Legislature(2019 - 2020)BARNES 124
03/05/2019 08:00 AM House COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Confirmation Hearing(s): Regulatory Commission of Alaska | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
March 5, 2019
8:03 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Harriet Drummond, Co-Chair
Representative Sara Hannan, Co-Chair
Representative Matt Claman
Representative Steve Thompson
Representative Sharon Jackson
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins
Representative Josh Revak
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S): REGULATORY COMMISSION OF ALASKA
- Dan Sullivan - Anchorage, Alaska
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
DAN SULLIVAN, Appointee
Regulatory Commission of Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Regulatory
Commission of Alaska.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:03:59 AM
CO-CHAIR HARRIET DRUMMOND called the House Community and
Regional Affairs Standing Committee meeting to order at 8:03
a.m. Representatives Jackson, Thompson, Hannan, and Drummond
were present at the call to order. Representative Claman
arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^CONFIRMATION HEARING(S): Regulatory Commission of Alaska
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S): Regulatory Commission of Alaska
8:04:46 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND announced that the only order of
business would be the confirmation hearing on the Regulatory
Commission of Alaska.
8:05:28 AM
DAN SULLIVAN, Appointee, Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA),
stated that he has prior experience he believes will help him to
be an effective member of the commission. He stated that 30
years ago his company, The Sullivan Group, represented the
Marathon Group and Phillips Petroleum for five to six years,
working primarily on statutory issues. He said that experience
provided a good introduction to the function of regulations. He
related that from 1999-2008, he served on the Anchorage
Municipal Assembly; from 2009-2015, he served as mayor of the
Municipality of Anchorage. During that time he said he had
extensive interaction with the municipality's two major
utilities for water and electricity and experience regarding the
related regulatory issues. Mr. Sullivan told the committee that
he also served on the board of directors for the Alaska Natural
Gas Development Authority (ANGDA) from 2003-2010, where he did
extensive work toward building a gas pipeline. During that time
he met with every utility. He indicated that ANGDA's work got
the attention of the legislature, and former Representative Mike
Hawker sponsored a bill to incentivize new exploration and
production in Cook Inlet, as well as a gas storage facility on
the Kenai Peninsula - both important in ensuring gas supply to
"half the population of the state."
8:08:56 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND said Mr. Sullivan has been outspoken regarding
his opposition to the merger between Chugach Electric and
Municipal Light and Power. She said that during a Senate
Finance meeting on February 13, 2019, Mr. Sullivan had clarified
that he would not recuse himself from considering the merger.
She asked Mr. Sullivan how he would stay neutral in his
consideration of the merger, given his strong opinions on "the
way the merger was executed by the municipality."
8:09:24 AM
MR. SULLIVAN clarified that his objection was not to the merger
itself but to "the fact that a required 60 percent vote was
being altered to a 50 percent requirement." He said, "I just
don't think the charter should be trifled with ... for a special
interest legislation."
8:09:58 AM
CO-CHAIR HANNAN remarked that RCA is responsible for ensuring
utilities are accessible throughout the entire state. She
stated that Governor Mike Dunleavy's proposed budget would cut
the Power Cost Equalization Program (PCEP) that ensures rate
stabilization for rural Alaskans. She asked Mr. Sullivan how he
would respond to requests from rural communities to keep utility
rates down, especially if the (PCEP) fund is drained.
8:10:41 AM
MR. SULLIVAN responded that the commission takes everything on a
case-by-case basis, at which point the commission looks at the
facts, considers staff recommendations, and listens to the
public in order to make its decisions.
CO-CHAIR HANNAN set up a hypothetical scenario in which there is
no PCEP and cost of utilities for rural Alaska "quadruples
overnight." She asked Mr. Sullivan what he would do to
"stabilize the economic future of rural Alaska's power access."
MR. SULLIVAN answered that he does not think anybody wants to
see rural Alaska's utility rates quadruple, and he reiterated
that [the commission] would consider all the facts. He stated
that the legislature has the opportunity to restore funding, and
he surmised that utilities in rural Alaska would be a priority
issue for the legislature.
8:11:45 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JACKSON asked whether Mr. Sullivan's goal would
be to ensure all communities - "rural and the inner" - have
affordable utilities.
MR. SULLIVAN answered, "Absolutely." He said one of the jobs of
a commissioner is to find balance between affordability to
consumers and the utilities' ability to maintain their
businesses.
8:12:43 AM
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN offered his understanding that in the
fall, the RCA had taken up a proposed telecommunications bill,
and he said he thinks that legislation would be considered in
the next few weeks. He asked if Mr. Sullivan was familiar with
the issue.
MR. SULLIVAN answered that he had not had a chance to look at
any specific cases, having been occupied with paperwork his
first two days with RCA.
8:14:10 AM
CO-CHAIR HANNAN noted Mr. Sullivan has an extensive background
in the oil and gas industry, and she asked how he would remain
impartial and provide "unbiased regulatory action" when issues
related to oil and gas tariffs and regulations come before the
commission, so that his former employers and stockholders would
not be "advantaged over other oil and gas entities."
MR. SULLIVAN answered that his work with oil and gas companies
took place almost 30 years ago; his work since then has been
with utilities, regulation, and a municipal assembly.
8:15:31 AM
The committee took a brief at-ease at 8:15 a.m.
8:15:51 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND opened public testimony. After ascertaining
that there was no one who wished to testify, she closed public
testimony.
8:16:36 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JACKSON congratulated the appointee and said it
is nice to hear that his goal is to find balance and [to be]
non-biased and "have a future" in which there will be
"affordable utilities across Alaska."
8:17:10 AM
CO-CHAIR HANNAN stated that the House Community and Regional
Affairs Standing Committee has reviewed the qualifications of
the governor's appointee and recommends that Dan Sullivan's name
be forward as appointee to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska
to the joint session of the House and Senate. She reminded
members that signing the reports regarding appointments to
boards and commissions in no way reflects individual members'
approval or disapproval of the appointees, and that the
nominations are merely forwarded to the full legislature for
confirmation or rejection. [No motion was made, and the
confirmation was considered advanced.]
8:18:19 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Community and Regional Affairs Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 8:18 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Dan Sullivan_Resume.pdf |
HCRA 3/5/2019 8:00:00 AM |
|
| RCA Fact Sheet.pdf |
HCRA 3/5/2019 8:00:00 AM |