01/26/2010 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Overview(s): Alaska Land Mobile Radio | |
| Confirmation Hearing(s): Lieutenant Governor's Successor | |
| HB76 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | HB 76 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
January 26, 2010
8:04 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Bob Lynn, Chair
Representative Paul Seaton, Vice Chair
Representative Carl Gatto
Representative Craig Johnson
Representative Peggy Wilson
Representative Max Gruenberg
Representative Pete Petersen
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
OVERVIEW(S): ALASKA LAND MOBILE RADIO
- HEARD
CONFIRMATION HEARING: LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR'S SUCCESSOR
- HEARD
HOUSE BILL NO. 76
"An Act relating to the membership of the Alaska Legislative
Council and the membership of the Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 76
SHORT TITLE: LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL & LB&A MEMBERSHIP
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) GRUENBERG, BUCH, CISSNA, DOOGAN,
GARDNER, GUTTENBERG, HOLMES, KAWASAKI, KERTTULA, PETERSEN,
SALMON, TUCK
01/20/09 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/16/09
01/20/09 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/20/09 (H) STA, FIN
03/12/09 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
03/12/09 (H) Scheduled But Not Heard
04/09/09 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
04/09/09 (H) Scheduled But Not Heard
01/26/10 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
WITNESS REGISTER
RACHAEL PETRO, Deputy Commissioner
Department of Administration
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information during the overview on
the Alaska Land Mobile Radio (ALMR).
JIM KOHLER, Deputy Director
Juneau Business Office
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided technical information related to
the overview on the Alaska Land Mobile Radio (ALMR).
LARRY HARTIG, Commissioner
Department of Environmental Conservation;
Appointee
lieutenant governor's successor
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: As appointee to the position of lieutenant
governor's successor, discussed his background and answered
questions.
ACTION NARRATIVE
8:04:02 AM
CHAIR BOB LYNN called the House State Affairs Standing Committee
meeting to order at 8:04 a.m. Representatives Seaton, Gatto,
Johnson, Petersen, and Lynn were present at the call to order.
Representatives Gruenberg and Wilson arrived as the meeting was
in progress.
^OVERVIEW(S): ALASKA LAND MOBILE RADIO
OVERVIEW(S): ALASKA LAND MOBILE RADIO
8:04:24 AM
CHAIR LYNN announced that the first order of business was the
overview regarding the Alaska Land Mobile Radio.
8:05:34 AM
RACHAEL PETRO, Deputy Commissioner, Department of
Administration, noted that in the committee packet is a "white
paper" and timeline update related to ALMR. Also in the
committee packet, she said, are frequently asked questions
related to the State of Alaska Telecommunication (SAT) System,
on which ALMR depends.
8:07:22 AM
JIM KOHLER, Deputy Director, Juneau Business Office, reviewed
that ALMR is a specific radio communications system designed for
public safety "first responders." The benefit of the system, he
said, is that it allows full interoperability, so that first
responders from various departments are able to communicate with
each other on the same radio frequency.
CHAIR LYNN related that in the past he served as a fire fighter,
and there was a radio frequency called "the guard channel" which
everyone involved used for communication. He said the system
proved helpful when coordinating between different entities.
MR. KOHLER confirmed such systems were used, but pointed out
that the challenge of those older systems was the necessity to
"frequency hop." The present ALMR system eliminates that and
also allows an incident commander to speak with all agencies.
8:10:02 AM
MS. PETRO stated that the ALMR project has been a cooperative
since its beginning. She recalled that when last before the
committee, in January 2008, the cooperative agreement had just
been signed between the State of Alaska, the U.S. Department of
Defense (DOD), and non-DOD federal agencies involved. At that
time, the Alaska Municipal League (AML) chose to become an
associate member of the cooperative.
MS. PETRO reported that the state has two additional ALMR sites
to build: one in Ketchikan and one in Haines. She said both
projects were scheduled to be complete by now, but a site change
in Haines and a U.S. Forest Service delay in Ketchikan slowed
down the progress. Ms. Petro said the department anticipates
that both those projects will be completed by August [2010].
8:11:07 AM
MR. KOHLER, in response to Chair Lynn, said currently it is
possible to speak with Canadian personnel via the ALMR system,
although there would be limited conversation. He stated that it
would be possible to link a conversation from Alaska to the
Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and the Yukon.
