04/22/1998 03:20 PM House L&C

HB 479 - RECOGNITION FOR EMPLOYERS OF ALASKANS                                 
                                                                               
Number 0108                                                                    
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG called the House Labor and Commerce Standing                 
Committee back to order and announced the committee's next order of            
business was HB 479, "An Act relating to recognition of employers              
who hire Alaskans."  He noted it was previously heard [April 6,                
1998].                                                                         
                                                                               
Number 0111                                                                    
                                                                               
RANDY LORENZ, Student Intern to Representative Norman Rokeberg,                
came forward to testify on HB 479.  He said the requested changes              
have been incorporated into another proposed committee substitute.             
                                                                               
MR. LORENZ explained the new committee substitute requires the                 
employer to pay a $30 fee for certification which could be adjusted            
by the Department of Labor (DOL) to cover costs - the fee will go              
into the general fund.  He stated, "The program will encourage                 
Alaskan hire by requiring a minimum of 80 percent of Alaskans to be            
employed.  The employee is considered a resident if he or she is               
both in the recent permanent fund file and the wage file and the               
Department of Labor shall design the seal.  According to what they             
had requested I believe we have covered those proposed changes in              
the CS [committee substitute]."                                                
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG directed the committee's attention to "we hire               
Alaska 1998" graphics.                                                         
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked, do we hire Alaska or Alaskan?                      
                                                                               
MR. LORENZ said they're here for your review.  He noted DOL                    
provided a number of possibilities for the seal, noting the                    
committee could accept one of those now.                                       
                                                                               
Number 0125                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE BILL HUDSON made a motion to adopt the proposed                 
committee substitute Version H,  LS1719\H, Cramer, 4/14/98.  There             
being no objections, Version H was adopted.                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE RYAN asked if there was an amendment.                           
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG replied no, it has been amended by Version H.                
                                                                               
Number 0131                                                                    
                                                                               
ED FLANAGAN, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Labor, came forward            
to testify on HB 479.  He said the proposed committee substitute               
addresses virtually all of the concerns that the department raised             
earlier.  Mr. Flanagan indicated additional calculations were made             
and of 16,000 employing units that are on the department's UI                  
[Unemployment Insurance] wage files, 71 percent of the employers               
that they report on (indisc.--coughing) report card have 80 percent            
or more and DOL would go down to anybody with one employee.  He                
noted the 16,000 employing unit number would sometimes include                 
multiple locations of one employer, giving the example of Fred                 
Meyer, Incorporated.  He stated, "When I spoke earlier, we talked              
about our current employer report card that is 20 or more                      
employees, we would take that all the way down to anybody that                 
employed anybody.  The "Made in Alaska" person was very concerned              
about that - that we shouldn't exclude the very small employers,               
and that wasn't our purpose in suggesting 20, we were just trying              
to keep it to what we already have in hand."  He indicated it                  
wasn't extremely difficult for the department to produce that                  
report to this level.                                                          
                                                                               
MR. FLANAGAN said he believes Mrs. Armstrong [Legislative Assistant            
to Representative Rokeberg] had told Mr. Perkins that the                      
department should "take a pencil" to its fiscal note.  He noted the            
department did not have a formal revised fiscal note for the                   
committee.  He indicated it was not the department's intention to              
delay the bill's progress and if the bill reached the House Finance            
Standing Committee, the department could pare it down to something             
like $12,000 if the department received straight general funds, and            
no fee would have to be charged.  He indicated it would probably               
cost the department $20,000 instead of $12,000 if they had to go               
the program receipts route, noting it costs money anytime money had            
to be collected.  This is a rough estimate that was done about 30              
minutes ago.  Mr. Flanagan said, "If we just had $12,000 straight              
GF, we wouldn't even have to charge a fee for the thing, but I                 
understand ... straight GF [general fund] is always an issue."  He             
said he guessed the department would have to set the fee in the                
first year and the fee could probably be reduced from the current              
$30 because it had been simplified, reminding the committee the                
initial fiscal note had been based on the many different criteria              
per industry, et cetera.  He said the department could make this               
work but would like to do a little more work on the fiscal note to             
make this a doable thing.                                                      
                                                                               
Number 0159                                                                    
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG asked what does the posted fiscal note say.                  
                                                                               
MR. FLANAGAN replied, this one says $12,000.                                   
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG said it was duly noted and indicated it would be             
addressed in the House Finance Standing Committee.                             
                                                                               
Number 0162                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE RYAN asked if the chairman wanted a motion.                     
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG replied no, he indicated he had one more                     
question.  He stated, "Regarding the discussion about where the                
design was going to come from, the bill provides that your internal            
department graphically would do it, but what would the costs or the            
implications of having, like, the Arts Council [Alaska State                   
Council on the Arts] or having a contest to award prizes."                     
                                                                               
MR. FLANAGAN said the cost had not been considered in the original             
fiscal note and the Alaska State Council on the Arts had not been              
contacted for an estimate.  He stated the DOL's suggestion to the              
chairman's staff was that the department has a very good graphic               
artist who, although near retirement, had given the department                 
enough designs to last a few years.  Mr. Flanagan said the                     
department did not want to deny the Alaska State Council on the                
Arts the opportunity to have something, indicating the DOL's                   
suggestion had been for reasons of simplicity and speed.                       
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG said he would like DOL to consider the contest               
only as a means of publicizing the program and noted that would be             
taken up later.                                                                
                                                                               
MR. FLANAGAN indicated he understood the chairman's comments.                  
                                                                               
Number 0173                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE RYAN made a motion to move Version H, the proposed              
committee substitute for HB 479, out of committee with individual              
recommendations and the accompanying $12,000 fiscal note.                      
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE GENE KUBINA asked if there was another committee of             
referral.                                                                      
                                                                               
Number 0176                                                                    
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG replied, the House Finance Standing Committee.               
He said he believes it needs to be "picked up."  Chairman Rokeberg             
asked if there were any objections to the motion.  There being                 
none, CSHB 479(L&C) was moved out of the House Labor and Commerce              
Standing Committee.