Legislature(2001 - 2002)
02/21/2002 01:40 PM Senate L&C
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE LABOR & COMMERCE COMMITTEE
February 21, 2002
1:40 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Ben Stevens, Chair
Senator Loren Leman
Senator Bettye Davis
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Alan Austerman
Senator John Torgerson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 291(L&C)
"An Act relating to the requirements for obtaining a residential
contractor endorsement."
MOVED CSHB 219(L&C) OUT OF COMMITTEE
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 245 (L&C) am
"An Act relating to marital and family therapists."
MOVED SCSHB 245(L&C) OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 267
"An Act establishing the Alaska veterans' memorial endowment fund
and providing for credits against certain taxes for contributions
to that fund; relating to other tax credits for certain
contributions; and providing for an effective date."
MOVED SB 267 OUT OF COMMITTEE
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 235(STA)
"An Act relating to emergency and disaster relief forces as state
employees for purposes of workers' compensation benefits;
relating to the Emergency Management Assistance Compact and the
implementation of the compact; and providing for an effective
date."
MOVED CSSB 235(STA) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
HB 291 - No previous action to record.
HB 245 - No previous action to record.
SB 267 - See State Affairs minutes dated 2/12/02.
SB 235 - See State Affairs minutes dated 1/24/02 and 1/31/02.
WITNESS REGISTER
Representative Kevin Meyer
State Capitol Bldg.
Juneau AK 99811
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of HB 291.
Ms. Robin Ward, Co-Chair
Legislative Affairs
Alaska State Home Builders Association
P.O. Box 91443
Anchorage AK 99509
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported HB 291.
Representative Peggy Wilson
State Capitol Bldg.
Juneau AK 99811
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of HB 245.
Ms. Catherine Reardon, Director
Division of Occupational Licensing
Department of Community and Economic Development
P.O. Box 110806
Juneau AK 99811
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported HB 245.
Mr. Laddie Shaw, State Director
Veterans' Affairs
Department of Military &
Veterans Affairs
PO Box 5800
Ft Richardson, AK 99505-0800
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 267.
Colonel Pat Carothers, Chairman
Alaska Veterans Advisory Council
P.O. Box 32926
Juneau AK 99803
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 267.
MR. Larry Persily, Deputy Commissioner
Department of Revenue
PO Box 110400
Juneau, AK 99811-0400
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 267.
Mr. Wayne Rush
Division of Emergency Services
Department of Military &
Veterans Affairs
PO Box 5800
Ft Richardson, AK 99505-0800
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 235.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 02-7, SIDE A
Number 001
HB 291-LICENSING OF RESIDENTIAL CONTRACTORS
CHAIRMAN BEN STEVENS called the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
meeting to order at 1:40 p.m. and announced HB 291 to be up for
consideration.
REPRESENTATIVE KEVIN MEYER, sponsor of HB 291, said under current
law a person must apply for a residential contractor endorsement
within six months of successfully completing the exam. His
constituent, Don Devore, was out of the state on a family
emergency and missed the six-month deadline. Mr. Devore is
concerned that the law did not allow of extenuating
circumstances. If a person misses the six-month deadline, his
only recourse is to take the residential contractor exam again.
It is four hours long and costs $75 each time the test is taken.
REPRESENATTIVE MEYER said that Catherine Reardon, Director,
Division of Occupational Licensing, agreed that the law could
have some flexibility and that others had also missed the
deadline. The bill extends the timeline to apply from six months
to two years, which has been amended to one year. Ms. Reardon
said that a common cause for people missing the six-month
deadline was because of processes involved in starting a new
construction business, whether sole proprietor or corporation.
Other examples include health and family emergencies.
MS. ROBIN WARD, said she is a residential contractor in Anchorage
and Co-chair of Legislative Affairs for the Alaska State
Homebuilders Association. She supported HB 291. She said that it
creates a little bit of flexibility without taking it too far.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to pass CSHB 291(L&C) from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was
so ordered.
HB 245-MARITAL & FAMILY THERAPISTS
CHAIRMAN STEVENS announced HB 245 to be up for consideration.
REPRESENTATIVE PEGGY WILSON, sponsor, said that HB 245 adds the
Board of Marital and Family Therapy to the list of professionals
that the department can now contract with to provide treatment.
