Legislature(1999 - 2000)
02/11/1999 01:07 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 11, 1999
1:07 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Beverly Masek, Chair
Representative Andrew Halcro, Vice Chair
Representative John Cowdery
Representative Allen Kemplen
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Bill Hudson
Representative Jerry Sanders
Representative Albert Kookesh
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
* HOUSE BILL NO. 73
"An Act relating to commercial vehicle registration fees and taxes;
and providing for an effective date."
- MOVED HB 73 OUT OF COMMITTEE
(* First public hearing)
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: HB 73
SHORT TITLE: MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION FEES
SPONSOR(S): TRANSPORTATION
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
2/03/99 131 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S)
2/03/99 131 (H) TRANSPORTATION, STATE AFFAIRS,
FINANCE
2/11/99 (H) TRA AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 17
WITNESS REGISTER
TED DEATS, Legislative Assistant
to Representative Beverly Masek
Alaska State Legislature
Capitol Building, Room 432
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Telephone: (907) 465-4858
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented sponsor statement for HB 73.
FRANK DILLON, Executive Vice President
Alaska Trucking Association
3443 Minnesota Drive
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
Telephone: (907)276-1149
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on behalf of the Alaska Trucking
Association in support of HB 73.
CHARLES HOSACK, Deputy Director
Division of Motor Vehicles
Department of Administration
3300 B Fairbanks Street
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
Telephone: (907)269-5559
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on behalf of the Division of Motor
Vehicles in support of HB 73.
JUANITA HENSLEY, Administrator
Division of Motor Vehicles
Department of Administration
P.O. Box 110200
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0200
Telephone: (907)465-5648
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on behalf of the Division of Motor
Vehicles in support of HB 73.
PETER BLANAS, Member
General Teamsters Local 959 State of Alaska
427 West 87th Avenue
Anchorage, Alaska 99515
Telephone: (907)344-7887
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 73.
BARBARA HUFF TUCKNESS, Director of Legislative/Governmental Affairs
General Teamsters Local 959 State of Alaska
520 East 34th Avenue
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
Telephone: (907)565-8236
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on behalf of Teamsters Local 959 in
support of HB 73.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 99-5, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIR BEVERLY MASEK called the House Transportation Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:07 p.m. Members present at the
call to order were Representatives Masek, Halcro, Cowdery and
Kemplen. Representatives Hudson, Sanders and Kookesh were excused.
HB 73 - MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION FEES
CHAIR MASEK announced the first order of business was House Bill
No. 73, "An Act relating to commercial vehicle registration fees
and taxes; and providing for an effective date."
Number 0089
TED DEATS, Legislative Assistant to Representative Beverly Masek,
Alaska State Legislature, read the following sponsor statement into
the record:
Last year, the Twentieth Legislature, Second Session, passed
Senate CS for CS for House Bill No. 404(RLS). This bill
raised temporary registration fees for out-of-state trucks to
fund size, weight and safety inspections statewide. This bill
eliminated the requirement of annual registration of
commercial trailers with the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV),
saving the state $100,000 by eliminating 20,000 yearly
transactions. It also saved trucking companies the chore of
hunting down hundreds of trailers statewide, on barges, or
even out of state, to affix registration stickers.
The House version raised fees on commercial trucks to offset
the revenue lost to the state from registering trailers.
However, in the final days of passage, bill critics noted that
some municipalities lost tax revenues by eliminating trailer
registrations. (The DMV collects taxes for some municipalities
when it registers vehicles.)
The bill was amended to include a 'sunset' date of March 30,
1999. This 'sunset' was to allow the trucking industry,
municipalities, and DMV time to agree on a plan to replace the
lost revenues or go back to yearly registration of trailers.
After several recent teleconferences and meetings, the
affected parties reached certain agreements. HB 73 meets
these agreements by:
* Making permanent the new registration fees for commercial
vehicles.
* Raising the municipal tax schedule by $75 per year on
trucks over 12,000 pounds to restore lost revenue to
affected municipalities.
* Tightening the 'situs' language so that trucks are
registered for where they are normally used.
Number 0345
FRANK DILLON, Executive Vice President, Alaska Trucking
Association, testified via teleconference from Anchorage in support
of HB 73. He agreed that HB 73 is basically a corrective bill for
actions taken under HB 404 last session. He emphasized how
important this is to the trucking industry in Alaska, in that last
year was one of the best the industry has had in a decade. He
added, however, that the prospects for the rest of this year and
next year are a little bit less optimistic. He further stated that
many trucking companies do the majority of their work in oil field
servicing. As a result of fiscal problems related to the price of
oil, he explained, these companies are looking at the loss of
millions of dollars in contracts that they had thought were secure.
MR. DILLON reported having met numerous times over the last six
months with representatives from the major municipalities that
collect this tax, and he stressed that their industry has worked
very hard to accommodate them. It was the intention of HB 404, he
added, to be a revenue-neutral piece of legislation, and it was
purely an oversight on the part of all parties involved that the
municipalities were not involved earlier.
