Legislature(1997 - 1998)
02/25/1998 01:11 PM House TRA
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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
February 25, 1998
1:11 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative William K. (Bill) Williams, Chairman
Representative Beverly Masek, Vice Chair
Representative John Cowdery
Representative Bill Hudson
Representative Jerry Sanders
Representative Kim Elton
Representative Albert Kookesh
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
* HOUSE BILL NO. 404
"An Act relating to the regulation of commercial vehicles; relating
to the temporary registration of out-of-state commercial vehicles;
relating to registration fees for commercial vehicles; and
providing for an effective date."
- MOVED CSHB 404 (TRA) OUT OF COMMITTEE
(* First public hearing)
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: HB 404
SHORT TITLE: REGULATION OF COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
SPONSOR(S): TRANSPORTATION
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
02/12/98 2312 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S)
02/12/98 2312 (H) TRANSPORTATION, FINANCE
02/25/98 (H) TRA AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 17
WITNESS REGISTER
PETE ECKLUND, Legislative Assistant
to Representative Williams
Alaska State Legislature
Capitol Building, Room 424
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Telephone: (907) 465-3424
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on behalf of the Transportation
Committee on HB 404.
JUANITA HENSLEY, Chief, Drivers Services
Division of Motor Vehicles
Department of Administration
P.O. Box 20020
Juneau, Alaska 99811
Telephone: (907) 465-4361
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 404.
DENNIS POSHARD, Legislative Liaison
Office of the Commissioner
Department of Transportation and
Public Facilities
3132 Channel Drive
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Telephone: (907) 465-3904
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 404.
FRANK DILLON, Executive Vice President
Alaska Trucking Association, Incorporated
3443 Minnesota Drive
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
Telephone: (907) 276-1149
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 404.
MARK TABBUTT, General Manager
Totem Ocean Trailer Express
2511 Tidewater
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
Telephone: (907) 276-5868
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 404.
PETER BLANAS Teamster's line driver
427 West 87 Avenue
Anchorage, Alaska 99515
Telephone: (907) 344-7887
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 404.
BARBARA HUFF-TUCKNESS, Director
Governmental and Legislative Affairs
Teamster's Union Local 959
520 East Thirty Fourth Avenue
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
Telephone: (907) 565-8200
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 404.
LINDA LEARY, Vice President of Sales
Carlile K&W Transport
1813 East First Avenue
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
Telephone: (907) 276-7797
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 404.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 98-8, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIRMAN WILLIAM K. (BILL) WILLIAMS called the House Transportation
Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:11 p.m. Members present
at the call to order were Representatives Williams, Masek, Cowdery,
Hudson, Sanders, Elton and Kookesh.
HB 404 - REGULATION OF COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
Number 0050
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS announced HB 404, "An Act relating to the
regulation of commercial vehicles; relating to the temporary
registration of out-of-state commercial vehicles; relating to
registration fees for commercial vehicles; and providing for an
effective date," is before the House Transportation Standing
Committee.
Number 0069
PETE ECKLUND, Legislative Assistant to Chairman Williams, read the
following sponsor statement into the record:
"The purpose of HB 404 is to improve efficiency at Division of
Motor Vehicles (DMV) and to improve efficiency and safety of
freight movement into, out of, and within Alaska. Also, adoption
of HB 404 will allow the state to participate in the International
Registration Plan of the trucking industry.
"Our current state commercial vehicle inspection law is unworkable.
The bill proposes to conform our inspection program with inspection
criteria found in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.
"Also, HB 404 will increase temporary fees for out-of-state trucks
that wish to operate in Alaska from $50 to $350. This will bring
Alaska fees closer to what is charged by other states and provinces
issuing temporary permits. Revenue generated from this fee may be
appropriated by the legislature to operate weigh stations and
commercial vehicle safety programs.
"Further, HB 404 would eliminate the requirement for annual
registration of commercial trailers. The fees collected from the
registration of commercial trailers would be transferred to the
cost of registration of commercial vehicles, or 'power units.'