It gives them the ability to order a licensed therapist to submit
to a reasonable physical or mental examination if the board has
credible evidence sufficient to conclude that the therapist's
physical or mental capacity to practice safely is an issue.
Section 3 allows for an individual client contact to be used as
hours towards licensing. Section 4 requires that the therapist
must communicate to a potential victim or law enforcement officer
if serious harm has been identified. The next section imposes
disciplinary sanctions with regards to the therapist for sexual
misconduct. The Board of Marital and Family Therapy group will be
added with the social workers and counselors and other medical
people.
SENATOR DAVIS moved to adopt the CS to HB 245, 22LS0892\F. There
were no objections and it was so ordered.
MS. CATHERINE REARDON, Director, Division of Occupational
Licensing, said that Ms. Samaniego is Chairman of the Board and
she supports this legislation.
SENATOR DAVIS moved to pass SCS HB 245(L&C) from committee with
the $0 fiscal note and with individual recommendations. There
were no objections and it was so ordered.
SB 267-ALASKA VETERANS' MEM.ENDOWMENT FUND
CHAIRMAN STEVENS announced SB 267 to be up for consideration.
Mr. Laddie Shaw, State Director, Veterans Affairs, Department of
Military and Veterans Affairs said they established this fund to
support the veterans' memorials around the state, of which there
are 41. This fund would allow them to manage the memorials, do
regular maintenance, and put up new memorials. They presently
have $125,000 in the bank that has been donated by private
companies throughout the state and they are asking the
legislature to assist them in putting the fund completely in
place.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked how they maintain the memorials now.
MR. SHAW replied that many of the signs are under the Department
of Transportation, but the Byers Lake Memorial is done by
volunteers on their own time and donated money.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked what their long-term objective was for the
fund.
MR. SHAW answered that they want a fund that is established
forever to support all existing institutional memorials in the
state. He used the example of the flagpole at the park strip in
Anchorage that might have to be replaced in 20 years.
He said they want to start the fund at $250,000 and put it in an
interest bearing account and let it grow on its own.
COLONEL PAT CAROTHERS, Chairman, Alaska Veterans Advisory
Council, said the Archie Van Winkel Memorial that is in front of
the tram is an example of what can be done. Van Winkel is the
only Alaska born Medal of Honor recipient. After the monument was
purchased and put in place, there was an excess of $2,000. At
about 2 percent interest, it earned $47 last year. This has given
them all the money they need for the upkeep.
You can see that within five years there would be more
than enough to go around and support all the rest of
these memorials as they should. The bottom line is that
we feel very strongly that the memory of those veterans
that have preceded us in death and those veterans who
are here now have certain memorials honoring them for
their sacrifice not only to America, but to the
citizens of this state, that the legislature should
come up with the other half of the money to insure that
these memorial do not deteriorate and if they do, that
they immediately are taken care of - that any of the
memorials in this state do not dishonor the memory of
these veterans. This is what we are seeking. The people
have already put their money up, that's in the bank. We
ask fervently that you pass this important legislation
favorably out of this committee.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if there were plans for any future
memorials and would this fund help do that.
COLONEL CAROTHERS replied absolutely. PFC Martinez, a native of
Colorado who, probably unknown to anyone, was the only one to
receive the Medal of Honor for action in Alaska during World War
II. He died on Attu and received the Medal posthumously. "He is
not a native of Alaska, neither was Sergeant Dicks and neither
was Sergeant Bonsteel, but they're all good people and they in
one measure or another, have contributed to the greatness of this
state through their personal service…"
He told them that Sergeant Bonsteel, who died recently, came to
Juneau annually and visited many service organizations to instill
the spirit of patriotism in the community. He said that we are
indebted to all five of those people. He said that the U.S.
Juneau memorial on our waterfront bearing the names of everybody
that was on her when she went down hasn't been polished in
probably 20 years. This fund would take care of that adequately.
SENATOR DAVIS said she supported this bill in State Affairs and
she was supporting it here, too.
MR. LARRY PERSILY, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Revenue,
said he would explain briefly how the tax credit would work.
Pretty simply this would work just like the education
tax credit program works. We have had that on the books
since 1987. The way it works and the way this would
work is a taxpayer could get a tax credit against their
corporate taxes of 50 percent up to the first $100,000
donation and 100 percent of the second $100,000
donation. At a maximum, if someone donated $200,000 to
this fund in a given year, they would a $150,000 tax
credit against their corporate income taxes to the
state.
