Legislature(2021 - 2022)BARNES 124
03/04/2022 01:00 PM House RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Alaska's Competitive Position by Gaffney Cline | |
| HB347 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HCR 4 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | HB 347 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 4, 2022
1:03 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Josiah Patkotak, Chair
Representative Grier Hopkins, Vice Chair
Representative Calvin Schrage
Representative Sara Hannan
Representative George Rauscher
Representative Mike Cronk
Representative Ronald Gillham
Representative Tom McKay
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Zack Fields
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: ALASKA'S COMPETITIVE POSITION BY GAFFNEY CLINE
- HEARD
HOUSE BILL NO. 347
"An Act relating to the confidentiality of certain state records
relating to animals; and providing for an effective date."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 347
SHORT TITLE: CONFIDENTIALITY OF ANIMAL RECORDS
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) RAUSCHER
02/22/22 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/22/22 (H) RES
03/02/22 (H) RES AT 1:00 PM BARNES 124
03/02/22 (H) -- MEETING CANCELED --
03/04/22 (H) RES AT 1:00 PM BARNES 124
WITNESS REGISTER
MIKE CLINE, Strategy Advisor/Legal Counsel
Gaffney, Cline & Associates
Houston, Texas
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-provided a PowerPoint presentation,
titled "Alaska's Competitive Position."
NICK FULFORD, Senior Director
Gas/LNG-Carbon Management-Energy Transition-Americas
Gaffney, Cline & Associates
Houston, Texas
POSITION STATEMENT: Co-provided a PowerPoint presentation,
titled "Alaska's Competitive Position."
RYAN MCKEE, Staff
Representative George Rauscher
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented the sectional analysis for HB
347, Version I, on behalf of Representative Rauscher, prime
sponsor.
AMY SEITZ, Executive Director
Alaska Farm Bureau
Soldotna, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided invited testimony in support of HB
347.
CHRISTINA CARPENTER, Director
Division of Environmental Health
Department of Environmental Conservation
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided invited testimony in support of HB
347.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:03:37 PM
CHAIR JOSIAH PATKOTAK called the House Resources Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:03 p.m. Representatives McKay,
Cronk, Hopkins, Rauscher, Hannan, Gillham, and Patkotak were
present at the call to order. Representative Schrage arrived as
the meeting was in progress.
^Presentation: Alaska's Competitive Position by Gaffney Cline
Presentation: Alaska's Competitive Position by Gaffney Cline
1:04:19 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK announced that the first order of business would
be a presentation on Alaska's Competitive Position by Gaffney
Cline Consultants.
PRESENTERS
MIKE CLINE
NICK FULFORD
NOTE: The presentation was recorded and log notes were taken.
The recording is available at the legislature's web site
akleg.gov or by contacting the House Records Office at State
Capitol, Room 3, Juneau, Alaska 99801 (mailing address),
(907)465-2214, and after adjournment of the second session of
the Thirty-Second Alaska State Legislature this information may
be obtained by contacting the Legislative Reference Library at
(907) 465-3808.
2:47:22 PM
The committee took an at-ease from 2:47 p.m. to 2:51 p.m.
HB 347-CONFIDENTIALITY OF ANIMAL RECORDS
2:51:29 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 347, "An Act relating to the confidentiality
of certain state records relating to animals; and providing for
an effective date."
CHAIR PATKOTAK stated that the sponsor has requested the
committee to adopt a proposed committee substitute.
2:51:55 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS moved to adopt the proposed committee
substitute (CS) for HB 347, Version 32-LS1471\I, Bullard,
2/28/22, as the working document. There being no objection,
Version I was before the committee.
2:52:18 PM
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER, as prime sponsor of HB 347, paraphrased
from the sponsor statement [included in the committee packet],
which read [original punctuation provided]:
HB 347 is an act allowing confidentiality to all
owner's quadruped animals when getting their animals
tested for things like contagious viruses.
The bill allows information on the results of those
tests to be made available to those that ask, however,
the owner's name and location is redacted for safety's
sake. It allows the data needed to make accurate
assessments from DEC [Department of Environmental
Conservation] and or the State Veterinarian to move
forward in case of an outbreak but keeps the name of
the owner from being made public.
The bill has taken 5 years to get this far, and the
current version is accepted by most hunting groups and
farmers alike.
Groups such as the Farm Bureau, SCI [Safari Club
International], the Alaskan Sheep Foundation, and the
Department of Environmental Conservation all support
its passing.
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER noted that HB 347 also allows the public
to give consultation or opinion on the collected data as it
pertains to moving forward.
