Legislature(1995 - 1996)
03/13/1996 01:25 PM House TRA
| Audio | Topic |
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION STANDING COMMITTEE
March 13, 1996
1:25 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Gary Davis, Chairman
Representative Beverly Masek, Vice Chair
Representative Jeanette James
Representative Tom Brice
Representative Jerry Sanders
Representative Bill Williams
Representative Don Long
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Overview of the draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program
by Commissioner Joseph L. Perkins, Department of Transportation and
Public Facilities
*HOUSE BILL NO. 440
"An Act relating to motor vehicle registration and motor vehicle
registration fees; and providing for an effective date."
- MOVED CSHB 440 (TRA) FROM COMMITTEE
(* First public hearing)
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: HB 440
SHORT TITLE: VEHICLE REGISTRATION & REGISTRATION FEES
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S) KOTT
JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION
01/22/96 2507 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S)
01/22/96 2508 (H) TRANSPORTATION, FINANCE
03/13/96 (H) TRA AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 17
WITNESS REGISTER
JOSEPH L. PERKINS, Commissioner
Office of the Commissioner
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
3132 Channel Drive
Juneau, Alaska 99801-7898
Telephone: (907) 465-3900
POSITION STATEMENT: Overview of the draft Statewide Transportation
Improvement Program
MIKE McKINNON, Chief of Planning
Southeast Region
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
6860 Glacier Highway
Juneau, Alaska 99801-7999
Telephone: (907) 465-1774
POSITION STATEMENT: Overview of the draft Statewide Transportation
Improvement Program
ROGER POPPE, Legislative Aide
for Representative Kott
Alaska State Legislature
State Capitol, Room 432
Juneau, AK 99801
Telephone: (907) 465-6882
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on HB 440
JUANITA HENSLEY, Chief
Driver Services
Division of Motor Vehicles
Department of Public Safety
P.O. Box 20020
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0020
Telephone: (907) 465-4361
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on HB 440
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 96-9, SIDE A
Number 000
The House Transportation Standing Committee was called to order by
Chairman Gary Davis at 1:25 p.m. Members present at the call to
order were Representatives G. Davis, Masek, Sanders, and Long. A
quorum was present.
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS announced the agenda was an overview of the
draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program by Commissioner
Joseph L. Perkins, Department of Transportation and Public
Facilities, and HB 440 an act relating to motor vehicle
registration and motor vehicle registration fees; and providing for
an effective date.
Overview of the draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program
(STIP) by Commissioner Joseph L. Perkins, Department of
Transportation and Public Facilities
Number 0048
JOSEPH L. PERKINS, Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner,
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT/PF), began
his presentation by introducing representatives from the DOT/PF
including; Martin Ott, Planning Chief from the Northern Region,
Mike McKinnon, Planning Chief from the Southeast Region, Tom
Brigham, Chief of Statewide Planning, Gary Hayden, System Director
for the Marine Highway System, and Carol Taylor who manages the
various components of the STIP program.
Number 0124
COMMISSIONER PERKINS referred to a document titled, "Statewide
Transportation Improvement Program 1996-1998," and said he would
discuss how it was developed. He said at the beginning of the
process, a needs list was developed and published last October.
This list contained proposals which were submitted by various
organizations in the state, including an Aviation Improvement
Program (AIP), a six year construction program called STIP, capital
improvement for facilities and a new ports and harbors program. He
added that the only ports and harbor funding the state receives is
from a core match. He concluded that the needs list included the
four areas that DOT/PF is responsible for and represented $5
billion to $6 billion of state needs.
Number 0189
Representative James joined the committee meeting at 1:27 p.m.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said upon publication of this needs list,
public comments were received and those comments and needs list
were eventually incorporated into the STIP. He said STIP is a
three year spending plan for federal highway funds and federal
transit administration funds provided to the state of Alaska. He
said these funds are matched, generally, with the state
contributing 10 percent and the federal dollars contributing 90
percent. He said the entire state highway program is based on the
federal program and added that Alaska and Rhode Island are the only
two states that set up their program in this manner.
