Legislature(1995 - 1996)
02/21/1996 01:42 PM House TRA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 517-MOTOR VEHICLES: REGULATION & INSURANCE Number 268 CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS announced that HB 517 was next on the agenda. He said he did not intend to move HB 517 today and drew the committee's attention to amendments that have been submitted for committee review. Number 312 SANDY PARR-PROVOST, Special Assistant, Office of the Commissioner, Department of Public Safety, said that Jay Dulany would provide information on HB 517. Number 329 JAY N. DULANY, Director, Central Office, Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Public Safety, testified via teleconference from Anchorage. He said he would provide a brief overview on what HB 517 would do. He said the most important aspect of HB 517 is the commercial motor vehicle provisions. (Indiscernible due to coughing).."approximately $22 million in highway construction funds and to a lesser amount for commercial vehicle enforcement." He said the state needs to disqualify commercial drivers for violations of service orders and to bring other provisions of the states commercial vehicle laws into compliance with federal requirements. He said Sergeant Bob Brown would address the enforcement issues and mentioned that there were a number of sections that deal with these provisions. Number 380 MR. DELANY said the other sections further the efficiency measures within the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). HB 517 allows the DMV to officially use electronic records in essentially the same manner as paper records. HB 517 authorizes telephone hearings in lieu of in-person hearings for administrative hearings to save transportation costs. HB 517 increases the motor vehicle dealer temporary permit from 30 to 60 days giving adequate time to the dealers and their customers for title processing especially in circumstances when it is an out-of-state title or lien. Number 408 MR. DELANY said HB 517 also removes some restrictions for renewing a driver's license by mail and increases the property damage threshold to $1500 for financial responsibility and for mandatory insurance reporting purposes. He said, finally, that HB 517 repeals the legislative section of statute that set up the original staggered registration system back in 1978. Number 438 CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS remarked that federal funds are in jeopardy unless the state of Alaska comes into compliance with regulations. Number 450 MR. DELANY said if those commercial motor vehicle provisions are not in place by October of 1996, then the state does tend to lose substantial highway construction funds and potentially the Motor Carrier Safety Action fund as well, which is up to $20 million. Number 469 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES referred to a letter in the committee packet from a Donald B. Harris, and asked if a provision mentioned was going to be addressed. CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS said yes, it was, and added that one of the committee members had expressed a concern for the change from 300 miles to 150 miles. REPRESENTATIVE JAMES expressed concern over this provision as well and suggested that a waiver be requested. She said that 300 miles is appropriate distance within Alaska. Number 505 CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS began to clarify the provision being discussed to Mr. Delany when he received a note saying that Trooper Brown would address this provision. Number 566 MR. DELANY said in the original commercial drivers license legislation located in the Alaskan statutes, set the mileage factor at 150 miles. He said he didn't feel that this is an issue in regards to safety inspections as this is the only issue covered by the 300 mile exemption. Representative Masek joined the committee meeting at 2:43 p.m. REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said her concern was in the drivers license, but added that it is another issue which she would address separately. Number 593 CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS referred to the sectional analysis and was told that Sections 1,2,3,5,9-15,6,8,22,23 are all housekeeping measures. Number 639 BRAD BROWN, Central Office, Division of Alaska State Troopers, Department of Public Safety, testified via teleconference from Anchorage. He referred to a question regarding the variance of 150 miles versus 300 miles. He said the state attempted to obtain a variance, but was turned down. He added the state applies for federal money under the guidance of the federal code of regulations, Title 49, Part 350. Part 350 stipulates that the state of Alaska needs to be in compliance with the federal motor carrier standards. He said the state is out of compliance primarily with the verbiage of 300 miles versus 150 miles. He said, to this date, the enforcement unit has not encountered a problem per se of 150 miles versus 300 miles. He said the language must be changed in order for the state to continue receiving federal funding. Number 695 MR. BROWN referred to a letter from the Alaska Division Program Specialist of the Office of Motor Carriers, this letter indicated that the state is subject to losing at least 50 percent of the states grant for the commercial vehicle enforcement unit as a result of non-compliance with Part 350. He said this loss is subject to immediate implementation because the state has been out of compliance ever since the law was initially past, years ago. Number 719 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said she had no contention with the safety inspections and in fact encouraged them. She expressed her concern over the commercial licenses and because she was told that this was already in affect, she had no concern with this issue. Number 753 JOE CRUM, Director of Training, Center for Employment Education (CEE), testified via teleconference from Anchorage. He said his company is the only authorized and licensed commercial driving school in the state of Alaska. He said a week ago, Mark Johnson, the president of CEE, testified before the House State Affairs Committee. At that time Mr. Crum was told CEE should seek a different bill in which to address their concerns and offer recommendations and Mr. Crum stated that this was his purpose today. MR. CRUM asked for HB 517 to be amended, or a section be added, placing stricter penalties on would-be personal truck driver trainers who fail to meet the standards set forth by the state to operate this type of training. Number 800 MR. CRUM said CEE has invested nearly $500,000 to develop a program that meets the minimal proposed national standards. He said CEE is licensed and bonded with instructors who have received formal training, extensive background checks, have been finger printed and tested and eventually licensed by DMV. The