Legislature(1997 - 1998)
03/07/1997 01:30 PM Senate CRA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SENATE COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
March 7, 1997
1:30 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Jerry Mackie, Chairman
Senator Gary Wilken, Vice Chairman
Senator Dave Donley
Senator Randy Phillips
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Lyman Hoffman
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILL NO. 37
"An Act relating to the Education Facilities Financing Authority;
and providing for an effective date."
-- MOVED SSSB 37 OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 111
"An Act making an appropriation to the education facilities fund;
making an appropriation from the constitutional budget reserve fund
under art. IX, sec. 17(c), Constitution of the State of Alaska; and
providing for an effective date."
-- MOVED SB 111 OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE BILL NO. 35
"An Act extending the termination date of the Alaska regional
economic assistance program; and providing for an effective date."
-- MOVED HB 35 OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 9
"An Act relating to municipal capital project matching grants for
a municipality organized under federal law as an Indian reserve;
and providing for an effective date."
-- MOVED SB 9 OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 50
"An Act relating to administrative penalties for violation of
public water supply system requirements; amending Alaska Rule of
Civil Procedure 82 regarding attorney's fees; and providing for an
effective date."
-- HELD TO 3/7/97 MEETING
PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
SB 37 - See Community & Regional Affairs minutes dated 3/5/97.
SB 111 - See Community & Regional Affairs minutes dated 3/5/97.
HB 35 - No previous action to record.
SB 9 - No previous action to record.
SB 50 - Community & Regional Affairs minutes dated 2/5/97.
WITNESS REGISTER
Richard S. Cross, Deputy Commissioner
Department of Education
801 W. 10th St., Suite 200
Juneau, AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Department recommends SSSB 37 use DOE's
capital construction & major maintenance list
Representative Alan Austerman
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99802-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Prime Sponsor of HB 35
Paul Fuhs
10652 Porter Lane
Juneau, AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Supports HB 35
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 97-9, SIDE A
Number 001
CHAIRMAN MACKIE called the Senate Community & Regional Affairs
Committee meeting to order at 1:30 p.m., noting the presence of all
committee members with the exception of Senator Hoffman. He then
stated SB 50 (PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY VIOL: ADMIN PENALTIES) would be
held over to the Monday, March 10 meeting.
SSSB 37 EDUCATION FACILITIES FINANCING AUTHORITY
SB 111 APPROP: EDUCATION FACILITIES FUND
CHAIRMAN MACKIE brought SSSB 37 and SB 111 back before the
committee.
RICK CROSS , Deputy Commissioner, Department of Education, expressed
the department's willingness to work on the difficult problem of
providing a steady source of funding for capital construction and
major maintenance needs.
Mr. Cross noted the original version of the legislation used the
Department of Education's capital construction and major
maintenance list as the list that would be funded. However, the
sponsor substitute uses a modified list, and the the department
strongly recommends that SSSB 37 revert to using the department's
capital construction and major maintenance list. He said the Bond
Reimbursement & Debt Review Committee has worked hard over the last
several years to improve the quality of that list and to have it
become a list that truly reflects the capital construction and
major maintenance needs throughout the entire state. He added that
the process is not perfect, but the pledge is there is to continue
to improve it.
Mr. Cross also pointed out that there is a statutory process for
ranking projects, which, he said, is fair to both urban and bush
Alaska and it is the one that should be used in determining the
order of rank.
In conclusion, Mr. Cross said this is part of a solution to the
problem of providing a steady source of funding for all of the
educational needs, which not only includes capital construction and
major maintenance, but includes operation expenses as well. He
also expressed the department's willingness to work with the
leadership in ensuring that there is a steady source of funding for
the operation of the state's school programs that will improve
quality for all children.
Number 104
CHAIRMAN MACKIE commented that the DOE list doesn't, in a lot of
peoples' minds, take care of needs that are in the urban areas as
well as the rural areas. So he has made the decision to look to
some of the urban school districts and those members that represent
those areas to be more involved in a plan that's going to have fair
distribution throughout the state. He added that's the only chance
that anything like this would even have of being approved. MR.
CROSS said he understands what the chairman is saying, but some of
the projects in the bill are not approvable under the statute. He
also said that when Alaska has had boom years, urban Alaska has
been well represented on the list.
