Legislature(1993 - 1994)
04/28/1994 01:00 PM House CRA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS
STANDING COMMITTEE
April 28, 1994
1:00 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Harley Olberg, Chairman
Representative Ed Willis
Representative Bill Williams
Representative Cynthia Toohey
Representative John Davies
Representative Con Bunde
Representative Jerry Sanders, Vice-Chair
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SB 240: "An Act relating to an optional municipal tax
exemption for student housing for the University
of Alaska."
PASSED OUT OF COMMITTEE WITH INDIVIDUAL
RECOMMENDATIONS
SB 217: "An Act relating to the University of Alaska and
university land, authorizing the University of
Alaska to select additional state public domain
land, and defining net income from the University
of Alaska's endowment trust fund as `university
receipts' subject to prior legislative
appropriation; and providing for an effective
date."
NOT HEARD
WITNESS REGISTER
WENDY REDMAN, Vice President, University Relations
University of Alaska
910 Yukon Drive
Fairbanks, AK 99775-2388
Phone: 474-6302
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported CSSB 240
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: SB 240
SHORT TITLE: MUNICIPAL TAX CREDIT/STUDENT HOUSING
SPONSOR(S): SENATOR(S)PEARCE,Kelly,Kerttula,Taylor,
Frank,Miller,Sharp,Duncan,Donley
JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION
01/11/94 2469 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S)
01/11/94 2469 (S) CRA, RES, FIN
01/14/94 2515 (S) CRA REFERRAL WAIVED
02/04/94 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
02/04/94 (S) MINUTE(RES)
02/09/94 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
02/14/94 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
02/14/94 (S) MINUTE(RES)
02/15/94 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
02/15/94 (S) MINUTE(RES)
02/18/94 2883 (S) RES RPT CS 4DP 1NR SAME TITLE
02/18/94 2883 (S) ZERO FNS TO SB & CS PUBLISHED
(DNR, F&G)
02/24/94 2957 (S) FIN RPT CS 5DP SAME TITLE
02/24/94 2958 (S) PREVIOUS ZERO FNS APPLY
(DNR, F&G)
02/24/94 (S) FIN AT 09:00 AM SENATE FIN 518
02/24/94 (S) MINUTE(FIN)
03/01/94 (S) RLS AT 01:00 PM FAHRENKAMP
ROOM 203
03/01/94 (S) MINUTE(RLS)
04/08/94 3529 (S) RETURNED TO FINANCE FROM RULES
04/14/94 3663 (S) FIN RPT 2DCS 5DP NEW TITLE
04/14/94 3664 (S) ZERO FN TO 2DCS PUBLISHED (UA)
04/14/94 (S) FIN AT 09:00 AM SENATE FIN 518
04/18/94 (S) RLS AT 03:15 PM FAHRENKAMP
ROOM 203
04/19/94 3782 (S) RLS RPT CS 1DP & CAL 1CAL 2NR
NEW TITLE
04/19/94 3782 (S) PREVIOUS ZERO FN APPLIES (UA)
04/19/94 3784 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME
04/19/94 3784 (S) RLS CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT
04/19/94 3784 (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING UNAN
CONSENT
04/19/94 3784 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSB 240
(RLS)
04/19/94 3784 (S) COSPONSOR(S): KELLY, KERTTULA,
TAYLOR,
04/19/94 3784 (S) FRANK, MILLER, SHARP, DUNCAN,
DONLEY
04/19/94 3785 (S) PASSED Y19 N- E1
04/19/94 3789 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
04/20/94 3618 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S)
04/20/94 3618 (H) COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
04/26/94 (H) CRA AT 01:00 PM CAPITOL 124
04/26/94 (H) MINUTE(CRA)
04/28/94 (H) CRA AT 01:00 PM CAPITOL 124
BILL: SB 217
SHORT TITLE: INCREASE LAND GRANT TO UNIV. OF ALASKA
SPONSOR(S):SENATOR(S)FRANK,Kerttula,Miller,
Rieger,Taylor,Sharp
JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION
05/11/93 2311 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S)
