Legislature(1993 - 1994)
04/13/1993 01:00 PM House CRA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 154: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GRANT FUND SENATOR GEORGE JACKO, PRIME SPONSOR OF SB 154, testified by reading his sponsor statement aloud, and referenced the new version, CSSB 154 (L&C). (Copies of this sponsor statement and the committee substitute may be found in the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee Room, Capitol Room 110, and after the adjournment of the second session of the 18th Alaska State Legislature, in the Legislative Reference Library.) SENATOR JACKO added, "In summary, I want to say that this legislation (CSSB 154 (L&C)) is not intended as a replacement or a substitute for other capital funding programs, either in existence or being proposed. The economic development grant program is intended as a separate program within the capital budget for municipalities...to access grants based solely on economic criteria." Representative Cynthia Toohey arrived in committee at 1:40. Number 089 ANN WILLIAMS, LOBBYIST, MUNICIPALITY OF ANCHORAGE, testified in support of CSSB 154 (L&C) saying, "We were very enthusiastic when this first came to our attention. One of the first things we did was look at some of our highest priority economic development projects for the future, and the one we came up with was one with the Port of Anchorage..." DON DIETZ, PORT DIRECTOR, PORT OF ANCHORAGE, testified, "I spoke to many of you a little over a month ago explaining a couple of important capital projects. One of those projects was a project that benefited a broad region of the state, one where an improvement may be done in the immediate area of the port for road, rail, utility extension and land development (and) will allow new economic development products to be brought into the state. And predominantly, we are thinking of timber right now... We believe our land development capital project grant request which is further defined in the six criteria, pretty much hits the nail on the head for this bill (CSSB 154)..." MS. WILLIAMS added, "We also wanted to give the committee an example of something that would work for both the Municipality of Anchorage and the south central region and we think this project would fit that criteria." Number 134 CHAIRMAN OLBERG asked, "What's the source of the funding for the grants?" SENATOR JACKO said, "This is enabling legislation that sets up the program...and sources of funds will be, of course, general funds passed down in the governor's capital project bill..." Number 142 CHAIRMAN OLBERG asked, "The Port of Anchorage is prepared to do the necessary match?" MR. DIETZ said absolutely and referred to a 70/30 match. Number 151 VICE-CHAIRMAN JERRY SANDERS asked, "Does this bill (CSSB 154 (L&C)) call for a match?" SENATOR JACKO said, "There's no specific match. It doesn't say you have to have 70/30, but the criteria, the way the bill (CSSB 154 (L&C)) is worded, is if you had 70 versus someone who had 50, you'd probably get more points, more likely to be recommended for the money." MS. WILLIAMS said, "The way we understand the criteria, you also need to have private enterprise money..." MR. DIETZ added, "Basically, our port revenue funds are generated from profits from Sealand...and other businesses that come out of the port. We're sure they are going to continue to support us in that regard. We'll come up with that 2.1 million, I think, very easily if we get funded for this. This project is also already designed. We have all the permitting done on it and all the wetland mitigation, so it's ready to go this year, if we get funded." Number 174 REPRESENTATIVE CYNTHIA TOOHEY asked, "Your profits...do they go into the municipality?" MR. DIETZ said, "Yes and no. Actually our funds are governed by the municipality's monetary and auditing system. But the Port of Anchorage is like a utility. It is not tax supported. All of its revenues come from its business customers and leases of the port property to port business customers." REPRESENTATIVE TOOHEY clarified, "So you're basically self- supporting." MR. DIETZ concurred and said, "We actually contribute about 175 to 200,000 dollars a year to general government for police, fire protection, and all the amenity things that we have there within the port..." Number 189 REPRESENTATIVE ED WILLIS asked, "How would Anchorage then apply for this under this bill (CSSB 154 (L&C)? Who do they submit their application to and how would it be processed?" SENATOR JACKO responded, "The application would be submitted to the review committee which is headed up by OMB (Office of Management and Budget)...the committee would review their application and try to make a decision based on the criteria that's set forth in (the) legislation. If they think it meets the criteria, they make the recommendation to the legislature that the project be funded." Number 204 REPRESENTATIVE BILL WILLIAMS asked if smaller communities had the same criteria. SENATOR JACKO said, "What we've done with the unincorporated communities is asked that their applications be submitted through a regional ARDOR (Alaska Regional Development Organization). The reason for that was because they felt the regional ARDORs had a better perspective of the whole region in terms of what the best economic development projects would be in the region, and that would reduce the number of applicants that would be submitted..." REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS asked how Ketchikan would be included in these ARDOR programs. SENATOR JACKO said, "A municipality would be able to submit directly, unincorporated would go through an ARDOR. The ARDOR wouldn't own the project; the project would be owned by the community." REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS proceeded, "So a community as small as Saxman can qualify for this?" SENATOR JACKO said, "Certainly, if it's organized, some sort of city government or village council or something like that..." Number 234 REPRESENTATIVE TOOHEY asked, "Is there a limit to the number of grants utilized every year?" SENATOR JACKO said, "The limitation is the amount that we're able to get out of general funds... It's up to the legislature to decide how much to appropriate." Number 243 VICE-CHAIRMAN SANDERS asked, "Did I understand that one of the criteria for this is the match, when they go judge on who they're going to give this money too, the bigger the match, the more likely you would receive the money?" SENATOR JACKO confirmed this. VICE-CHAIRMAN SANDERS pointed out, "Is it probable then that all the money's going to rush where all the money is? The ones who have the money to help themselves to make a match, the money's going to rush to them, isn't it?" SENATOR JACKO said, "Some of the money will be oriented to those proportions of the state where there is economic vitality." Number 256 CHAIRMAN OLBERG said, "Within the rating system is there an in-kind, similar to the governor's capital matching grant idea?" Number 262 CHRIS GATES, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, testified, "There is no limit on the number of projects, just on the amount of money...certainly small communities are encouraged and there's a mechanism, a very easy mechanism for them to use the ARDORs to access this money. There is no weighted score for rural areas. They would all be competing evenly against the number of jobs and the amount of economic activity they say that these projects would create. The basis of the judgement for the projects...would be made on the basis of the six criteria in the bill (CSSB 154 (L&C))." REPRESENTATIVE ED WILLIS MOVED to PASS CSSB 154 (L&C) out of committee with individual recommendations. There were no objections, and IT SO MOVED. Number 293
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