Legislature(2007 - 2008)CAPITOL 106
03/18/2008 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SCR15 | |
| HB44 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 266 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 44 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SCR 15 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 353 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SCR 15-AMEND UNIFORM RULES: STANDING COMMITTEES 8:02:10 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that the first order of business was CS FOR SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 15(SED), Proposing amendments to the Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature relating to standing committees. 8:02:13 AM TIM LAMPKIN, Staff, Senator Gary Stevens, Alaska State Legislature, presented SCR 15 on behalf of Senator Stevens, sponsor by request of the Joint Legislative Education Funding Task Force. The proposed resolution, he explained, would set up a standing committee to address issues related to education in the state. He noted that Alaska is one of only three states in the Union that does not presently have a [standing] committee for education, and he said there is a spread sheet in the committee packet that supports that statement. 8:03:08 AM MR. LAMPKIN, in response to a question from Representative Roses, explained that there are a number of Senators who are convinced that the proposed standing education committees for both houses will be cumbersome and will not work, and thus are responsible for adding a sunset clause so that [on "the first day of the First Regular Session of the Twenty-Eighth Alaska State Legislature"] the new standing education committees would be "reabsorbed" by the House Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee and the Senate Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee. In response to a question from Chair Lynn, he proffered that the decision of committee members as to whether that sunset should be in the bill would most likely be determined based on whether or not they think the idea of creating separate education standing committees is a good one. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL stated that he agrees with the proposed sunset, because there are so many areas where education, social service, and health policies intertwine, and it is important to "keep some of those things in context." Furthermore, he said most of health and social service policies, as broad as they are, really center on about four or five different topics, while education policy "is generally settled in the funding process." 8:06:07 AM REPRESENTATIVE DOLL stated that she does not think the sunset is needed. She said she thinks it is important to separate issues of education from those of health and social services. 8:06:36 AM REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON said he agrees with Representative Coghill that education policy is "centered around funding," and he expressed his hope that the committee would "start centering education around results." He stated, "So, I see this as being an opportunity for us to take that next step that we need to take to bring in the home schooling and to do the other things, and to pay the type of attention we need to, to hold the schools accountable for the money that we've been spending all these years." MR. LAMPKIN offered his understanding that the purpose of the Joint Legislative Education Funding Task Force in creating a standing education committee was to separate the fiscal conversations from discussions of policy. 8:08:00 AM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES, as a member of the Joint Legislative Education Funding Task Force, confirmed that typically, about the only thing discussed regarding education is funding. He added, "And by having worked to try to put a multiple-year funding mechanism in place, to where those conversations didn't have to be constantly revisited every year, we felt like creating a standing education committee would allow us to have some more substantive conversations about addressing the concerns that people have ...." He mentioned getting students to the point where they can compete on a global scale and concerns regarding the university's graduation system. He said this is his second year serving on the House Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee, and the bills heard in that committee run 10:1, social and medical issues to education issues. He said he does not think a sunset clause is necessary, because the legislature can revisit the issue in five years and decide on its own whether or not to continue running standing education committees in both houses. 8:10:23 AM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES moved to adopt Amendment 1, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Page 2, Line 25 through Page 3, Line 30 Delete all material Page 3, Line 31, following ""by" Delete: "sec. 1 of" Page 4, Lines 1-2 Delete all material REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL objected for discussion purposes. REPRESENTATIVE ROSES clarified that Amendment 1 would remove the sunset clause. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL removed his objection to Amendment 1, explaining that his previously expressed opinion about the sunset clause is not strongly held. There being no further objections, Amendment 1 was adopted. 8:12:05 AM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES moved to report CSSCR 15(SED), as amended, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HCS CSSCR 15(STA) was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.
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