Legislature(2015 - 2016)ANCH LIO AUDITORIUM
09/01/2016 01:00 PM House LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
SEPTEMBER 01, 2016
1:05 PM
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Stevens, Chair
Senator Kevin Meyer
Representative Craig Johnson
Representative Harriet Drummond, alternate
MEMBERS ON TELECONFERENCE
Representative Bob Herron, Vice Chair
Senator John Coghill
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Anna MacKinnon
Senator Peter Micciche
Representative Mike Chenault
Representative Steve Thompson, alternate
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Charlie Huggins
Representative Mike Hawker
Representative Sam Kito
Representative Charisse Millett
Representative Mark Neuman
AGENDA
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
RATIFICATION OF CHARITY EVENTS
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
SPEAKER REGISTER
Pam Varni, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs Agency
Sue Cotter, Manager, Legislative Information and
Teleconference, Legislative Affairs Agency
1:05:34 PM
I. CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the Legislative Council meeting
to order at 1:05 p.m. in the Anchorage Legislative
Information Office Auditorium. Present at the call were
Senators Stevens, Meyer; Representatives Johnson and
Drummond, alternate. Participating via teleconference were
Senators Coghill, Hoffman, MacKinnon, Micciche;
Representatives Chenault, Herron, and Thompson, alternate.
Absent were Senators Huggins, McGuire, alternate, and
Giessel, alternate; and Representatives Hawker, Kito,
Millett, and Neuman.
II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON moved that Legislative Council
approve the agenda
Agenda was approved without objection.
III. RATIFICATION OF CHARITABLE EVENT
1:08:21 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON moved that Legislative Council
ratify the Chair's sanctioning of the following charitable
event per AS 24.60.080(a)(2)(B): Kenai Peninsula Boys-Girls
Club Annual Auction Gala.
The motion passed without objection.
IV. OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
a. FY 17 LIO Budget Cuts
CHAIR STEVENS said that Legislative Council recommended
some budget reductions which were sent to the Finance
Committee with some wording. What Legislative Council
received back from the Finance Committee was the removal of
that wording and there is a reduction of $298,000 that
needs to be cut from the Legislative Information and
Teleconference (LIO) component. He said there were eleven
options being presented to Council for their consideration.
His hope was that Council make a decision today that
specifies exactly where that reduction of $298,000 be
taken. He said when he was speaking with staff this morning
that this was a real "dog's breakfast" of a situation,
which is either an unappetizing mess or an Australian rock
band, so Council should understand what they're facing.
PAMELA VARNI, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs
Agency, said that the House Finance Committee had a zero
cut to the LIO budget; the Senate Finance Committee cut
$250,000 and the description said "Bethel, Nome, Seward,
and Soldotna LIOs funded for session only." She said this
cut was for the FY 17 budget and in the FY 16 budget, there
were reductions made to the Information Officer positions
in Barrow and Kotzebue (going from full-time to session
only); the Information Assistant positions in Fairbanks and
Mat-Su (going from full-time to session only); as well as
to eight Information Assistants in Juneau going from five
months to four months; and also a reduction of some of the
Casual Labor Pool for a total reduction of $358,700 to the
LIO budget.
Ms. Varni noted that while the original cut for FY 17 was
$250,000, Conference Committee kept the $250,000 but
changed the language to say "budget savings." Historically,
Legislative Council has taken action and wanted to have
input when we look at closing an LIO or doing reductions,
because the LIOs are really an extension of the 60
Legislator offices. The LIOs have professional staff in 23
Information Offices, and the majority of the Information
Officers are at a range 16 and a couple of range 18
positions, such as Regional Information Officers in
Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Kenai.
Ms. Varni said she would be presenting a number of options
to Council and certainly other options could be considered.
CHAIR STEVENS noted that while members are listening to the
options being presented, they should keep track of the
pieces they like and don't like of each option.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND asked what is the Casual Labor Pool
and how does it fit into the structure of the LIO.
MS. VARNI said that the Casual Labor Pool works on an
hourly basis at a range 13 level. These employees may fill
in for salaried staff and supplement existing staff to, for
example, staff nighttime or weekend teleconferences; fill
in for when salaried staff go on vacation, etc.
