Legislature(1993 - 1994)
03/16/1993 01:55 PM Senate L&C
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE
March 16, 1993
1:55 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Tim Kelly, Chairman
Senator Steve Rieger, Vice Chairman
Senator Bert Sharp
Senator Georgianna Lincoln
Senator Judy Salo
MEMBERS ABSENT
All Present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 87
"An Act extending the termination date of the Alaska Public
Utilities Commission to June 30, 1994."
SENATE BILL NO. 141
"An Act extending workers' compensation coverage to certain
high school students in uncompensated work-study programs."
SENATE BILL NO. 117
"An Act making appropriations for contract settlement costs
and cost-of-living adjustments for public employees who are
members of certain collective bargaining units; and
providing for an effective date."
SENATE BILL NO. 42
"An Act relating to municipal taxation of alcoholic
beverages; and providing for an effective date."
SENATE BILL NO. 154
"An Act relating to the economic development grant program;
and providing for an effective date."
SENATE BILL NO. 152
"An Act changing the frequency of certain state inspections
of weights and measures and relating to the issuance of
citations for weights and measures violations."
PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
SB 87 - See Labor and Commerce minutes dated 3/9/93.
SB 141 - See Labor and Commerce minutes dated 3/9/93.
SB 117 - See Labor and Commerce minutes dated 3/9/93.
SB 42 - See Community & Regional Affairs minutes
dated 2/25/93, 3/2/93, 3/4/93, 3/9/93.
SB 154 - No previous action to record.
WITNESS REGISTER
Senator George Jacko
State Capitol
Juneau, Alaska 99801-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of SB 42 and SB 154.
Shelby Stastny, Director
Office of Management and Budget
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 110001
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0001
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 154.
Paul Fuhs, Commissioner
Department of Commerce and Economic Development
P.O. Box 110800
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0800
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 154.
Edgar Blatchford, Commissioner
Department of Community and Regional Affairs
P.O. Box 1122100
Juneau, Alaska 99811-2100
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 154.
Ken Leaf, Legislative Aide
%Senator Robin Taylor
State Capitol
Juneau, Alaska 99811-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of SB 152.
Aves Thompson, Chief
Weight and Measures and Weigh Stations
Department of Commerce and Economic Development
12050 Industry Way
Huffman Business Park
Bldg. O, Suite 6
Anchorage, Alaska 99515-3512
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 152.
Wendy Mulder, Legislative Liaison
Department of Commerce and Economic Development
P.O. Box 110800
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0800
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 152.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 93-19, SIDE A
Number 001
SENATOR KELLY called the Senate Labor and Commerce meeting
to order at 1:55 p.m. and announced SB 87 EXTEND ALASKA
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION to be up for consideration.
SENATOR RIEGER moved to pass SB 87 from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it
was so ordered.
SENATOR KELLY announced SB 141 WORKERS' COMP FOR WORK-STUDY
STUDENTS to be up for consideration.
SENATOR RIEGER moved to adopt the CS for SB 141. There were
no objections and it was so ordered.
SENATOR RIEGER moved to pass CSSB 141 from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it
was so ordered.
Number 50
SENATOR KELLY announced SB 117 APPROP: CONTRACT SETTLEMENT
COSTS to be up for consideration. He said inasmuch the
legislature usually appropriates money to the University in
one big chunk, they have asked legal council on whether or
not this supplemental is needed and if this amendment has to
pass in order for this agreement to take affect. He said
they would, therefore hold the bill.
SENATOR KELLY announced SB 42 LOCAL SALES TAX ON ALCOHOLIC
BEVERAGES to be up for consideration.
SENATOR JACKO, sponsor of SB 42, said it would allow
municipalities of less than 2,500 residents to hold
elections to decide whether they want a sales tax rate
beyond the level of other sales tax items in the
municipalities. This will help offset the decline in state
revenues.
SENATOR SALO asked how many communities were allowed to
import liquor, but not sell it? SENATOR JACKO said he
didn't know.
SENATOR RIEGER asked why he chose to cut the population off
at 2,500. SENATOR JACKO explained he would have preferred
for it to apply to all communities across the state, and the
figure was a matter of compromise.
SENATOR PEARCE moved to pass CSSB 42 with fiscal note from
committee with individual recommendations. There were no
objections and it was so ordered.
Number 188
SENATOR KELLY announced SB 154 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GRANT
FUND to be up for consideration.
SENATOR JACKO explained that essentially this legislation
creates a program within the capital budget to address the
needs for economic development in municipalities. It also
establishes the qualifying criteria.
SENATOR PEARCE said she wanted to make sure that the
regional port authorities and other instrumentalities of the
state or municipality would be able to own the projects and
facilities.
Number 285
SHELBY STASTNY, Director, OMB, said this legislation fills a
need we don't have in our current capitol funding structure.
MR. STASTNY said they wanted to make sure that the owner of
the assets was a government entity that has been elected
(for accountability). The Department of Commerce and
Economic Development would also need the opportunity to
evaluate the project. If the projects are determined
feasible by the administration, then it would be placed in
the governor's capital budget and forwarded to the
legislature for further consideration, he explained.
Number 260
SENATOR KELLY said the definition of a local elected
community council made him nervous, because there were so
many. MR. STASTNY said the elected representative for the
community making the proposal was their intention.
SENATOR JACKO said he had discussed the proposed amendments
with Mr. Stastny earlier and didn't have any problems with
them.
SENATOR KELLY said he would have his staff work on a
committee substitute and bring it back before the committee.
