04/12/1993 01:00 PM House JUD

  HB 71:  DISSOLUTION OF NATIVE CORPORATIONS                                   
                                                                               
  Number 659                                                                   
                                                                               
  LARRY LABOLLE, LEGISLATIVE AIDE TO REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD                    
  FOSTER, PRIME SPONSOR of HB 71, stated that a bill similar                   
  to HB 71 had passed the House the year before, but died in                   
  the Senate Rules Committee at the end of the session.  He                    
  said that the bill would provide a one-year period for ANCSA                 
  (Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act) village corporations                   
  which had been involuntarily dissolved because they had not                  
  completed their biannual report, to be reinstated.  He added                 
  that the corporations would have to pay all dues and fees as                 
  if they had been incorporated all along.                                     
                                                                               
  MR. LABOLLE raised the question of why the corporations                      
  could not simply go out and reincorporate.  He stated that,                  
  because they were the corporations which were originally set                 
  up under ANCSA, the reincorporation had to occur in order to                 
  allow for the continuation of property ownership and                         
  liability.  He mentioned the summer fishing village of                       
  Hamilton, in Representative Foster's district, which had                     
  allowed its corporate status to lapse, and said that many                    
  similar village corporations existed in Southeast Alaska.                    
                                                                               
  Number 688                                                                   
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN asked how the state could ensure                    
  that corporations did not, in the future, allow their                        
  corporate status to lapse again.                                             
                                                                               
  Number 692                                                                   
                                                                               
  MR. LABOLLE replied that it was his hope that village                        
  corporations would not allow their corporate status to lapse                 
  again.  He said that Representative Foster would send out                    
  notices to corporations within his district, as well as to                   
  others of which he was aware, that needed to reincorporate,                  
  informing them of the one-year window in which they could do                 
  so.                                                                          
                                                                               
  Number 705                                                                   
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JAMES understood that the reincorporation                     
  option was already available to corporations.  She asked Mr.                 
  LaBolle what would happen if another corporation had used                    
  the village corporation's name during the period that the                    
  incorporation had been allowed to lapse.                                     
                                                                               
  Number 717                                                                   
                                                                               
  MR. LABOLLE replied that a village would still have to                       
  reincorporate in order to pick up all of the corporate                       
  rights and responsibilities that existed for the ANCSA                       
  corporation.                                                                 
                                                                               
  Number 724                                                                   
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JAMES asked if the corporations which had                     
  already reincorporated would be melded with those which had                  
  not.                                                                         
                                                                               
  MR. LABOLLE replied in the affirmative.                                      
                                                                               
  Number 728                                                                   
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE GAIL PHILLIPS asked Mr. LaBolle why the                       
  similar bill had died the year before in the Senate Rules                    
  Committee.                                                                   
                                                                               
  Number 730                                                                   
                                                                               
  MR. LABOLLE responded that the bill had been caught in the                   
  end-of-session time crunch.                                                  
                                                                               
  Number 744                                                                   
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JAMES understood that some corporations had                   
  been involuntarily dissolved, and later reinstated after                     
  fees had been paid, provided that no other corporation had                   
  taken their corporate name.  She asked Mr. Monagle what the                  
  time limit for reinstatement was.                                            
                                                                               
  Number 752                                                                   
                                                                               
  MIKE MONAGLE, SUPERVISOR, CORPORATE INFORMATION, DIVISION OF                 
  BANKING, SECURITIES AND CORPORATIONS, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE                 
  AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (DCED), replied that a corporation                  
  had three years from the date of dissolution in which to be                  
  reinstated.                                                                  
                                                                               
  Number 753                                                                   
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE JAMES asked if some of the corporations                       
  covered by HB 71 had been dissolved for longer than three                    
  years.                                                                       
                                                                               
  MR. MONAGLE replied in the affirmative.                                      
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE GREEN made a MOTION to MOVE HB 71 out of                      
  committee, with individual recommendations and a zero fiscal                 
  note.  There being no objection, IT WAS SO ORDERED.