Number 0353
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the STIP is fiscally constrained by the
federal government funding. He said the state currently receives
around $220 million per year from the federal government, with a
total amount of $240 million after adding the state match. He said
these numbers are good for fiscal year 1996 and fiscal year 1997.
He said in 1998, the STIP document assumes that this funding will
remain the same, but the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which is the federal law giving the state
money, runs out in 1997. He said reauthorization of the ISTEA will
occur in 1998 and added that he has no idea what that amount will
be. He said the best the state can hope for is a loss of $10
million to $20 million a year because of the shrinking amount of
total federal transportation money.
Representative Brice joined the committee meeting at 1:30 p.m.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the total amount of federal highway
spending is going to go down, so even if the state maintains their
current budget allocation the state will still get less money.
Number 0460
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS clarified that the "years" the commissioner was
referring to represented "state fiscal years".
Representative Williams joined the committee meeting at 1:31 p.m.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the 1996 federal fiscal year will run
until October 1, 1996. He said by October 1, 1997, the new ISTEA
law must be in place.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said fiscal year 1998 funds are questionable.
He said the numbers in STIP were based on these funds. He said in
the back of STIP, a preliminary 1996 to 1998 program was included.
He said this program will be revised through the public process,
but that if the DOT/PF had to present a six year program, this
would be the program. He said the development of this document was
based on the Governor's 1995, Transportation Initiative which he
presented in June at a speech in Anchorage. He said this document
follows federal guidelines as the state does not have much
flexibility in their format due to federal regulations.
Number 0633
COMMISSIONER PERKINS pointed to three categories; National Highway
System (NHS), Community Transportation Program (CTP) and Trails and
Recreational Access for Alaska (TRAAK) and said that Anchorage
Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) is the only category
that has a specific amount. He said the reason for this is that
Anchorage has a population of over 200,000 and qualifies as a
metropolitan planning organization. He said the metropolitan
planning organization is handled differently in Alaska than
anywhere else in the country. He said, for the other 49 states, a
formula is included in ISTEA which calculates funds for
metropolitan planning organizations and the total state program is
distributed according to this formula. He said Alaska has received
an exception to this formula, in Alaska DOT/PF establishes the
number, for the amount of funding given to Anchorage, in the form
of AMATS.
Number 0710
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said, once AMATS receives funding, it then
goes through an elaborate procedure where projects are developed
and it is incorporated into a document called a Transportation
Improvement Program (TIP). He said, currently, Anchorage is
developing their list of projects.
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS clarified that this funding level is set each
year for the AMATS.
Number 0760
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said AMATS has asked for continuity in the
funding level and said he would explain the formula that DOT/PF
uses later in his presentation. He said the AMATS developed TIP
will be given to the DOT/PF and will be added as an addendum to the
STIP document and then sent to the Federal Highway Administration
for their approval and said the AMATS system is federally chartered
and federal set-up to work that way. He said the AMATS policy
committee, the final voice on what happens in Anchorage, consists
of the mayor, two assembly members, a DOT/PF member and a member
from the Department of Environmental Conservation, who helps assist
with air quality issues.
Number 0848
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the Governor's Transportation Initiative
called for putting money into construction and reconstruction of
the state's national highway system. He said the DOT/PF allocated
$120 million, of the $220 million funding, into the national
highway system. He said the DOT/PF recognized the need to work on
community roads and improve communities, allocating $80 million for
this purpose. He said the DOT/PF allocated $20 million for TRAAK
programs which are mandatory projects. He said TRAAK programs are
being done in a coordinated manner in order to develop the right
types of projects.
Number 0904
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said Congressional legislation, completed last
fall, mandated a national highway system encompassing the specific
identification of NHS routes. He said the state of Alaska has
4,000 miles of roads that are under the NHS, 2,000 miles of which
are surface roads and the other 2,000 are marine highway system
miles. He referred to a map titled, "National Highway System,"
which depicted those miles. He said this NHS will be the key
reference and the use of the intra-state highway reference will not
be used. He said, as changes are made to the federal highway
system, the NHS will be the only roads that the federal government
will fund. He said the NHS is where the federal interest is and
where the main routes of communications lie.
