01/24/2006 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Commissioner, Department of Administration | |
| Lieutenant Governor Designee | |
| Alaska Public Offices Commission (apoc) | |
| HB278 | |
| HB194 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 278 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 194 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
January 24, 2006
8:09 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Paul Seaton, Chair
Representative Carl Gatto, Vice Chair
Representative Jim Elkins
Representative Bob Lynn
Representative Jay Ramras
Representative Berta Gardner
Representative Max Gruenberg
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Representative David Guttenberg
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARINGS(S)
Commissioner, Department of Administration
Scott J. Nordstrand - Juneau
- CONFIRMATION HEARD
Lieutenant Governor Designee
William A. Corbus - Juneau
- CONFIRMATION HEARD
Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC)
William Walters - Fairbanks
- CONFIRMATION HEARD
HOUSE BILL NO. 278
"An Act relating to the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority;
permitting the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority or a
subsidiary of the authority to assist state and municipal
governmental employers by issuing bonds and other commercial
paper to enable the governmental employers to prepay all or a
portion of the governmental employers' shares of the unfunded
accrued actuarial liabilities of retirement systems and
authorizing governmental employers to contract with and to issue
bonds, notes, or commercial paper to the authority or its
subsidiary corporation for that purpose; and providing for an
effective date."
- HEARD AND HELD
HOUSE BILL NO. 194
"An Act prohibiting a public officer from taking official action
regarding a matter in which the public officer has a significant
financial interest; and defining 'official action' for purposes
of the chapter generally referred to as the Executive Branch
Ethics Act."
- MOVED CSHB 194(STA) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 278
SHORT TITLE: RETIREMENT SYSTEM BONDS
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) HAWKER
04/19/05 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
04/19/05 (H) STA, FIN
01/12/06 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
01/12/06 (H) Heard & Held
01/12/06 (H) MINUTE(STA)
01/17/06 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
01/17/06 (H) Heard & Held
01/17/06 (H) MINUTE(STA)
01/19/06 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
01/19/06 (H) Heard & Held
01/19/06 (H) MINUTE(STA)
01/24/06 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
BILL: HB 194
SHORT TITLE: EXEC. BRANCH ETHICS: FINANCIAL INTERESTS
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) GARA
03/03/05 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/03/05 (H) STA, JUD
04/26/05 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
04/26/05 (H) Heard & Held
04/26/05 (H) MINUTE(STA)
01/24/06 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
WITNESS REGISTER
SCOTT NORDSTRAND, Commissioner
Department of Administration
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointed commissioner to the
Department of Administration.
WILLIAM A. CORBUS, Lieutenant Governor Designee
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as Lieutenant Governor Designee.
WILLIAM WALTERS, Appointee
to the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC)
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to APOC.
REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GUTTENBERG
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Stated for the record his opinion of
William Walters, appointee to the Alaska Public Offices
Commission (APOC).
REPRESENTATIVE LES GARA
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as sponsor of HB 194.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR PAUL SEATON called the House State Affairs Standing
Committee meeting to order at 8:09:23 AM. Present at the call
to order were Representatives Gatto, Elkins, Lynn, Gruenberg,
and Seaton. Representatives Ramras and Gardner arrived as the
meeting was in progress.
^CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)
^Commissioner, Department of Administration
8:11:11 AM
CHAIR SEATON brought before the committee the appointment of
Scott J. Nordstrand to the position of Commissioner of the
Department of Administration.
8:11:18 AM
SCOTT NORDSTRAND, Commissioner, Department of Administration,
offered a brief synopsis of his background. He told the
committee that he was raised in Wisconsin, earned a Bachelor of
Science from the University of Wisconsin, and graduated from the
University of North Dakota, with a degree in law. He came to
Alaska as a law clerk. In 2003, Governor Frank Murkowski
appointed Commissioner Nordstrand as deputy attorney general for
the Civil Division of the Department of Law, where he supervised
all civil legal matters and 140 lawyers in the division. He
served as deputy attorney general until his recent appointment
by Governor Murkowski as Commissioner of Administration. He
noted that he had been the acting attorney general after
Attorney General Gregg Renkes left the position.
8:15:08 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND stated that he is perhaps the only
attorney to have been appointed Commissioner of Administration.
