Legislature(1997 - 1998)
04/30/1998 08:05 AM House STA
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HCR 35 - ESTAB JT. TASK FORCE CENSUS/REDISTRICTING Number 0135 VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN announced the next order of business is HCR 35, Establishing a Joint Task Force on the Census and Redistricting, sponsored by Representative Martin. Number 0139 JOHN MANLY, Legislative Assistant to Representative Martin, Alaska State Legislature, came before the committee. He explained the resolution would set up a relatively informal task force of four members, two each from the House and Senate (those being appointed by the speaker of the House and president of the Senate), one member from each caucus - the minority caucus and the majority caucus. Number 0145 MR. MANLY said the main purpose of the task force would be to track information related to the census and to the upcoming redistricting efforts that will be taking place over the next three or four years and to report that to the general membership to keep them well informed of the process and the relatively large volume of information that will be coming their way. MR. MANLY stated the main reason they proposed this task force is because of the two events that are coming up, the census of 2000 will be taking place, generally for the country, in April 2000. However, the Federal Census Bureau as he understands it will have a special census count in February 2000 for Rural Alaska because so many of the people in the villages out there are not there in April when the Census Bureau would normally come around. The second event of course is the redistricting of the legislature and whether that continues in the purview of the governor or if it changes under the constitutional amendment that's been proposed to have the legislature under the supreme court chief justice appoint the members to that board. Either way, the legislature needs to know what's going on to stay abreast of it. Number 0158 MR. MANLY explained "The main idea behind what the task force would do would be to track this evolving census data. There's a number of sources where it will be coming to us from, including the Census Bureau - they have an ongoing program of course of working with the states and local governments to try to get the best numbers they possibly can out of the census. We'll be working with the Department of Labor, the Research and Analysis folks there, and we have a couple of them with us here today to speak about what they're doing. And of course the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) - has an ongoing task force there of which Representative Martin is the co-chairman." Number 0165 MR. MANLY noted most legislatures in other states actually do the redistricting themselves, Alaska is only one of two states where the governor does it himself. So NCSL has developed a real body of expert knowledge in that area. He stressed they would like to keep the legislators informed and believes the task force can also act as a liaison between the whole process of the census and redistricting and the communities of Alaska. Number 0171 MR. MANLY pointed out the Census Bureau is interested in getting accurate information of course in their census counts and the better liaison they have between themselves, and the people that they're counting, the better counts they can get. Not only is it important to get good numbers for the redistricting process but, as you're probably aware, virtually everything we get from the federal government in terms of revenue sharing programs depends on the numbers that they get in the census. So you have to get accurate numbers there. MR. MANLY mentioned another thing the Census Bureau would like us to do is to help them identify qualified workers that could work temporarily on the census. It was pointed out at a meeting in Seattle that the Census Bureau could hire every unemployed person in the country, at least for a short time, because they just have a short census. But they do need to put a lot of people to work. Number 0182 MR. MANLY concluded that whether the redistricting process stays with the governor, or whether it goes somewhere else - to the legislature and so forth, legislators really need keep themselves well informed. He said, "It's a little bit like going to a place where you don't speak the language and if you don't speak the language you can't understand what they're saying, or it will take quite a while to the point where you do understand what they're saying." So if at least some folks in the legislature spent some, over the next couple of years, learning to speak the language, then when the redistricting process happens, then they'll be in better shape. Number 0191 VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN stated he has been on the receiving end, he speaks two languages and has constituents that don't speak the English language. He indicated, even if he did speak English, it was difficult for him to understand what was going on in the census and redistricting process. He said he's glad to see a proposal like this. VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN noted Mr. Manly would interact or provide information to the voters of Alaska. He asked Mr. Manly how he would interact with the Reapportionment Board. Number 0198 MR. MANLY replied this task force probably wouldn't necessarily have a formal relationship with the Reapportionment Board. However, if HJR 44 passes the legislature, legislators would be involved in appointing the Reapportionment