SUE COTTER, Manager of Information and Teleconference for
Legislative Affairs Agency, added that especially in some
of the smaller communities, the LIOs serve as a sort of
one-stop shops for other governmental needs, since there is
often no other government presence in the vicinity. She
said that the LIOs often do a lot of work on behalf of the
Permanent Fund Division. While she realizes that the PFD is
another branch of government, this is another service that
is provided to constituents who may not have access to a
computer, have a difficult time filling out the forms, or
for whom English is their second language. We also have
been given special dispensation by the Permanent Fund
Division to certify documents, such as passports and birth
certificates, so people don't have to mail in those
original documents to the PFD. This happens in all the
communities with LIOs other than Anchorage, Fairbanks and
Juneau. She said it's grown a lot over the years: Sitka
helped over 500 people during the filing period of January
through March; Kenai helped over 600; Glennallen helped
almost 200; etc. This is one of the ways we use the casual
labor pool, but mostly it is in case an office staffed by
one person is sick or out of necessity can't be in the
office, an hourly employee will be brought in to cover.
CHAIR STEVENS said the PFD issue is an important one. In
his Kodiak office, his legislative staff also spend time
doing that in addition to the LIO staff, which is truly not
their responsibility, but it's a responsibility that's
fallen to the LIOs and legislative offices.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND asked if information was available
on how many constituents are requesting PFD help in the
remote LIOs, as well as how many constituents are using the
remote LIOs to participate in committee meetings during the
interim.
MS. COTTER said that the number of individuals who
requested help could involve anything from giving them a
paper application to helping them establish their presence
online with MyAlaska for online filing. In a lot of the
smaller communities, Alaskans don't have access to the
internet or may not have a computer, so they come into
their local LIO. The PFD is just one example, but the LIO
staff also help constituents with the other two branches of
government, Ombudsman inquiries, providing federal tax
forms, unemployment questions, federal congressional
contact information, register voters, general election
information, commercial fisheries entry commission forms,
etc., and other types of government forms or information
they may have a hard time accessing or navigating in some
of these communities.
Ms. Cotter, in response to a follow-up question by Chair
Stevens, said that casual labor is used approximately 90%
during the session to fill in; during the interim, the
offices that are closed (session-only) uses the casual
labor pool sparingly to come in maybe once a week to check
messages, check the offices, retrieve mail, and respond as
appropriate to inquiries. She said that probably half the
session-only offices don't even charge the Legislature for
these services. She said she gets time sheets for 30-90
minutes a week from some session-only offices for these
services, so it's not used very much during the interim.
SPEAKER CHENAULT had two points of clarification: (1) there
is no Soldotna LIO, it's the Kenai LIO; and (2) the amount
to be deducted was originally $250,000 but now we're
talking about $298,000; so for public record, please
explain that discrepancy and why it's at $298,000 instead
of $250,000.
MS. VARNI said that the difference between what was
authorized in FY 16 and what was requested in FY 17 to make
the component whole and what the Legislature looked at
approving was a difference of $298,000. The LIO component
needed $48,000 in order to pay for merit increases, for
increases in services, etc., and that request was not
approved in addition to the $250,000 budget cut, which
brings the total cut to $298,000.
SENATOR MICCICHE asked if Council could find a combination
where the savings were more substantial than the $298,000
or what is the Committee's view on that potential.
CHAIR STEVENS said his goal was to get to $298,000 and most
of the options have some reduction in casual labor.
MS. VARNI outlined the following budget reduction options:
1. Reduce the Kenai (Soldotna), Seward, Nome, Bethel LIOs
from 12 month positions to six month positions and also
reduce the Casual Labor Pool (CLP). This option is what
the Senate Finance Committee had originally proposed and
was also a recommendation by Legislative Council when
the Senate was looking for reductions.
2. Reduce the Kenai, Seward, and Nome LIOs from 12 month
positions to six month positions and also reduce the
Casual Labor Pool by 50% across all LIOs. If this
reduction happens to the CLP to this magnitude, it means
that some of the salaried employees will accrue more
compensation time.
NOTE: The reasoning for options 1 and 2 is to not try and
spread the reduction to all the LIOs but rather look at
trying to identify a few LIOs for session-only offices.
3. Reduce all year round LIOs with the exception of
Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau from 12 months to 11
months (Kenai, Seward, Nome, Bethel, Kodiak, Ketchikan,
Sitka, MatSu) and eliminate the CLP.
4. Reduce all year round LIOs from 12 months to 11 months
and reduce the CLP.
5. Reduce all year round LIOs by closing all offices on
Fridays (7.5 hours) and reduce the CLP by approximately
$10,000.
6. Reduce all year round LIOs with the exception of
Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau by closing all offices
on Fridays throughout the year and reduce the CLP.
7. Reduce all year round LIOs by closing all offices on
Friday afternoons (3.5 hours) throughout the year and
reduce the CLP.
8. Reduce all year round LIOs by closing all offices on
Friday afternoons (3.5 hours) with the exception of
Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau during session) and
reduce the CLP.
