03/24/2011 02:00 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Economic Security for Women in Alaska by Portia Wu | |
| SB32 | |
| HB28 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | SB 32 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 28 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE STANDING COMMITTEE
March 24, 2011
2:02 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Dennis Egan, Chair
Senator Joe Paskvan, Vice Chair
Senator Linda Menard
Senator Cathy Giessel
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Bettye Davis
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Presentation: Economic Security for Women in Alaska by Portia
Wu, Vice President, National Partnership for Women and Families
- HEARD
SENATE BILL NO. 32
"An Act making a special appropriation to capitalize the
alternative energy revolving loan fund; and providing for an
effective date."
- HEARD & HELD
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 28(FIN)
"An Act relating to temporary courtesy licenses for certain
nonresident professionals and to a temporary exemption from fees
and other licensing requirements for active duty members of the
armed forces."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 32
SHORT TITLE: APPROP: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY REV. LOAN FUND
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) WIELECHOWSKI, MCGUIRE
01/19/11 (S) PREFILE RELEASED 1/14/11
01/19/11 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/19/11 (S) L&C, FIN
01/19/11 (S) L&C RPT RECD W/CS AWAIT TRANSMITTAL NXT
03/24/11 (S) L&C AT 2:00 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
BILL: HB 28
SHORT TITLE: TEMP LICENSE/FEE WAIVER FOR PROFESSIONALS
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) THOMAS, HERRON, FEIGE
01/18/11 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/7/11
01/18/11 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/18/11 (H) L&C, FIN
02/07/11 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124
02/07/11 (H) Moved CSHB 28(L&C) Out of Committee
02/07/11 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
02/09/11 (H) L&C RPT CS(L&C) NT 7DP
02/09/11 (H) DP: THOMPSON, SADDLER, JOHNSON, HOLMES,
MILLER, SEATON, OLSON
02/16/11 (H) FIN AT 1:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519
02/16/11 (H) Moved CSHB 28(FIN) Out of Committee
02/16/11 (H) MINUTE(FIN)
02/18/11 (H) FIN RPT CS(FIN) NT 11DP
02/18/11 (H) DP: FAIRCLOUGH, GARA, T.WILSON,
GUTTENBERG, JOULE, NEUMAN, COSTELLO,
EDGMON,
02/18/11 (H) DOOGAN, STOLTZE, THOMAS
02/23/11 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S)
02/23/11 (H) VERSION: CSHB 28(FIN)
02/24/11 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/24/11 (S) STA, L&C
03/08/11 (S) STA AT 9:00 AM BUTROVICH 205
03/08/11 (S) Heard & Held
03/08/11 (S) MINUTE(STA)
03/22/11 (S) STA AT 9:00 AM BUTROVICH 205
03/22/11 (S) Moved SCS CSHB 28(STA) Out of
Committee
03/22/11 (S) MINUTE(STA)
03/22/11 (S) L&C AT 2:00 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/22/11 (S) <Bill Hearing Rescheduled to 3/24/11>
03/23/11 (S) STA RPT SCS 5DP SAME TITLE
03/23/11 (S) DP: WIELECHOWSKI, KOOKESH, PASKVAN,
MEYER, GIESSEL
03/24/11 (S) L&C AT 2:00 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
WITNESS REGISTER
PORTIA WU, Vice President
National Partnership for Women and Families
Washington, D.C.
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided presentation on women's economic
security in Alaska.
MICHELLE SYDEMAN
Staff to Senator Wielechowski
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 32 for the sponsor.
SENATOR BILL WIELECHOWSKI
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of SB 32.
MARY WALKER, Executive Director
Stewards of Creation
Fairbanks, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 32.
DENNIS SWIDERSKI, small business owner
Orca Island Cabins
Seward, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 32.
MARK MASTELLER, State Director
Cascadia Green Building Council
No address provided
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 32.
DAVID LESH, small business owner
Gustavus Inn,
Gustavus, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 32.
JOHN WEDDLETON, representing himself
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 32.
KACI SCHROEDER
Staff for Representative Thomas
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Explained the changes in the SCS to CSHB 28
for the sponsor.
MARK SANSOUCI
Regional Liaison for Military Families for the Northwest
U.S. Department of Defense
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported HB 28.
ACTION NARRATIVE
2:02:50 PM
CHAIR DENNIS EGAN called the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing
Committee meeting to order at 2:02 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Menard, Giessel, and Chair Egan.
^Economic Security for Women In Alaska by Portia Wu
Economic Security for Women In Alaska by Portia Wu
2:03:34 PM
CHAIR EGAN announced that a presentation by Portia Wu on
economic security for women in Alaska would be the first order
of business.
