Legislature(1995 - 1996)
04/30/1996 03:02 PM Senate L&C
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SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE
April 30, 1996
3:02 P.M.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Tim Kelly, Chairman
Senator John Torgerson, Vice Chairman
Senator Judy Salo
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Mike Miller
Senator Jim Duncan
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 434(L&C)
"An Act relating to unclaimed property; and providing for an
effective date."
SENATE BILL NO. 273
"An Act relating to Native handicrafts and other articles made in
the state."
PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
HB 434 - See Labor and Commerce minutes dated 4/30/96.
SB 273 - See State Affairs minutes dated 3/26/96.
See Labor and Commerce minutes dated 4/30/96.
WITNESS REGISTER
Bob Bartholomew, Deputy Director
Division of Income and Excise Audit
P.O. Box 110420
Department of Revenue
Juneau, AK 99811-0420
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported HB 434.
Senator Georgianna Lincoln
State Capitol Bldg.
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of SB 273.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 96-30, SIDE A
Number 001
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 434(L&C)
"An Act relating to unclaimed property; and providing for an
effective date."
CHAIRMAN KELLY called the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee
meeting to order at 3:02 and announced HB 434 to be up for
consideration.
BOB BARTHOLOMEW, Deputy Director, Department of Revenue, said this
legislation came from recommendations from employees who work in
the unclaimed property program and from an audit done by the Office
of Management and Budget. He explained that unclaimed property is
basically property like money that has been left in savings
accounts, deposits with utility companies that aren't refunded,
etc. This will be the first significant update to the statute that
passed 10 years ago.
The changes streamline the requirements within the bill to make it
more efficient for both businesses and State. There are letters of
support from four businesses. He said it would reduce the workload
for the State and with the saved time they will try to locate more
owners and return property and make sure that all businesses that
should be reporting to the State are.
They added three guidelines to protect citizens who lose property
for having to pay unreasonable amounts to fee finders. Those
guidelines put a cap on the percentage that a fee finder could
charge an owner to get their property back and it allows the State
a two year window within which to return the property or for the
owner to find it without a cost, and it also says you have to
inform the person what they found so you would know what you were
dealing with.
This program puts about $2 million per year into the general fund.
Over the last three years 3,000 people have had their property
returned to them by the program, Mr. Bartholomew said.
SENATOR KELLY noted that there were letters of support from Key
Bank, Chugach Electric, and State Farm Insurance.
MR. BARTHOLOMEW noted that those letters point out two issues.
They are raising the dollar limit upon which you have to do the
detailed tracking. If you lose under a $100 now the businesses and
the State have to do a lot of detailed recordkeeping and tracking
and they think it's getting to the point where it costs more to
return the property than it's worth when it's under $100. The
letters also supported the guidelines for the fee finders.
SENATOR TORGERSON moved CSHB 434 (L&C) from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was so
ordered.
SB 273 NATIVE HANDICRAFTS & INSTATE PRODUCTS
SENATOR KELLY announced SB 273 to be up for consideration. He
noted there was a proposed CS.
SENATOR LINCOLN, sponsor, said the CS accommodated the concern
about retailers verifying articles coming into them for
authenticity and would they be liable for it rather than the
seller. She said the class B misdemeanor penalty was removed.
In section 2, page 1, line 9 inserts "in the course of business" at
"retail" to exempt people who choose to sell items from their
private collections.
The third item under AS45.65.064 was changed to require the artist
to provide the certificate of origin to the buyer for any
handicraft she sells at retail or wholesale for $50 or more. The
reason they use $50 instead of $100 because one didn't know how
much the article would actually sell for.
That same section requires a person other than the maker of the
handicraft who sells an authentic native handicraft at retail or
wholesale for $100 or more to provide the buyer with a certificate
of origin.
Section C notices that the artist must prepare the certificate of
origin and then states the seller who is not the maker is not
responsible for the accuracy of the contents of the certificate.
She agreed with this amendment because it puts the responsibility
upon the maker of the item rather than the seller.
SENATOR LINCOLN displayed several authentic and fake handicrafts to
the committee to illustrate her point.
SENATOR LINCOLN said that the reason for this legislation is
because 80 percent of a $77.5 million was spent on arts and crafts
in Alaska that are non-native made and in many instances, non-
Alaskan. She is not saying they can't sell the fake things, but
she is saying that someone who pays a lot of money for something
can ask for a certificate of authenticity.
She said there is no jail time, but the fine is changed from $1000
to $5000. It doesn't require a policeman. It's not beyond a
reasonable doubt, but just a preponderance of evidence.
Number 290
SENATOR SALO moved to adopt the CS to SB 273. There were no
objections and it was so ordered.
SENATOR TORGERSON moved to pass CSSB 273 (L&C) from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was so
ordered.
SENATOR KELLY adjourned the meeting at 3:22 p.m.
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