Legislature(2001 - 2002)
02/07/2002 08:08 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
HB 314-PFD ELIGIBILITY FOR PEACE CORP VOLUNTEERS Number 2400 CHAIR COGHILL brought before the committee HOUSE BILL NO. 314, "An Act relating to service in the peace corps as an allowable absence from the state for purposes of eligibility for permanent fund dividends; and providing for an effective date." CHAIR COGHILL clarified that the sponsor of the bill [Representative McGuire] could not be present; therefore, he asked that testimony be heard. Number 2380 DAVID MOORE, Director, United Campus Ministry (UCM), University of Alaska Fairbanks, testified via teleconference on behalf of the 26 Peace Corps volunteers from Alaska. He told the committee he was testifying specifically for Denny and Lisa Wells, two people involved in UCM between 1994-1998 and currently serving the Peace Corps in Thailand. MR. MOORE said he'd recently read an article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner about Peace Corps volunteers acting as diplomats. He commented that he'd found it interesting that in the article U.S. Senators, as well as both Republican and Democrat Representatives, talked about the benefit of Peace Corps volunteering - "how it had helped them, as well as ... the individuals they had worked with in their country, as well as the good things they had brought back to our country." MR. MOORE noted that the article also said more than 7,000 volunteers are deployed today. He commented that the word "deploy" is usually used as a military term. He indicated President [George W.] Bush wants to double that number and nearly double the Peace Corps budget over the next five years, from $275 million to $475 million. Mr. Moore stated his belief that it is important in [today's] world that Alaska support its residents who want to show the world "that we are good-natured." MR. MOORE stated that "the Peace Corps is entirely made up of voluntary government service, just like the military." He opined that Mr. and Ms. Wells are both "sharp" individuals who chose to serve the nation to make the world a better place, rather than [make money] in a corporate world. [The next couple of sentences were indiscernible.] CHAIR COGHILL asked the witness to move closer to the microphone. MR. MOORE said Mr. and Ms. Wells have chosen to serve the state by corresponding with the second-grade class at Hunter Elementary School in Fairbanks. He stated his certainty that when they returned, they would share the gifts they received from the Thai people: the gift of culture, the gift of understanding, and the gift of information. He said he had personally benefited from the stories, knowledge, and insight of Peace Corps volunteers; he shared his belief that many have benefited from the Peace Corps program, both abroad and in Alaska. He concluded, "I believe that we should show our resident Peace Corps volunteers our support by sharing 8 cents apiece, so that they might have their rightful dividend." CHAIR COGHILL asked Mr. Moore to send his testimony in writing to the committee. Number 2245 FRANCIS McLAUGHLIN, Peace Corps Volunteer, testifying via teleconference, read from his testimony [included in the committee packet], as follows: I would like thank House members for listening to public comment about HB 314, which will hopefully reinclude Peace Corps volunteers for receiving the [permanent fund] dividend. I was born in Fairbanks Memorial Hospital in 1977 and have been a Fairbanks resident all my life. After graduating from college, I applied and was accepted to the U.S. Peace Corps. I did not find out where the Peace Corps would send me until three months before I left for my post. The Peace Corps placed me in a town in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. I was the only non-Guatemalan and English-speaking person living in Santiago Sacatepaquez. I was the only person that the people of that town will probably ever meet from Alaska. I lived in a one-room house with a tin roof. I shared my bathroom - a latrine - with sixteen other people. My town only had access to water for about three hours a day. While living in Santiago, I successfully organized the community to build a tree nursery, which has since produced over 8,000 new avocado trees for the town. All of the trees ... are planted in fields surrounding the town, and some are already producing fruit. I lived as the people did and worked with them side by side. It was a very rewarding experience for me, and I hope that the work I did will help the people of Santiago. I know that I will never forget them and that they will never forget ... me. During my first year in Santiago, I joined the town soccer team. My neighbor and fellow teammate thought that it would be funny if he told the people in town that I played professional soccer in the U.S., even though it wasn't true. Well, the entire town showed up at our first soccer game to see if I was really as good ... as they had said. My reputation was confirmed when I scored a left-footed shot, placed perfectly in the lower-right corner of the goal, within the first five minutes of the first game. Unfortunately, that was the only goal I scored the entire season. I am sad to say that when I left Fairbanks to become a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala, I was penalized. While serving two years and four months in Guatemala, I was ineligible to receive the [permanent fund] dividend for two years in a row. I worked very hard while working with the Peace Corps to be a good representative of my family, my community, my state, and my country, and to serve rural Mayan people in Santiago. I should not have lost my dividend for being a Peace Corps volunteer. Everyone can come up with a good reason why they need the dividend, and I am no different. I have four ... years of Alaska student loans to pay off, and the interest on these loans has continued to accrue while I was a volunteer. I was allowed to defer the principle of my Alaska student loan, but not the interest. So, my debt has grown while I was working and earning next to nothing as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala. Why are the Peace Corps volunteers and Olympic athletes from Alaska penalized for representing their state while working abroad? I know that Alaskans, my neighbors here in Fairbanks and elsewhere throughout the state, value public service and do not believe that Peace Corps volunteers and Olympic athletes should be penalized for the job that ... we do. I believe that Peace Corps volunteers and Olympic athletes should receive the dividend, and those who have already been stripped of the dividend, like me, should be given it back, retroactively. The amount of money that this would be is very small, because there are very few Peace Corps volunteers and Olympic athletes from Alaska. Believe me, they are deserving of the dividend and need it, also. MR. McLAUGHLIN said he supported HB 314, but would like to see Olympic athletes and - as soon as the President defines them - Freedom Corps volunteers [included] as well. He added that he would like Peace Corps volunteers and Olympic athletes who were ineligible over the past three years to receive [retroactive payment of those missed permanent fund dividends]. Number 1994 CHAIR COGHILL requested that the witness fax his written testimony. He said Mr. McLaughlin brings an interesting point to the committee regarding the need to [include] more people; he said Mr. McLaughlin had made a compelling argument "for one other group." He noted that the bill would be discussed when Representative McGuire, sponsor, was available. [HB 314 was held over.]
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