05/11/93 2311 (S) HES, RESOURCES, FINANCE
01/26/94 (S) HES AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
01/26/94 (S) MINUTE(HES)
01/31/94 (S) HES AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
02/02/94 (S) HES AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
02/02/94 (S) MINUTE(HES)
02/04/94 2679 (S) HES RPT CS 4DP NEW TITLE
02/04/94 2679 (S) FISCAL NOTE TO SB & CS (DNR)
02/09/94 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
02/14/94 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
02/14/94 (S) MINUTE(RES)
02/15/94 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH RM 205
02/15/94 (S) MINUTE(RES)
02/18/94 2882 (S) RES RPT CS 3DP 1NR NEW TITLE
02/18/94 2882 (S) PREVIOUS FISCAL NOTE APPLIES
(DNR)
03/10/94 3145 (S) FIN RPT CS 3DP 1DNP NEW TITLE
03/10/94 3145 (S) FNS TO CS PUBLISHED (UA, F&G)
03/10/94 3145 (S) ZERO FN TO CS PUBLISHED (REV)
03/10/94 (S) FIN AT 08:30 AM SENATE FIN 518
03/16/94 3238 (S) FISCAL NOTE TO CS PUBLISHED
(DNR)
03/29/94 (S) RLS AT 00:00 AM FAHRENKAMP
ROOM 203
03/29/94 (S) MINUTE(RLS)
04/06/94 3465 (S) RULES RPT 2CAL 1NR 4/6/94
04/06/94 3466 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME
04/06/94 3466 (S) FIN CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT
04/06/94 3467 (S) AM NO 1 MOVED BY KERTTULA,
ADAMS
04/06/94 3467 (S) AM NO 1 ADOPTED Y12 N8
04/06/94 3467 (S) AM NO 2 MOVED BY ADAMS
04/06/94 3473 (S) AM NO 2 WITHDRAWN BY ADAMS
04/06/94 3474 (S) AM NO 3 MOVED BY ELLIS
04/06/94 3474 (S) AM NO 3 ADOPTED Y11 N9
04/06/94 3474 (S) AM NO 4 MOVED BY LINCOLN
04/06/94 3475 (S) AM NO 4 ADOPTED Y11 N9
04/06/94 3475 (S) MOTION TO RESCIND ACTION IN
ADOPTG AM 1
04/06/94 3475 (S) MOTION TO RESCIND ACTION FAILED
Y10 N10
04/06/94 3475 (S) MOTION TO RESCIND ACTION IN
ADPTG AM 4
04/06/94 3476 (S) MTN TO RESCIND ADOPTING AM 4
WITHDRAWN
04/06/94 3476 (S) HELD IN SECOND READING TO 4/7
CALENDAR
04/07/94 3505 (S) HELD IN 2ND RDG TO 4/12 CAL
W/AMS PNDG
04/12/94 3602 (S) HELD IN 2ND RDG TO 4/14 CAL
W/AMS PNDG
04/14/94 3674 (S) AM NO 5 MOVED BY DUNCAN
04/14/94 3675 (S) AM NO 5 ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT
04/14/94 3676 (S) AM NO 6 MOVED BY FRANK
04/14/94 3676 (S) AM NO 6 ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT
04/14/94 3677 (S) AM NO 7 MOVED BY LINCOLN
04/14/94 3677 (S) AM TO AM 7 MOVED BY TAYLOR
04/14/94 3678 (S) AM TO AM 7 WITHDRAWN
04/14/94 3678 (S) AM NO 7 ADOPTED Y12 N7 E1
04/14/94 3678 (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING UNAN
CONSENT
04/14/94 3678 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSB 217
(FIN) AM
04/14/94 3679 (S) PASSED Y14 N5 E1
04/14/94 3679 (S) EFFECTIVE DATE SAME AS PASSAGE
04/14/94 3690 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
04/15/94 3458 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S)
04/15/94 3458 (H) CRA, RESOURCES, FINANCE
04/25/94 (H) CRA AT 02:00 PM CAPITOL 124
04/27/94 (H) CRA AT 01:00 PM CAPITOL 124
04/28/94 (H) CRA AT 01:00 PM CAPITOL 124
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 94-21, SIDE A
Number 000
CHAIRMAN HARLEY OLBERG called the meeting to order at 2:32
p.m. He noted for the record Representatives Toohey,
Willis, Bunde, Davies and Williams were present. A quorum
was present.
CHAIRMAN OLBERG brought forth CSSB 240 and said, "My
intention today is to take action on SB 240 by adopting the
amendment that the North Star Borough and the University of
Alaska agreed to..."
Number 029
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN DAVIES moved to "hold SB 240 until
tomorrow because we're still in a state of dueling
amendments."
REPRESENTATIVE CYNTHIA TOOHEY objected for the "purpose of
discussion".