8:12:47 AM
MS. PETRO said a total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis was
completed in August 2009. An executive summary of the TCO is in
the committee packet, while the full study is available on line.
She stated that the TCO accomplished three things: identified
and quantified future operations and maintenance (O&M) costs for
the ALMR system at [$5.4 million] annually; put O&M costs in
context with other somewhat similar systems; documented the
actual cost of the ALMR system through June 30, 2008, at $151
million for a total of 8 sites, with a cost for the 15 Anchorage
Wide Area Network (AWARN) sites at $193 million.
MS. PETRO reported that since the department's last briefing to
the House State Affairs Standing Committee, an economic analysis
was conducted. The purpose of the analysis was to decide
whether to keep the ALMR cooperative intact or to divide it into
separate entities. She said the analysis conducted an
independent validation for "cost reasonableness" across the
system and "benchmarked" with the two other systems: the
Pacific Land Mobile Radio, in Hawaii, and the Fort Lewis Mobile
Radio in Washington. The conclusion was that it would be more
costly for independent entities within Alaska to create separate
interoperable land mobile radio systems than it would be to
maintain the current cooperative system. She stated, "It is
very important to note that the ultimate conclusion of this
economic analysis was that the total benefit and capability of
the interoperable system could not be obtained separately by any
of the major stakeholder groups currently partners in the ALMR
system, considering the build out and the sustainment costs of
such systems."
8:15:52 AM
MS. PETRO, regarding the issue of current funding, reported that
the governor has proposed in the fiscal year 2011 (FY 11) budget
to cover the cost for both the municipal and State of Alaska
agency per-radio handset cost. She highlighted that the
department has worked with partners to reduce ongoing
maintenance costs, particularly in the Office of Management &
Operations (OMO). She said the department is pleased it has
been able to reduce costs from $629,000 in FY 09 to $440,000 in
FY 10, and there is a proposed cost of $450,000 for FY 11.
8:17:02 AM
MS. PETRO said Colonel George Hays, DOD's ALMR Executive Council
representative, explained to the council that there is a
fundamental procurement conflict within DOD when it comes to
supporting the ALMR system in the future. Originally DOD's
support for the ALMR project originated with a direct mission-
related need for munitions transport along the highway system.
That need no longer exists today. She stated, "That is in
direct conflict with DOD's directive from Homeland Security to
support civil authorities." She said Colonel Hayes has offered
assurance that he is working to resolve these issues.
MS. PETRO said that because ALMR is a mature cooperative that
has effectively followed the national guidance for "224
standards" to achieve the single standards-based shared system,
the Office of Emergency Communications (OEC), within the federal
Department of Homeland Security, will be conducting a study on
ALMR to document the legal, regulatory, and fiscal contracting
barriers. Ms. Petro relayed that ALMR partners have used to
resolve past barriers, OEC is dedicated to putting together a
plan to "resolve the barriers that ALMR faced," so that other
cooperatives around the country will face those same barriers.
8:19:54 AM
MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Johnson, said the
Municipality of Anchorage currently has 12 sites, with 3 more to
be built.
MR. KOHLER, in response to Representative Johnson, stated that
the construction of the ALMR system, exclusive of the separate
system being built by the Municipality of Anchorage, costs over
$150 million. The addition of the separate system of the
Municipality of Anchorage, which costs approximately $30
million, brings the total cost of the entire interoperable
system to $190 million.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON concluded that the average cost per site
is $10 million.
MR. KOHLER responded that the Anchorage Municipality system has
15 sites, totaling approximately $30 million, and included in
that is the cost of 600-700 handsets at $5,000 a piece.
Therefore, he explained, the per site cost is closer to between
$750,000 and $1 million.
MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Johnson, confirmed that
there are no handsets listed for the Municipality of Anchorage
on the municipal and nongovernmental organization (NGO) list.
She explained that the Municipality of Anchorage is a partner,
but it does not participate in the cost-share portion, because
it owns its own equipment.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON said he wants to know how handsets are
included in cost if the Municipality of Anchorage owns its own
system.
8:22:47 AM
MR. KOHLER said he understands the confusion. He explained that
although the Municipality of Anchorage is building and
maintaining its own interoperable communication system, there
are times when it needs to use the state's system and times when
the state needs to use the municipality's system. There is an
agreement not to charge each other for that crossover use. The
Municipality of Anchorage is funding its handsets through its
own revenue source and is not relying on ALMR funding for its
system. He said, "So, handset support, as well as the
maintenance and construction of their system, is a funding
resourced project separate from any funding flowing through the
state or federal government to the ALMR system." Mr. Kohler
noted that the handset list included in the committee packet
pertains to all the municipalities within the ALMR system.