He noted that there are many attorneys in the various offices
within the department, and he said he understands the unique
problems that they face. He said he has also spent much time
working as an employment lawyer, which is helpful background for
the department's work with personnel, labor relations, and
retirement and benefits. As a commercial and tort lawyer he is
familiar with contract, building lease, and procurement issues
that surface in the realm of general services. He stated his
greatest qualification is that as deputy attorney general for
the Civil Division, he provided legal services to the Department
of Administration for the last three years, which gave him a
broad background regarding the issues of the department.
8:17:06 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND cited the following needs of the
department within the area of technology: to upgrade its phone
system; to "standardize on Microsoft," the company with which
the department has entered into an enterprise agreement; to give
greater technological support to attorneys in the department; to
further consider a case management system; to reduce the number
of contracts within the department to a single contract in order
to save money; to implement electronic tools in order to "better
reuse work product for lawyers"; and to stabilize the computer
system at the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC).
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND stated that another important area that
needs work is in supporting state employees. One way to do
that, he said, is to provide good retirement and benefit
programs. He said the process is currently in motion, "rolling
out the new defined contribution plan." He mentioned RFPs for
record-keeping and education and financial advise in relation to
the new plan. He said the department is also in the process of
procuring a third-party administrator for the state's health
plan. The department supports state employees through the
implementation of a new state travel office, which has been
successful in reducing Medicaid travel costs. Commissioner
Nordstrand said another way to support state employees is to
improve their environment, which he said involves addressing
deferred maintenance. He said the department is committed to
obtaining the funds to continue fixing buildings in disrepair.
He shared an anecdote.
8:20:51 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO remarked that in some cases it is not just
plumbing, for example, that needs to be fixed, but the whole
building.
8:21:57 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND told Representative Gatto that the
department's General Services Division has a spreadsheet showing
every problem in every state-owned building and a plan to
address them. He supported having a priority list for fixing
them, and he said it's a matter of how much money to spend at
any given time. Commissioner Nordstrand emphasized that steady
progress is being made.
8:23:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asked Commissioner Nordstrand if he
supports or opposes government ownership of buildings. He
mentioned another option would be to lease buildings instead of
owning them.
8:23:41 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND offered his understanding that the state
currently owns and manages 19 buildings, which he supports. He
estimated that the state is involved in 550 leases aside from
the property it owns. He said there is a public building fund,
wherein agencies that populate the state-owned buildings make
monthly payments towards the continued maintenance.
8:24:53 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked Commissioner Nordstrand if he has
a team that specifically deals with building problems.
8:25:27 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND, in response to a question from
Representative Gruenberg, reiterated that the people who work in
General Services deal with the problems in buildings. In
response to follow-up questions from Representative Gruenberg,
he confirmed that the state leases property and there is a team
of five leasing agents who procure and supervise the leasing of
the state properties, as well as negotiate with landlords when
there are problems.
8:26:06 AM
CHAIR SEATON noted that last year the headquarters for the
Alaska Marine Highway System were moved from Juneau to
Ketchikan. He said, "At that time we were going into the lease
of a building that was 50 years old [and not insulated]." He
stated his understanding that at that time the owner of the
building was responsible for the heat. He said his
understanding now is that there is a move for the state to buy
the building and "take all that liability on ourselves." He
asked Commissioner Nordstrand to comment from the department's
standpoint as to whether that would be a good idea.
8:27:16 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND responded that he doesn't know about the
specifics of that case, but as a general rule he doesn't think
the state should buy buildings that are not in good condition or
cannot be brought up to better condition.
8:28:42 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ELKINS said he was surprised to learn that
elevators in the capitol are the legislature's responsibility.
8:29:19 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER said she has a particular interest in
ethics and full disclosure and has been talking with people in
APOC about some of their needs. She said yesterday she learned
that the people at APOC were impressed that Commissioner
Nordstrand had come to one of their meetings, because that had
never happened before.
8:29:58 AM
CHAIR SEATON said the legislature passed a law that required
electronic reporting. Then an exemption was passed that allowed
the reporting to be done by hand, which Chair Seaton said was
good because the system was so slow. He asked Commissioner
Nordstrand to provide more details regarding the previously
mentioned APOC computer upgrade.