Hence the bill is revenue neutral. The change is required if
Alaska wants to become part of the International Registration Plan,
which allows for a simplified method of prorating fees to other
jurisdictions in which Alaska commercial vehicles operate, and vice
versa. The state and industry will gain substantial efficiencies
by not having to issue and physically tag over 20,000 commercial
trailers annually.
"In short, HB 404 will create efficiencies in government and the
private sector, and will create a safer transportation environment.
The safer our commercial vehicles are on our highways, the safer
all of us will be."
MR. ECKLUND informed the committee there are two amendments to be
considered, LS1528\A.1 [2/20/98] and LS1528\A.3 [2/23/98].
Number 0395
JUANITA HENSLEY, Chief, Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of
Administration, testified before the committee. She said, "We feel
that it's going to be a real efficiency measure for the division as
well as offering a lot of efficiency measures for industry as a
whole in the state of Alaska."
Number 0422
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN COWDERY said, "I've heard that, because we
don't have this in effect at their borders that there's many trucks
that come over the highways into Alaska, but pay very little or no
fees in competing with people who do." He asked if that was a
fact.
MS. HENSLEY replied it has been reported to her as well. She said,
"That there are, and I know that there are by the number of permits
that are issued, vehicles that are crossing, coming into Alaska,
that are not registered in Alaska and they're taking actually
employment away from our own truck drivers."
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY said some of them come through when the
scales are closed and do not even register.
MS. HENSLEY said he should talk to someone in the DOT/PF because
DOT/PF is responsible for the weight scales.
Number 0514
REPRESENTATIVE BEVERLY MASEK referred to page 8, line 23 through
28, and asked how the fees were calculated in this section.
MS. HENSLEY replied, "What was considered for those fees is to take
the number - the number was derived by dividing the current trailer
revenue by the four truck classes, and then dividing the four equal
amounts of the truck units per class. So you take the number of
trailers and the number of truck units, and it was a transfer of
the fees from the trailers to the power units. And that's how that
was derived, it was basically an equal split across. As close as
equal as we could get. ... "
REPRESENTATIVE MASEK asked if those procedures were used in the
past.
MS. HENSLEY pointed out that it is a new concept. She indicated
Alaska and California are the only two states, that she is aware
of, that use and register trailers. The other states only register
the power units and the fees are all attached to the power units.
She said, "The problem in Alaska, and a lot of other states, the
reason they've gone to that, is if we have a company that has ten
trailers registered and eight power units, and they need the
registration of that unit - of the trailer runs out - and that
driver is in South Carolina, their plate on that trailer is
expired. They could have problems coming back across the borders
and coming in through Canada to get back in the United States.
With that trailer expired, it is so hard for our companies to track
around all the trailers that they have to make sure that the little
tab gets on that plate. And this is basically going to be a real
benefit to our industry."
Number 0690
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY indicated many trailers may be out-of-state
for some time. He said, "In Alaska, most of our things come from
out-of-state, and we would like to keep that revenue..." People
that come from Canada should pay.
Number 0791
REPRESENTATIVE BILL HUDSON referred to page 8. He assumed there is
no effect on any of the other listed vehicle units like a tractor
or ambulance. He asked if they were under that weight, would there
be any unintended increases for other units.
MS. HENSLEY replied no, it is strictly for those that are
registered for commercial purposes.
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS asked if the increased rates were for out-of-
state trucks, or in-state.
MS. HENSLEY replied these rates are strictly for those that are
registered within the state of Alaska. She said, "A company has a
right, if they're operating in the state of Alaska, they can
register that vehicle in the state of Alaska to operate here and
pay the commercial vehicle rates. Those coming across that are not
registered, in Alaska, these rates do not fall with those vehicles.
Those have to pay the temporary registration plates that are in the
other section of the law."
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS asked what section.
Number 0883
MS. HENSLEY replied page 7, lines 10 through 14.
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS asked what the fee currently is for a temporary
permit.