WENDY REDMAN, VICE PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY RELATIONS,
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA, said, "I'm a little unclear as to what
the dueling amendments are. As far as the university's
concerned, we have responded to all of the concerns
expressed by the borough. I've given you a copy of the
amendment which has taken care of the concerns, which I
think are legitimate, raised by the borough which have to do
with whether or not a private six-plex for instance, could
suddenly fill up with students and the owner could claim it
was now student housing and therefore could be eligible for
the optional tax exemption." (A copy of this amendment is
on file.) She continued, "So we have written in this
amendment to make sure that it is with a written agreement
with the university and it is part of the university's
official student housing, which takes care of those
concerns. There are some additional concerns which I cannot
address fully. That is, there is some feeling on the part
of the North Star Borough that they'd like to restrict this
to university land only. While that works in Fairbanks, it
does not in Anchorage where we will be interested in looking
at student housing that may well not be on university land.
So that concern I cannot fully respond to at this point."
Number 074
CHAIRMAN OLBERG suggested a technical amendment to the
amendment inserting the word "is" into the amendment. He
moved that amendment to the amendment.
There were no objections.
CHAIRMAN OLBERG asked, "Representative Davies, does the
North Star Borough want to restrict this to university
land?"
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES replied, "That I think is one of the
North Star Borough's concerns, yes. There's also some
concerns that I have heard expressed about the duration of
the agreement which I've been trying to get some
clarification from the Chair, the presiding officer of the
Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly and I haven't been
able to clarify whether or not there's a suggestion on that
or not. I understand that there is, I just haven't gotten
direct input on it. Mr. Chairman, we're going to meet
tomorrow, I just would respectfully request an opportunity
to continue trying to achieve some kind of consensus here in
one more 24 hour period."
Number 107
CHAIRMAN OLBERG pointed out, "This legislation says `A
municipality may by ordinance' do these things and one of
the things it may do by ordinance is `classify and exempt
from taxation all or any portion of.' Wouldn't the
situation in Fairbanks be different than Anchorage, which is
different than Juneau... What it really says is the
Fairbanks North Star Borough may by ordinance do this or not
do this, or do it in some specific fashion. I question
whether we need to do something with a statute that gives
the option locally as it's drafted now."
REPRESENTATIVE JERRY SANDERS joined the committee.
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES said, "I guess my understanding of the
Mayor's concern about that point is that...if you allow the
municipality to do something that the municipality may not
really want to have happen. You get a situation where
there's a sort of snowballing of testimony at a particular
assembly meeting that can kind of roll the decision one way
or another... It may not be our intent to allow slum
landlord six-plexes downtown to be part of the university
housing, but if we were to have a loophole in here that
allowed that, there may develop a lot of pressure within the
municipality to do that. So, what the mayor's concern is
that he would like the bill to be crafted tightly enough
that it only allows those things done which we really concur
that the university ought to be doing here. Not extend the
authority any further because he's afraid that there will
develop a certain amount of pressure from people who have an
economic interest in that to get taken off the tax rolls.
His fundamental concern is that he doesn't want to see
properties that are now on the tax rolls being removed..."
REPRESENTATIVE TOOHEY said, "If the mayor of North Star
Borough is so concerned, I would like to have heard from
him. He's had sufficient time..."
Number 183
CHAIRMAN OLBERG moved to adopt the amended amendment.
REPRESENTATIVE CON BUNDE reminded the committee that
Representative Davies already had a motion before the
committee to hold SB 240 in committee until the following
day.
CHAIRMAN OLBERG withdrew his motion to adopt the amended
amendment.
REPRESENTATIVE BILL WILLIAMS addressed Representative Davies
motion saying, "It says here `based upon a written agreement
with the University of Alaska,' wouldn't that take care of
the concerns of the mayor?"
CHAIRMAN OLBERG said, "The agreement Tuesday (April 26,
1994) was that within 24 hours all the friendly attorneys of
all the relevant organizations would get together and draft
an amendment which would make everybody happy. Forty-eight
hours later, it appears that that didn't happen..."
Number 230
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES said, "Just for your information,
we've been working fairly hard over the interim to try to
come up with some compromise and unfortunately, the fact is
ten minutes before I came down here I was on the phone with
the mayor and he has not approved this amendment that's
before us. So the amendment can't be characterized as an
amendment that incorporates the borough's concerns in their
entirety."
CHAIRMAN OLBERG said, "One thing we've tried to do in this
committee and we haven't always been successful but, to the
extent possible, we've tried to maintain a position that
local option was important..."
Number 252
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES said, "What this amendment does is it
allows people, as the situations develop in the boroughs
where the university would come to an agreement with some
private property owner whose property is presently on the
tax rolls to convert that into student housing and then
remove that existing building from the tax rolls..."
CHAIRMAN OLBERG interjected, "Only with the consent of the
North Star Borough."
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES said, "No, only with the consent of
the university. The borough has no role in it... It's just
going to be very difficult, if it's permitted in the law and
the university wants to do it, for the assembly to turn that
down."