Board so they would have a fairly direct relationship there. Other than that it would be to keep the legislature and the people of Alaska, as they see fit, informed of the process so they can - when the Reapportionment Board starts holding hearing they'll be better informed to be able to speak at those hearings and to give their input into the process. So it's pretty much an informational thing. Number 0207 VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN said he assumes they will work with nonprofits that disseminate information. MR. MANLY replied absolutely, the Census Bureau has made it very clear, for their part, they want to work with as many different types of governmental entities as they can whether it's state government, the local government, Native corporations, tribal governments, etcetera, because they want to get the best information that they can possibly get for the census. Number 0214 REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said he doesn't think this is a bad idea. He said, "I guess the problem is with this time line, we've got a task force that is going to end right here when there's all this out here." He asked Mr. Manly how this task force is to be carried beyond - into the Twenty-first Legislature. MR. MANLY replied he thinks it would be incumbent upon the incoming legislature next year to renew the task force with either the same members or new members. The value of starting it now is that you can get six months worth of work done and to show the value of having such a task force. Number 0222 REPRESENTATIVE ELTON stated there is no requirement to actually to report to the legislature. He offered a proposed amendment, page 2, line 16, after the word "legislature" insert: and report to the legislature by January 1, 1999. MR. MANLY said he didn't think the sponsor would have a problem with that. VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN asked Representative Elton to repeat his amendment. REPRESENTATIVE ELTON reiterated just to add a reporting requirement, after legislature, add: and to report to the legislature by January 1, 1999 MR. MANLY asked January 1 or the day session starts - it doesn't matter. REPRESENTATIVE ELTON replied the session is starting too, although that's the day the task force is dissolved. MR. MANLY said it seems reasonable to him to include that. Number 0232 REPRESENTATIVE ELTON made a motion to move the proposed amendment. VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN asked if there were any objections, there being none, the amendment was adopted. Number 0237 REPRESENTATIVE ETHAN BERKOWITZ asked if the Division of Elections have a similar tracking arrangement. MR. MANLY replied he's not aware of what the division is doing in this regard. The liaison basically with the Census Bureau in the state is with the Department of Labor and Kathryn Lizik will speak to what she does for them. In terms of the redistricting process, his experience in the Hickel Administration, was there wasn't anybody that really followed that on an ongoing basis. As he recalls, the Department of Labor provided all the technical support that the Redistricting Board used. REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ expressed one of his concerns he has is this task force only exists for a year for the duration of a legislature and this is a problem that spans several legislatures. He believes the best way of tracking and assisting the census taking would be for us to mandate that a permanent department or division track and assist rather than requiring all time citizen legislators to weigh in periodically. He thinks the better way of (indisc.) continuity and ensuring full accounting is to have a permanent liaison and this doesn't constitute a permanent liaison. Number 0251 MR. MANLY replied that's not exactly the idea of this task force. There is a mandate that the Department of Labor do exactly what you're suggesting, in fact the state demographer, Doctor Williams is the Census Bureau's designated liaison. The idea of this task force is that these members, of the House and Senate, would provide a liaison and information to the legislature themselves and to their constituents. REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ said, "It seems that the demographer then should be required to report to the legislature. Most of us are fairly capable of making our own evaluations of the numbers that are given to us. And I've seen the task forces usually don't get much consideration at all, and I appreciate that a lot of folks like to get appointed to them and like to travel around with them. I just don't see this as contributing anything to ensure that Alaska gets a full count in the census." Number 0264 CHRIS MILLER, Chief of Research and Analysis, Division of Administrative Services, Department of Labor, came before the committee, at the request of Representative Martin, to review what they will be doing. He pointed out a time line was distributed to the committee by year [TimeLine of Census and Redistricting Events, State of Alaska - 1998-2002, Representative Martin]. The time line basically shows the major activities as far as the census 2000 preparation that they will be doing. MR. MILLER stated in 1997 they began the first phase of (indisc.) 