MS. PETRO, in response to a follow-up question, said she is not
aware of any time in which the Municipality of Anchorage has
asked for assistance, but encouraged Representative Johnson to
speak directly to the municipal authorities because she said she
does not want to speak for them. She said if the Municipality
of Anchorage were to ask for support, that discussion would be
brought to the legislature.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON said he anticipates that that issue will
arise.
8:26:39 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked how many emergency responders are
not on the list in the committee packet, and why.
8:27:13 AM
MR. KOHLER explained that decisions are made locally as to which
entities to add to the system. He said, for example, that the
City & Borough of Juneau is bringing more of its first
responders into the system as it matures. He said he fully
expects all entities to be on the system in time.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG requested the names of all first
responders who are not on the list. He then asked from what
source the funds for the Municipality of Anchorage's system
come.
MS. PETRO said the tax payers of Anchorage partially pay for the
system there, with federal dollars covering a portion of the
cost.
MR. KOHLER added that at least 95 percent of the dollars applied
to build the Municipality of Anchorage's system, including the
cost of the municipality's handsets, have been acquired through
federal grant funding.
8:31:11 AM
MS. PETRO, in response to a question from Representative
Gruenberg, confirmed that the timeline in the committee packet
only goes through 2009. She reiterated that two ALMR sites will
be completed in 2010, as well as three Anchorage Wide Area Radio
Network (AWARN) sites. She anticipated that another milestone
for 2010 may be the completion of a study by [the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security's] Office of Emergency
Communications (OEC).
8:32:02 AM
MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Gruenberg, referred to
pie charts in the committee packet, one of which illustrates
that the core infrastructure costs are funded by DOD and the
State of Alaska. Then there are shared costs, which are for
each radio. She deferred to Mr. Kohler for further information.
8:32:54 AM
MR. KOHLER directed attention to the pie chart labeled,
"Estimated Annual FY 11 ALMR O&M Costs $5,339,449." He said one
cost related to ALMR is the cost of the actual maintenance of
the ALMR equipment. The responsibility for maintaining the
equipment rests with the individuals that own it, he said. Mr.
Kohler related that the projected cost of infrastructure
maintenance, as shown on the pie chart, is [$3,273,949]. The
projected cost for state-owned equipment that the state pays for
and maintains is approximately $1.3 million of that, he said.
The U.S. Department of Defense owns the balance of the equipment
and independently spends approximately $1.8 million just to
maintain its own equipment. Another set of costs, Mr. Kohler
relayed, are the operating costs, which cover the management of
the use of the system by all parties. Those are costs that are
shared; they are distributed across all users. The shared costs
are just over $2 million and are distributed across 13,500
handsets currently in use in the system. He said the Department
of Defense has about 46 percent of the handsets. He said the
pie chart [labeled "Total ALMR Handsets December 31, 2009"] is
critical, because it shows, from a shared cost perspective, who
owns how many handsets. All four stakeholders meet and work at
the executive council level and have a cooperative agreement to
calculate costs for operating maintenance and request dollars
from the funding authority.
8:37:54 AM
MS. PETRO, in response to Representative P. Wilson, said local
entities make their own decisions regarding how many handsets to
have.
MR. KOHLER confirmed that is correct. He added that
municipalities have secured funding for handsets, usually from
outside sources, but they determine how many they want for their
system.
8:41:41 AM
MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Wilson, said
approximately 10 years ago, Motorola was the sole company
producing handsets. Today, she relayed, there are three or four
entities producing Project 25 (P25)-capable radios, and all of
those radios are used in conjunction with the ALMR system.
MR. KOHLER added further details. He said the ALMR council does
not promote any particular handset, but asks to be able to test
any new handset system before it goes out on the market in
Alaska.
8:43:41 AM
MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Wilson and Chair Lynn,
said she believes that as the selection of handsets expands,
hopefully the cost will come down. She said the state follows
its usual procedural standards of procurement.
MR. KOHLER reiterated that the way the ALMR project is set up,
the entity that owns equipment is responsible for the cost of
its maintenance. He noted that the majority of local handsets
have been purchased through various federal grants from the
Department of Homeland Security.