9. Reduce all year round LIOs by closing all offices on
Friday afternoons (3.5 hours) during the interim and
reduce the CLP. All LIOs will be open full time at all
locations during session.
10. Other possible budget cutting options that Legislative
Council could consider, including a mixture of some of
the above options to realize the $298,000 reduction:
a. Eliminate the Tok LIO - there are already three
LIOs on the road system (Glennallen, Delta
Junction and Tok) saves $78,900;
b. Reduce Ketchikan staff from 12 months to six
months saves $53,000;
c. Reduce the LIOs at Kenai, Seward, Nome, Bethel,
Ketchikan, Sitka, Kodiak and MatSu from 12 months
to nine months would save $240,900.
11. Legislative Council, per AS 24.20.140, may direct the
Executive Director to transfer $250,000 from one of the
legislative appropriations to the Information and
Teleconference appropriation, which is Ms. Varni's
preference. It would still realize the $250,000 cut. One
of the items provided to members shows the Legislature
lapsed in FY 16 over $8 million. It would not impact the
service or the LIOs by doing that transfer.
SENATE PRESIDENT MEYER asked whether lapsed funds go toward
capital projects, which in this case is refurbishing the
Capitol Building. He went on to say that there is money
still left over, even after funds go toward the repair of
the Capitol Building.
MS. VARNI confirmed that the funds for the renovations of
the Capitol Building are already encumbered. The amount
that is going into capitol funds will be for future
projects.
SENATE PRESIDENT MEYER said it is really hard for him to
comment on the LIOs outside Anchorage, Juneau and
Fairbanks. For instance, in Option 10, Tok is a relatively
small area and he doesn't know what kind of activity they
have there and if the LIO staff are doing other functions,
such as helping with the PFD applications or other things
that probably either (a) aren't in their duties or (b) the
Legislator's personal staff should be helping with. Perhaps
these are services that shouldn't be provided in these
current times. He wanted to know if members could get some
feel for the activity level at some of the LIOs where it
was suggested that they be reduced or closed.
MS. COTTER said the LIOs spend a lot of time doing outreach
to the community; they maintain lists of people that are
interested in certain bills and when those are being heard
in committees - they reach out to let them know about any
changes in schedule or committee changes; let them know
that the LIO is available if they want to come and testify.
She said, most importantly, unless you are a Legislator or
a legislative employee, the process is kind of Greek to
most people, so it's really important that somebody be
present to inform, explain the process and how constituents
can become involved.
SENATE PRESIDENT MEYER said that partially answered his
question. For example, does the LIO in Tok have enough of
the general public coming in to warrant keeping it open?
MS. COTTER responded that she believed so. Over her tenure,
there have been sessions where LIO employees have done a
sort of "tick list" for which services the public requests
but that hasn't been done for the last six years. She asked
members to remember that just like what their own staff
deals with, one person's issue could take five minutes and
another person's an hour of time, depending on many
factors. Even if somebody only had five people come in one
day, each person might have had issues that take quite a
bit of staff time. She said she would be happy to implement
the "tick list" duty again if that was the desire of
Council.
SENATE PRESIDENT MEYER said that Ms. Cotter's response begs
the question that perhaps a Legislator's own personal staff
should be dealing with some of these issues.
MS. COTTER responded that occasionally there are some
constituents that want to talk to a non-partisan staff.
SENATE PRESIDENT MEYER said that he thought that
Legislators were elected to represent all constituents
regardless of party but wouldn't pursue the issue.
SENATOR MACKINNON said she believed Legislators' staff was
non-partisan.
CHAIR STEVENS said that a Legislator's staff is partisan.
SENATOR MACKINNON said that was the public's perception she
guessed. She went on to say that the budget isn't changing
that much and we still have a $4 billion hole, so, for her,
Option 11 was off the table. We shouldn't be robbing from
Peter to pay Paul, per se. We have to implement a cut. Not
looking at choosing LIOs, she was interested in the option
of closing all LIOs during the interim only. Chair Stevens
said the closest option to that suggestion was Option 9,
closing Friday half-days and reducing the Casual Labor
Pool.
CHAIR STEVENS went on to say that where we started was with
the recommendation to close specific LIOs. He said that
made him very uncomfortable because Council would be
picking and choosing winners and losers, there could be a
political reason for choosing one and not the other. It
seemed to him at that time that it would be best that we
all felt the pain, so that's why he supports all LIOs being
reduced to some extent. We haven't done the work it takes
to know exactly how productive each and every LIO is, so to
choose Tok, to choose Bethel, to choose specific LIOs for
reduction or closure is hard to do. We have to look very
closely in the future about how productive each and every
LIO is for possible additional reductions.