MS. HENSLEY replied $10 to $50, depending on the weight of the
vehicle.
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS as if that was the maximum fee the state could
get.
MS. HENSLEY replied yes.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said, "For a commercial bus this would be
like tour busses and things of this nature coming into Alaska.
That would also be an increase from $50 to $350. Is that correct?"
Number 0938
MS. HENSLEY replied, "For those tour bus companies that choose not
to register those vehicles in the state of Alaska, yes that would
be the case. Our tour industry, such as the Princess, Gray Line,
Westours, all those, those vehicles are registered in the state of
Alaska. ... So those individuals would not have to pay the $350,
they would have to pay the fees for registering this commercial
vehicle."
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON asked about how many of these do we look at
on an annual basis that would fit the increased fee.
MS. HENSLEY deferred that question to the Department of
Transportation and Public Facilities.
Number 1012
DENNIS POSHARD, Legislative Liaison, Department of Transportation
and Public Facilities (DOT/PF), pointed out the departmental expert
is on scheduled leave. He stated DOT/PF supports HB 404.
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY indicated he spoke with Commissioner
Brownfield, DOT, regarding this concept. He asked approximately
how many vehicles come through Tok, the Alcan [Alaskan-Canadian]
Highway that do not pay because the scales are only opened a short
time.
MR. POSHARD replied DOT/PF does not know how many come through
after hours. He said, "We have estimated that we will collect
revenues from approximately 1,750 vehicles at the Tok boarder, and
that's of the temporary registration fees. That includes the ones
that don't currently pay, but also our estimation of how many come
across that do not currently pay."
Number 1130
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY said trucking industry people say it is a
fact that some of these trucks come over, they are over legal
limits and weights, and things like that. And some of them are
carrying hazardous materials that Alaska laws forbid, they may
transfer to our own trucks. He said he understands that happens
quite frequently.
MR. POSHARD replied, "Yes, since that kind of stuff is happening
illegally, obviously we don't have any kind of handle on it or
wouldn't be able to make some sort of determination. But
certainly, we hear reports of trucks that come across illegally
that either don't meet the required Alaska safety standards or they
are hauling some form of cargo that is not legal or whatever. But
we would have no way of knowing that short of having the station
open 24 hours and requiring everybody to stop. And that's part of
what our fiscal note will allow us to do is to provide three new
positions in Tok and to keep that station open 24 hours a day."
Number 1217
REPRESENTATIVE JERRY SANDERS asked, "When they come in temporary
it's for 60 days. Are they allowed to come in and work for Alaskan
companies up and down the road for 60 days, or do they just - a
trip permit to come in and unload and go back? Or perhaps load and
go back."
MR. POSHARD said the way he understands it, they are allowed to
operate within the Alaska borders and drive on our roads for 60
days. If they choose to conduct business within Alaska during that
time period, he believes they are allowed to do that.
REPRESENTATIVE SANDERS asked, "The significance of the 60 days, can
you tell me where that comes from, is that necessary, is that
federal, is that just something somebody grabbed out of the sky,
can it be reduced, or should it."
MR. POSHARD replied there is an amendment that will reduce it to 30
days. He said, "Our initial thinking, going to 60 days was the
current registration period was for 10 days and it was between $10
and $50 and we thought with increasing the fee to $350 there ought
to also be at least some increases in the period of days. I think
we just picked 60 in working with other groups. But I think that
there is some merit to considering other time periods."
REPRESENTATIVE SANDERS agreed, 60 days is too long.
Number 1330
FRANK DILLON, Executive Vice President, Alaska Trucking
Association, Incorporated was next to testify. The Alaska Trucking
Association is a trade association which is 38 years old with
statewide representation amongst truck users of all kinds. He
encouraged the members to support HB 404. He said, "HB 404 is the
culmination of some cooperative effort on the part of various
different agencies in state government including DOT/PF, DMV,
Department of Public Safety. It's had input from the trucking
industry from shippers who use the trucking industry and has the
support of labor."