8:48:31 AM
MS. PETRO, in response to a question from Representative Gatto,
said there is nothing prohibiting anyone from buying a handset;
however, that does not mean everyone is allowed access to the
system, which is a secure system. The media, for example, is
not allowed on the system. In response to another question from
Representative Gatto, she said discussions about the ALMR system
started before 1997. She deferred to Mr. Kohler to provide
further information.
MR. KOHLER relayed that the executive council is comprised of
representatives from four entities that came together in 1997 to
figure out how to achieve the ALMR system. Those entities were:
the Department of Defense, the State of Alaska, representatives
from municipalities, and all the non-DOD federal agencies. The
executive council seats one person from each of those entities,
and that council has the government's authority regarding how
the project was built and how it will continue.
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO said that in 1996, as a member of the
Anchorage Fire Department, he helped fight the Miller's Reach
fire, and at that time he did not see any difficulty with
communications. He said he is wondering if the system that is
currently in place has served the state well, and he questioned
what the state is getting in return for its investment.
8:53:59 AM
MS. PETRO, regarding the concern that the system in place was
started long ago, assured Representative Gatto that new
technology is being utilized.
8:54:35 AM
MR. KOHLER added that the system is one that allows every public
safety responder agency in the state to communicate with each
other in the event of an incident that requires a full range of
multiagency response. He emphasized the number of frequencies
necessary to be able to build a system. He said the state does
not have enough frequencies allocated by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to be able to set up and operate
a communication system across its entire road system; therefore,
it takes all frequencies being pooled together to create a
single system that relies on that larger pool of frequencies.
8:56:43 AM
CHAIR LYNN noted that he had to leave for another meeting and
offered comments related to Colonel Hartig [upcoming].
CHAIR LYNN passed the gavel to Vice Chair Seaton.
8:57:35 AM
VICE CHAIR SEATON mentioned the recent earthquake disaster in
Haiti, and said he anticipates there are a number of committee
questions in need of follow-up answers. For example, he said he
wants to know if there are P25-capable systems in Haiti, and
whether the systems in use during the disaster have maintained
their integrity.
MS. PETRO, in response to a comment by Vice Chair Seaton, said
the department recommends that the entities use the ALMR within
their daily operations so that they are familiar with its use in
the event of an emergency.
9:01:05 AM
MR. KOHLER said it is a rare exception, only in the case of
small, local communities, where the ALMR handset is not used as
the day-to-day radio system. By December 31, 2011, all local
municipalities within the state will have to convert to
narrowband frequency for their public safety radio operations.
Any community that is not using the ALMR system for its day-to-
day radio will have to reconstruct its local system to meet the
new standards. The ALMR system meets those requirements. He
said the narrowband mandate was issued by the FCC between 1990
and 1992 when it started "refarming" frequencies, and now that
the equipment is available, there has been no sign that the FCC
will waiver from enforcing the aforementioned mandate.
9:04:31 AM
MR. KOHLER, in response to Representative Petersen, confirmed
that the ALMR system relies on "line of sight." There are some
ALMR sites in Anchorage that could be of use to Anchorage's
system if something were to happen to it and vice versa. He
said, "So, there is some redundancy within Anchorage, but it is
not 100 percent redundancy."
MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Petersen, confirmed
that the ALMR system has high security standards.
9:08:35 AM
MR. KOHLER, in response to Vice Chair Seaton, said a handset is
any type of communication equipment, whether it is a mounted
unit within a motor vehicle or a hand carried unit. In a
majority of cases, the public safety officials on the system use
a handheld unit.
9:11:08 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said this is a technical issue, and he
requested that members be given a couple days to put together
written questions.
VICE CHAIR SEATON said that is in line with the wishes of Chair
Lynn.
9:12:56 AM
MR. KOHLER, in response to Representative Gatto, reviewed the
meaning of a "line of sight" system and indicated that the same
limitations apply to handsets as cell phones, because they both
use line of sight.
9:15:04 AM
MS. PETRO, in response to a question from Representative
Johnson, said there is approximately $660,000 in the governor's
request for projected handset use cost, as well as $376,000 for
municipal shared costs. Additionally, the budget includes
projections for the infrastructure cost of $1.3 [million]. The
total is roughly $2.2 million.