Number 0980
REPRESENTATIVE JEANETTE JAMES clarified that the changes being made
to ISTEA might result in funding for only the NHS. She added that,
by concentrating all of the states money on the NHS, the state
might lose the ability to do community roads.
Number 1026
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said, in this Congressional reauthorization,
the federal government will stop funding for community projects and
the concept of the NHS is now being analyzed. He referred to a
proposal by United States Senator Connie Mack, which proposes to
fund only the most important parts of the NHS in order to reduce
the amount of the federal gas tax for everyone in the nation by the
amount of money saved. He said, under this proposal, the states
can levy their own gas tax if they want to do community roads
projects. He said this proposal has support in the lower 48
states, but would be disastrous to the state of Alaska. He said as
the federal government drops out of the community road projects
possibly within 10 to 12 years, the national focus will be on the
NHS.
Number 1125
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES commented that qualifying for federal funds
might not be that big of an advantage due to the imposed federal
rules.
Number 1157
REPRESENTATIVE TOM BRICE questioned, if the focus on the federal
government will be on the NHS, and we have the ability to do both
the NHS and the community road projects now, which we might not be
able to do later, why should we place such a major emphasis on the
NHS.
Number 1222
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said there are a few reasons for the current
DOT/PF focus. He said a study was been done of the NHS in Alaska
and what needs to be done to bring it up to minimal standards
requires. He said an expenditure of $1.7 billion would be needed
and that it will take the state 14 years to accomplish this task.
He said Alaska is being looked at very closely by the other states
who are lobbying for transportation funding which is $20 billion
and that the state of Alaska receives more money than 22 other
states. He said, if Alaska received their proportional share of
the funding, the state would receive $30 million to $40 million
resulting in a reduction of $180 million in total dollars. Alaska
is saying that inter-state programs in other states are completed
and they are now maintaining those roads and that Alaska has not
finished building roads and the state needs $1.7 billion to spend
on our road system of which the state has allocated $120 million a
year. He said, if money is allocated into community roads, it will
hurt the states chances to retain the current amount of funding.
He said the federal government will, eventually, not fund community
roads and the state of Alaska could lose a considerable amount of
money in this reauthorization.
Number 1325
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said he doubted if federal funding were not
used whether the state could develop a program bringing the federal
highway routes up to standard. He added that the NHS route
upgrades are expensive projects and that we have left the worst
projects until last. He said the necessary repairs to the Seward
Highway are expensive, but necessary. He said the Administration's
position, in their federal strategy, is that we need to get our
main lines of communications fixed up, rather than putting this
money into city street programs. He said the lower 48 states do
not understand putting money into community road projects as their
community roads are funded by the municipalities.
Number 1383
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the projects, reflected in the STIP, are
the projects that the DOT/PF has selected to be constructed or
designed in this three program based on the perceived need. He
said need was based on the road condition and safety hazards. He
said the safety factor is a major issue as many lives are lost due
to the danger of the Alaskan roads. He said the NHS includes the
Parks, the Glenn, the Seward, et cetera. He said more money from
the NHS system is going into the Marine Highway System because the
vehicles are getting older and work is being done on the ships and
a new ship is being purchased under the NHS program.
Number 1463
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the next chart, titled, "NHS FY 96-98
Statewide Transportation Improvement Program," shows where the
projects are located.
Number 1505
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS referred to the second, third and fourth phases
and asked if the only thing left on the 1996 project was
construction.
Number 1520
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said, despite some "start up", most of the
phases referred to construction.
Number 1529
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS asked what the procedure was if one of the
projects was not able to be worked on.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the DOT/PF would add another project to
take the delayed projects place, utilizing all the allocated money.
Number 1568
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES supported increased safety for highways. She
asked what work was going to be done on the Parks Highway and the
Seward Highway within the next three years.
