HCR 13: Relating to the nonresident fee differential for commercial fishing permits and licenses.
00 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 13 01 Relating to the nonresident fee differential for commercial fishing permits and licenses. 02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 WHEREAS all participants in the commercial fishing industry in Alaska should 04 contribute equally toward the direct and indirect costs incurred by the State of Alaska for the 05 management, support, and regulation of commercial fisheries; and 06 WHEREAS resident commercial fishermen have traditionally contributed more 07 toward the costs of the commercial fishing industry than have nonresident commercial 08 fishermen through the payment of state and local taxes and fees and through the expenditure 09 of state revenue derived from the development of state natural resources, particularly oil and 10 gas, that are equivalent to taxes that only residents pay; and 11 WHEREAS the State of Alaska has sought to equitably distribute the burden for the 12 support of the commercial fishing industry between residents and nonresidents by imposing a 13 nonresident fee differential on the cost of commercial fishing entry permits and interim-use 14 permits under the Alaska commercial fisheries entry program and on the cost of commercial 15 fishing crewmember licenses; and 16 WHEREAS, under the federal and state constitutions, the State of Alaska may charge
01 higher fees for nonresidents to participate in commercial fishing in order to equitably 02 distribute responsibility for paying the costs of the commercial fishing industry; and 03 WHEREAS the State of Alaska seeks only to recover that amount that may be legally 04 collected from nonresident commercial fishermen under the federal and state constitutions to 05 compensate the state for the direct and indirect costs attributable to the commercial fishing 06 industry and to equitably distribute the burden of these costs between resident and nonresident 07 fishermen; and 08 WHEREAS the nonresident fee differential charged by the State of Alaska neither 09 discourages nonresident participation in the commercial fishing industry of Alaska nor places 10 nonresidents at a competitive disadvantage to residents; and 11 WHEREAS most coastal states charge higher commercial fishing fees to nonresidents 12 and many states charge a nonresident fee differential that is greater than that charged by the 13 State of Alaska; and 14 WHEREAS, as the result of litigation challenging the validity of the current 15 nonresident fee differential for commercial fishing entry permits and interim-use permits, it is 16 necessary to identify what costs to the State of Alaska should be included in calculating the 17 amount of the nonresident fee differential that may be charged for commercial fishing 18 crewmember licenses, entry permits, and interim-use permits; 19 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds that the State of Alaska 20 may require nonresidents who participate in the commercial fishing industry in Alaska to pay 21 a fee differential that compensates the state for direct and indirect costs attributable to the 22 commercial fishing industry and that equitably distributes the burden for the support of the 23 commercial fishing industry in Alaska between residents and nonresidents; and be it 24 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature finds that the formula 25 used to calculate the amount of the fee differential that may be charged to nonresidents for 26 commercial fishing crewmember licenses, entry permits, and interim-use permits should 27 include 28 (1) the costs incurred by the State of Alaska that are directly attributable to 29 participation of nonresidents in the commercial fisheries of the state; 30 (2) the costs incurred by the State of Alaska for 31 (A) direct operating expenditures for ongoing management, support,
01 and regulation of the commercial fishing industry, including relevant expenditures of 02 the 03 (i) Office of the Governor, Alaska coastal management 04 program; 05 (ii) Department of Environmental Conservation, air and water 06 quality permitting activities and seafood inspection activities; 07 (iii) Department of Community and Economic Development, 08 commercial fishing loan program, Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and 09 community development quota program; 10 (iv) Department of Fish and Game, division of commercial 11 fisheries, division of habitat and restoration, board support section, division of 12 administrative services, division of sport fish, commissioner's office; 13 (v) Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission; 14 (vi) Department of Labor and Workforce Development, wage 15 and hour enforcement, mechanical inspections, occupational safety and health 16 activities, and fishermen's fund; 17 (vii) Department of Law; 18 (viii) Department of Natural Resources; 19 (ix) Department of Public Safety, commercial fisheries 20 enforcement; 21 (x) Department of Revenue, fisheries business tax program, 22 fishery resource landing tax program, salmon enhancement tax program, 23 salmon marketing tax program, and dive fishery management assessment 24 program; 25 (xi) University of Alaska, Fisheries Industrial Technology 26 Center, Institute of Marine Sciences, Marine Advisory Program, Alaska Sea 27 Grant College Program, and School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences; 28 (xii) Legislature; 29 (xiii) Alaska Court System; 30 (B) indirect operating expenditures for general overhead attributable to 31 supporting the commercial fishing industry, including expenditures for general
01 overhead attributable to components of agencies that have direct operating 02 expenditures identified under (A) of this paragraph and to components of agencies for 03 which direct operating expenditures related to the ongoing management, support, and 04 regulation of the commercial fishing industry cannot be readily determined; 05 (C) general government expenditures for government services that are 06 used by a portion of the population attributable to the presence of the commercial 07 fishing industry, including government services provided by the Department of 08 Administration, Department of Corrections, Department of Education and Early 09 Development, Department of Health and Social Services, Department of Military and 10 Veterans' Affairs, and Department of Transportation and Public Facilities; 11 (D) capital expenditures to support the commercial fishing industry, as 12 measured by annual depreciation of public facilities and infrastructure; and to and 13 (E) expenditures to subsidize the construction and operation of salmon 14 hatcheries; and 15 (3) the amount of revenue foregone by the state due to the current 16 management system for commercial fisheries in the State of Alaska. 17 A COPY of this resolution shall be sent to Stephanie J. Cole, Administrative Director, 18 Alaska Court System.