Legislature(1995 - 1996)
02/09/1995 08:05 AM House STA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HSTA - 02/09/95 HB 32 - PFD ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS MELINDA GRUENING, Legislative Assistant to Representative Joe Green, announced that she would be speaking on the changes incorporated in the proposed committee substitute for HB 32. These changes would address concerns expressed by members of the committee about how a person would be determined indigent for purposes of having the proposed permanent fund appeal fee waived. She mentioned that the committee had copies of a memo, which contained wording defining "indigent" for the purposes of fee waiver. She said permanent fund administrators indicated that the criteria for determining indigency needed to be simple, nonsubjective and easily verifiable. She said she researched several agencies to determine how they determined indigency for purposes of fee waver. She said she had talked to the public defenders office, the hunting licensing people, and limited entry people to see how they qualified people for reduced fees or fee waiver. She said the solution that seemed to be the most workable was to use the federal poverty guidelines. These guidelines are published once a year by the U.S. Department of Health and Social Services and the figures are used by a variety of federal agencies and the court system. She explained that the applicants income can be easily verified by a copy of the first page of their previous years tax return. She stated the federal poverty guidelines are adjusted annually for inflation proofing and they do have a separate chart in the guidelines for Alaska to take into account the higher cost of living. She said other than the new subsection (2), the bill was completely unchanged. CHAIR JAMES asked if there was any questions of the sponsor. Number 065 REPRESENTATIVE SCOTT OGAN asked if Ms. Gruening could tell the committee exactly what the guidelines would be. MS. GRUENING replied that a copy of these guidelines were enclosed in their packets. She said the enclosed copy was for 1994. She said the new copies for 1995 come out next week in mid-February. CHAIR JAMES asked if there were any other questions or comments. As there were none, she called for a motion with regard to this bill. REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN PORTER moved to pass the proposed amendment to HB 32, as described in the memo dated February 9, 1995, signed by Representative Joe Green, adding Section 2 to HB 32. CHAIR JAMES asked if there were any objections. Hearing none, the amendment passed. She asked if there was a motion to pass this bill out of committee. Number 100 REPRESENTATIVE CAREN ROBINSON moved to pass the committee substitute for HB 32 out of committee with individual recommendations as amended. REPRESENTATIVE PORTER stated he wished all of the bills had a negative fiscal note like HB 32, except that they applied to the general fund and not the permanent fund. CHAIR JAMES stated the bill needed to be passed with the attached fiscal notes. She asked if there were any objections. As there were none, the bill passed. She announced the next item on the agenda was HB 44. She mentioned there was a representative speaker from Representative Martin's office, the bill's sponsor.
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