Number 1605
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the Parks Highway has, essentially, the
right grades and alignment and was completed in 1973, so it is a
recently constructed road. He said there are adequate shoulders on
the Parks Highway and added that the DOT/PF has gone in and done
spot fixes for safety and repairs. He mentioned a project in
Nenana Canyon to widen the road, a rehabilitation work occurring
down in Big Lake, and a considerable amount of work in Wasilla to
turn the road into a dual lane road with or without frontage roads.
Number 1653
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the roads that are in the worst shape
include the Glenn Highway which was built by the road commission in
the 1940s. He said this highway has a high death count,
landslides, curves down to 20 miles per hour in some places, and a
lack of road shoulders. He said the Seward Highway has three or
four projects that need to occur including Canyon Creek and some
curves that need to be altered. He said those two highways are in
the worst shape.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said work on the Dalton Highway is included in
the STIP and that it is an important highway because it links the
Arctic Ocean. He said the Dalton Highway was not originally
included in the national highway system, but through the Governor
and the Congressional delegation it was added. He said it is an
important road and adds about 500 miles to the NHS. He said the
when the federal government allocates funding based on mileage of
NHS this 500 miles will derive more funds, which do not necessarily
have to be used for the Dalton Highway.
Number 1740
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said there are many roads in the state which
are not included in the NHS, including the Taylor, Steese Highway,
Edgerton Highway, Elliot and Denali Highways. He said these roads
are included in the community roads program.
Number 1772
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said, in the community transportation and
economic development program, communities were asked to nominate
projects. Grading criteria was developed, the criteria was
reviewed for public comment, and the nominated projects were then
graded according to need and incorporated into the needs list. The
needs list was opened up for public comment, and the projects were
regraded and incorporated into the draft STIP.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the projects were given to the regions
with their own DOT/PF boards who graded them and established
priority one and priority two projects. He said there were also
priority threes and fours, but that these projects did not make it
out of the region. He said the priority one and twos were taken to
Juneau and an official board convened, headed by the Deputy
Commissioner, each regional director; from the Central, Northern
and Southeast regions, the director of the Marine Highway System as
well as Tom Brigham the chief of statewide planning. He said the
board derived a statewide list and some projects did not score as
well as people wanted. He said the public comment from the
original needs list was taken into consideration and the board
regraded the projects based on the community submittal, legislative
comments and public comment.
Number 1915
REPRESENTATIVE BEVERLY MASEK asked when the community
transportation program started.
Number 1939
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the CTP was part of the Governor's
transportation initiative where DOT/PF allocated $80 million. He
said Whittier Road was taken out of the CTP and placed into the
NHS, allowing for more money to be spent in other places. He said
the Thane Road ferry dock in Juneau down to the rock dump is now an
NHS road because a new pier is be constructed to bring oil and
everything else in to town. He said the Parks Highway to the
Nenana Port is an intermodal connection as it accesses the Tanana
and the Yukon which allows NHS money to be applied in this section.
Number 1998
REPRESENTATIVE BILL WILLIAMS asked if the TRAAK program was going
to be discussed.
Number 2009
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said he would discuss the TRAAK program later.
He said 19 percent of the $80 million funding went to state
highways not on the NHS, the Taylor and the Steese highways. He
said if Alaska develops a state highway system these highways
should be included in that program. He referred to a handout
titled, "Draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program,
Briefing to the House Transportation Committee, March 13, 1996,"
and referred to charts showing how much money went to transit and
remote projects and so on. He said the transit, remote and urban
projects were scored separately. He said the Anchorage projects
were scored and then all the dollars were added within the six
period, then divided by six, deriving a figure of $17.5 million.
He said that figure plus a $5.5 million allocation gave the city of
Anchorage $23 million, representing $1 million more than they had
received.