Chair Stevens said we haven't really discussed why we have
these LIOs. He asked members to keep in mind that the
purpose of the LIOs is to be open to the public, to make
sure the public has access to their government. No other
state has such a system, nor does any other state have the
distances that need coverage, so he believed it was wise
whoever thought of doing the LIOs. It brings the entire
public into the process.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON said from the documents that it
appeared that Information and Teleconferencing lapsed
$226,000 in FY 16.
MS. VARNI confirmed that was the case because Ms. Cotter
held back on allowing travel, she did not hold their
administrative meeting, for instance. Also, in FY 16, the
Information and Teleconference had some vacancies in Barrow
and Kotzebue which saved some dollars until replacements
were found through recruitment. Ms. Cotter also implemented
some cost cutting measures. The section has never lapsed
that much money before. We would be over-extended, and the
Information and Teleconference is a separate appropriation
and Legislative Council would have to move money in if we
don't do these cuts.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON said that he has always had a
problem with the Legislature lapsing capital money and not
going through the same process of every other entity of
having to go through the capital budget, have it put in, go
through public testimony. He said he sees $500,000 right
there that he'd like to see come out of this. He said
pigeon-holing capital money and not putting it out front is
not a good thing to do in terms of open and honest
government.
SENATOR MICCICHE said he thought Senator MacKinnon's
comment about robbing Peter to pay Paul was interesting
considering the first two LIOs slated for reduction, Kenai
and Seward, are in his district. He said Option 5 affects
all LIOs similarly, which spreads the pain, if there is any
pain. He said he thought a lot of facilities were closed on
Fridays, certainly the Court System has moved in that
direction. He said he thinks that works, people know they
can come in Monday through Thursday, it's easy to adjust.
When an LIO is closed for six months, people just lose
faith in the LIO being a resource for them. The Friday
closure is effective. He said that if we wanted to do a
combination that would probably be the same value, we could
close all offices on Fridays and if some chose to be open
during the session, we could offer two weeks a year to
choose from where they could close to make up that time.
The Kenai LIO is very active and relatively speaking we
only have one employee, and had over 600 visits in the last
few months, but there are times of the year when we are not
very busy, so the local LIOs could be offered a choice of
perhaps two weeks during the year to also close, to get the
full value of Option 5, and he thought it would deliver
something over $298,000 if folks felt that could work. That
way we're not picking winners and losers, and folks that
are on Legislative Council may not understand the local
importance of the LIO aren't put in the position of having
to assume how those operations are working in those
communities.
CHAIR STEVENS noted Option 5 is all year round LIOs would
be closed on Fridays throughout the year, including
session. One concern that was raised is that there is a
greater need for LIOs during session that there is during
the interims. He thanked Senator Micciche for suggesting
the idea of closing on Fridays. We looked into it, thought
about it, and actually spoke with the Court System which
has done that and, at least talking to management in the
Court System, they seem to think it is working very well;
in fact, the employees, even though they have a smaller
income, do appreciate getting Friday afternoons off.
SENATOR COGHILL said he liked Option 9, but wanted to know
what are the actual casual labor dollars left over and how
would we spread that amount. For example, there are times
when there are family vacations, and ramping up into
session, there is the Christmas break, so how would it be
spread between the LIOs.
MS. VARNI said it would leave a balance of $61,000.
CHAIR STEVENS, in response to the comment by Senator
Coghill that it doesn't leave much for casual labor, said
that his staff in Kodiak, for example, are in the office on
Fridays and other times when the LIO staff need to take a
break and we cover for each other. If we were to choose to
close the LIOs Friday afternoons, it would be important
that the Legislators recognize that the LIO is not staffed
and personal staff would be there to fill in, which
shouldn't be too much to ask.
MS. VARNI, in response to a question by Representative
Drummond, confirmed there is money left in the Casual Labor
Pool from year to year. Ms. Cotter allocates to each LIO a
portion of the Casual Labor Pool money. Some LIOs use all
of their CLP funds and others do not. It varies from year
to year.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND further inquired about the fact
that a number of committees meet on Fridays currently and
if Council went with closing the LIOs on Fridays for all or
a portion of the day, that would need to change.
CHAIR STEVENS said yes, it would be difficult for
legislative staff to perform teleconference moderator
duties. It would take a little bit of time for people to
get comfortable with it, but committee meetings could be
rescheduled for other days of the week or Friday mornings.
Ms. Varni agreed that was true.
