Legislature(1997 - 1998)
03/18/1997 03:37 PM Senate STA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
Number 045
HCR 8 DEFERRED MAINTENANCE TASK FORCE
CHAIRMAN GREEN brought HCR 8 before the committee as the next order
of business.
MIKE HEATWOLE , staff to Representative Gail Phillips, sponsor of
HCR 8, which would create a deferred maintenance task force, read
the following sponsor's statement into the record.
"Deferred maintenance is the result of years of unmet maintenance
on Alaska's public facilities.
Meeting our maintenance needs is not about building a skywalk from
the court to the capitol. It is a about a capitol building that
leaks. It is about docks that are rotting and falling into
harbors, and it is about an infrastructure that needs repair. Some
cost estimates place Alaska's unmet maintenance needs at well over
$1 billion, and some are even closer to $2 billion.
HCR 8 will establish a legislative task force to make
recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature on how to
address Alaska's unmet maintenance needs. The task force will be
made up of five members from the House and five members from the
Senate. The Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate
will also serve as non-voting members of the task force.
The task force will be specifically charged with:
- reviewing and evaluating existing reports and publications
about deferred maintenance recommendations previously made
- identifying and evaluating all current and deferred
maintenance needs
- soliciting public comment about this topic
- submitting a report of its findings and recommendations to
the Governor and Legislature by the convening of the
regular session
- forwarding recommendations about funding all deferred
maintenance needs
The task force will begin work as soon as members are appointed."
Mr. Heatwole informed the committee that Representative Phillips
has personally spoken with the Governor about this task force, and
he agrees with the concept. He has personally pledged his support
from his office and from his commissioners on the task force.
Further, the formation of the task force has received support from
the truckers, contractors, laborers and many concerned Alaskans.
Number 095
JACK KREINHEDER , Senior Policy Analyst, Office of Management &
Budget, voiced the Administration's support of HCR 8 because they
believe the task force is something that is needed; deferred
maintenance is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
Mr. Kreinheder said the Administration would endorse expanding the
scope of duties of the task force to address not only deferred
maintenance but new facilities and other capital funding. It is
their concern that while deferred maintenance is important, that if
this task force only looks at that aspect of the problem, it would
be overlooking some of the other needs of the state. He added that
his impression is that Representative Phillips is amenable to that
idea.
Mr. Kreinheder related that in addition to broadening the scope of
the task force to cover those issues, the Administration believes
the task force should also address the issue of ongoing maintenance
of state facilities. He said it doesn't help to come up with a
funding solution or solutions to the backlog of deferred
maintenance if we continue to add to our deferred maintenance each
year by short-funding the necessary ongoing maintenance of state
facilities. He added that it is something the Administration has
also attempted to deal with, but found very difficult given the
present budget constraints.
Number 145
SENATOR WARD asked if the language in the resolution didn't already
enable the task force to do what Mr. Kreinheder was suggesting
without making any changes. MR. KREINHEDER acknowledged that it is
not prohibited by the resolution, but he said he doesn't see
anything in it that addresses anything other than deferred
maintenance. He added that if the intent of the Legislature is
clear and there's agreement among all parties that the scope of
work is appropriate for the task force, then it is probably okay,
but he thinks the Administration's preference would be to address
it specifically.
Number 170
SENATOR DUNCAN asked how the Administration comes up with these
projects for which they request deferred maintenance dollars. MR.
KREINHEDER explained there has been a prioritization process
established for deferred maintenance that identifies the highest
priorities needs. In general, the needs that affect health, life
and safety are the ones that tend to rise to the top.
SENATOR DUNCAN commented it is clear that identifying deferred
maintenance is important, but it is not something that we haven't
been doing in this state. However, he said the real issue is not
identifying the needs because the agencies have already identified
them, but identifying how they are going to be funded, and that's
what the major emphasis of the task force should be instead of
spending their time reinventing the wheel. MR. KREINHEDER agreed
with his comments and said he would envision this task force
spending a great deal of its time on how to finance these deferred
maintenance and other capital needs. He also pointed out that in
his six-year capital plan, the Governor has proposed using general
fund bond issues to address the state's capital needs, and that's
something they think would be appropriately addressed by this task
force as well.
Number 225
SENATOR DUNCAN asked Mr. Heatwole if he was satisfied that the
language in the resolution really directs the task force towards
the major task of identifying funding sources and ways to fund the
deferred maintenance needs in this state. MR. HEATWOLE replied
that it is their understanding that the reports relating to
deferred maintenance needs do exist and they should be relatively
quick to compile, and that the real work of the task force is to
identify ways to address funding concerns. The speaker is
satisfied with the language in the resolution, and they have
already begun to compile a file to forward to the task force as
soon as it is established.
Number 250
SENATOR MACKIE said he has introduced SB 37 that deals not only
with deferred maintenance of schools, but with new facilities as
well, and he doesn't read anything in the resolution that would
allow this task force to address those needs, other than deferred
maintenance. He asked if Representative Phillips would have any
objection to expanding this to deferred maintenance and new
facility needs because there are a couple of significant proposals
that are before the Legislature dealing with deferred maintenance
as well as new construction. MR. HEATWOLE responded that question
was something he would have to take back to Representative
Phillips.
Number 295
There being no further testimony on HCR 8, CHAIRMAN GREEN asked for
the will of the committee.
SENATOR WARD moved HCR 8 be passed out of committee with individual
recommendations. Hearing no objection, it was so ordered.
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