HB 35: "An Act creating the safer Alaska streets and communities fund; and providing for an effective date."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 35 01 "An Act creating the safer Alaska streets and communities fund; and providing for an 02 effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 05 to read: 06 SHORT TITLE. This Act may be known as the Safer Alaska Streets and 07 Communities Act. 08 * Sec. 2. AS 29.60 is amended by adding new sections to read: 09 Article 9. Safer Alaska Streets and Communities Program. 10 Sec. 29.60.900. Safer Alaska streets and communities fund. (a) The safer 11 Alaska streets and communities fund is established in the general fund. Each fiscal 12 year, the legislature may appropriate to the fund the lesser of 13 (1) $7,380,000; or 14 (2) an amount equal to 90 percent of the reduction, if any, in the
01 amount available for community assistance payments under AS 29.60.850(c) for the 02 fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, from the amount available for community assistance 03 payments under AS 29.60.850(c) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017. 04 (b) As provided in AS 29.60.905 and 29.60.910, the department shall annually 05 distribute as payments to each municipality, eligible reserve, or eligible community 06 money appropriated for that purpose from 07 (1) the safer Alaska streets and communities fund; 08 (2) the general fund. 09 (c) A municipality, eligible reserve, or eligible community that receives 10 money from the safer Alaska streets and communities fund shall use the money for 11 only the following services in the following ranking of priority: 12 (1) police protection and related public safety services; 13 (2) fire protection and emergency medical services; 14 (3) other services that the governing body determines have the highest 15 priority. 16 (d) Subsection (c) of this section may not be construed to require a 17 municipality, eligible reserve, or eligible community to fund all requests it receives for 18 services in a category with a higher ranking of priority before funding services in a 19 category with a lower ranking of priority. 20 (e) Notwithstanding the guidelines in (a) of this section, the legislature may 21 appropriate any amount to the safer Alaska streets and communities fund. Nothing in 22 this section creates a dedicated fund. 23 Sec. 29.60.905. Safer Alaska streets and communities payments. Each 24 fiscal year, the department shall make a payment from the safer Alaska streets and 25 communities fund to each municipality, eligible reserve, or eligible community. The 26 safer Alaska streets and communities payment for a municipality, eligible reserve, or 27 eligible community for a fiscal year shall be proportionate to the basic community 28 assistance payment calculated for a municipality, eligible reserve, or eligible 29 community, respectively, for that fiscal year under AS 29.60.855. If no community 30 assistance payments are distributed for a fiscal year, the payments under this section 31 shall be proportionate to the basic community assistance payments calculated under
01 AS 29.60.855 for the last fiscal year in which the department distributed community 02 assistance payments. 03 Sec. 29.60.910. Eligibility requirements for reserves and communities. (a) 04 The department, with advice from the Department of Law, shall determine whether 05 there is in each community or reserve an incorporated nonprofit entity or a Native 06 village council that will agree to receive and spend the safer Alaska streets and 07 communities payment. If there is more than one qualified entity in a reserve or 08 community in the unorganized borough, the department shall pay the money to the 09 entity that the department finds most qualified to receive and spend the money on 10 behalf of the reserve or community. The department may not make a safer Alaska 11 streets and communities payment to a Native village council unless the council waives 12 immunity from suit for claims arising out of activities of the council related to the 13 payment. A waiver of immunity from suit under this subsection must be on a form 14 provided by the Department of Law. If there is no qualified incorporated nonprofit 15 entity or Native village council in a reserve or community that is willing to receive the 16 safer Alaska streets and communities payment and use the payment on behalf of that 17 reserve or community, the payment for that reserve or community may not be paid. 18 Neither this section nor any action taken under it enlarges or diminishes the 19 governmental authority or jurisdiction of a Native village council. 20 (b) The department may make a safer Alaska streets and communities 21 payment on behalf of a community in a borough or unified municipality only to the 22 municipality for payment by the municipality to an incorporated nonprofit entity or 23 Native village council that has been approved by the assembly and meets the 24 requirements of (a) of this section. The department shall have written evidence of the 25 assembly approval. If there is more than one qualified entity in a community in a 26 borough or unified municipality, one of the entities may receive the entire payment, or 27 the payment may be shared between two or more of the qualified entities, as 28 determined by the assembly. 29 (c) A community in a borough or unified municipality is eligible for a safer 30 Alaska streets and communities payment only if at least three of the following services 31 are generally available to all residents of the community and each of the three services,
01 in any combination, are provided by one or more qualifying incorporated nonprofit 02 entities or a Native village council or are substantially paid for by the residents of the 03 community through taxes, charges, or assessments levied or authorized by the borough 04 or unified municipality: 05 (1) fire protection; 06 (2) emergency medical; 07 (3) water and sewer; 08 (4) solid waste management; 09 (5) public road or ice road maintenance; 10 (6) public health; 11 (7) search and rescue. 12 Sec. 29.60.915. Definitions. In AS 29.60.900 - 29.60.915, 13 (1) "community" has the meaning given in AS 29.60.879; 14 (2) "reserve" has the meaning given in AS 29.60.879. 15 * Sec. 3. This Act takes effect July 1, 2017.