03/24/1998 09:15 AM Senate FIN

                                                                               
SENATE BILL NO. 334                                                            
"An Act relating to guidelines and standards for state                         
training programs; and relating to the Alaska Human                            
Resource Investment Council."                                                  
                                                                               
                                                                               
Senator Torgerson suggested the committee adopt the CS,                        
which could then be distributed to the Legislative                             
Information Offices and other interested parties.  Co-Chair                    
Sharp agreed, observing this would give the bill its first                     
hearing, and therefore start the process.                                      
                                                                               
Senator Pearce moved the committee adopt the workdraft CS,                     
Version "H" for SB 334.  Senator Adams objected.  He said he                   
supported the legislation, but wanted the senator from                         
Kasilof to have a chance to explain the CS.                                    
                                                                               
Senator Torgerson spoke to the workdraft, saying:                              
                                                                               
"Section One of the original bill had the members of the                       
AHRIC committee reduce from 26 down to nine.  What this                        
amendment does is reduce it to 21.  Basically, Mr. Chairman                    
we took the commissioners of Commerce and Economic                             
Development, Community and Regional Affairs, Education and                     
Labor and made them non-voting members of the council."                        
                                                                               
"Section Two just designates that the council members may                      
appoint as designee, anybody on the council.  Currently, the                   
only designees that can be appointed are the ones from the                     
state.  This says that anybody that's on the council may                       
appoint a designee that can attend the meetings."                              
                                                                               
"Section Three outlines the appointment of the Governor                        
saying that one person can hold more than one seat, trying                     
to keep that number down as small as we can. The one person                    
who is selected to hold two seats still only gets one vote                     
and his designee still only gets one vote."                                    
                                                                               
"Section Four - staggered terms, this is a conforming                          
amendment."                                                                    
                                                                               
"Section Five - basically what section five does, Mr.                          
Chairman, is allow the private members to receive per diem                     
while they're meeting as the AHRIC committee.  Currently,                      
they are not entitled to per diem and it has been a barrier                    
we've had."                                                                    
                                                                               
"Section Six, Mr. Chairman says the chairman and the vice-                     
chairman of the committee must be appointed, elected by the                    
committee and they must somebody from business and industry                    
that holds that seat.  Currently, it says private sector,                      
but we wanted to be more direct and put business and                           
industry."                                                                     
                                                                               
"It talks about quorums in Section Seven.  Section seven                       
also creates the executive committee and establishes four                      
permanent committees and it also establishes that the chairs                   
of those permanent committees that make up the executive                       
committee are from the private sector.  So that gives us an                    
entire executive committee that is business and industry or                    
private sector.  It outlines the committee."                                   
                                                                               
"Section Eight goes through some of the performance measures                   
of each one of the committees and their work."                                 
                                                                               
"Section Nine outlines some more performance standards for                     
the council.  It gives the council the authority to adopt                      
regulations, to identify what administrative costs are, and                    
then caps administrative fees at 15 percent or whatever is                     
mandated by the federal government.  It requires them to                       
submit an annual report to the Legislature by a certain                        
time."                                                                         
                                                                               
"Section Ten again outlines more performance standards.                        
We'd have to get into more detail on that."                                    
                                                                               
"Section Eleven just outlines the programs that come under                     
AHRIC.  We split them between the ones that are currently                      
under AHRIC and the ones we are adding to the AHRIC                            
committee, which are all the training programs in the state.                   
Section Eleven is a transition period."                                        
                                                                               
"Section Twelve is immediate effective date."                                  
                                                                               
This concluded Senator Torgerson's presentation on the CS.                     
                                                                               
Senator Adams removed his objection on adoption of the CS.                     
                                                                               
There being no objection, the workdraft CS was adopted.  Co-                   
Chair Sharp asked Mike Andrews to look at the CS and be                        
prepared to offer his comments when the committee brought                      
the bill back to the table.                                                    
                                                                               
This concluded the Committee's bill actions.  Senator Pearce                   
had some announcements.  She said the committee would again                    
meet at 5:30 that evening.  The committee would first take                     
up HB 53 Lease Purchasing, hearing public testimony via                        
teleconference and in-person.  She advised committee members                   
come to the table with any questions for representatives,                      
who would be on-line to answer them.  She added that the                       
entire meeting would be broadcast live via Armed Services                      
Radio to the Delta Junction Area.                                              
                                                                               
She continued saying that the committee would take up the                      
supplemental budget bill with the intention of moving it                       
from committee and getting it to the floor the next morning.                   
She hoped to get some of the supplemental monies out to the                    
departments quickly.                                                           
                                                                               
She asked for the concurrence of Senator Sharp in bringing                     
SB 334 back before the committee on Friday morning.  She                       
noted the meeting had been scheduled to begin at 9:00 am but                   
said she would be willing to start at 8:00 to add this bill                    
to the agenda.  Co-Chair Sharp agreed.  He added there could                   
be other bills left from today's meeting that would also be                    
ready for another hearing at the Friday meeting.