MR. DILLON indicated there are several key provisions in HB 404
that are of great interest to the trucking industry and would be of
great benefit to the economy of Alaska. He said, "Those include
the statute which cleans up a problem we've had with commercial
vehicle inspections, which we'd hope to rectify last year in HB 83,
which was favorably passed by the House and Senate. Unfortunately
in the process of getting to the end of the legislative tube, it
was amended and became something that would not have worked. That
was vetoed by the governor and we are glad that it was not
overridden because that piece of legislation would not have solved
our problem with truck inspections. However, HB 404 does and what
it does is it sets the federal standard which is used throughout
the country and in Alaska for the last seven years as basically the
law of the land for truck inspections, and mandates an annual
inspection and a daily inspection that is are very comprehensive in
its nature and qualifies the drivers as well. But it gets us in
line with the federal government and it gets us out of a bind with
a law that was passed in 1986 which was never funded and which we
had never implemented and would be very expensive and really
without any safety merit if we were to implement it today. That's
the first section that we think is extremely important one in this
bill and has been well crafted."
MR. DILLON said, "Secondly, the fee for out-of-state trucks is
something that we felt was unfair for some time and we're very
happy that the DOT/PF has agreed with us that that fee should be
raised so that trucks that enter the state of Alaska, that are here
to deliver freight, aren't here with a carte blanche to take work
during the summertime from Alaska drivers and Alaska trucking
companies. And we applaud the amendment that reduces this from 60
to 30 days, we believe that 30 days allows a person reasonable time
to come up here, deliver his freight, wait for a back haul
shipment, say fish or something else to take outside without
getting into the business of becoming a competitive trucking
company in Alaska, hauling freight during our busy time of the
season and the best weather of the year. Now if those kind of
trucks came up in the dead of winter and took some of the freight
on the Dalton Highway, it would be different, but they don't ever
seem to show up at that time of the year."
MR. DILLON said, "The third portion of the bill is the one that
eliminates the annual registration of commercial trailers with DMV.
This has been the trend throughout the country, it does allow us,
as was mentioned earlier to become eligible for the International
Registration Plan (IRP) which is a greatly simplified way of
prorating the use of equipment in different jurisdictions.
Currently, there are a number of provinces, and most of the states
that are part of that plan, it's predicted by the year 2000 that
all the states would be participating in it. Hopefully, Alaska
would complete the full 50-state implementation, in order to do
that we need to get rid of the trailer registration. We had
applied for an exception to see if they would allow us to keep our
current trailer registration method and be part of IRP and this
last September the IRP Executive Committee rejected that exception
and said, 'No, if you want to get into the plan you need to do away
with your annual trailer registrations.' That has no effect on
safety because the registrations basically are not a safety
inspection. It's something that's done without the trailer being
inspected by anyone from the state."
MR. DILLON said, "It is a revenue-generating-mechanism, we believe
that that's reasonable and that's why we've accepted the fact that
we could shift those from the trailers to power units by weight
classification and not see too great of an increase. We still have
the lowest, and I perhaps shouldn't say this but I'll mention it
anyway, we still have the lowest registration fees for commercial
vehicles, and I don't want to give anyone any ideas, in the
country. Most of the increases are between - I believe $30 and at
the maximum $100 per power unit. It's not the type of increase
that would actually jeopardize anyone's business in any way shape
or form, to be what I would consider a hardship."
Number 1563
MR. DILLON said, "It does, however, provide a real efficiency at
DMV by eliminating more than 20,000 transactions that have to take
place right now with DMV personnel. And again, those transactions
cost, according to the DMV director's office, somewhere between $5
and $8 per transaction. That's where we derive the savings idea of
$100 thousand plus. It also, of course, frees up those windows
where we do have people with a large fleet, fleets with different
times of the year send a person time after time, after time,
because of the methodology of registration of taking only 25 units
at a time, a person could spend days at a time at DMV registering
trailer equipment. If the state collects the same amount of money
for it, and we don't have to go through those transactions, we can
then use this equipment in interstate and international
transportation easier. We fit this all together into this package
and we think it makes a very very good bill that we strongly urge
your support of."
