS SYSTEM
All bills can be found on the State’s BASIS system. You can
see what committee a bill is in, when it will be heard, how
committee members voted, and much more. You can access the
system from the website below:
LIVE ON THE WEB
Remember that you can hear most committee hearings or tune into just about any legislative session, present or past, by going to Gavel to Gavel, which transmits TV and public radio broadcasts of the state legislature as they occur. Gavel to Gavel also has an online archive of past meetings. Click on the link below to connect to Gavel to Gavel:
If you need to contact the staff please click on one of the links below:
Lauren Radcliffe,
Cameron Yourkowski,
Chris Knight,
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