In FY 01 we had about $2 million in education tax
credits that were used by 37 taxpayers. To get the
education tax credit, your donation has to be to an
accredited college or university in the state. So,
we're looking at the University of Alaska system, APU,
Sheldon Jackson. Of the $2 million in credits 97
percent was used by 16 taxpayers. So you had 21 other
taxpayers who used a very small portion of it.
The way this legislation is written, a corporate donor
would have that $150,000 a year maximum credit total.
It wouldn't be per program. So they could give to this
fund or a combination of this fund and the university,
but they would max out at $150,000.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if the money that's already been donated
has been eligible for this tax credit yet.
MR. PERSILY replied that it hadn't been. "Any donations to the
tax credit now are limited solely to the education tax credit
program, which would be to accredited colleges and universities."
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked, "Do they get any kind of deduction at
all?"
COLONEL CAROTHERS indicated that they didn't get any at all.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS said that indicated how much people like this
program.
MR. PERSILY said the funds would endow the program.
SENATOR LEMAN said at some time they should review the tax credit
percentage structure.
MR. PERSILY said that a lot of corporations give the maximum.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to pass SB 267 from committee with individual
recommendations. There were no objections and it was so ordered.
SB 235-EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE COMPACT
MR. WAYNE RUSH, Alaska Division of Emergency Services, Department
of Military and Veterans Affairs, said this bill accomplishes two
things. The following is his written statement:
It repeals the outdated Interstate Civil Defense
Disaster Compact and replaces it with the Emergency
Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). Secondly, it
updates AS26.30.244 to provide Workers Compensation for
specific categories of disaster volunteers, namely
those who perform duties in another state under EMACV
or those who perform duties in Alaska under the
Division of Emergency Services.
EMAC allows states to assist one another during
emergencies. It offers a quick and easy way for states
to send personnel and equipment to help disaster relief
efforts in other states. There are times when state and
local resources are overwhelmed and federal assistance
is inadequate or unavailable. Our-of-state aid through
EMAC helps fill such shortfalls.
EMAC establishes a firm legal foundation. Requests for
EMAC assistance are legally binding, contractual
arrangement which make state that ask for help
responsible for reimbursing all out-of-state costs and
liable for out-of-state personnel. States that send aid
will not incur a financial burden.
EMAC provides fast and flexible assistance. EMAC allows
states to ask for whatever assistance they need for any
emergency from earthquakes to acts of terrorism. At the
same time, EMAC makes no requirement for a state to
send assistance unless they determine to provide the
requested assistance.
While Alaska is capable of handling most
disaster/emergencies, as demonstrated by past events,
there are times when disasters exceed state and local
resources and therefore require outside assistance.
Normally this assistance comes from federal agencies
through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
However, not all disasters qualify for a Presidential
Disaster Declaration and therefore are not eligible for
federal assistance.
EMAC provides a means for Alaska to receive interstate
assistance when federal assistance is not merited or
available. Even when federal assistance is merited,
EMAC assistance may be more readily available or more
cost effective, or it may be necessary to supplement
federal assistance. In any case, EMAC allows other
member states to assist Alaska by rapidly providing
their unique resources and expertise in the event of a
large-scale disaster. EMAC costs incurred for a
disaster that receives a presidential Disaster
Declaration are reimbursable by FEMA at the same cost
share (75/25) as other costs incurred by the state.
Membership in EMAC will also allow Alaska to rapidly
provide requested assistance to other states in a
process that provides mutually agreed upon and
understood requirements for reimbursement and
responsibility for the welfare of personnel and
resources.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked him if the Pacific Northwest Emergency
Management Arrangement would supercede EMAC.
MR. RUSH replied that they are separate agreements. It doesn't
affect the international agreement with the Canadians.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS asked if the Canadians were involved with EMAC
at all.
MR. RUSH answered that they are not at this time, but he wouldn't
rule it out the future. We would be the 44th state to adopt this.
There is no fiscal note.
SENATOR LEMAN asked if there was a provision for amendments or
modifications to the compact, since there typically is on
interstate compacts.
MR. RUSH replied that he didn't think there was.
SENATOR DAVIS moved to pass CSSB 235 (STA) from committee with
individual recommendations and $0 fiscal note. There were no
objections and it was so ordered.
CHAIRMAN STEVENS adjourned the meeting at 2:18 p.m.
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