Legislature(2017 - 2018)HOUSE FINANCE 519
04/13/2017 07:00 AM House LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
APRIL 12-13, 2017
7:01 AM
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Sam Kito, Chair
Senator Bert Stedman, Vice Chair
Representative Matt Claman
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Representative David Guttenberg
Representative Charisse Millett (Day 2)
Representative Dan Ortiz
Representative Louise Stutes
Representative Harriet Drummond, Majority Alternate (Day 1)
Representative David Eastman, Minority Alternate
Senator Pete Kelly (Day 1)
Senator Anna MacKinnon
Senator Kevin Meyer
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Gary Stevens
Senator Cathy Giessel, Alternate
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Charisse Millett (Day 1)
Representative Harriet Drummond, Majority Alternate (Day 2)
Senator Lyman Hoffman (Day 1 and 2)
Senator Pete Kelly (Day 2)
AGENDA
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
SPEAKER REGISTER
Tim Banaszak, IT Manager, Legislative Affairs Agency
7:01:31 AM
I. CHAIR SAM KITO called the Legislative Council meeting to
order at 7:00 a.m. in Room 519 (House Finance) of the State
Capitol. Present at the call were Representatives Claman,
Edgmon, Stutes, Eastman (alternate), and Kito; Senators
Kelly, MacKinnon, Meyer, Micciche, Stevens, Giessel
(alternate), and Stedman. Representatives Drummond and
Ortiz joined the meeting during roll call; Senator Kelly
joined the meeting during the executive session.
Representative Millett and Senator Hoffman were absent.
II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
VICE CHAIR STEDMAN moved that Legislative Council approve
the agenda.
The motion was approved without objection.
III. OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
a. IT Subcommittee Recommendations
b. Stoel Rives Update
c. West Benson LIO
a. IT Subcommittee Recommendations
TIM BANASZAK, Information Technology Manager for the
Legislative Affairs Agency, said that he was excited to
submit two IT initiatives for the Council's consideration
that will reduce costs, visibly improve technology, and
replace 20-year old manual processes. The two initiatives
are the result of collaboration with vendors, Agency staff,
a legislative focus group, the IT Subcommittee, the
Information Office, and many others, which will (1)
eliminate the bulk of the computer and equipment and move
cost and the associated two months of Legislator and staff
downtime during the move weeks; and (2) will improve the
committee room testifier and constituent communications
with House and Senate members during testimony.
Mr. Banaszak said Initiative #1 deals with workstation
mobility at a cost of $416,102. The current equipment move
program is unsustainable. The upfront investment of
$416,102 will eliminate the majority of all equipment moves
by April 2018 when the legislature adjourns. We can expect
a return on investment beginning in year three of the
program, and significant savings by year five. He
highlighted just a few of the related move costs for the
shipping program for each legislature: $12,000 for two
tractor trailer trips; 75 tons of office boxes and computer
equipment are moved between session and interim offices;
6,000 boxes are transported back and forth, two months of
Legislator and staff computer downtime during move weeks;
over $92,000 spent on travel costs; and finally, 56 travel
weeks representing 2,500 hours of staff time, or over one
FTE dedicated to just moving equipment and boxes. Mr.
Banaszak referred members to his memo with a table
summarizing the reduction in cost for the proposed
acquisition in year three; and illustrating that by year
five, the proposed initiative costs are $373,000 below the
current business-as-usual program that requires a Sisyphean
level of effort for stone rolling equipment back and forth
between offices. He concluded the presentation on
Initiative #1.
Mr. Banaszak, in response to a question by Senator
Micciche, confirmed that the table showed accumulated
savings year-by-year over a five year period, assuming
maintaining the current three year refresh program.
DISCUSSION FOLLOWED regarding equipment refresh process;
clarification of initiative proposal; tractor trailer costs
limited to just computer equipment (exclusive of moving
office materials/file boxes); and procurement process for
equipment standardization and competitive pricing through
an existing State contract with Lenovo for this
acquisition.
CHAIR KITO noted that existing desktop equipment for those
with permanent work stations in Juneau will be used through
the normal service life, then new equipment will be
purchased following this new standard.
MR. BANASZAK followed up the Chair's comment to say that in
the first phase of the initiative, they were targeting all
the equipment that was moved back and forth. Much of the
equipment that will be replaced will be put into service in
offices that are more stationary so that nothing is getting
disposed of that is still usable.
In response to a question by Representative Guttenberg, Mr.
Banaszak confirmed that the initiative would be replacing
laptops as they reached the end of their service life, not
a wholesale replacement of all current laptops. It will
happen in phases and there will be time to make sure that
it works for the legislature.
DISCUSSION FOLLOWED about timeline of initiative should
Council approve it; the process of testing the proposed
equipment with the vendor and the vendor's engineers; and
the process of testing with a legislative focus group,
which narrowed the options to what would be useful to the
legislature.
In response to a question by Senator MacKinnon, Mr.
Banaszak stated that the equipment that would be purchased
in the first phase included 57 color printers with two-
sided printing capability with no scan/fax capability.
7:23:58 AM
Due to time constraints, at the urging of the Chair, Mr.
Banaszak moved to Initiative #2 - Committee Room
Enhancement Pilot Project for $22,500. He said that each
committee room is currently equipped for audio and limited
one-way video streaming. This proposal would test available
technologies to enhance information sharing between the
constituent, testifier, and committee members. It includes
a wireless projector to allow anyone in the committee room
with a tablet or laptop to view the presentation on their
device; a 17-inch touch screen for the presenter to
highlight and annotate information as it is being
considered by the committee; a 70-inch interactive work
screen to present live/real time information rather than
static slides; and capability for constituents and
testifiers to use video tools such as Polycom, Skype, Zoom
and Vidyo. He highlighted that this is only a pilot project
to test these technologies in one committee room to ensure
they will work for their intended purpose.