8:30:50 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND replied that the upgrades are twofold:
First is the delivery of data to the public, through the web
site. That delivery of information is the primary purpose of
APOC, he said. In the past, he explained, there have been
problems with heavy traffic to the web site, which is not
acceptable. He said he has been trying to find a more
"bulletproof" means of delivering the information. He said that
is going to be done before the next election cycle. Second is
the use of resources at APOC. He said currently there is a rate
of approximately 15 percent electronic filing, which he said is
woefully low. He stated that it's a time-consuming process to
enter data by hand, and mistakes can be made. He encouraged the
use of electronic filing. He said it is known that the software
provided in the past to use for electronic filing is
problematic; therefore, as an interim solution, APOC developed a
spreadsheet that can be used to input data and then be sent by
e-mail. He reported that there is a long-term, web-based data
input process that is under development, but it is not scheduled
to be done until 2007. Commissioner Nordstrand stated his
desire to find some interim tools that will allow more people to
file electronically. He mentioned the question of mandatory
versus voluntary and said, "I think the answer is to try to
guilt people into doing it and to make it easy for them to do
it." He said raising the rate of electronic filing to 50
percent would free up the time for the people at APOC to be even
more responsive to questions and to educate.
8:34:09 AM
REPRESENTATIVE RAMRAS complimented the director of the Division
of Motor Vehicles, Mr. Bannock, for his work, and he asked
Commissioner Nordstrand to comment on that agency, which he said
affects tens of thousands of Alaskans.
8:35:42 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND recollected that Mr. Bannock finds
himself to be a success if 94-95 percent of the time the wait at
the Division of Motor Vehicles is 20 minutes or less. He said
Mr. Bannock eliminates some of his customers by utilizing
business partnerships. He mentioned legislation which might
help maintain those relationships and expand them further.
8:37:22 AM
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN indicated that the program [used by APOC]
doesn't always recognize upgrades. He said he had that happen
when trying to do campaign, legislative, and personal business.
Regarding campaign disclosures filed with APOC, he noted that
they can be done electronically or by hand. He said he suspects
that some people purposely write poorly to slow down the
process. He described such an action as playing games to the
detriment of the public. He said he would like to see some kind
of electronic disclosure system where anybody can
instantaneously see any campaign contributions made. He said he
thinks that would streamline APOC to be able to do the things it
is supposed to be doing. He asked Commissioner Nordstrand to
investigate the issue.
8:42:05 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND said he would be happy to look into that
but thinks it would require statutory revisions.
8:42:39 AM
CHAIR SEATON, regarding a new identification system to replace
passports to get into Canada, asked if that is the purview of a
state agency.
8:43:02 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND said he doesn't know but suspects that
it may be issued by the federal government as a sort of
"passport light" - an alternative to requiring everyone to have
a passport.
8:43:34 AM
CHAIR SEATON stated his understanding that federal laws have
been passed that would require verification of U.S. citizenship
before the issuance of drivers' licenses. He asked Commissioner
Nordstrand, "Do you have any plans for how to do that?"
8:44:42 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND said he thinks the federal program is
called the "Real ID program." He said it will put additional
burdens on the Division of Motor Vehicles to verify that the
people to whom it gives identification cards are really who they
say they are. He said he understands scanners are being
installed and birth certificates will be scanned into the
system. He said he thinks there are significant new
requirements for the Division of Motor vehicles and [Mr.
Bannock] considers himself to be part of the front line of
national defense, in terms of that issue.
8:45:45 AM
CHAIR SEATON said there is a large population living in the
Alaska Bush, many of whom were not born in a hospital. He said
he hopes there would be communication with that population to
prevent someone traveling to a city to get a license only to
have it denied.
8:46:17 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER stated her understanding that there may
be some lawsuits pending "on that issue."
8:46:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO mentioned Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) and explained how it worked. He told Commissioner
Nordstrand that he bought the Quicken computer program and
answered everything on his "report" on Quicken; however, he
predicts he will have to hand copy everything on that report
onto an APOC form. He said he would like to see a system by
which a person could just send APOC a floppy disc and be done
with it. He stated that he would love to streamline the whole
APOC reporting system.
8:51:07 AM
CHAIR SEATON observed that the committee members are relating
their frustrations with APOC, and he said he is glad that
Commissioner Nordstrand is working on the problems in APOC.
8:51:37 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND, in response to Representative
Gruenberg's request from a prior day regarding Alaska
Communication Systems, Inc. (ACS) and contract extensions, said
he has not yet had a chance to report on the subject, but he
will.
8:52:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked what changes would be made with
the structure of labor relations and negotiating teams.
8:52:42 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND answered none. In response to a follow-
up question from Representative Gruenberg, said he mentioned two
current negotiations, but said none of the major contracts are
up this year. He offered further details.