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY reiterated the fact that trailers leave
Alaska and are gone for some time. He asked if they are off-
loaded.
MR. DILLON replied, "We have trailers now in companies that operate
internationally from Alaska. We have freight shipments that can
end up and do in every state and every province in North America,
and believe it or not, even in Mexico. The trucking industry is
quickly becoming much more of an international player. The
agreements that we're hoping will eventually be implemented in
NAFTA [National American Free Trade Agreement] will provide for
freer flow of this equipment and the ability of our carriers from
Alaska to get into markets that traditionally, because of
regulatory thresholds have been unavailable in the past."
Number 1659
MR. DILLON continued, "Alaska was one of the first states in the
country to open up the trucking industry through the process of
deregulation to completely free-market-based enterprise. That's
what's happening pretty much nationwide now, the federal government
has mandated that, amongst the states we're seeing the same thing
in Canada, we're seeing the same thing in Mexico. And all what
that does is it lowers the cost of moving everything, which I've
said I think before this committee before, 'If you've got it, a
truck brought it.' And we truly believe that and when you make our
industry more efficient, and more cost-effective, it's good for
everything in the economy."
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY asked for a guesstimate of the number of
trailers, some of the largest trucking concerns, a business might
have.
Number 1698
MR. DILLON replied the larger trucking companies, the traditional
trucking companies, it would not be unusual for them to have 500 to
900 trailers.
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON indicated the challenge is, is that the state
increases the fees and assumes that the fees will be used for the
additional weigh station safety employees. The challenge for the
industry is to make sure that that does happen. For example, the
DMV will increase the fees and take it for other spending.
MR. DILLON said, "We were hopeful that the intent language, which
is incorporated in here, will help with the governor's budget and
encourage that that money be redirected. The trucking industry is
not receiving what we consider our fair share of money to keep the
weigh stations open, or to do enough safety inspections in the
state."
Number 1731
MR. DILLON pointed out the weigh stations are very important
internally because it levels the playing field between competitors.
It makes sure, from a public interest standpoint, that trucks are
not overloaded and destroying the roads and causing more damage to
the roads than is warranted. Mr. Dillon said, "We also believe on
the safety-side of things, that the prevention of accidents is
paramount, but also again leveling the playing field with those
companies that are committed to running safe trucks and qualified
drivers are not at a competitive disadvantage because they make
that investment. So, it's not always that we are wearing some sort
of white hat when we say we want the trucks weighed and we want the
safety inspections. There's also a true business interest in that.
But to spill over into the public arena where your major concern
is, is in protecting that highway from damage that's unnecessary,
and in making sure that the trucks are running on the highway are
operated by qualified drivers in safe conditions. We will be
following up with this."
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON referred to trucks escaping the registration
fee, he assumed that is, in a large part, because the state is not
manning the stations at times trucks are coming through. He asked,
"Does the temporary registration fee on page 7, the $350, is that
an annual certificate or is it every time they come through, or
what."
MR. DILLON replied an amendment will be offered to consider it to
be a 30-day fee, which is what they recommended. That allows a
person who enters at Tok to register in the state temporarily for
30 days. He can go pretty much where he wants and do what he
wants. Should he stay longer than 30 days, he would be required to
renew that temporary registration.
MR. DILLON mentioned a number of trucks come to the Anchorage area
to work and haul dirt during the summertime from the Lower 48, or
from logging areas in Montana. They can come into the state and
still register full-time at whatever the registration cost is and
spend the full summertime and not pay $350 every 30 days if that is
what they choose to do. That is typical of registration in every
state, you have the option of buying a trip permit.