Number 2075
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said that when ISTEA passed, many sections
were included such as safety requirements, motorcycle helmet law,
and money which needed to be spent on roadside enhancements. He
said, by the federal rules, the state has to spend, by 1996 and
1997, $40.4 million on roadside enhancements. He said the state,
in order to accomplish this requirement, developed the TRAAK
program which is a multi-agency effort. Corridor studies of the
roads are being conducted to establish where there are needs for a
trail side parking area. He said the studies also establish that
the state park and DNR campgrounds and such enhancements as bike
trails. He said the main goal is to get everyone together on
TRAAK, such as the Forest Service and Parks, so that the projects
that are built support an established need.
Number 2181
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES asked if the enhancements include parking area
and asked if the park would be responsible for that.
Number 2210
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said, if the state of Alaska, can equate the
project as something that is close to the road and part of a
transportation enhancement then DOT/PF can do it. He said recently
enhancements were done on the church in Unalakleet, which will be
completed because it was already started, but said Kramer's field
in Fairbanks project was limited to just constructing an access
road as the two barns were deemed non-transportation related.
Number 2254
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES asked if the TRAAK money can be used to
upgrade existing facilities or whether it must be used for new
projects.
Number 2264
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the funding can be used for existing
facilities, but stressed it the funding must be used near the road
such as a parking for the trailhead. He said this is why it is a
multi-agency project. He said the state of Alaska will develop
parking areas and will receive reassurance from the Department of
Natural Resources (DNR) that they will upgrade their trail. He
referred to a project in Summit Lake where bike trails are being
put in to connect the Granite Creek campground with the Canyon
Creek bridge. He said the Forest Service is going to go in and
increase the number of campground sites in Granite Creek as a
result of this enhancement.
Number 2345
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said DOT/PF is trying to determine the number
and location of rest stops. He said the state has reached a point
where rest rooms, public pay phones, in a well lighted spot with
water must be built. He said nice welcome signs will be
implemented as well as interpretive signs to enhance the value for
tourists and the residents of Alaska.
Number 2406
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS asked for information about the allocated
money for Ketchikan.
Number 2471
MIKE McKINNON, Chief of Planning, Southeast Region, Department of
Transportation and Public Facilities, said the DOT/PF has about
$800,000 in transportation enhancement funds.
TAPE 96-9, SIDE B
Number 000
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS clarified that the $20 million dollar TRAAK
funds are built into the community improvement project. He said it
is misleading in the draft as there are three sections; NHS, CTP
and TRAAK, but the breakdown is only on the NHS and CTP.
Number 0036
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said, on page 26 of the STIP document, there
is a listing of TRAAK projects.
Number 0060
MR. McKINNON said Ketchikan has an unusual circumstance, because
Tongass Avenue and the associated bridge projects are so integral
with the larger Tongass project and as a result it is listed
differently. He said usually TRAAK projects tend to be listed as
independent projects.
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES asked if there was more than $20 million in
funding for the TRAAK projects.
Number 0085
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said yes, if you count the projects that
include NHS funding such as the Tongass project.
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS corrected his previous statement, and said the
CTP was incorporated into the TRAAK.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS reiterated the grading procedure of these
projects and mentioned the eagle viewing project in Haines and
whale park in Sitka. He added that the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) is putting $31 million into bush projects for 1996 and 1997.
He said another group, that mainly goes through the Forest Service,
is the Federal Lands Program, has allocated $17.2 million for a
projects in conjunction with DOT/PF over the next two years, Big
Salt Lake Highway on the Prince of Wales Island.
Number 0174
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS asked if it was a rehabilitation project or a
new construction.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said it was rehabilitation project and is 14
miles in length. He said another project is around Auke Lake
recreational area where a bi-pass is going to be constructed which
will be funded with a combination of DOT/PF funds and a forest
highway. He said this combination of funding works well. He also
mentioned construction of Katmai Valley Road in Southwest Alaska
and Coffman Cove to Naukati Junction over on Prince of Wales. He
said funding was also used to build Exit Glacier Road in Seward.
Number 0227
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS asked for information regarding Metlakatla's
application for a road.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said Metlakatla has been applying to the BIA
to build a road which would result in a half mile stretch of water
between Metlakatla and Ketchikan. He said Metlakatla has been
unsuccessful so far with this project, but that the village
believes that they have achieved $10 million in funds, derived from
a bill Senator Stevens is pushing through. He added that this
project will not appear on any of the STIP information, but that it
is likely that Metlakatla will ask DOT/PF to build the road for
them which the department would be willing to do.