8:53:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked Commissioner Nordstrand to
contrast what his role will be in negotiations as commissioner
versus what it was as deputy attorney general.
8:54:11 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND responded that his role as deputy
attorney general was to provide legal advise to Labor Relations
as that entity requested it. He said very little had to do with
actual contract negotiations; more often labor lawyers from the
Department of Law were used in connection with grievance
arbitrations. As Commissioner of the Department of
Administration, he said, he supervises Labor Relations through a
deputy and doesn't see his role as being any different than that
of any prior commissioner. He stated that where the
commissioner is really involved is in figuring out expenditures
and balancing the budget, as well as "getting sign-on from the
governor's office on making proposals ...." He said that he
does not presume to be involved in the details of contract
negotiations as commissioner, and he added that his legal
background is not as a labor negotiator.
8:55:44 AM
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN indicated that money is given to the Union
Health Trust to spend on contracts, and he said it appears that
control over what that trust does is being lost. He offered an
example of a constituent who couldn't get the Union Health Trust
to pay for a circumcision, "but they could, in fact, use it for
abortion." He asked if it is possible to insist on where the
money goes, or if "we just lose total control of what these
people do with it."
8:56:56 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND said [the Union Health Trust] largely
runs itself, and the department has limited ability to supervise
what plans it pays and how it pays them. He offered his
understanding that the department simply sends the money to
essentially pay the premiums for the trust.
8:57:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN said it seems that since it is the state's
money going to the trust, the state should have the ability to
"tie some strings" regarding how that money will be spent.
8:57:45 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked Commissioner Nordstrand what his
role will be in the administration of the new retirement plans.
8:58:05 AM
COMMISSIONER NORDSTRAND said he is referred to as the
administrator of all the plans - the legacy plans as well as the
new defined contribution plan. As a result of SB 141, he sits
on the new Alaska Retirement Management (ARM) Board. He opined
that the financial advise and education component of the new
retirement plan are the most important factors. He emphasized
the importance of ensuring employees on the new plan can get
help in making choices between the 10 or more funds that are
available to them.
CHAIR SEATON thanked Commissioner Nordstrand for sitting before
the committee.
[The confirmation hearing for Commissioner Nordstrand was held
over to the Thursday, January 26, 2006, meeting of the House
State Affairs Standing Committee.]
^Lieutenant Governor Designee
8:59:48 AM
CHAIR SEATON brought before the committee the appointment of
William A. Corbus to the position of Lieutenant Governor
Designee. He noted the existence of AS 44.19.040, which read as
follows:
Sec. 44.19.040. Appointment of successor to
lieutenant governor.
After taking an initial term of office, the governor
shall appoint, from among the officers who head the
principal departments of the state government or
otherwise, a person to succeed to the office of
lieutenant governor if the office of lieutenant
governor becomes vacant. The appointment is subject
to confirmation by a majority of the members of the
legislature meeting in joint session. The person
designated and confirmed is next in line for
succession to the office of lieutenant governor,
subject to the pleasure of the governor. If the person
designated and confirmed is removed from or vacates
the appointment, the governor shall appoint a
successor subject to confirmation in the same manner
as the person initially appointed.
CHAIR SEATON stated that even though the language in statute is
"shall", the appointment of a successor to the lieutenant
governor has only been done twice before.
9:01:56 AM
WILLIAM A. CORBUS, Lieutenant Governor Designee, told the
committee that he has served as the Commissioner of the
Department of Revenue since December 16, 2002. He said Governor
Frank Murkowski submitted his name for Lieutenant Governor
Designee, as specified in the previously noted statute. He said
he has lived in Alaska since March 1970 and, prior to coming to
work for the administration, was employed primarily as the
general manager for the Alaska Electric Light & Power Company.
He also served as bank director for 25 years for three different
banks. He said he has been active in civic affairs,
participated in trade organizations such as the Alaska State
Chamber of Commerce, served on various state municipal boards
and commissions, and worked with nonprofit organizations that
address some of the state's social problems. He concluded,
"Consistent with my previous service to my community and the
state, I accepted the position of Commissioner of [the
Department of] Revenue in order to help the governor contribute
to the betterment of our state. Similarly, I'm willing to
accept this contingent responsibility under AS 44.19.040."
9:04:14 AM
MR. CORBUS, in response to a question from Chair Seaton, cited
the duties of the lieutenant governor: to oversee the
activities of the Division of Elections; to oversee the
processing of regulations; to keep the seal; to approve notary
public certificates; to distribute copies of the Alaska State
Constitution on request; to serve on three boards; and, most
importantly, to be next in line [after the lieutenant governor],
should something happen to the present governor.
