Legislature(2021 - 2022)BUTROVICH 205
03/23/2021 03:30 PM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB71 | |
| SB84 | |
| Confirmation Hearing(s) | |
| SB77 | |
| SB47 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 71 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 84 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | SB 77 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 47 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 77-USE OF INTERNET FOR CHARITABLE GAMING
4:06:48 PM
CHAIR SHOWER announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 77
"An Act relating to charitable gaming online ticket sales and
activities."
He noted who was available to answer questions.
4:08:11 PM
MELODIE WILTERDINK, Staff, Senator Mia Costello and the Senate
Labor and Commerce Standing Committee, Alaska State Legislature,
Juneau, Alaska, read the sponsor statement for SB 77 into the
record:
In January of 2021, Governor Dunleavy asked the
Legislature to extend the public health disaster
emergency through the passage of Senate Bill 56. This
was a comprehensive bill with numerous provisions, one
of which included an extension of the public health
disaster emergency.
This bill is taken from the Governor's bill and
addresses Section 9 of the Governor's bill. It looks
at charitable gaming online ticket sales.
The purpose of this committee bill is to give the
legislative branch the opportunity to take the
necessary time to determine whether or not we need to
make our statutes more COVID-19 aware, as opposed to
relying on an emergency disaster declaration in order
to keep our state operational. The Senate Labor and
Commerce Committee intends to rely heavily on the
administration to explain why certain sections in the
disaster extension bill, such as the provisions now
found in Senate Bill 77, are necessary.
4:09:39 PM
MS. WILTERDINK read the following sectional analysis for SB 77:
Sec. 1 AS 05.15.060(a) Page 1, Lines 3-15, & Page 2,
Lines 1-31, & Page 3, Lines 1-3 Is amended by adding a
new subsection AS 05.15.060(a)(11) to establish
standards for online ticket sales to ensure compliance
with charitable gaming laws including age and location
verification and data security standards.
Sec. 2 AS 05.15.640 Page 3, Lines 4-16
Is amended by adding a new subsection AS 05.15.640(d)
to allow permitees and operators of charitable gaming
licenses to use the Internet to conduct charitable
gaming activities for raffles, lotteries, dog mushers'
contests, derbies, or types of classics defined in AS
05.15.690. This includes drawing winning tickets
online.
Is amended by adding a new subsection AS 05.15.640(e)
to specify that permitees and operators of charitable
gaming licenses must verify that purchasers are of
legal purchasing age, physically present in the state,
and not physically present in an area that has
prohibited charitable gaming
4:11:17 PM
CHAIR SHOWER asked if there were questions or comments.
SENATOR REINBOLD thanked the sponsor for taking the initiative
to introduce certain provisions of the Governor's disaster bill
in separate pieces of legislation.
CHAIR SHOWER advised that Senator Costello and other legislators
are trying to get the legislative and executive branches to work
together to make it possible to function in a situation like
COVID-19 without having to declare a disaster. He asked Senator
Costello to comment.
4:12:50 PM
SENATOR COSTELLO, speaking as the chair of the Labor and
Commerce Committee, thanked her staff, Melodie Wilterdink, for
carrying the bill. She said it places a provision from the
Governor's disaster declaration in separate legislation to make
the statutes more COVID-aware. She said she believes this will
benefit the state and she looks forward to hearing Ms. Glover
talk about the entities that would use this law should it pass.
4:14:19 PM
COLLEEN GLOVER, Director, Tax Division, Department of Revenue,
Anchorage, Alaska, began her testimony by providing context for
charitable gaming to be in the Governor's disaster declaration
bill. She explained that it became apparent last summer that
organizations that make up the gaming community were harmed by
not being able to sell raffle tickets at public events. The
current law allows promotion of these contests and derbies over
the internet, but the raffles and games cannot be conducted
online. The division issued temporary guidance saying that
during the pandemic the sale and raffle would be allowed. When
the original emergency declaration expired in November 2020, the
administration worked to include that temporary regulatory
exemption in Health Order 7 issued in mid-November 2020. She
said that was extended every 30 days until the last one expired
in February.