2000. Although, if you were to talk to the Census Bureau, they have a time line that is a 15-year time line. The Block Boundary Suggestion Program (BBSP) is where they then review actual geography of the maps, the detail, and correct where there are inaccuracies and pretty much do a massive cleanup effort of the detailed geography that the Census Bureau has in its electronic file knows as TIGER. TIGER will be used a lot, it is essentially an electronic data base for electronic geographic plotting. It is the data base that is used then to build all of these various maps that the Census Bureau uses. Number 0278 MR. MILLER said they finished that process in July 1998, at least going through the review, and at that time, there were approximately 30,000 census blocks - which is the smallest geographic unit that the Census Bureau looks at in Alaska. The Census Bureau than began digitizing that information. That process was a manual process, where Ms. Lizik had about a half a dozen different colored pencils on maps spread out all over her office correcting. He noted the rest of 1997 was primarily working with the Census Bureau, in a back-and-forth basis making sure that they understood the corrections and notations that were made. MR. MILLER stated at the beginning of this year they began the Boundary Annexation Survey (BAS), that is where they contact all the cities in the state and ask them if there have been any legal boundary changes. They verify with the cities and compare that with what the Census Bureau has and make necessary changes. He said that process is ongoing now and will happen each year up until the census so that they ensure that all legal boundaries are correct as far as the Census Bureau is concerned. Number 0290 MR. MILLER mentioned they will begin this April, actually they hope to receive in the next week or so "verification maps" from the work they began in 1997, the Block Boundary Suggestion Program. He indicated they will have about 90 days to review that information, this process will then be completed, they'll have a second go- around of a review. In January 1999 this information will then have a second review "Voting District Project" that will begin in February 1999. That will be the last point where they will have a detailed review of geography. They will also be reviewing the address list for the Census Bureau in 1999, this is back-and-forth with them, making sure that the Census Bureau has the best list that they can come up with as far as addresses to contact people. MR. MILLER said the census will take place in April 2000, as mentioned earlier, and the census will actually start in Rural Alaska in February. The results of the census will then be submitted to the president in December 2000, and will then be submitted to the states between January and April 2001. The redistricting process would occur after (indisc.) when the census has arrived here. Number 0307 VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN asked Mr. Miller to provide a summary of highlights to the legislature. MR. MILLER agreed to do that. REPRESENTATIVE ELTON asked, if there is a legislative task force, is any of the process confidential. MR. MILLER replied it's not confidential. Number 0314 REPRESENTATIVE JOE RYAN said legislators were recently given a long and personally invasive form from the census Bureau wanting to know all kinds of information that some people may consider is none of their affair. He asked if the state tracks that same information and establishes a database with it. MR. MILLER responded they will not duplicate the Census Bureau's efforts, that data will be collected by the Census Bureau only. REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ asked if they had access to that information. MR. MILLER replied summary data. REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ remarked summary data, meaning not broken down by individuals. MR. MILLER stressed that information is very confidential, they cannot look at details - responded information, that is confidential. Number 0319 MR. MANLY added that the Census Bureau keeps that information confidential for 70 years, and that in the year 2000 you'll be able to find out information, names and addresses of people in the 1930 census. So you don't need to worry about that information that's on that long form. VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN asked if there were any other questions. Number 0326 REPRESENTATIVE HODGINS made a motion to move HCR 35 as amended with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note. Number 0327 REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ objected for discussion purposes and will then withdraw his objection. He said, "We go around creating task forces all the time and then we promptly proceed to ignore them. So, in the interest of creating smaller government, I'm not sure how this fits in. In fact, I think it tends to work in the opposite direction. But if it makes people feel good, I guess it's a positive all by itself, saying that, I will withdraw my objection." Number 0331 VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN noted some small communities are not yet hooked up to computers or abilities like that. He said they appreciate this type of task force and they hope to see them on the ground in his area, wherever possible to provide them with the information. REPRESENTATIVE ELTON jokingly said Representative Berkowitz has blown any chance he's ever had of getting on the task force. REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ replied it was deliberate. Number 0335 VICE CHAIRMAN IVAN asked if there were any other objections. There being none, CSHCR 35(STA) moved from the House State Affairs Standing Committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|