Legislature(2001 - 2002)
04/02/2002 08:04 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 438-DISABLED VETERANS LICENSE PLATES CHAIR COGHILL announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 438, "An Act relating to motor vehicle registration plates for disabled veterans; and providing for an effective date." Number 0463 CHAIR COGHILL moved to adopt CSHB 438, version 22-LS1503\J, Ford, 4/2/02, as the working document. There being no objection, Version J was before the committee. Number 0420 JIM POUND, Staff to Representative Lesil McGuire, Alaska State Legislature, presented HB 438, on behalf of Representative McGuire, sponsor. He informed members that the bill is trying to honor the veterans. Alaska certainly has one of the highest per capita veterans population of any state, he told the committee. Most noticeably, the veterans have been honored with special license plates. It started out with the various license plates for the four services, and there is one for Purple Heart recipients and a limited quantity of Medal of Honor winners. All of these plates are well deserved, and the opportunity should be taken to honor these veterans. However, not very much has really been done for the nearly 900 disabled veterans currently in Alaska. They have been given the standard gold and blue license plate with the flag and the handicapped logo in the middle of it and the letters "DAV." There is no great opportunity for disabled veterans to have a license on their vehicles that designates to people that they served their country. While they didn't give the supreme sacrifice, they gave a part of themselves to the country, he pointed out. MR. POUND reported that the biggest concern of the Department [of Administration] was that it would end up with four different license plates because there would be the two blue and gold plates and then the two red, white, and blue plates. The department would like to go to just the red, white, and blue license plates because of the logistical nightmare of having to deal with four plates. MR. POUND pointed out a correction in Version J. It should read: Page 1, line 13, following (C): "if the applicant is a veteran,". Number 0040 CHAIR COGHILL moved the foregoing as Amendment 1. There being no objection, Amendment 1 was adopted. CHUCK HOSACK, Deputy Director, Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Administration, testified via teleconference. He informed the committee that the department supports HB 438 as amended. Mr. Pound and the sponsor have addressed all of the concerns, he said. TAPE 02-35, SIDE A Number 0001 MR. HOSACK said, "This will limit it down to two [license plates], so we actually get a little bit of benefit out of it, too, in that we can stop stocking the other plates and just replace them with this. So it'll be pretty much a wash, and we'll be able to drop our fiscal note to zero." Number 0087 WILLIAM CRAIG testified via teleconference and said it seemed like a good bill for honoring the handicapped veterans. Number 0120 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES moved to report CSHB 438 [version 22- LS1503\J, Ford, 4/2/02], as amended, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal note. There being no objection, CSHB 438(STA) was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.
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