Legislature(2001 - 2002)
03/22/2002 09:20 AM House FIN
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE BILL NO. 20
"An Act relating to state aid to municipalities and
certain other recipients, and for the village public
safety officer program; relating to municipal
dividends; relating to the public safety foundation
program; and providing for an effective date."
Representative Carl Moses MOVED to Rescind the Committee's
action in failing to adopt Amendment 6 (Lancaster and
Moses). Representative Moses WITHDREW his motion.
Representative Carl Moses MOVED to ADOPT Amendment 8: state
aid to unincorporated communities:
Sec. 29.60.140. State aid to unincorporated
communities. (a) Subject to (c) of this section, the
[THE] department shall pay to each unincorporated
community an entitlement each fiscal year to be used
for a public purpose. The department with advice from
the Department of Law shall determine whether there is
in each unincorporated community an incorporated
nonprofit entity or a Native village council that will
agree to receive and spend the entitlement. If the
community is located in a borough or a unified
municipality, the department may pay the entitlement
only to the entity that has been approved by the
assembly, and the department must have written evidence
of that approval. If there is more than one qualified
entity in an unincorporated community in the
unorganized borough, the department shall pay the money
under the entitlement to the entity that the department
finds most qualified to receive and spend the money.
The department may not pay money under an entitlement
to a Native village council unless the council waives
immunity from suit for claims arising out of activities
of the council related to the entitlement. A waiver of
immunity from suit under this subsection must be on a
form provided by the Department of Law. If there is no
qualified incorporated nonprofit entity or Native
village council in an unincorporated community that is
willing to receive money under an entitlement, the
entitlement for that unincorporated community may not
be paid. Neither this subsection nor any action taken
under it enlarges or diminishes the governmental
authority or jurisdiction of a Native village council.
If at least $41,472,000 is appropriated for all
entitlements under as 29.60.010 - 29.60.310 for a
fiscal year, the entitlement for each unincorporated
community under this subsection for that year equals
$40,000. Otherwise, the entitlement equals $25,000.
(b) In this section "unincorporated community"
means a place [IN THE UNORGANIZED BOROUGH] that is not
incorporated as a city and in which 25 or more persons
reside as a social unit.
* Sec. 4. AS 29.60.140 is amended by adding a new
subsection to read:
(c) The department may pay an entitlement under
(a) of this section for an unincorporated community in
a borough only to a qualified entity that provides at
least three of the following services within the
community:
(1) fire protection;
(2) emergency medical;
(3) water and sewer;
(4) solid waste management;
(5) public road or ice road maintenance;
(6) public health;
(7) search and rescue.
Co-Chair Williams OBJECTED for the purpose of discussion.
Representative Lancaster explained that the amendment would
allow the funds to go to the borough or organized area
outside of the small community that is organizing; otherwise
it is identical to Amendment 6.
KEVIN RITCHIE, ALASKA MUNICIPAL LEAGUE, JUNEAU provided
information on the amendment. He noted that the Alaska
Municipal League did not request the amendment but has
assisted in its drafting. He explained that only unorganized
communities in the unorganized borough receive capital-
matching grants. If a borough were formed to incorporated
surrounding small [unorganized] communities they would give
up their capital matching grants. The borough would receive
a small grant, but it would not be as much as they currently
receive as small communities. The amendment would remove a
disincentive for communities to organized. The same capital
matching money would be provided to small communities
whether or not they are in a borough. The amendment would be
an incentive to incorporation. Currently, if there were 10
small villages that wanted to form a borough they would have
to give up their capital-matching grants of $25 thousand
dollars each when they became part of a borough. The borough
would receive a grant but it would be much smaller than the
combined amount of the separate grants.
Representative Croft concluded that the amendment would
compliment Amendment 2 (adopted by the committee on 3/20/02)
and would encourage incorporation.
Vice-Chair Bunde agreed that the amendment would provide
encouragement for incorporation. He observed that he would
support the amendment with the expectation that it would
lead to the creation of local revenue stream that would
allow communities to remain incorporated. He suggested that
future legislatures would need to address the issue if it
does not lead local communities toward self-sustaining
revenues.
Mr. Ritchie explained that each unorganized community
receives between $3 - $4 thousand dollars in revenue
sharing. There would be between 20 - 30 communities affected
by the legislation. They would have to provide three or more
of the following services:
(1) fire protection;
(2) emergency medical;
(3) water and sewer;
(4) solid waste management;
(5) public road or ice road maintenance;
(6) public health;
(7) search and rescue.
If there were 20 or 30 communities the total cost of revenue
sharing would be approximately $100 thousand dollars. Mr.
Ritchie observed that each of these 20 - 30 communities
would receive $25 thousand dollars from the capital matching
grant program. The capital-matching grant combines the
municipal and unincorporated portions. The amendment would
add 20 -30 communities to the unincorporated portion, which
would prorate the amount down.
There being NO OBJECTION, Amendment 8 was adopted.
Representative Foster MOVED to report CSHB 20 (FIN) out of
Committee with the accompanying fiscal note. There being NO
OBJECTION, it was so ordered.
CSHB 20 (FIN) was REPORTED out of Committee with a "do pass"
recommendation and with four new fiscal impact notes: (3)
CED and COR.
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