Legislature(2015 - 2016)SENATE FINANCE 532
04/22/2016 09:00 AM House CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON HB256 AND HB257
| Audio | Topic |
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| Start | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| = | HB 256 | ||
| = | HB 257 | ||
29TH ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SECOND SESSION
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON HB 256 and HB 257
April 22, 2016
9:07 a.m.
9:07:34 AM
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Kelly called the Conference Committee meeting on HB
256 and HB 257 to order at 9:07 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Senate:
Senator Pete Kelly, Chair
Senator Anna MacKinnon
Senator Lyman Hoffman
House:
Representative Mark Neuman, Vice-Chair
Representative Steve Thompson
Representative Les Gara
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
ALSO PRESENT:
David Teal, Director, Legislative Finance Division; fiscal
analysts with the Office of Management and Budget and
Legislative Finance Division; and aides to committee
members and other members of the Legislature.
SUMMARY
HB 256 APPROP: OPERATING BUDGET/LOANS/FUNDS
HB 256 was HEARD and HELD in committee for
further consideration.
HB 257 APPROP: MENTAL HEALTH BUDGET
HB 257 was HEARD and HELD in committee for
further consideration.
DEPARTMENTS:
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF LAW
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC FACILITIES
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA
FUND CAPITALIZATION
FUND TRANSFERS
LANGUAGE
MENTAL HEALTH CAPITAL PROJECTS
STATEWIDE SALARY ADJUSTMENTS
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 256(FIN)
"An Act making appropriations for the operating and
loan program expenses of state government and for
certain programs; capitalizing funds; amending
appropriations; repealing appropriations; making
supplemental appropriations; and providing for an
effective date."
SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 256(FIN)
"An Act making appropriations for the operating and
loan program expenses of state government and for
certain programs; capitalizing funds; amending
appropriations; repealing appropriations; making
supplemental appropriations; and providing for an
effective date."
and
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 257(FIN)
"An Act making appropriations for the operating and
capital expenses of the state's integrated
comprehensive mental health program; making
supplemental appropriations; and providing for an
effective date."
SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 257(FIN)
"An Act making appropriations for the operating and
capital expenses of the state's integrated
comprehensive mental health program; and providing for
an effective date."
9:08:51 AM
Chair Kelly communicated that the conference committee
would be meeting on HB 256 and HB 257 open items. He noted
that Limited Powers of Free Conference had been granted by
both the Senate and the House. Departments with open items
would be taken up based on the motion sheets distributed to
members earlier in the day and dated April 22, 2016.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Department of Commerce,
Community and Economic Development budget:
Item 2 Hold
Item 3 Hold
Item 6 House
Item 7 Hold
Item 8 Hold
Item 9 Hold
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Items 2, 3, 7,
8 and 9 remained open for the Department of Commerce,
Community and Economic Development's budget.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to rescind the previous motion in
adopting Item 7.
Representative Gara OBJECTED for DISCUSSION. He remarked
that the budgeting process involved examining the previous
year's UGF compared to the current year's UGF. He stated
that many of the current items accessed DGF, therefore
there needed to be cuts to match the previous year. He
explained that it was better to maintain the use of UGF, in
order to adequately compare year to year.
Representative Gara WITHDREW the OBJECTION.
Chair Kelly remarked that most of the budget used UGF.
Representative Gara clarified that he did not intend to
call for a vote on the motion.
There being NO further OBJECTION, Item 7 was before the
committee.
9:11:47 AM
AT EASE
9:12:15 AM
RECONVENED
9:12:28 AM
AT EASE
9:13:35 AM
RECONVENED
9:13:40 AM
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to replace the $917.3 thousand of
UGF with $917.3 of higher education funds and accept the
Senate for Item 7. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so
ordered.
The action closed all conferencable items in the budget for
the Department of Education and Early Development.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Department of Labor and
Workforce Development budget:
Item 1 House for both motions
Item 3 House
Representative Gara OBJECTED for DISCUSSION. He was not in
favor of deleting the deputy commissioner position. He also
disagreed with the use of Construction Academy Funds.
Representative Gara WITHDREW the OBJECTION.
There being NO further OBJECTION, it was so ordered. The
action closed all conferencable items in the budget for the
Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
DEPARTMENT OF LAW
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Department of Law budget:
Item 1 Hold
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Item 1
remained open for the Department of Law's budget.
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Department of Natural
Resources budget:
Item 5 Senate minus $78.5 thousand and one PCN
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. The action
closed all conferencable items in the budget for the
Department of Natural Resources.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Department of Public Safety
budget:
Item 1 House
Item 2 House
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. The action
closed all conferencable items in the budget for the
Department of Public Safety.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Department of Revenue
budget:
Item 2 Senate for all three motions
Item 3 Senate for all five motions
Item 4 Hold
Item 5 Hold
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Items 4 and 5
remain open for the Department of Revenue's budget.
9:17:14 AM
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND PUBLIC FACILITIES
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Department of Transportation
and Public Facilities budget:
Item 14 House for the both motions minus $1.414
million in Vehicle Rental Tax
Item 15 Senate
Item 16 Senate
Item 18 Senate
Representative Gara announced that he did not understand
the intent language for Item 18. He felt that the language
did not encourage hiring Alaskan workers.