Number 0266
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said public comments still needs to be
received regarding the STIP, but that he didn't visualize any major
changes as a result of these comments. He said the public comment
period ends on April 5, 1996, and between April 8 and April 10,
1996, DOT/PF will receive the TIP from AMATS, attach that to the
STIP document, then send it off for approval to the Federal Highway
Administration, Federal Transit Administration and the EPA. He
said federal approval is likely as the DOT/PF works closely with
those agencies and the federal government feels the programs are
justified. The federal government also liked the needs based
programming.
Number 0310
COMMISSIONER PERKINS referred to a chart, in the back of the
briefing document, on federal highway funding for the state of
Alaska for 1985 to 1998. The chart shows when the ISTEA program
began around 1992 and how the funding increased dramatically as a
result, from $150 million to $220 million.
Number 0326
COMMISSIONER PERKINS referred to the last chart, in the back of the
briefing document, showing the regional affect of the projects. He
said there would be a big sum in the area of the Marine Highway
System due to the $50 million allocation for the new boat in 1997
which comes from the NHS funding. He said there is also a large
sum in the central program because of the costs associated with the
Canyon Creek project, Bird de Gird project, some Seward projects
and redoing the Homer Hill project.
Number 0364
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS asked about the Saxman Roads project.
Number 0377
MR. McKINNON said the Saxman paving project is described on page 24
of the STIP document, and the $750,000 project and is being done in
conjunction with the BIA. He said negotiations are being concluded
which would add $1 million in funds to complete that project.
Number 0395
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS said only ISTEA funding is currently being used
on this project, he then asked what the current stage was in this
project.
MR. McKINNON said the design is complete for both the BIA portion
and the DOT/PF portion. He said, currently, $750,000 of which the
DOT/PF portion of the project will be used for construction and the
department is waiting for the final word on the arrival of the BIA
money.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said matching funds for projects was taken
into consideration when the projects were graded. He said this is
why the Juneau Auke Lake project scored so well as did the Saxman
Road project.
Number 0440
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said no ISTEA funds will be used on the
Whittier project the $15 million is from state appropriations. He
said the new ferry boat will use $20 million of state money. He
said a lot of the village projects will use BIA money or Public
Health Service money. He cautioned, because of these
circumstances, that the true magnitude of the projects are not
accurately represented by just looking at the STIP document.
Number 0482
REPRESENTATIVE MASEK asked for an update regarding the ISTEA
funding. She said Senator Stevens said he was working on
maintaining funding for the state.
Number 0515
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said a battle is being conducted between the
states for the ISTEA funding, it is not a battle between parties or
executive versus the legislature. He said it will be a
Congressional issue and most likely be decided in the Senate. He
said Alaska has many negatives and that the Alaskan position is
that we are remaining silent and following along. He said Senator
Stevens is in a key position and if all continues, the state will
be close to holding the DOT/PF formula for receiving funding. He
said the amount will probably not stay the same because the total
amount of the "pie" is getting smaller. He said, if Alaska can
hold the allocation where the state gets more money than 22 other
states, then Alaska will be in good shape. He said we must look
ahead, to a time, when we will not be able to hold our position.
Number 0584
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS asked how general the federal regulations are
regarding ports and harbors. He said the enhancement regulations
are broad to the point where you can go to DNR and help them out
with their projects. He asked how flexible the ISTEA funding is in
order to help some areas with those types of projects.
Number 0610
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said there is no ISTEA provision for ports and
harbors, with the exception of the ferry terminals. He said they
are not allowed to do any work in the small boat harbors. He said,
the only program available to the state of Alaska on the federal
side, is the core of engineers program which is a matching program
and the general trend is to shut down funding for this program. He
said this year there was a proposal to stop all the maintenance
dredging of harbors in Alaska, with the exception of Anchorage.