MR. DILLON continued, "And, I might mention that these temporary
permits -- our research over the last four years - and we've asked
hundreds of different carriers who are moving freight into the
state. -- It's not uncommon for us to get four or five calls a week
where a carrier from Minnesota or a carrier from Florida will call
up and say, 'Well, we're coming up with a load of such and such to
go to a place called Prudhoe Bay, when we get to the state of
Alaska what's going to be necessary to operate there. Will we need
to have a fuel bond, will we need to post an insurance bond, will
we need to file a mileage rate.' And now I tell them, 'If the
scale is open, please buy a $10 permit,' and they think we're
joking. So we've asked them, 'What would your feeling be if it was
a $300 or $400 permit to come up to the state of Alaska. They'd
go, 'Oh, you know we figured that into the rate of going and doing
business in Alaska.' So we don't anticipate that there will be
many people that are going to be adversely impacted by this, and
it's certainly not our line of the reciprocity that we find, for
example when one of our trucks wants to haul into the Yukon - a
trip into the Yukon to deliver freight may cost the individual
freight hauler as much as $600 to deliver that load. And then it's
not good for like 30 days at a time, so there's still an imbalance.
What this will do though, is make it a more balanced system where
these out-of-state truckers are at least contributing something
more to the state of Alaska where they're actually achieving some
benefit for running on our roads."
Number 1916
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY asked if one of the three amendments has
been withdrawn.
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS replied yes, by Representative Davis.
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY asked Mr. Dillon if the Alaska Trucking
Association supports the other two amendments.
MR. DILLON replied, "We definitely support the 30-day amendment,
and we support the $10 fee for a one-time (indisc.) registration to
put a sticker on the current equipment that shows that they were
paid up and legal."
Number 1941
REPRESENTATIVE SANDERS asked, "On the temporary permit, ... rather
than 30 days, would you entertain - or could you guys live up to it
- it might be more trouble than its worth, a trip permit, that you
said you were coming four days over, four days back, that would
leave you about a three-day grace period at the end and with
provisions for an extension."
MR. DILLON said, "I'm afraid something like that, although a very
good idea, would be unworkable in terms of the enforcement of it.
It's difficult enough if we can catch them at the border one time.
The guy going out short of impounding his truck and threatening, I
guess his family back home. We would find it very difficult to
collect that money. It's again, given the size of this state, the
type of commodities that move in and out of the state, we believe
that increasing what is the current system of buying a multi day
permit that allows you simply to do what you need to do is
reasonable. We believe, and there are a number of folks who would
like to see, I'm sure that a shorter time frame - but we will, in
fact, have more of them registered full-time if we get the time
frame too short and the price too high. We believe in thinking
this thing through and then talking to operators about how they
would feel about it. But the $350 for a trip permit and 30 days
seems to be the most reasonable balance."
MARK TABBUTT, General Manager, Totem Ocean Trailer Express [TOTE],
was next to testify He said, "We're an Alaskan transportation
company, our only market is Alaska. We operate three roll-on,
roll-off vessels between the Port of Tacoma and the Port of
Anchorage and we carry roughly 50 percent of all the freight that
comes into the Port of Anchorage. And the Port of Anchorage
carries about 75% to 80% of all the freight consumed through
Southcentral and most of the bush communities."
MR. TABBUTT indicated TOTE attracts the state's largest trucking
companies as their biggest customers, their operation is an
integral part of their trucking operation. TOTE owns or leases
about 1500 highway trailers, depending on the season and the
demands, has an investment of about $40 million, in highway trailer
equipment specifically to serve the state of Alaska. He noted they
operate the fleet throughout the Lower 48, for example, picking up
northbound freight in California destined for Carr Gotstein grocery
store in Fairbanks. Southbound, they will pull Copper River salmon
out of Cordova and ship that to Tacoma, and then maybe delivered to
Chicago to a fish buyer there.
MR. TABBUTT concluded, "This bill will accomplish three steps that
we promote. First, it will bring our state's regulations more in
line with other states which is critically important to companies
like ours that move this equipment routinely across state lines.