Responding to Senator Costello's request, she said she did not
have specific examples, but the division did receive feedback
from organizations that expressed concern that online raffles
and games would not be allowed once the emergency order expired.
She referenced the supporting testimony from charitable
organizations and others in House Finance last week about the
benefits of online raffles and gaming. She said there has been
no opposition and the administration support the statutory
changes reflected in SB 77, she said.
4:17:11 PM
SENATOR COSTELLO referred to a requirement in the Governor's
disaster declaration legislation and asked how the
administration intended to verify the age of the player and that
play was conducted from a location in the state.
MS. GLOVER replied the legislation called for the department to
issue guidance through regulations and the division discussed
the use of software to verify both age and location.
4:18:33 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI advised that the Catholic Schools of Fairbanks
expressed concern about the expiration of the emergency
regulations for online gaming. In response, his office
researched Title 5 and found nothing prevents using electronic
means to conduct raffles and gaming. The Department of Law and
Legislative Legal Services worked on language for temporary
guidance for gaming permitees and settled on the word "promote"
as written in Title 5. He asked how that was implemented and if
there were any problems with the emergency regulation.
MS. GLOVER replied the division posted "temporary guidance" on
the division's website and shared it with the gaming community.
There were no emergency regulations and the permitees were not
required to prove age or location. The department felt it was
important to help prevent charitable gaming organizations from
losing proceeds, and thus did not implement many constraints.
She acknowledged that, like many others, they did not expect the
pandemic to endure for more than a year.
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked how smaller groups would be able to
comply with the proposed statutory revisions, should they become
permanent.
MS. GLOVER answered the division does not want to make it be too
difficult for these organizations to comply, but they will need
to have controls in place to prevent selling to individuals who
are out of state or do not meet the age requirement. The
division believes there are affordable software options for the
charitable gaming community to use to meet the proposed
requirements.
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked how long it would take to promulgate the
regulations, should this become law. Specifically, he asked if
online gaming could take place this summer the same way that it
did last summer.
4:23:59 PM
MS. GLOVER replied the legislation authorizes the division to
issue guidance and standards initially and follow up later with
formal regulations.
CHAIR SHOWER asked if there is an effective date that allows the
transition.
[Audio difficulties between the chair who was in the committee
room and members who were attending the meeting via Microsoft
Teams.]
4:25:34 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked if SB 77 intends for the temporary
guidance to continue at the discretion of the Department of
Revenue (DOR).
4:26:14 PM
SENATOR COSTELLO answered that the only intention in any of the
bills the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing Committee
introduced was to look at the issues [from the Governor's
disaster declaration bill] more closely and answer that
question.
SENATOR COSTELLO noted that this was the first hearing on SB 77
and her sense, based on Ms. Glover's testimony, was there is a
need for online charitable gaming to be an option going forward.
Noting that there was not an effective date, she asked Ms.
Glover if she would suggest adding an immediate effective date
to the bill.
MS. GLOVER replied she believes it is always good to have an
effective date on any legislation.
4:27:42 PM
At ease due to audio problems associated with Microsoft Teams.
4:30:06 PM
CHAIR SHOWER reconvened the meeting and relayed that he was able
to hear the discussion the members were having and the
discussion was recorded, but the members could not hear him. He
described SB 77 as an important effort to l prevent the need for
a disaster declaration to conduct business.
4:30:49 PM
CHAIR SHOWER found no further questions and announced he would
hold SB 77 in committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 77 Fiscal Note 2476.pdf |
SSTA 3/23/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 77 |
| SB 77 Sponsor Statement 3.17.21.pdf |
SSTA 3/23/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 77 |
| SB 77 Sectional Analysis 3.17.21.pdf |
SSTA 3/23/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 77 |
| SB 47 Fiscal Note 2348.pdf |
SSTA 3/23/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 47 |
| SB 47 v.A.PDF |
SSTA 3/23/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 47 |
| SB 47 Written Testimony (Additional).pdf |
SSTA 3/23/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 47 |
| SB47 Supporting Documents-DTD 2-2-2021.pdf |
SSTA 3/23/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 47 |
| SB47 Written Testimony (6).pdf |
SSTA 3/23/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 47 |