Number 140
CHAIRMAN MACKIE stated the issue is a huge policy question, and it
is something that is going to be decided by the leadership and the
Finance Committee if and when anything like this were to be
considered. He thinks it is important to have this issue move over
to the Health, Education & Social Services Committee where it can
be considered along with other education issues.
Number 155
SENATOR DONLEY stated he thinks the Department of Education has
been very biased against urban school districts and that he
completely disagrees with the testimony from the department. He
said the department has been very difficult to work with over the
past four to six years and has been insensitive to the urban areas.
It's so bad that for many years the Anchorage School District
hasn't even bothered to put in capital requests. He concluded that
maybe the fact the department has less contested requests is
because some of the urban districts have given up even trying.
SENATOR WILKEN moved SSSB 37 and SB 111 and the attached fiscal
notes be passed out of committee with individual recommendations.
SENATOR PHILLIPS objected. The roll was taken with the following
result: Senators Donley, Wilken and Mackie voted "Yea" and Senator
Phillips voted "Nay." The Chairman stated SSSB 37 and SB 111 would
move to the next committee of referral with individual
recommendations.
HB 35 EXTEND REG. ECONOMIC ASST PROGRAM
CHAIRMAN MACKIE brought HB 35 before the committee as the next
order of business.
REPRESENTATIVE ALAN AUSTERMAN , prime sponsor of HB 35, explained
the legislation extends the sunset date for the Alaska Regional
Development Organizations program (ARDOR), a program that has been
in existence since approximately 1988, to the year 2000. There's
currently 11 ARDOR's in the state, and these are private, nonprofit
corporations that are working on economic development throughout
the state.
Representative Austerman directed attention to an annual report
which shows the program received approximately $605,000 from the
state in FY 96, and the total budget of the program amounted to
approximately $6,500,000. He also pointed out that the
participants in the program pay a fee to be part of the program
which amounted to over $3,000,000 in FY 96. He said the investment
on the state part is well worth the effort.
Number 227
PAUL FUHS of Juneau testifying in support of HB 35, emphasized that
the ARDOR's are public, private partnerships. He said at least
half of these boards are private sector members that really keep
their feet on the ground for a practical program.
Mr. Fuhs also pointed out that these ARDOR's were formed when state
funds started to go down. The communities used to fight and
compete against each other for all the state money, and now that
there isn't any, they've really changed their thinking to how they
are going to make money and how they are going to build an economy
in their region.
Number 242
There being no further testimony on HB 35, CHAIRMAN MACKIE asked
for the will of the committee.
SENATOR WILKEN moved that HB 35 and the attached fiscal note be
passed out of committee with individual recommendations. Hearing
no objection, it was so ordered.
SB 9 CAP PROJ MATCHING GRANT FOR INDIAN RESERV
CHAIRMAN MACKIE stated he sponsored the same legislation last year,
and it passed the House but failed to come up for a vote in the
Senate during the final days of the session.
Chairman Mackie explained that when the capital matching program
was put into place, it had vague language about the Metlakatla
Indian Community. The community participated in the program for a
number of years, but two years ago when Senator Halford was
chairing the Finance Committee, he discovered that the statute
definition was not written specific enough to include the
Metlakatla Indian Community, so he suggested that it be fixed. SB
9 rectifies the problem by specifically removing Metlakatla from
the Unincorporated Capital Matching Grant Program and specifically
includes Metlakatla in the statute provisions for the Municipal
Capital Matching Grant Program.
Chairman Mackie pointed out that language in Section 1 provides
that Metlakatla is the only entity in the state that now, or in the
future, could qualify under the statute definition.
Number 275
SENATOR PHILLIPS asked if the people of the Metlakatla community
have to vote on how the grant money is expended. CHAIRMAN MACKIE
confirmed that they do. The money goes to the Metlakatla Indian
Community Council and they determine how the money will be spent.
There being no further testimony on SB 9, CHAIRMAN MACKIE asked for
the pleasure of the committee.
SENATOR WILKEN moved that SB 9 and the accompanying fiscal notes be
passed out of committee with individual recommendations. Hearing
no objection, it was so ordered.
There being no further business to come before the committee, the
meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m.
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