MR. CORBUS, in response to a question from Representative
Gruenberg, confirmed that he would have to relinquish his job as
Commissioner of the Department of Revenue if he were needed to
step into the role of Lieutenant Governor.
9:06:46 AM
MR. CORBUS, in response to a question from Representative
Ramras, said he has no aspirations to be governor.
9:06:52 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO recalled all the events that Lieutenant
Governor Loren Leman attended over the last weekend, and he said
it's a welcome feeling to have a person from a high level of
government show up at small community events.
[The confirmation hearing for Mr. Corbus was held over to the
Thursday, January 26, 2006, meeting of the House State Affairs
Standing Committee.]
^Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC)
9:09:29 AM
CHAIR SEATON brought before the committee the appointment of
William Walters to the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC).
9:09:52 AM
WILLIAM WALTERS, Appointee to the Alaska Public Offices
Commission (APOC), noted that his appointment took place on May
19, 2005. He said he has lived in Alaska since 1981. He worked
for the Alaska Gold Company and presently works as a hearing
officer for the Division of Workers' Compensation, within the
Department of Labor & Workforce Development. He noted that he
has served on the Fairbanks Northstar Borough Planning
Commission and on a local boundary commission for the state. He
said he was born in Pennsylvania, attended law school at the
University of Texas at Austin, and practiced law there for
several years before coming up to Alaska. He said he is
undertaking this appointment as a public service and would be
honored to serve the state.
9:11:40 AM
MR. WALTERS, in response to a question from Representative
Gruenberg, said he is not on the Alaska Bar but is on the Texas
Bar. In response to a follow-up question from Representative
Gruenberg, he said it is not a requirement to be a member of the
Alaska bar in order to be a hearing officer for the Division of
Workers' Compensation.
9:13:46 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked Mr. Walters if he thinks it
should be a requirement to be a member of the Alaska Bar in
order to be a hearing officer.
9:14:10 AM
MR. WALTERS responded that since he is a hearing officer he
doesn't think it would be appropriate to answer that question.
9:14:57 AM
MR. WALTERS, in response to a question from Chair Seaton, said
he does not see any conflict in being a hearing officer for the
Division of Workers' Compensation and serving on APOC. He
revealed that he has had to file APOC disclosures since 1987
and, therefore, is in a situation of potentially overseeing
problems that may arise in his own files. He said that would be
the same case as with any other public officer with the State of
Alaska. He stated that certainly if he saw a conflict he would
recuse himself from "any case involving something that could
possibly touch on me."
9:15:40 AM
CHAIR SEATON remarked that Mr. Walters' having gone through the
APOC system may give him a better appreciation of how it works.
9:16:16 AM
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN asked Mr. Williams what he would do to make
APOC a better operation than it already is.
9:16:58 AM
MR. WALTERS agreed that with its 8- to 9-member staff, APOC is
covering quite a broad spectrum of issues and undertaking quite
a bit of work. "The computer programs that are being worked on
will no doubt help the agency in its work and hopefully make it
much more useable to the public and easier for those of us that
have to file," he said. He encouraged the legislature to keep
an eye on the agency's budget and continue to support APOC. He
said he is aware that APOC has had incremental budget cuts over
the years and has done "a yeoman effort" in keeping up with the
work.
9:17:55 AM
CHAIR SEATON said when the switch was made to electronic filing,
the legislature cut APOC's budget; however, when at the last
moment paper filing was reinstituted, the legislature did not
follow that with a budget increase. He said the legislature has
to take some responsibility for that.
9:18:29 AM
REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GUTTENBERG, Alaska State Legislature,
stated for the record his opinion that Mr. Walters is "one of
the most level-headed, focused, articulate people you'll find"
and "has a clear way of getting to the point and making the
right decision." He said Mr. Walters has high moral standards
and values that he imposes on himself and can be trusted to make
a right decision.
CHAIR SEATON announced that the confirmation hearing for Mr.
Walters would be held over until Thursday, January 26, 2006.
