Legislature(1999 - 2000)
05/15/1999 10:03 AM House STA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
May 15, 1999
10:03 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Jeannette James, Chair
Representative John Coghill
Representative Jim Whitaker
Representative Bill Hudson
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Scott Ogan
Representative Beth Kerttula
Representative Harold Smalley
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 155(FIN)
"An Act relating to methods of payment of and reports concerning
certain state salaries and business expenses."
- MOVED CSSB 155(FIN) OUT OF COMMITTEE
(* First public hearing)
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: SB 155
SHORT TITLE: SALARY REPORTS: LEG/EXEC/JUDICIAL BRANCH
SPONSOR(S): RULES BY REQUEST OF LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
4/15/99 933 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S)
4/15/99 933 (S) STA
5/06/99 (S) STA AT 3:30 PM BELTZ 211
5/06/99 (S) MOVED OUT OF COMMITTEE
5/07/99 1295 (S) STA RPT 3DP
5/07/99 1295 (S) DP: WARD, PHILLIPS, GREEN
5/07/99 1295 (S) FISCAL NOTE (ADM)
5/07/99 1295 (S) FIN REFERRAL ADDED
5/10/99 (S) FIN AT 9:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532
5/10/99 (S) SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
5/10/99 (S) FIN AT 6:30 PM SENATE FINANCE 532
5/10/99 (S) MOVED CS (FIN) OUT OF COMMITTEE
5/10/99 (S) MINUTE(FIN)
5/11/99 (S) RLS AT 12:00 PM FAHRENKAMP 203
5/11/99 (S) MINUTE(RLS)
5/11/99 1363 (S) FIN RPT CS 7DP 1NR 1AM SAME TITLE
5/11/99 1363 (S) DP: TORGERSON, PARNELL, PHILLIPS,
GREEN,PETE KELLY, LEMAN, DONLEY;
5/11/99 1363 (S) NR: ADAMS;
5/11/99 1363 (S) AM: WILKEN
5/11/99 1364 (S) PREVIOUS FN (ADM)
5/11/99 1364 (S) RULES TO CALENDAR 5/11/99
5/11/99 1366 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME
5/11/99 1366 (S) FIN CS ADOPTED UNAN CONSENT
5/11/99 1366 (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING UNAN
CONSENT
5/11/99 1367 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME CSSB 155(FIN)
5/11/99 1367 (S) PASSED Y18 N2
5/11/99 1367 (S) WILKEN NOTICE OF RECONSIDERATION
5/12/99 1400 (S) RECON TAKEN UP - IN THIRD READING
5/12/99 1401 (S) PASSED ON RECONSIDERATION Y19 N1
5/12/99 1406 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
5/13/99 1362 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S)
5/13/99 1363 (H) STA, FINANCE
5/15/99 (H) STA AT 10:00 AM CAPITOL 102
WITNESS REGISTER
MARY GORE, Legislative Assistant
to Senator Mike Miller
Alaska State Legislature
Capitol Building, Room 119
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Telephone: (907) 465-4920
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented SB 155 on behalf of Legislative
Council.
DAVID ESSARY, Director
Division of Finance
Department of Administration
P.O. Box 110204
Juneau, Alaska 99811
Telephone: (907) 3435
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information on SB 155.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 99-35, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIR JEANNETTE JAMES called the House State Affairs Standing
Committee meeting to order at 10:03 a.m. Members present at the
call to order were Representatives James, Coghill, Whitaker, and
Hudson.
SB 155-SALARY REPORTS: LEG/EXEC/JUDICIAL BRANCH
CHAIR JAMES announced CSSB 155(FIN), "An Act relating to methods of
payment of and reports concerning certain state salaries and
business expenses," is before the committee.