Representative Gara WITHDREW the OBJECTION.
Chair Kelly announced that he would examine that language,
and shared that he would address Item 18 should there be a
disagreement.
There being NO further OBJECTION, it was so ordered. The
action closed all conferencable items in the budget for the
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the University of Alaska budget:
Items 1 through 9 House
Item 11 Hold
Item 12 Senate
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Item 11
remained open for the University of Alaska's budget.
9:19:23 AM
AT EASE
9:25:58 AM
RECONVENED
9:26:02 AM
Chair Kelly asked for a restatement of the motions for the
University of Alaska.
Vice-Chair Neuman restated the motions for the University
of Alaska budget.
FUND CAPITALIZATION
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Fund Capitalization motion
sheet:
Item 1 Hold
Item 2 House
Item 3 House
Representative Gara OBJECTED for DISCUSSION. He surmised
that Item 2 was a typo edit.
JAMES ARMSTRONG, STAFF, SENATOR PETE KELLY explained that
the Senate version of Item 1 transposed one number, so the
House version was the correct version.
Representative Gara WITHDREW the OBJECTION.
There being NO further OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Item 1
remained open in the Fund Capitalization motion sheet.
FUND TRANSFERS
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Fund Transfers' motion
sheet:
Item 1 Senate
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. The action
closed all conferencable items in the budget for the Fund
Transfers' motion sheet.
LANGUAGE
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Language motion sheet:
Item 1 Senate
Item 2 Senate
Item 3 Senate
Item 4 Hold
Representative Gara looked at Item 4, and wondered if there
was a recent change to keep it held. Chair Kelly replied in
the affirmative.
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Item 4
remained open in the Language motion sheet.
MENTAL HEALTH CAPITAL PROJECTS
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT the Chair's recommendation
on the following items for the Mental Health Capital
Projects' motion sheet:
Item 1 House
Item 2 House
Item 3 House
Item 4 House
Item 5 Senate
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. The action
closed all conferencable items in the budget for the Mental
Health Capital Projects' motion sheet.
9:29:20 AM
AT EASE
9:30:18 AM
RECONVENED
9:30:23 AM
STATEWIDE SALARY ADJUSTMENTS
Vice-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT new Item 1 for the new
contractual agreements, to incorporate statewide salary
adjustments. He stated that the fund sources on the motion
sheets were incorrect, and announced that the Legislative
Finance Division (LFD) would correct the mistake in the
conference committee action items on their website.
Chair Kelly queried the impact of adopting the contracts.
Mr. Teal explained that adopting the new contracts had a
negative $6.1 million reduction. He stated that there were
four contracts: the Marine Engineers; General Government
(GGU); Labor Trades and Crafts (LTC); and Confidential. He
remarked that the four contracts had been negotiated and
ratified. He stated that there was a total of $2.5 million
of GF savings, and $6.1 million of savings. He explained
that the savings was mostly related to the furloughs that
were included in the contracts. He announced that the GGU
and LTC contracts included some increases in employee
health premiums. He remarked that the motion sheets showed
the fund sources and amounts listed included both the new
contract approvals and the health trust adjustments. He
explained that Motion 1 was for only the contracts, so the
numbers were too high by approximately $8.4 million. He
stated that the corrected numbers would be reflected in the
new version of the conference committee action on the
website.
Chair Kelly wondered if a new motion was required to adopt
the corrected fund codes, and address the health care fund
issues.
Mr. Teal agreed, and explained that there needs to be a
motion for the Health Trust contributions.
Chair Kelly announced that only the contracts had been
adopted. Mr. Teal agreed.
Co-Chair Neuman MOVED to ADOPT new Items 1 and 2 of the new
contractual agreements to incorporate statewide salary
adjustments. He stated that the fund sources and amounts in
the motion sheets were incorrect. He stated that LFD would
correct the motion sheets in the conference committee
actions posted on their website.
Representative Gara OBJECTED for DISCUSSION. He wondered
what other aspects of the items, besides contracts, would
be considered.
Chair Kelly explained that there were multiple aspects of
the motion. He stated that he wanted to ensure that the
contracts were adopted. He shared that there were some
issues related to the insurance fund. He wanted to separate
each issue, but the numbers were altered because of the
separation.
Representative Gara WITHDREW the OBJECTION.
Vice-Chair Neuman explained that the new item 1 includes a
reduction of $6.1 million for recently negotiated
bargaining unit concessions and adds $8.4 million for
health insurance rate increases that were submitted after
the House and Senate versions of the operating budget were
completed. The new item 2 amends the existing Salary and
Benefit Adjustment language in HB 256 and HB 257 to include
the new bargaining agreements. The details on the amount by
fund source are included in the members' packet and will be
made available on Legislative Finance Division's website.
There being NO further OBJECTION, it was so ordered. The
other items remained open for the Statewide Salary
Adjustments.
Chair Kelly relayed that the next meeting would be held on
Monday, April 25 at 3:00 p.m.
HB 256 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
HB 257 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
ADJOURNMENT
9:36:27 AM
The meeting was adjourned at 9:36 a.m.
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