Number 273
REPRESENTATIVE TOOHEY declared a conflict of interest
because she is "the owner of historic sites and of historic
buildings." She said, "I just want that to be on the record
that I'm tax exempt from municipalities because I own a
historic site."
CHAIRMAN OLBERG insisted that she still vote and rephrased
the motion pending saying, "Shall we hold CSSB 240 until
tomorrow, I have objected."
A roll call vote was taken. REPRESENTATIVES TOOHEY,
WILLIAMS, BUNDE, SANDERS AND OLBERG voted AGAINST the
motion. REPRESENTATIVES WILLIS AND DAVIES voted FOR the
motion. THE MOTION FAILED.
CHAIRMAN OLBERG moved to adopt the amended amendment.
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES objected.
A roll call vote was taken. REPRESENTATIVES TOOHEY,
WILLIAMS, BUNDE, SANDERS AND OLBERG voted FOR the motion.
REPRESENTATIVES WILLIS AND DAVIES voted AGAINST the motion.
THE MOTION PASSED ADOPTING THE AMENDED AMENDMENT.
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES moved to "substitute Section D with
the following language: `A private leasehold, contract or
other interest in University of Alaska property which is
used exclusively for student housing.'"
CHAIRMAN OLBERG objected and said, "(This) would have the
net effect of not impacting the North Star Borough in any
way because the University property is already exempt. Is
that correct?"
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES said yes.
Number 334
REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE asked about "statewide application" of
the bill.
MS. REDMAN said, "The amendment that Representative Davies
has put forward is the amendment that the borough has
consistently been putting forward and it isn't acceptable to
us because, in Fairbanks at the present time, frankly, we're
not looking at any non-university land for dormitories, but
they're anticipating something way down the road. And I
understand that's their job. However, in Anchorage, where
we're in a much different situation relative to how much
land the university owns, it is in fact likely that if we
were able to go into a private-public partnership with an
owner, it would be on contiguous land to university land.
So it's very important to us that we leave the flexibility
in this bill to allow us to develop housing on private
property. In terms of that amendment...it seems to me that
that also provides actually less flexibility. What we were
trying to do with the amendment in D in 30 years is to set a
limit. No more than 30 years. You can certainly give less,
because in our discussions with individuals who have been
involved and there are 13 states right now where they've
gone into these kinds of private-public partnerships on the
construction of student housing..., but it may well be that
a borough with their option chooses not to give a tax
exemption for the full 30 year period but they may wish to
only give it for 10 years of the 30 year mortgage. They may
wish to give the exemption only for the land, not for the
improvements, or only for the building and not for the
student rents. Every municipality has a different situation
and it may be that the situation is different if there is
more than one project. Our goal was to try to give all of
that flexibility to the municipality based on what they see
their needs as."
Number 365
CHAIRMAN OLBERG said, "Is there some reason we're not
hearing from the City of Fairbanks about this.
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES said it's a borough issue.
REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE asked, "Have there been any other
cities that have been in correspondence about this?"
CHAIRMAN OLBERG said, "I'm not aware, Representative Bunde,
that we've heard from anybody...other than the mayor of the
North Star Borough through Representative Davies."
MS. REDMAN said, "We did contact the Anchorage municipality
with the draft copy of the bill a month or so ago, and their
lobbyist indicated that they have no problem with the bill."
Number 400
A roll vote was taken on Representative Davies's motion to
substitute Section D. REPRESENTATIVES WILLIS AND DAVIES
voted YES. REPRESENTATIVES TOOHEY, WILLIAMS, BUNDE, SANDERS
AND OLBERG voted NO. THE MOTION FAILED.
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS moved to pass CSSB 240 out of
committee, as amended with individual recommendations.
There were no objections.
CHAIRMAN OLBERG rescheduled CSSB 217 for the following
meeting scheduled on April 29, 1994.
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIS asked if the hearing on CSSB 217 would
be teleconferenced since "there are groups going on record
as opposing it."
CHAIRMAN OLBERG said, "If we can determine that there's
enough interest at sites elsewhere in the state, I guess we
could schedule it. The problem is we don't know what time
it is (the next C&RA meeting)." He then asked Ms. Redman
how many times CSSB 217 had been heard in the Senate.
MS. REDMAN indicated four or five times.
ADJOURNMENT
CHAIRMAN OLBERG said, "At least for tomorrow, we'll not
teleconference," and he adjourned the meeting at 3:00 p.m.
BILLS NOT HEARD
CSSB 217: "An Act relating to the University of Alaska and
university land, authorizing the University of
Alaska to select additional state public domain
land, and defining net income from the University
of Alaska's endowment trust fund as `university
receipts' subject to prior legislative
appropriation; and providing for an effective
date."
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