Two, it will work toward creating a level playing field, that we
believe we need to have in this state within the trucking industry
by requiring consistent licensing fees, safety regulation
compliance and equal enforcement of - discussed earlier - load
regulations. Finally, it will make a revenue neutral change in
licensing requirements which will ease both government and
industries administrative burden in tracking the licensing."
Number 2234
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said, "I know this has nothing to do with the
bill, but I'd really be interested in what the total value of in
hauled goods and the approximate value of the out hauled goods from
Alaska would be. ... Particularly about the time we get the
permanent fund dividend, or shortly thereafter. If you have those
kind of figures, somewhere along the line, I would sure appreciate
that kind of a bit of information."
MR. TABBUTT replied, "A study was conducted by the Seattle and
Tacoma Chamber of Commerce. And the effort was to obtain the
dollar figure of goods that come out of Pudget Sound into Alaska,
and the vice versa. It's surprising but the trade imbalance is in
favor of Alaska, if you take in the crude that's consumed in the
Pudget Sound Region, and the fish. The trade imbalance is that
Alaska is sending more south than the Pudget Sound is sending
north. But I'd be happy to get you a copy of that study."
Number 2295
PETER BLANAS, Teamster Line Driver, was next to testify. He said
if HB 404 is enacted, it will be beneficial to Alaska and to the
trucking industry. Mr. Blanas read the following testimony:
"First, as you know, HB 404 will charge a fee for out-of-state
trucks entering Alaska. The number of these trucks have increased
dramatically over the last few years utilizing our infrastructure
and taking work from Alaskans and Alaska business. These outside
operators currently pay almost no fees whatsoever which is
inconsistent with most other states and provinces.
"Second, the fees charged to outside operators, if I read the bill
right, could then be appropriated to state DOT/PF programs which
are in line with truck safety and enforcement, such as full-time
operation of state scales, which is in the public's interest for
several reasons. First a driver's logbook must coincide with the
scale times, which are logged into the state scale computer. If
the scale is closed, the driver is free to run a trip, or multiple
trips, anyway he likes and literally fill in the blanks later.
This lack of enforcement, I believe is one of the greatest
contributing factors of fatigue related accidents. Also,
oftentimes a driver will head out on a trip with no idea of what
conditions lay ahead. Very often the only indication he'll have of
trouble will come from the scale operator. The scale operator
normally warns drivers of say adverse winter conditions but also
has the ability to summon help in an emergency and to summon
maintenance crews if a particular hill is iced over or if there
happens to be a rock slide on the road on a rainy night.
"Third, money collected from the outside operators may also be
available for funding the state DOT/PF inspection program which
currently leaves much to be desired. It may interest this
committee to know that I have received one full scale truck
inspection in the last four years, and that was only because I
found the inspector and requested it."
MR. BLANAS said, "In conclusion, I would like to convey that the
single most important part of HB 404 to me is that the outside
operators, who make liberal use of our infrastructure, and reap the
benefits of hauling off our natural resources be made to shoulder
some of the burden of the benefits that they enjoy. HB 404 is a
good start toward that end."
Number 2399
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY asked are the Canadian load limits the same
as Alaska's.
MR. BLANAS replied he did not know.
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY mentioned he heard trucks come up from the
Lower 48 through Canada and off-load, for example in Fairbanks into
a local truck which cannot legally carry that weight. He asked Mr.
Blanas if he was aware of that.
MR. BLANAS replied he was not familiar with that.
Number 2445
BARBARA HUFF-TUCKNESS, Director of Governmental and Legislative
Affairs, Teamster's Local 959, testified in support of HB 404. She
said, "Without reiterating all of the previous speaker's testimony,
I think we have gone on record, hopefully everybody has received a
copy of Gerry [Gerald] Hood, our secretary-treasure's letter ...
[February 19, 1998] supporting the basic provisions of this bill.
It does three things, at least what we have supported through this
process, the adoption of the..."
TAPE 98-8, SIDE B
Number 0001
MS. HUFF-TUCKNESS continued, "The main reasons from the locals
perspective here in looking at this particular industry - I think
an industry that, from the teamsters' perspective has been long
overlooked. For many many years a lot..." (Tape jammed, therefore
approximately three minutes of Ms. Huff-Tuckness' testimony is
missing).