MS. COTTER said that Option 9 closes the LIOs during
interim only, not during session, which would not affect
their main mission. She said she didn't think it would be a
big leap to train people that we can't have teleconferences
on Friday afternoons. If we had to for some reason, we
could stagger the staff. It would mainly be the Juneau
staff. Also, Option 9, after Option 11, seems to be the
best option. She cautioned that Anchorage and Fairbanks
have a pretty big work load during the interim. Anchorage
has 27 legislative offices in the building and Fairbanks
also has a number of legislative offices. LIO staff in
these locations do quite a bit of interim work with all the
Legislators and staff coming back after session.
DISCUSSION FOLLOWED regarding the impact of no audio
conferences on Friday afternoons during the interim.
Compensatory time and flexible schedules could be utilized
if necessary.
SENATE PRESIDENT MEYER said that it would be good if we
could start compiling data on usage of the LIOs for future
consideration. Referring specifically to the Anchorage
office, he asked about whether there would be security on
Friday afternoons or if the doors would be locked.
MS. VARNI said security would be present in Anchorage on
Friday afternoons. We have a contract through December and
then we will go out to bid again. There will be a property
manager at the new building to give out keys. We will just
have to work through some of these issues to figure out how
it's going to work.
CHAIR STEVENS, in response to a follow-up question by
Senate President Meyer, said that at least in Kodiak, his
staff will be there on Friday afternoons and the door will
be open. In many smaller LIOs, it would probably work the
same.
SPEAKER CHENAULT said that, if it wasn't already on the
table, he'd like to propose that the LIOs be closed all day
on Fridays during the interim only. We utilize the LIO
staff in Kenai and Seward as much as any other LIO, he
assumed, but that during the interim, legislative staff
should be in the office and the LIO actually deals with
issues that the Legislator or staff should be taking care
of anyway. He said he looks at the LIOs as an extension of
his staff when his staff is not available to help his
constituents. Taking off Fridays completely during the
interim should be okay and the legislative staff should be
available to help their constituents with whatever issues
they have.
DISCUSSION FOLLOWED regarding the Speaker's proposal.
REPRESENTATIVE DRUMMOND said she was concerned about a 20%
cut to the professional staff, as well as about training
and retention of Casual Labor Pool staff. If we're going to
be closing LIOs, we need to consider who would be coming in
on an as-needed basis. She reiterated her concern about
cutting professional staff 20% and expecting to retain
them.
SENATOR MACKINNON noted that while it wouldn't be a 20% cut
because professional staff would be working full time for
the three months of session, it would definitely be a pay
cut for those public servants who have been serving their
constituents and the public.
CHAIR STEVENS noted for members that although session is 90
days, for the LIO staff, session will be considered four
months full time so that there is overlap and eight months
for interim. Should there be a special session, the funding
for the LIO staff will come from another appropriation. Ms.
Varni confirmed that was so.
DISCUSSION FOLLOWED related to duties currently performed
by security, such as security screening visitors,
historical issues where other Legislators did not like to
have their constituents screened. Further discussion about
whether screening would happen all the time or only when
the LIO was closed.
CHAIR STEVENS said that it seemed to him that Option 9 was
the option most folks were leaning toward. He asked Ms.
Varni if she had any concerns with Option 9.
MS. VARNI said that with Option 9, employees would still
receive health insurance, which was important. She said if
Information and Teleconference was forced to make these
cuts, this is probably the best option, but it was very
difficult.
CHAIR STEVENS said we are faced with having to make a
substantial cut and asked for a motion.
2:05:53 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON moved that Legislative Council
reduce all year round LIO's by closing all offices on
Friday afternoons half day (3.5 hours) during the interim
and reduce the casual labor pool. [This corresponds to
Number 9 on the option sheet].
SPEAKER CHENAULT said he'd like to offer a friendly
amendment to close the offices all day on Friday during the
interim and are open full time during session.
DISCUSSION FOLLOWED about the fact that closing full days
on Fridays would reduce the amount needed to be cut from
the Casual Labor Pool. It was confirmed that LIO employees
would still have health insurance coverage because they
would not fall below 80% time. Further discussion centered
around the fact that these cuts are coming two months into
the fiscal year and there is a bottom line number of
$298,000. Concern was expressed that we would be cutting
more than is necessary to achieve the goal by going to full
day closures on Fridays.
SPEAKER CHENAULT removed his amendment.
A roll call vote was taken on the original motion.
YEAS: Stevens, Meyer, Coghill, Hoffman, MacKinnon,
Micciche, Johnson, Thompson, Drummond
NAYS: Chenault
The amendment passed 9-1.
There being no further business before the committee,
Legislative Council adjourned at 2:13 p.m.
2:12:59 PM
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