MR. DILLON further explained that it was agreed upon several weeks
ago that increasing the fee on the allowable portion for municipal
taxes by $75 on the two heaviest weight classes of vehicles would
replace the potential loss of revenue from commercial vehicle
trailers that would no longer be on their tax rolls. He emphasized
that the short-term efficiencies for government, the 20,000
transactions that the industry does not have to go through, and the
trailers that do not have to be located to affix tags to, would all
be compelling reasons to pass HB 73. He declared that this bill
had the support of "the Municipal League, the people who would be
collecting taxes, the state government, the Division of Motor
Vehicles and the Teamsters." He clarified that, despite the
voluminous size of HB 73, the only real change in this bill from HB
404 would be the allowance of an increase of $75 in the 12,000-
pound-and-up class of vehicles for municipal tax purposes.
Number 0628
REPRESENTATIVE HALCRO noted that the increased registration fees
were intended to apply towards weight and safety inspections. He
wondered how effective the state of Alaska has been in utilizing
collected fees as intended for a safety program.
MR. DILLON responded, "Unfortunately, there is no direct linkage
between the fees that we pay in motor vehicle licensing and our
safety inspection program and our measurement standards weighing
program." It was his opinion that both of these programs are
locally underfunded and not doing the job they should. He
clarified that this funding has to be re-appropriated specifically
from the general fund by the Governor's budget.
Number 0720
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY asked if this bill was identical to the one
last year, with the exception of the addition to accommodate the
municipalities.
MR. DILLON said yes.
Number 0779
CHARLES R. HOSACK, Deputy Director, Division of Motor Vehicles
(DMV), Department of Administration, testified via teleconference
from Anchorage on behalf of the DMV in support of HB 73. He agreed
that HB 73 benefits the DMV, as well as businesses. The DMV has
been charging these fees since January 1, 1999, he added, and they
are issuing permanent plates to trailers. He stressed that passage
of this bill would allow continuation of this program. He
confirmed the earlier belief that HB 73 was fully supported by the
municipalities involved.
Number 0868
JUANITA HENSLEY, Administrator, Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV),
Department of Administration, State of Alaska, testified via
teleconference from Texas on behalf of the DMV in support of HB 73.
She confirmed that it was simply an oversight that HB 404 did not
address the 13 communities around the state that the DMV collects
taxes for, and she reported that they have been working with these
various municipalities since then to rectify the situation. It was
never their intention, she added, to have these communities lose
money due to this simple oversight.
MS. HENSLEY stated, "Any time you start dealing with Title 28 in
the Alaska motor vehicle laws, if you change one small section in
there, there is a whole triage of other sections that also need
changing." She explained that HB 73 would not change the fee
structure from what the DMV is already doing today, other than the
fact that they would be collecting additional taxes on those two
larger sets of trucks.
Number 1009
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY asked whether the plates would be
transferable from one vehicle to another.
MS. HENSLEY said no, and added that they belong to the trailer and
would stay there.
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY questioned if rural Alaska would be exempt
from this if HB 73 were to become law.
MS. HENSLEY confirmed that the list of communities that are
currently exempt would remain exempt under this bill.
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY sought clarification as to how a community
achieved this exempt status.
MS. HENSLEY explained that this was granted if a community had an
average of less than 499 vehicles daily on a particular roadway.
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY wondered whether this was true even if the
state of Alaska was maintaining the roads.
MS. HENSLEY said yes, as long as the road was not connected to a
highway system that had greater than 499 vehicles daily on it.
Number 1115
PETER BLANAS, Member, Teamsters Union Local 959, Anchorage,
testified via teleconference in support of HB 73. He emphasized
that HB 73 would benefit the transportation sector in many ways,
not the least of which would be no longer having to chase down and
apply decals to trailers which may be scattered, literally, across
the country. He agreed that this would represent a cost-cutting
measure for both the DMV and the transportation industry. He added
that the additional collection of fees to satisfy local tax
impositions would be an adequate "fix" to any foreseeable problem.
Number 1170
BARBARA HUFF TUCKNESS, Director of Legislative and Governmental
Affairs, Teamsters Union Local 959, Anchorage, appeared before the
committee on behalf of her union to go on record in support of HB
73. She referred the committee to the letter submitted by Gerald
L. Hood, Secretary-Treasurer of General Teamsters Local 959, State
of Alaska, as further proof of this support. While addressing
issues of safety, adoption of federal regulations into state law,
and registration issues, she explained, some of the municipal taxes
being collected were inadvertently overlooked. She endorsed HB 73
as a solution to this problem.
Number 1230
REPRESENTATIVE HALCRO sought clarification concerning the process
involved with registering out-of-state trailers entering the
Municipality of Anchorage.
MS. HUFF TUCKNESS indicated she believed that these individual
companies had employees who register these trucks as part of their
job, and added that it usually takes about three to four months of
each year to tag these trailers and make sure they have appropriate
registration. The trucks are registered, she explained, at the
location they are being utilized in.
Number 1324
MR. DILLON added to his previous testimony. He stated that the goal
was to expedite HB 73, as it has a March 30, 1999, deadline to
meet.
Number 1366
REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY made a motion that HB 73 move from the
committee with individual recommendations and a zero fiscal note.
There being no objection, HB 73 was moved out of the House
Transportation Standing Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
CHAIR MASEK adjourned the House Transportation Standing Committee
meeting at 1:30 p.m.
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