TAPE 98-9, SIDE A
Number 0030
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS called the meeting back to order.
MS. HUFF-TUCKNESS stated for the record Teamster's Local 959 did go
on record supporting HB 404. She said, "In summary, the issues
here I think are very very near and dear to all of us that live,
work and operate throughout the state of Alaska whether you
actually work in the industry or drive the highways out there. I
would like to end though, with a very very near and dear concern
that we have, and it is with the 24-hour, 7-day a week, operations
with the weigh stations. This does not come anywhere close to
fixing it. It is an issue that we will continue working with the
DOT/PF as well as the Department of Administration through this
process. I would like to commend both of those departments for
their efforts and time that they have put in working with ATA
[Alaska Truckers Association], or the industry representatives,
along with the teamsters in coming - at least to this particular
point. As mentioned earlier, the weigh stations are a problem out
there around the state and I do believe one of a very great public
concern and taking a look at how those are actually operating on a
day to day basis."
CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS asked if anyone was on teleconference that would
like to testify.
Number 0170
LINDA LEARY, Vice President of Sales, Carlile K&W Transport,
testified via teleconference. She said, "We would like to go on
record as being in support of HB 404. For those of you that aren't
familiar with Carlile and the services that we offer, basically
intrastate and interstate transportation, throughout the state of
Alaska and from the Lower 48 into Alaska, we constitute about 350
employees in the state of Alaska, we run 100 tractors and about 850
pieces of trailing equipment, so this bill is very important for
us."
MS. LEARY continued, "Some of the issues that we run into on a
daily basis with our customers are safety and that's where we feel
that the truck inspections will play a big roll in that. And also
a level playing field with the inbound on transportation, we know
that there are a number of carriers that transport into the state
of Alaska, closer to probably 4,000 loads a year that actually
enter the state that we would like to have it be a little bit
fairer for everybody. And the registration of the power units is
a much better plan for us. We also have equipment that we operate
down around the Seattle and Portland area, and as well as Alaska.
We'd like to go on record as being in support of it."
Number 0299
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY asked Ms. Leary if her company has special
equipment to handle hazardous material.
MS. LEARY replied "We transport hazardous material as well as
hazardous waste, and most of the hazardous waste goes out of the
state and the inbound hazardous material, most of what we have goes
over the water with TOTE and there's a very little that probably
comes over the road. ... Probably not that much chemicals because
a lot of the chemicals need to be heated and protected, so a lot of
the traffic you see is probably flatbed traffic and unheated
trailers."
CHAIR WILLIAMS indicated there were two amendments before the
committee.
Number 0418
REPRESENTATIVE MASEK made a motion to adopt Amendment 1, 0-
LS1528\A.1, [2/20/98]:
Page 4, lines 10-11: Delete all material.
Renumber the following bill sections accordingly.
Page 9, following line 10: Insert a new bill section to read:
"*Sec. 20. AS 28.10.421 is amended by adding a new subsection
to read:
(i) A one-time registration fee of $10 is imposed upon initial
registration for a trailer or semi-trailer for commercial
purposes."
Renumber the following bill sections accordingly.
CHAIR WILLIAMS asked whether there was any objection, there being
none, Amendment 1 was adopted.
Number 0473
REPRESENTATIVE MASEK noted Amendment 2 was withdrawn. She made a
motion to adopt Amendment 3, [0-LS1528\A.3, 2/23/98]:
Page 7, line 4: Delete "60"
Insert "30"
CHAIR WILLIAMS asked whether there was any objection, there being
none, Amendment 3 was adopted.
Number 0519
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON made a motion to move HB 404 as amended with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. There being
no objection, CSHB 404 moved from the House Transportation Standing
Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
Number 0567
CHAIR WILLIAMS adjourned the House Transportation Standing
Committee at 2:08 p.m.
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