Legislature(2007 - 2008)BUTROVICH 205
03/10/2008 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB214 | |
| HB267 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 214 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 267 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
SB 214-HUNTING BY MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY
3:47:43 PM
CHAIR CHARLIE HUGGINS announced SB 214 to be up for
consideration.
SENATOR GARY STEVENS moved to bring CSSB 214(RES), labeled 25-
LS1261\C, before the committee. There were no objections and it
was so ordered.
3:48:03 PM
JODY SIMPSON, staff to Senator Huggins, sponsor of SB 214, said
this legislation waives the 12-month waiting period for active
military members and their dependents to purchase big game tags
and hunting and fishing licenses at a resident rate. The CS was
recommended by the Department of Law (DOL) to better accomplish
the sponsor's intent and Mr. Saxby would discuss the differences
in it.
3:49:35 PM
KRISTIN WRIGHT, Supervisor, Finance Licensing, Alaska Department
of Fish and Game (ADF&G), said she didn't have anything to add,
but would answer questions.
3:49:56 PM
SENATOR LESIL MCGUIRE asked if she considered the committee
discussion regarding removing the controversial big game stuff
from the original bill and keeping the license as a specialized
non-resident military hunting tag (or privilege) as opposed to
redefining the definition of "resident."
MS. SIMPSON answered that is what the CS does in effect. It
deleted the language that pertained to the three dangerous
species and the guiding component. It attacks the problem
through the licensing provisions rather than through the
residency provisions. She advised that it still deletes the
guiding component and the committee might want to consider
retaining that. She has asked the Department of Law to provide
language.
CHAIR HUGGINS clarified if you're a private and move to Alaska,
you can get a license to hunt the three big game species.
Presently, language is being drafted that would exempt those
three species and a private could not hunt those three species
without a guide. A new military person who moved to Alaska could
not hunt goat, brown bear or sheep without a guide without a
license.
He said this issue was brought forward by the Professional Guide
Association. He explained that it's not about the guiding
business, because only about three people did that in the last
year. It's more about the strength of the residency provision in
requiring guides.
3:52:10 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE commented that she thought they were going to
simply take out the controversial three big game folks, but
Version C on line 6, still redefines "resident" as a method of
providing these privileges as opposed to the chair's bill, which
gives a special license for non-resident military folks, which
she supports. She asked Mr. Saxby to comment on that.
3:53:15 PM
KEVIN SAXBY, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Department of
Law (DOL), said he is assigned to the Board of Game and big game
issues in general. He explained that the first version of the
bill creates a specialized class of non-residents who would be
active duty military personnel permanently assigned to Alaska.
It does that by setting up a series of exceptions to the general
rules for non-residents. But the CS simply defines people who
are permanently assigned here as residents, and whenever rules
apply to residents in general, they would apply to these people
as well. So it meets all the goals of the original bill, which
also exempted this new class of non-resident from the guide
requirements along with a series of other exemptions. It meets
all those goals with a single sentence, and it's a much more
legally defensible position to take.
SENATOR MCGUIRE said she respectfully disagreed. She has heard
both legal arguments and she didn't see any problem with giving
a specialized privilege; the state does it for disabled
veterans, for instance. It's a privilege and not a right anyway;
so that's a lesser standard. However, she had deep concerns that
redefining "resident" would be setting a precedent, even though
it's just in the area of hunting right now. That is a dangerous
road to go down.
3:56:10 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS said it's his experience that generally speaking
soldiers are considered residents for purposes of hunting and
fishing.
SENATOR MCGUIRE responded that the net affect will be the same;
military members get these privileges and they know that the
state appreciates their service. But even the department brought
up the point of how that would be explained to vendors because
they don't have access to all the information about the
definition of a resident. Redefining "resident" gets into an
area where other classes of people ask why they don't get that
privilege, too.
3:58:48 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS directed the discussion to the licensing part of
the bill. It's fair to say that there are two or three places,
if they factor out the Coast Guard, where people would be issued
licenses: Elmendorf Air Force Base, Fort Richardson, Fort
Greely, Fort Wainwright and Eilson. He asked Ms. Wright how the
licensing would be done in those places.
MS. WRIGHT responded that she hadn't been able to work on this
issue with Mr. Saxby yet, so she wasn't sure how he would feel
about her proposal. She said for the most part, military people
buy their licenses on base, but they are also able to buy them
elsewhere, so that language has to be clear.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked Mr. Saxby if he saw other elements of
concern that the committee should be sensitive to.
MR. SAXBY replied that the original bill raised an issue that
both he and the Professional Hunters' Association pointed out,
that because of the exceptions for the guided requirements, it
weakened the state's ability to defend that requirement. The CS
largely eliminates that concern. Deleting section 2 of the
original bill would largely eliminate that concern, as well.
SENATOR GARY STEVENS said he had compared the two bill versions
and the original one (A) included dependents as those who can
receive non-resident licenses and version C didn't include them.
"How did we arrive at that decision," he asked.
MS. SIMPSON answered they get the same privileges as residents
do, so dependents wouldn't have to be parsed out separately.
MR. SAXBY said he wasn't aware of the difference and didn't know
how to answer that.
4:03:25 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS said that was an oversight and needed to be
addressed.
MR. SAXBY said the department has always included dependents in
the same category as the military personnel in similar
legislation.
CHAIR HUGGINS said version C doesn't have the dependent
provision; it just talks about a member of the military service.
He said that a provision for dependents should be considered.
4:05:38 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE said she would "take a stab" at her own CS that
would eliminate section 2, add fishing and hunting rights in
section 1 and add dependents. She preferred using more narrowly
tailored language.
CHAIR HUGGINS said he appreciated that. He asked if there were
other concerns.
4:06:21 PM
SENATOR WAGONER noted this version pertained to hunting and
fishing licenses, and he asked if that included all aspects of
fishing, like subsistence and personal use fishing.
CHAIR HUGGINS answered whatever a resident could do.
SENATOR WAGONER said that would be hard for him to support,
because for instance, the dip net and personal use fisheries on
the Copper, Kenai and Kasilof Rivers already have battles on the
beaches. "It's a mess right now; it's hard to regulate it. And
all this would do would be to add more people in there earlier
to compound that problem and I wouldn't be in favor of that."
CHAIR HUGGINS said that some people have problems with the fish
getting up to their fishing grounds.
SENATOR WAGONER said this is not about getting fish up to his
fishing grounds.
4:07:56 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS said set aside SB 214.
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