MR. KOHLER, in response to a question from Representative
Johnson, estimated that there are 1,000 handsets that could be
made available without taking handsets from existing users on
the system. In response to a follow-up question, he said that
if another state sent handsets to Alaska as an emergency
response, it would take approximately 10-15 minutes to program
those handsets for use in Alaska.
9:18:47 AM
REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON expressed concern about small
communities being able to maintain handsets. She asked about
the expense of maintenance.
MR. KOHLER answered that of the approximately 4,000 handsets
that the State of Alaska maintains, it sees about 10-15 a year
that malfunction and need repair. The handsets are reliable, so
that the amount necessary to maintain them is negligible. He
said if any entity has handsets that need repair, "we" can work
with the community and lend handsets from "the cash unit" so the
community can maintain its radio quantity until it regains its
system.
9:22:33 AM
MS. PETRO told the committee that she would be happy to return
with more answers to any future questions from the committee.
9:23:07 AM
^CONFIRMATION HEARING(S): LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR'S SUCCESSOR
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S): LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR'S SUCCESSOR
VICE CHAIR announced the next order of business was the
confirmation hearing of Larry Hartig, Commissioner, Department
of Environmental Conservation (DEC), as appointee to the
position of lieutenant governor's successor.
[CHAIR LYNN, at 8:57 a.m., had remarked that he had the pleasure
of meeting Commissioner Hartig and was pleased with what he
heard regarding Commissioner Hartig's qualifications as
appointee to the Office of Lieutenant Governor.]
9:23:41 AM
LARRY HARTIG, Commissioner, Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC); Appointee to the position of lieutenant
governor's successor, offered a brief history of his
professional experience. He said he has only been in public
service for three years, but has enjoyed the experience. He
said he hopes he never has to fulfill the duty of taking over
for the Lieutenant Governor, but said it is an honor to be asked
to be "standing in the wings if needed."
9:26:25 AM
MR. HARTIG, in response to Vice Chair Seaton, said the primary
task of the lieutenant governor is to oversee the Division of
Elections. He added that the lieutenant governor also has a
role in the initiative process, the filing of regulations,
keeping the state seal, and ensuring the appointment of notaries
public. In response to Representative Wilson, he offered his
understanding that until such time as he may be needed to step
into the role of lieutenant governor, he is allowed to retain
his current job. He said he plans to ask the governor and
lieutenant governor to tell him any critical information he
would need to know should he be called to fill the role of
lieutenant governor.
9:30:58 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON congratulated Colonel Hartig on his
appointment.
9:31:23 AM
MR. HARTIG, in response to a question from Vice Chair Seaton,
offered his understanding that it is the lieutenant governor's
responsibility to ensure the director of elections is an
experienced, capable person dedicated to the task at hand, which
includes making certain there is good communication with all
those involved with elections in communities throughout Alaska.
9:32:33 AM
MR. HARTIG, in response to Vice Chair Seaton, said the
lieutenant governor's position regarding regulations is that of
an administrator, not a gate keeper. The role of the lieutenant
governor is to make sure that regulations brought forth for
filing have gone through the correct process. The Department of
Law does the final review, both substantively and procedurally,
to ensure the regulations are written in correct state form and
that the public process is followed. The department then makes
recommendations to the lieutenant governor for the regulations
to be filed with the applicable agency. Mr. Hartig opined that
when the process first begins, the lieutenant governor could
look at regulations and try to identify those which could use
some input from a policy or financial perspective and highlight
those for the Office of the Governor and the applicable agency;
however, once the public process is over, it would not be
appropriate for the lieutenant governor to exert his/her
personal will.
VICE CHAIR SEATON said part of the problem is that agencies can
have tunnel vision.
9:35:19 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said Mr. Hartig is a well-respected
member of the Alaska Bar, and he related that he is glad Mr.
Hartig serves in the administration and has been designated.
9:35:45 AM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON moved to advance the confirmation of
Commissioner Larry Hartig to the joint session of the House and
Senate; he requested unanimous consent. There being no
objection, the nomination of Commissioner Larry Hartig to the
position of lieutenant governor's successor was advanced.
The committee took an at-ease from 9:36:33 AM to 9:50:00 AM.
HB 76-LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL & LB&A MEMBERSHIP
9:50:15 AM
CHAIR LYNN announced that the final order of business was HOUSE
BILL NO. 76, "An Act relating to the membership of the Alaska
Legislative Council and the membership of the Legislative Budget
and Audit Committee."