2:54:29 PM
RYAN MCKEE, Staff, Representative George Rauscher, Alaska State
Legislature, on behalf of Representative Rauscher, prime sponsor
of HB 347, gave the sectional analysis for Version I [included
in the committee packet], which read as follows [original
punctuation provided]:
Section 1: AS 03.05
It is amended by adding a new section, AS 03.05.084,
Confidentiality of Certain Information, Exceptions. It
states that a record containing information about an
animal that is maintained by the Department of
Environmental Conservation will carry out the
requirements of this chapter including the record of
sale, movement, unique identification number, or owner
of an animal is confidential and not subject to
disclosure under AS 40.25.100-40.25.295, if the record
identifies a particular animal, breed of an animal,
business, or individual; contains test results, or a
record of test samples, for a particular animal; or
contains trade secrets or proprietary business or
financial information. It also states the Department
of Environmental Conservation may disclose this
information to state, federal, local government, or
regional health corporation if the department feels
there is a health or safety threat of an animal or to
the public. The Department of Environmental
Conservation shall, upon request, publicly disclose
records subject to this section in a manner that
prevents identification of a particular animal,
individual, or business.
Section 2: The uncodified law of the State of Alaska,
Transition: Regulations
This is amended by adding a new section. The
Department of Environmental Conservation may adopt
regulations necessary to implement this Act and takes
effect under AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act),
but not before the effective date.
Section 3: Section 2 of this act takes effect
immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).
CHAIR PATKOTAK [opened invited testimony on HB 347, Version I.]
2:57:07 PM
AMY SEITZ, Executive Director, Alaska Farm Bureau, provided
invited testimony in support of HB 347. She said the Alaska
Farm Bureau's mission is to ensure the economic wellbeing and
expansion of agriculture and to enrich the quality of life for
all Alaskans. She noted that the bureau's 400 farming and
ranching members drive the bureau's positions on policy issues,
and today she is speaking in support of HB 347.
MS. SEITZ related that for each of the last five years the
bureau's members have said it is important to protect the
personal, business, and individual animal information housed
within DEC from release to the public. Because this information
is currently subject to the Public Records Act, many farmers are
reluctant to have the information go through the state. In some
situations, state or federal law requires specific information;
for example, importing animals [to Alaska] and running tests in
Grade A dairies [in Alaska] must go through DEC. There are
situations where it is voluntary as to what information goes
through, but it would be helpful to have the information, like
participating in disease surveillance programs. These programs
are designed to be pro-active in identifying a disease and being
able to take steps to mitigate before there becomes an outbreak.
The bureau wants its farmers to feel comfortable working with
state agencies and having security in knowing their personal,
business, or financial information isn't going to be released to
the public, or information identifying specific animals.
MS. SEITZ said that in this time when Alaska needs to be
increasing its food production it's important to have these
protections in place. Having more farmers participating in
testing can help produce a higher quality product and increase
efficiency in production. Also, it could help with early
detection of a possible outbreak, which would give agencies time
to respond appropriately. There would still be access to
general information and people would still know what's being
imported and whether any diseases, pathogens, or parasites are
being found. It would be like COVID-19 reporting - the number
of positives in a region is known but who has it is unknown.
MS. SEITZ addressed why it is important to protect this
information. She said livestock farmers in other states have
sometimes been harassed by anti-livestock organizations. During
COVID-19 some states had problems with pilfering on the farms.
Some Alaska farms have had issues with people stealing their
animals. There have also been situations where someone has a
grudge against a farmer and can access testing information and
spread a rumor that a certain farmer has an unclean farm because
the farmer is testing for a certain pathogen. Ms. Seitz further
noted that in addition to farmers and ranchers being impacted by
this, kennels have testing that goes through DEC.
3:03:34 PM
CHRISTINA CARPENTER, Director, Division of Environmental Health,
Department of Environmental Conservation, provided invited
testimony in support of HB 347. She noted that the Division of
Environmental Health includes the Office of the State
Veterinarian (OSV) which is tasked with oversight of the animal
records impacted by this legislation. She stated that HB 347
strikes a perfect balance by allowing DEC to keep its animal
owner information confidential while keeping the public informed
about known animal disease outbreaks. The bill will strengthen
the agriculture community by encouraging increased surveillance
testing which will in turn protect Alaska's wildlife resources.
She thanked the sponsor for bringing forth the bill.
3:04:44 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHRAGE asked whether the volume of documents
would be large enough to result in a fiscal note for the
redacting process that will be needed for keeping some of this
information confidential.
MS. CARPENTER replied that the fiscal note for HB 347 is zero as
DEC doesn't anticipate increased needs for its staff since it is
a relatively small number of documents. She drew attention to
the Certificate of Export provided to the committee, which
includes the shipper's information, receiver's information, and
specific information about the animal and test results. She
explained that if HB 347 were passed, DEC would be able to
provide general information to the public along the lines of
"nine reindeer were exported from Alaska in 2021 and all tested
negative for tuberculosis prior to movement."