Number 010
MARY GORE, Legislative Assistant to Senator Mike Miller, Presented
SB 155 on behalf of the Legislative Council, noting it extends the
number of state entities which have to complete an annual travel
and compensation report each year. She added that it will track
salaries, per diem, travel expenses, and any relocation expenses or
additional allowances from the judicial branch, the executive
branch, the university, the railroad and all heads of public
corporations. She pointed out that the Department of
Administration will compile the reports for the executive branch
and that all departments will be required to submit their reports
to the Department of Administration by January 21 each year. On
January 31, when the legislator's reports are required to be
released, the Administration's reports will be required to be
distributed to the legislature through the Senate President and the
Speaker's Office.
MS. GORE further noted the railroad is currently exempt (Title
37.05, Fiscal Procedures Act), however, the Senate Finance
Committee ensured that the Alaska Railroad Corporation will also be
required to compile their reports. She mentioned the corporation
is currently able to decide what they consider confidential
information and that they consider salaries confidential
information at this point in time. However, SB 155 requires them
to release that information.
Number 0068
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON asked Ms. Gore what is the intent of SB 155.
MS. GORE pointed out there was some concern (by a couple of
Senators) that every year the legislature gets "raked over the
coals" for their annual compensation and travel reports and that
this just gives a comparative base across the board to other
portions of government.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said he believes this information would be a
good tool for analyzing budgets because travel is a multimillion
dollar entity in this state.
Number 0093
DAVID ESSARY, Director, Division of Finance, Department of
Administration (DOA), came before the committee noting that the
division worked with the legislative auditor and corrected what
they thought were deficiencies. He said the previous version did
not require the university or public corporations to report the
information to the DOA so they asked that change be made. He said
the department believes the requirement date is reasonable and that
they do not oppose SB 155. He stated their ability to comply with
this provision is dependent upon the fiscal note being approved.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL asked if the fiscal note ($18.2 thousand)
includes all departments.
MR. ESSARY replied yes.
CHAIR JAMES said she will support moving SB 155 out of committee
and that she understands the rationale, however, she has
reservations about putting all this information on the front page
of a newspaper because she doesn't necessarily believe the response
is going to be positive to the legislature and that it will put
more pressure on the legislature because, "We have the purse," and
people are going to maybe think it's too much and too varied. It's
still going to fall in the legislature's lap as our responsibility.
Chair James said she believes it's a very inflammatory piece of
legislation. She added that she doesn't know that she even agrees
with putting legislators' salaries and per diem on the front page
of the paper because she believes it's public information and if
people are so inclined to want to know this, we should let them
find it. She added that the legislature bends over backwards to
show the public information and some don't care, yet others will
take it differently than the actual intention.
Number 168
CHAIR JAMES further stated that she has a problem with the railroad
because the law is very specific in exempting them from the other
issues of disclosure because the railroad is in a competitive
business with the public and whether that's a good idea or not, is
not to be questioned at this time. She further stated that if
someone were interested in buying the railroad she would be willing
to sell it for its value, however, she is not willing to give it
away. Chair James mentioned legislation was introduced a few years
ago which was intending to do that and polls were conducted which
asked the public if they would be willing to sell the railroad for
what the state paid for it, which was $20 million or something like
that. And then $11 million was added for operating expenses, and
they were told not to come back to the public trough again and they
haven't. The railroad has received federal funds and they have
been operating since 1985 or 1986 without allocations from the
state with the exception for the $11 million which was appropriated
to purchase rail cars for the Wishbone Hill coal project. She
noted the project didn't go forward and that money is still on
deposit earning interest because it can only be used for that
purpose and that purpose is not there anymore.
CHAIR JAMES concluded that she believes it may not be in the best
interest of the railroad to make that information available. She
emphasized that she is not interested in passing legislation that
would require them to do that. However, she supports the rest of
the bill because the public would probably like having this
information.
Number 232
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON moved to report CSSB 155(FIN) out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
fiscal note. There being no objection, it was so ordered.
ADJOURNMENT
Number 240
There being no further business before the committee, the House
State Affairs Committee meeting was adjourned at 10:13 a.m.
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