The harbors that would not be dredged included Dillingham, Nikiski,
Nome and several others that the core of engineers have dredged for
years. He said the core of engineers is still receiving some
project development money, but that the funding will decrease in
the future.
Number 0659
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said another problem with the core of
engineers is the length of time. He said Kake Harbor has been a 15
year projects and is only now getting to the point where it might
be completed. He said the state needs some type of harbor program.
He said there are some proposals to dedicate some of the harbor
taxes, which have not been going back into harbor projects, into a
fund which would allow construction or rehabilitation of the
state's harbors.
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS asked if the state's match to the core of
engineer's projects was ISTEA of general fund dollars.
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the money comes from the general fund.
Number 0686
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES asked if there was any need for environmental
clean-up when the enhancement of ports and harbors occurred.
Number 0698
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said he was not aware of any environmental
problem. He said the goal of the state should be to repair the
harbors, using tax money currently collected on the water craft
taxes, and then turn the harbors over to the municipalities with
some portion of this tax dedicated to maintenance projects. He
said the state should not be involved with ownership of harbors
with the exception of 22 harbors that could not be turned over
because there is no local entity. He said the rest of the harbors
could be turned over within a five year period if the repairs could
be done.
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS said the slip fees could be increased in the
harbors.
Number 0768
COMMISSIONER PERKINS said the slip fee rate is low in the state of
Alaska as compared with other states.
Number 0830
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS said it would be beneficial for the committee
members to have the criteria the DOT/PF utilized to establish
priorities. He asked the committee to review the STIP document and
work with the DOT/PF and continue the good working relationship
between the department and the legislature. He said, if there was
time, he would like to meet with the DOT/PF in order to review the
districts concerns regarding the STIP document.
HB 440 - VEHICLE REGISTRATION & REGISTRATION FEES
Number 0980
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS said the next item on the agenda was HB 440, an
act relating to motor vehicle registration and motor vehicle
registration fees; and providing for an effective date.
ROGER POPPE, Legislative Aide for Representative Kott, said HB 440
is a simple bill which raises the fees for all motor vehicle
registration by $5. He said HB 440 does not include that $5 fee
for a small group of vehicles. He referred to page three, line 16
through 25, and said it was in these circumstances that the current
fee was retained. He said he was not aware of the reasons for
exempting the $5 increase for these special license plates. He
said the other request plate, subsection E on line 25, include
university plates and other vanity plates.
Number 1030
MR. POPPE said the other portion of HB 440 is a housekeeping
section with the exception located on page two, Section 3, lines 6
through 11, which changes the current practice of the DOT/PF
regarding the practice of charging $10, above and beyond the
current fee structure, in order to encourage people to pay their
fees by mail. He said HB 440 reduced the fee by $5 if the
registration is mailed.
Number 1148
MR. POPPE referred to the fiscal note and said that the state, even
with the $5 savings for mailed in registration, would save money
and HB 440, creating a negative fiscal note. He read from a
portion of the fiscal note, "the total additional new revenue will
be $1,545,000," and added that there will be a revenue loss because
of the elimination of the $10 fee causing a loss of $870,000 with
a net revenue change of a positive $675,000. He said the lines
will be reduced at the Department of Motor Vehicles as people will
choose to mail in their registration.
Number 1209
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked for more information regarding exempting
vanity license plates, and asked if the sponsor would be willing to
amend this portion of HB 440
MR. POPPE said he could not see a reason why this would be an
objectionable amendment. He said this section might have been
included because of the military license plates.
Number 1260
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS said that it currently costs $35 dollars for a
regular license plate and that it costs more for a vanity plate.
Number 1308
JUANITA HENSLEY, Chief, Driver Services, Division of Motor
Vehicles, Department of Public Safety, was next to testify. She
said HB 440 raises the registration fee of everyone by $5, and
gives those people who chose to register by mail a $5 savings. She
said the reason, why Section 6 was exempted, was because people who
chose vanity license plates pay $30 for the sets of plates in
addition to the normal registration fee, plus a $50 one time fee.