facility and equipment has been inspected by both DMV and post secondary education. CEE has expended effort to follow the standards set forth by state and federal laws to comply with established guidelines to open CEE. The CEE has discovered a number of organizations which have not complied with those standards and are being allowed to operate within the state of Alaska. Number 845 MR. CRUM said complaints regarding those organizations were submitted to DMV and post secondary education. The DMV issued cease and desist orders to all known violators, but these violators are still in business today. He said an on going investigation is being conducted by the Alaska State Troopers, but he was unaware of the investigations status. He said the organizations do not have instructional licenses for the company or the instructors and added that some instructors do not have commercial drivers licenses. He said the students are not made to follow any guidelines for safety and these organizations do not even have minimum instructional course permits which allows the students to receive driver training on the streets. MR. CRUM read a letter reply from a current violator, this letter was directed to the Driver Improvement Officer, and says, "just what I need a nosey neighbor and another bureaucrat sticking his nose into my business. The straight facts are that I rented trucks for people to take drivers test in, that is a necessity. I show each one enough about the truck to be safe and familiar in." Mr. Crum said the organizations spend days and weeks showing students how to be familiar with the vehicles. He continued reading from the letter, "while warning them that most fail on the walk around." He said CEE has a 100 percent passing on this part, with no one failing on the walk around. The letter goes on to say, "we also drive the truck to the test point as they are not legally able to. If you interpret this as training, you are mistaken. Please don't clutter up my time or my mail with any more unsolicited packets to explain state law to me. Truly you can find better use of your time, as for me I will continue on trying to eke out a living and help my fellow man as the occasion arises." He said of all the replies received from the state cease and desist letters, this is one of the more tame examples. Number 956 MR. CRUM said one Anchorage company trained and provided equipment for commercial driver license tests to an astonishing 700 people within the last two years. A Fairbanks operator is guilty of over 400 similar violations and yet still refuses to comply with the set standards. Others, when they are told of the requirements needed to operate legally, decline to do so. He referred to (indiscernible due to coughing) federal highway administration's study of truck driver training advocacy. This study has been going on for about two years by federal, state and private companies to assist with decreasing truck driver accident rates. Number 999 MR. CRUM, referring to the study, said only 8.1 percent of motor carriers hiring entry level drivers provide adequate training for those drivers. Of the students trained by proprietary and public schools, like CEE, only 25.5 percent are adequately trained on a national survey. Mr. Crum added that 97.8 percent of students taught at CEE passed the DMV commercial drivers license test the first time. Students trained by the illegal competitors usually needed to take the test three or four times on average. He concluded that stricter penalties need to be imposed for those who fail to obey the law. He said there is not a substantial penalty or otherwise these organizations would stop operating outside the law. He suggested a minimum $5,000 fine per violation, in lieu of the $100 fine currently in place, to raise the standards for heavy haulers and penalize those who operate outside the law. Number 1066 MR. CRUM said he supported HB 517 with the addition of this proposed amendment. CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS said HB 517 would be held in committee and asked him to send information centered around this request. Number 1104 MR. DELANY said the situation described by Mr. Crum is absolutely true. He said an attempt was made, when it was discovered that there were schools operating outside of the statutes, to make them stop. He said this situation was turned over to the State Troopers to obtain evidence. He said, that even if those schools are found to be in violation and were convicted of the offense, it is a misdemeanor and doesn't affect them economically and they would probably continue to operate. REPRESENTATIVE JAMES asked what standards are listed for instruction to obtain a commercial drivers license in the Alaska statutes. Number 1181 MR. DELANY said there were some commercial driver school statutes and also some regulations that were promulgated as a result of those statutes. He said he does not have any objection to the proposed provision incorporated into HB 517. Number 1219 MR. DILLON said he is also a member of the board for CEE since its conception. He said it has been difficult to set up their business when there is competition from people who do not comply with the rules and regulations. He said if you are not going to comply with the rules, there should be some sanctions that make sense. He concluded that he would encourage support of this legislation. Number 1265 MR. DILLON said HB 517 includes things that his organization has been advocating for over a number of years to bring the state into compliance with the federal regulations and gives the state one set of regulations to operate from. He said the greatest difficulties occur, in the operational sense and in terms of safety regulations, when there are conflicting regulations and statutes. The federal government has reminded the state of Alaska continually that we are out of compliance and facing sanctions. He said Alaska could be the state that the federal government makes an example to the rest of the country. He encouraged the passage of HB 517. Number 1323 STEVE ALLWINE, Alaska Auto Dealers Association, was next to testify. He said he was in support of HB 517, especially page two, Section 3, line 20 through 22, dealing with temporary permit of vehicles. He said this section has created problems with automobile dealers, customers and DMV. He said it has the perception of the association that the DMV has been severely understaffed and underfunded for the last number of years, and although this segment of HB 517 does not provide for additional staffing, it is believed that this segment will assist the DMV staff, automobile dealers, and general public to do the work in a timely manner. He encouraged the committee to retain Section 3. CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS clarified that Section 3 relates to any vehicle that is sold.
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