3:06:56 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN asked whether other states have
confidentiality like that proposed in HB 347, especially those
states with much higher livestock management.
MS. CARPENTER responded that most states do have confidentiality
legislation or allowances in statute. When researching this
previously, DEC looked to the statutes of Oregon and Washington.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN surmised Alaska has far more kennels with
veterinary needs than cattle with veterinary needs, yet HB 347
was drafted in terms of agriculture and farming. She recalled
Ms. Seitz stating that the bill would lead to more voluntary
testing. She inquired about which tests are mandated in statute
and which are optional and further asked whether the sharing of
data is mandatory or voluntary for transmissible diseases like
kennel cough and rabies.
MS. CARPENTER answered that the only testing currently mandated
through statute or regulation is when importing an animal into
the state; DEC has requirements for several species. When there
is a known or suspected disease outbreak throughout the state or
in a certain region, the state veterinarian, the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) veterinarian, and the Health
and Social Services veterinarian work with animal owners and
private veterinarians. The department believes that HB 347 will
encourage more surveillance testing so that when a dog or
livestock already in the state display symptoms the proper
actions can be taken to get that animal tested and respond
appropriately. The department has a list of reportable diseases
in statute and in regulation so that an animal testing positive
through a private veterinarian is reportable to the state
veterinarian. She offered to provide those details to members.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN stated she would like to receive this
information because she is curious about what the state's
reporting requirements are. She said she isn't opposed to the
idea of confidentiality but wants to ensure there are no
unintended ripple effects.
3:12:47 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CRONK offered his understanding that the main
purpose of HB 347 is to ensure that Alaska's wild game
populations don't get these diseases.
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER responded that the worry in Alaska for
five-plus years has been over keeping [Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae
(Movi)] away from Dall sheep and mountain goats. An outbreak
occurred in the Lower 48 where there is free range farming.
Since that cannot be done in Alaska due to wild predators,
farmers put up fencing but contact between domestic and wild
animals is still a possibility. Given that Movi is a life-
threatening disease for these wild animals, farmers are probably
going to want to get their herds tested, but currently farmers
are afraid to test because the information about their farms may
become public and then there could be a reaction against the
farmer, the farm, or the animals themselves. So, what is trying
to be done with HB 347 is encourage the testing for every one of
these because the most important part is to get this data
recorded, who the farmer is isn't important. The information
that needs to be acquired is the location and whether an animal
has contracted the disease. This bill entices the farmer
because he/she won't be found out and the information is as
important to the farmer as it is to the herd in the wild. What
comes across the border is already being taken care of because
they must be tested, HB 347 makes sure that the herds within the
state are taken care of. He offered his understanding that
about 2,000 [domestic] animals are in Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN asked if testing for Movi is currently
required or whether that will be contemplated once there is
confidentiality of records. If testing is voluntary, she said,
there is no guarantee that testing will be done.
REPRESENTATIVE RAUSCHER replied that current regulation requires
an animal be tested before being brought into the state. A
regulation is done by DEC, so it is a possibility that when this
bill passes the answer to the question may be yes.
MS. CARPENTER responded that, currently, once an animal is in
Alaska, surveillance testing is completely voluntary. At this
time, she continued, there are no plans to implement mandatory
testing for Movi or any other pathogen.
3:17:41 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SCHRAGE thanked the sponsor for bringing forth
the legislation.
3:18:04 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK announced that HB 347 was held over.
3:18:47 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Resources Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 3:19 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 347 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
HRES 3/2/2022 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/4/2022 1:00:00 PM |
HB 347 |
| HB 347 Sectional Analysis Version I 3.2.2022.pdf |
HRES 3/2/2022 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/4/2022 1:00:00 PM |
HB 347 |
| HB 347 Proposed CS Version I 3.2.2022.pdf |
HRES 3/2/2022 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/4/2022 1:00:00 PM |
HB 347 |
| HB 347 Letter of Support Farm Bureau 3.2.2022.pdf |
HRES 3/2/2022 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/4/2022 1:00:00 PM |
HB 347 |
| HB 347 Supporting Document DEC Certificate of Veterinary Inspection 3.2.2022.pdf |
HRES 3/2/2022 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/4/2022 1:00:00 PM |
HB 347 |
| HB 347 Draft Fiscal Note DEC EH 3.2.2022.pdf |
HRES 3/2/2022 1:00:00 PM HRES 3/4/2022 1:00:00 PM |
HB 347 |
| Presentation FINAL Gaffney Cline Oil Gas Competitiveness 3.4.2022.pdf |
HRES 3/4/2022 1:00:00 PM |