MS. HENSLEY said individuals who are applying for a new car will
pay $5 more than they pay today. She said a brand new registration
that the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has never processed will
have to come into the office anyway which would result in an
increased amount of revenue.
Number 1470
MS. HENSLEY said the renewal by mail program was offered to keep
people who didn't need to come in person from coming to the DMV
office. She said some people have to do their business in person
in order to title their cars, obtain driver's license and register
their vehicle for the first time. She said the $10 fee was done in
prior legislation as an incentive, but it was seen as a penalty.
She said the registration, from that prior legislation, raised the
fee by $10 and then reduced it by $10 if the registration was
mailed to the DMV. She said renewal by mail has been increased by
100 percent and that the public has accepted this procedure. She
said the DMV is not opposing HB 440, but that the public has
accepted the $10 fee and the complaints have decreased. She said
increasing the fee by $5 will increase complaints. She said the
long range financial planning commission suggested a registration
increase by twofold, which would bring in $21 million in revenue
for the general fund. She said Alaska has the cheapest
registration in the nation.
Number 1531
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked how difficult it would be to increase
the registration fee by $5 for those license plates listed in
Section 6, with an exemption for the Alaskan National Guard plates,
veterans or retired veterans plates and recipients of the Purple
Heart license plates.
Number 1563
MS. HENSLEY said this section regards vanity license plates and the
decision to increase the fee would be at the discretion of the
legislature, as long as there is no adverse fiscal impact to the
DMV. She said she could obtain figures of how many people would be
affected by this fee increase. She added that last March the new
license plates with the caribou and the mountain scene and the blue
and gold with the mountain scene have been extremely popular with
a sale of over 5,000, at a cost of $30 per plate.
Number 1655
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS asked for information regarding Section 6,
subsection D and subsection E.
Number 1704
MS. HENSLEY said all the plates in that section are vanity plates.
Number 1691
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked if credentials need to be presented in
order to get special military plates.
Number 1704
MS. HENSLEY said a DD-214 must be presented to obtain those
military plates.
Number 1718
MR. POPPE said the other special request plates include two other
categories, the university plates and the other plates that spell
out your name, your girlfriend's name or some clever little saying.
MS. HENSLEY said other special request plates include ham operator
plates, farm plates, plus other things.
Number 1761
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS asked for information on changes made to the
mechanism of assessing fees, dependent on the evaluation of
vehicles. He was told that this is not the case for the state of
Alaska. He then asked the DMV's position on increasing the fees to
bring Alaska's cost per plate in line with other states.
Number 1831
MS. HENSLEY said she had a comparison of the fees charged by other
states that she could send to the committee. She said some states
charge a flat fee, but then tack on taxes and additional costs such
as surcharges, taxes, title fees and title search fees. She said
the state of Oklahoma charges 3.5 percent based on the blue book
value of the vehicle and cited an example where the state of
Washington charged a five year old motor home $1,800 for
registration and fees.
Number 1917
CHAIRMAN GARY DAVIS said $5 is probably a low increase and for the
sake of additional revenue, as well as coming into parity with
other states, it is probably not unreasonable to increase the rate
by $8 to $10.
Number 1958
MR. POPPE said, upon talking with Representative Kott the sponsor
of HB 440, there was no problem with the concept of not exempting
the D and E subsections of Section 6 if the committee decides to
make this adjustment.
A discussion ensued regarding the wording of the Amendment to HB
440.
Number 2052
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE made motion to adopt Amendment 1 to HB 440,
amending on page three, line 24 and line 25, "add $5" to each of
those subsections D and E. Hearing no objection Amendment 1 was
adopted to HB 440 by the House Standing Committee on
Transportation.
Number 2111
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE made a motion to move CSHB 440 (TRA) with
accompanying fiscal notes and individual recommendations. Hearing
no objection, CSHB 440 (TRA) was moved by the House Standing
Committee on Transportation.
ADJOURNMENT
As there was no further business to come before the House
Transportation Standing Committee, Chairman Gary Davis adjourned
the meeting at 2:55 p.m.
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