9:50:21 AM
VICE CHAIR SEATON moved to adopt the committee substitute (CS)
to HB 76, Version 26-LS0335\S, Chenoweth/Cook, 3/3/09, as a work
draft. There being no objection, Version S was before the
committee.
9:50:57 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG introduced HB 76 as co-prime sponsor.
He said the bill would ad parity and fairness with respect to
proportional representation in Legislative Council and
Legislative Budget & Audit. He related that in the late 1980s,
at the request of the minority leader at the time, the
legislature, in which he was serving as the majority leader,
adopted amendments to Uniform Rule 1, which applied more equal
representation to all the standing committees. However, joint
committees were not included at that time. The only joint
committee that is not being included in the proposed legislation
is the Joint Armed Services Committee, and that is because that
committee does not do "the same kind of work the others do."
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he could find no reason or
discussion related to why the two aforementioned committees were
not included. He said Representative Stoltze imparted that the
reason may have been that Legislative Council was "a little more
political" and "they didn't want to get into it at the time."
Representative Gruenberg opined that 20 years later it is time
to have full parity. He noted the Minority names who are listed
as co-prime sponsors [as shown on page 1 of Version S], and he
invited any member of the Majority to become a sponsor. He said
in the future when he looks back at his time serving in the
legislature, he will consider [the support of proportional
representation in standing committees] one of the better things
the legislature has done, because it improved the system. He
opined that HB 76 would make the system work better, as well.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG expressed appreciation that the
committee members adopted Version S as a work draft, because it
contains an applicability clause which clarifies that the bill
will not apply until the next legislature, which will not
disrupt the legislature. He said he thinks people want
bipartisanship, and HB 76 is "as much a symbolic statement of
that as anything else."
9:56:27 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GATTO questioned if the issue of fairness is
enough of a reason [to support HB 76] or whether it is more
important for the Majority, which will be making serious
decisions, to "maybe have an over-weighted presence." He said
he is not ready to support the bill right now, because he needs
more time to study it.
9:57:21 AM
REPRESENTATIVE PETERSEN said all representatives are elected to
represent districts of more or less equal size; therefore, if
there is less representation of one party in a given committee,
then "maybe some of the people from that member's district may
not have equal representation that they deserve." He opined
that it is an issue of fairness. He stated, "It seems to me
like if we're going to do it for the committees that are set up
that way now, ... we should do it for all the committees."
9:58:25 AM
VICE CHAIR SEATON noted that language would be deleted from page
1, beginning on line 9, of Version S, which requires at least
one member from each of the two major political parties, and
would be substituted with "the idea of Majority and Minority of
unaffiliated political parties." He asked Representative
Gruenberg if he thinks that would be the affect of the language
being deleted.
[VICE CHAIR SEATON handed the gavel back to CHAIR LYNN.]
10:01:36 AM
CHAIR LYNN interjected, "It is." He noted the time, remarked
that the bill merits substantial discussion time, and committed
to hearing HB 76 again.
10:02:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG told Representative Seaton, "I believe
the language covers your problem." He said he would check with
the bill drafter[s]. Regarding Representative Gatto's concern,
he said, "I will put that on the record in a very succinct way
when we reconvene."
CHAIR LYNN said there may be other bills that may have some
affect on HB 76.
10:04:13 AM
CHAIR LYNN announced that HB 76 was held over.
10:04:52 AM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
State Affairs Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 10:04
a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 01 ALMR White Paper 12610.pdf |
HSTA 1/26/2010 8:00:00 AM |
|
| 02 Color ALMR Cost Share & User List 012610.pdf |
HSTA 1/26/2010 8:00:00 AM |
|
| 03 Color ALMR Timeline 12610.pdf |
HSTA 1/26/2010 8:00:00 AM |
|
| 04 ALMR SATS FAQ 01.26.10.pdf |
HSTA 1/26/2010 8:00:00 AM |
|
| 05 ALMR EA Executive Summary.pdf |
HSTA 1/26/2010 8:00:00 AM |
|
| 06 ALMR TCO Executive Summary.pdf |
HSTA 1/26/2010 8:00:00 AM |
|
| Governor's Appointment - Hartig Final.doc |
HSTA 1/26/2010 8:00:00 AM |