Number 324
SENATOR LINCOLN said there was one extra step in the
amendments where it goes through the Governor and then to
the legislature and in the original bill it didn't have to
go through the Governor. She wanted this extra step to be
looked at closely.
SENATOR SALO asked if all the amendments were adopted would
the new positions still be in the Department of Commerce.
MR. STASTNY answered that he had checked with the
Commissioner of the Department of Commerce and Economic
Development who said it could be administered with available
staff.
SENATOR SALO asked if that meant the bill would have a $0
fiscal note. MR. STASTNY said he didn't think there would
be a need for funding, but wanted to check with the
Department of Administration before saying so for sure.
SENATOR RIEGER asked about the $2000 application fee and
what the annual volume through this fund might be.
Number 367
COMMISSIONER FUHS said they expected it would take extra
staff to do this and included an application fee so the
money would not come from the general fund. The fee was
fairly arbitrary, he added. They wanted a high enough
figure to make sure people were fairly serious about their
proposals. He expected to get between 30 - 50 applications
a year. He explained there would be a prioritized list of
the economic development opportunities which would be funded
depending on how much money was in the capital budget. The
money has to be appropriated by the legislature in any given
year.
Number 384
SENATOR RIEGER asked if he was contemplating a differential
in matching requirements. COMMISSIONER FUHS said the higher
the match, the more points people would get on a point
system. This is not structured the same as capital matching
grants.
SENATOR LINCOLN said she wanted it made clear that "sweat
equity" could be used for the match and not just money.
COMMISSIONER FUHS found no problem with that.
SENATOR JACKO pointed out that this legislation is not
intended to replace the Governor's capital match program or
any of the other capital project programs that are in place
right now.
Number 420
SENATOR PEARCE asked Edgar Blatchford, Commissioner,
Department of Community and Regional Affairs, what was the
maximum amount of the small grants his department does?
COMMISSIONER BLATCHFORD explained there were two grant/loan
programs within his department, the federal program with its
complicated requirements and the smaller state program.
Although there is an economic twist to the application in
the federal process, they are still obligated to look also
at community based projects. The amount of requests exceeds
by about 20 times the amount of money available (about $2
million). The small state program is for small economic
enterprises in rural Alaska.
SENATOR RIEGER said with an economic grant fund like this,
it seemed like the legislature should be able to appropriate
money to the fund allocating it for certain projects. Then
the Department would be obligated to follow the allocations.
SENATOR KELLY said they would work on the bill and try to
get back to it on Thursday and announced SB 152 WEIGHTS &
MEASURES: INSPECTIONS/CITATIONS to be up for consideration.
KEN LEAF, Aide for Senator Taylor, read a statement
explaining that SB 152 reestablishes the Weights and
Measures officials' authority for the effective
administration and enforcement of Weights and Measures
regulations, to enforce registration fees and the
requirements of the regulations, and to increase program
receipts by insuring that all who are obliged pay. SB 152
will decrease the frequency of Weights and Measures
inspections while increasing the potency. It will provide
funding for new weights and measures devices used for
testing registration.
AVES THOMPSON, Chief of Weights & Measures, supported SB
152. He said changing this to an annual requirement will
allow them to direct their efforts to those devices that
need more attention and to allow those devices that need
less attention to go for a longer period of time without
inspection.
SENATOR LINCOLN asked him how many inspections he does a
year and in what kinds of areas does he do them. MR.
THOMPSON replied they do approximately 16,000 device
inspections per year. A third of those are probably in the
fishing industry located in Western, Southeast, and
Southcentral Alaska. He said there is a need for them to go
into remote areas, particularly where there are heating oil
meters.
Number 568
SENATOR LINCOLN asked if they would save enough money by
reducing the present number of inspections to go into areas
they haven't been in previously? MR. THOMPSON said this
bill would free up some money, although they wouldn't be
able to cover the entire state on their existing budget.
SENATOR LINCOLN said she would like to see a plan for
Weights and Measures and how that would affect their budget
overall.
SENATOR KELLY asked him to explain line 15 - "(4) commits a
violation identified under AS 45.75.380." MR. THOMPSON
explained that is a list of offenses and penalties.
TAPE 93-19, SIDE B
Number 580
SENATOR KELLY asked if clients could be fined if they are
out of compliance and Weights and Measure doesn't get around
to checking them for a year. MR. THOMPSON replied that
probably technically they could, although he certainly
wouldn't encourage that type of activity.
SENATOR RIEGER asked the penalty for an overweight or
oversize vehicle violation. MR. THOMPSON explained the
overweight penalty is 5 cents per pound and the oversize
penalty is scaled and not to exceed $300.
SENATOR KELLY asked how much money they have received in
fines. MR. THOMPSON said he would find that out for him.
He explained that he didn't want to necessarily make revenue
based on fines, but rather wanted the device owner to pay
the registration fee which is the major source of income for
his Division.
WENDY MULDER, Legislative Liaison, Department of Commerce,
explained the intent of the bill was to give some authority
to Weights and Measures if device owners don't register or
are habitually out of compliance. They estimate generating
$100,000.
SENATOR PEARCE moved to pass SB 152 with fiscal note from
committee with individual recommendations. Senator Lincoln
objected. Senator Kelly, Senator Rieger, Senator Pearce, and
Senator Salo voted yes and Senator Lincoln voted no and SB
152 was passed from committee.
SENATOR KELLY adjourned the meeting at 3:00 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|