HB 278-RETIREMENT SYSTEM BONDS
9:19:47 AM
CHAIR SEATON announced that the next order of business was HOUSE
BILL NO. 278, "An Act relating to the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank
Authority; permitting the Alaska Municipal Bond Bank Authority
or a subsidiary of the authority to assist state and municipal
governmental employers by issuing bonds and other commercial
paper to enable the governmental employers to prepay all or a
portion of the governmental employers' shares of the unfunded
accrued actuarial liabilities of retirement systems and
authorizing governmental employers to contract with and to issue
bonds, notes, or commercial paper to the authority or its
subsidiary corporation for that purpose; and providing for an
effective date."
CHAIR SEATON noted that in the committee packet there is a
letter from Tamara Cook, Director, Legal Services, dated January
5, 2006, which is a response to questions from the House Special
Committee on Ways and Means chair, Representative Bruce
Weyhrauch. Chair Seaton said Representative Weyhrauch's
questions were in regard to [municipalities] and "issuance
without a vote" or "not applying to capital projects."
CHAIR SEATON, after ascertaining that there was no one to
testify, closed public testimony. He said the committee is
awaiting an amendment. He asked the committee members to look
at all the information in their packets and be ready to move the
bill at its next hearing.
[HB 278 was heard and held.]
HB 194-EXEC. BRANCH ETHICS: FINANCIAL INTERESTS
9:22:07 AM
CHAIR SEATON announced that the last order of business was HOUSE
BILL NO. 194, "An Act prohibiting a public officer from taking
official action regarding a matter in which the public officer
has a significant financial interest; and defining 'official
action' for purposes of the chapter generally referred to as the
Executive Branch Ethics Act."
9:22:20 AM
REPRESENTATIVE LES GARA, Alaska State Legislature, testified as
sponsor of HB 194. He reviewed that the bill came about last
year because of ethics questions revolving around "the Gregg
Renkes affair." He mentioned Mr. Bundy, an independent counsel,
and a counsel for the Personnel Board.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA reviewed the problem as follows:
Even though the law prevents you from acting in a way
to benefit your own financial interest, there's always
been an exception in the law that says, "Except when
that interest is insignificant." And the attorneys
said maybe it's not so clear what insignificant is in
our law.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA reminded the committee of the numerous
amendments that were bandied about to decide on an amount that
could be called significant, finally deciding on $10,000, which
is right in line with what many other states do. He said the
public called for a quick fix and "this, I think, is an
appropriate way to deal with that issue."
9:24:27 AM
CHAIR SEATON noted that a copy of the "Alaska Executive Branch
Ethics Act" is in the committee packet.
9:25:10 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA, in response to a question from
Representative Gatto, confirmed that there is a separate ethics
code for executive ethics.
9:25:25 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO asked Representative Gara if he thinks
there should be one set of rules for the executive and
legislative to follow.
9:25:40 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said he doesn't think so. He said he
doesn't think an executive branch member should ever work on an
issue that has a bearing on his/her financial situation.
Legislators on the House floor declare their conflict, then
still have to vote. He said if executive [ethics] rules applied
on the House floor, for example, then many House members would
not be allowed to vote, even on mundane issues. He suggested
that the legislative ethics rules might be strengthened, but
should not be the same.
9:26:49 AM
CHAIR SEATON said he thinks the general provisions are there,
but how they should apply to an elected official versus an
administrative official are slightly different.
9:27:11 AM
REPRESENTATIVE RAMRAS said he is an advocate of clean government
but wants to know how an amount is decided upon - how the bright
line is set.
9:28:51 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said the language of the law says a person
cannot use state time, property, equipment, or official action
to benefit his/her personal interest. He continued:
I think that should be the end of the law; I think you
just shouldn't do it if it benefits you. A lot of
people had made the point that if ... it's a minor
financial interest, then it's not that big of a deal.
And so, there's this exception in our law that says if
the amount is insignificant, then we're just not going
to hassle you about it. I ... don't know that I agree
with that exception; I think I might just have the
flat rule that if you do something to benefit yourself
or your financial position, it's improper. But
recognizing that almost no other state goes that far,
and recognizing that Mr. Bundy and Mr. Daniel had done
a fair amount of research to try and figure out what
might be most workable, I decided to go with what
seems to fall within the range of what other states
have done, and they grant the exception for what is
$5,000 or $10,000 worth of a financial interest.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said there is no scientific reason that he
chose the amount of $5,000, and he said he thinks the
committee's choice of $10,000 is fine.
9:30:53 AM
CHAIR SEATON, after ascertaining that there was no one else to
testify, closed public testimony.
9:32:01 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO moved to report HB 194, as amended, out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHB 194(STA) was
reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
State Affairs Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at
9:32:50 AM.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|