SENATOR MACKINNON requested that there be a lag time or
"kill button" inserted into whatever technology is being
tested so that if a presenter included an inappropriate
image, for instance, that the committee didn't want to go
digital, the committee wouldn't be distributing such
imagery.
CHAIR KITO clarified his understanding that the way this
technology would work is that it would only be information
going out to the public in a one-directional manner; that
it wasn't bi-directional in that the public would not be
able to submit images to the committee with the video
technologies being used. Mr. Banaszak confirmed that was
so.
DISCUSSION FOLLOWED about the possibility of reducing the
amount of paper being used through technologies like these;
the option of having a device only for committee documents
that does not text or have email; building the
infrastructure for these options with a cautious approach;
the concern that going paperless has been a challenge in
other state legislatures and isn't like possible at this
time.
7:31:27 AM
VICE CHAIR STEDMAN moved that Legislative Council approve
the Workstation Mobility Project in the amount of $416,102
and Committee Room Enhancement Pilot Project in the amount
of $22,500.
The motion passed without objection.
MR BANASZAK moved on to the final item in his presentation
- 2017 Interim Project Information. This was not an action
item. He said IT had three important initiatives scheduled
for the 2017 interim, all of which are included in the
current licensing agreements:
1. Email Office 365, which will increase storage capacity by
50-100 times over current capacity. It will also provide
seamless online archiving for storage needs that exceed
the new thresholds. The timeline for this project is
between October and December 2017 after the Executive
Branch completes their migration.
2. Windows 10 Desktop Computer Operating Systems Deployment,
which is necessary to keep systems and security operating
systems at an optimal level. The IT staff have taken the
time to design the Windows 10 look and feel to mirror the
current Window 7 as much as possible; this will minimize
the transition learning curve of the new operating
system.
3. Office 2016 installation to ensure we are compliant with
the current supported software. It will provide a
framework to support document collaboration, as well as
position Legislators and staff to access documents on and
off the legislative network and across multiple
platforms, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Mr. Banaszak noted for members that the cost for each of
these projects is included in the annual licensing
agreements. The Executive and Legislative Branches of
government participate in a shared contract with Microsoft
to ensure the best possible government pricing.
Mr. Banaszak said that the IT staff were well-prepared and
looked forward to taking on this unprecedented volume of
work during the interim.
SENATOR MICCICHE thanked Mr. Banaszak and his team for a
seamless transition back-and-forth; that he has great
people and their customer service is unprecedented. He
noted he had been operating with a mobile work station for
over a decade and offered himself as a volunteer.
CHAIR KITO noted that the next item would first be
discussed in executive session. He said that Council had
this room until 8:30am, and that if they were not finished
by that time, the meeting would continue the following
morning beginning at 7am.
b. Stoel Rives Update
7:36:18 AM
VICE CHAIR STEDMAN moved that Legislative Council go into
Executive Session per Uniform Rule 22(b)(1) discussion of
matters, the immediate knowledge of which would adversely
affect the finances of a government unit. Any Legislators
not on Council can remain in the room along with
legislative staff that work for Legislative Council
members. In addition, the following people can be on line
or remain in the room:
Pam Varni
Doug Gardner
Kevin Cuddy
Brian Meissner
Elisha Martin
Helen Phillips
Bree Wiley
Jodie McDonnell
Ben Manly
Legislative Council went into executive session.
8:18:34 AM
Legislative Council came out of executive session.
CHAIR KITO said that Council was still engaged in the
executive session discussion so the meeting would continue
tomorrow. He said there would be one motion before Council
recessed for the day.
VICE CHAIR STEDMAN moved that Legislative Council approve
$125,000 for the legal costs associated with Stoel Rives.
The motion passed without objection.
CHAIR KITO, in response to a question by Representative
Drummond about why the Benson Building renovation
discussion was being held in executive session, said that
Council needed to have a frank and open discussion about
the potential costs of renovating the building.
8:20:22 AM
Legislative Council recessed.
April 14, 2017
7:00 AM
7:01:58 AM
CHAIR SAM KITO reconvened the Legislative Council meeting
to order at 7:00 a.m. in Room 519 (House Finance) of the
State Capitol. No roll was taken. Present for the
continuation of the meeting were Representatives Claman,
Edgmon, Guttenberg, Millett, Ortiz, Stutes, Eastman
(alternate), and Kito; Senators MacKinnon, Meyer, Micciche,
Stevens, Giessel (alternate), and Stedman. Absent were
Representative Drummond (alternate) and Senators Hoffman
and Kelly.
III. OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS CONTINUED
c. West Benson LIO
7:03:47 AM
Legislative Council went into executive session.
8:14:07 AM
Legislative Council came out of executive session.
VICE CHAIR STEDMAN moved that Legislative Council approve
$150,000 for the Phase 1 Construction budget to move
forward with some work on the fourth floor wiring at 1500
W. Benson Blvd from legislative capital funds.
CHAIR KITO, in response to a request for clarification by
Senator Micciche, said that the goal with the $150,000 was
to prepare the fourth floor for temporary occupancy by
Legislators and staff for the 2017 interim, so that LAA has
the ability to start transitioning offices from session to
district. The plan is to continue to work on the renovation
component and have another meeting before session is over.
The motion passed without objection.
There being no further business before the committee,
Legislative Council adjourned at 8:20 a.m.
8:17:46 AM
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 170412 Agenda.pdf |
JLEC 4/13/2017 7:00:00 AM |