2:04:01 PM
PORTIA WU, Vice President, National Partnership for Women and
Families, Washington, D.C., said she was honored to be here as
part of the Alaska Women's Summit in Juneau. She said she was
pleased to talk with them about the work that they do at the
National Partnership on women's economic security and some
important policy ideas that come out of their work. She said the
partnership is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization
and focuses on federal advocacy but also works with many state
partners. They focus on women's equality in the workplace and
the broader marketplace. She personally oversees issues of equal
employment opportunity, workplace fairness (pay equity) and
family policies that help women and men to be responsible
employees as well as responsible family members. Finally, she
said they also work on affordable and quality health care for
all, but that wouldn't be a focus of her presentation today.
2:05:29 PM
She began by "setting the table" a little about the economic
state of women in the United States and in Alaska. March is
women's history month and it also marks the hundredth
anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, a very
tragic moment, but one that galvanized and marked the beginning
of a real revolution in our country in terms of basic
protections: safety standards as well as economic protections.
She said, "I think we may be in a similar moment in our history
now for reasons I'll explain."
First Ms. Wu said she wanted to spend time talking about the
economic situation of Alaskan women today. Even though Alaska is
a very unique state, women's economic security is very similar
to what is seen across the United States. Women in Alaska make
up 47 percent of Alaskan workers; nationwide it is running at
almost 50 percent. Sixty-five percent of families with children
are families where all parents work; that includes single parent
families. This is very important because it makes one realize
that workers are caregivers, too, and a lot of children are in
situations where both of their parents are working. There are
over 16,000 Alaskans living with grandchildren under 18 and
nearly half of these grandparents are responsible for caring for
those grandchildren. Sixty eight thousand Alaskans serve as
family caregivers of one kind or another.
MS. WU spent a few moments talking about women's earnings. It's
important to realize that women's workforce participation has
increased steadily over the decades, but we also need to realize
that women's earning have become really central to families'
economic security. So 4 in 10 working mothers are the primary
earners in their households; that means they are either the sole
breadwinner or they are earning more than their spousal partner
is. Sixty-three percent, two-thirds, are bringing home at least
one-quarter of their families' income. If you're a married
couple that means you are earning at least half of what your
husband is earning. That means that a woman's salary is
absolutely critical to families' daily budgets, not just a
matter of paying for a vacation or a second car.
Another thing people should think about is that while women's
incomes are crucial today, the growth in our economy is very
closely tied to women's jobs. A chart showed the top 10
categories for job growth projected by the U.S. Department of
Labor in the years 2006-2016. It showed overwhelming that they
expect the new jobs our country is creating to be what are
typically thought of as women's jobs. They also know that women
are gaining more skills in many ways to prepare for jobs of the
future. Several years ago, women already surpassed men in terms
of obtaining bachelor's degrees. Most recently women have also
surpassed men in terms of obtaining higher professional degrees
like PhDs.
2:09:40 PM
Because there is so much talk about public employment right now,
Ms. Wu said she thought it was also worth looking at a snapshot
of women's participation in state and local government work and
found that roughly 60 percent of workers at the local government
level are women. She understands from anecdotal evidence that
it's a very similar percentage in Alaska. It's also worth noting
that statistics show that women in public employment tend to
experience less of a wage gap than they do in the private
sector. They also tend to have more management, more
representation in management and other opportunities. This is
for many reasons. States have affirmative action programs; they
are also been under public scrutiny and they often have wage
scales. States have a transparent and open wage structure, so
women can know if they are being paid equally or not. Yet with
all of this going on, women continue to be family members and
caregivers - while men are making strides in caregiving. But,
women still bear the bulk of caregiving responsibilities.
2:11:19 PM
MS. WU said they can't talk about the overall economic picture
of workers and of families without talking about retirement
security, and particularly with the shift from a defined benefit
(DB) to a defined contribution (DC) universe, not only in public
employment but in private sector employment in many places. With
the changes in the stock market and the recent economic
recession, confidence among workers is at a 20-year low
according to a recent survey. Of the responding workers, only
13 percent said they were confident they would have a
comfortable retirement; 35-50 percent said they were not
confident at all or not very confident they could meet basic
needs. The kinds of basic needs they asked about were health
care, housing and food.
Because of this pressure, social security is obviously more
important than ever, but for women in particular, because they
tend to live longer than men and have lower wages and are less
likely to have a pension throughout their lifetime. Social
security is absolutely critical to their support in their older
age. Without Social Security, the poverty rate among elderly
women (over 65) would increase dramatically in Alaska and that
is typical around the country. Despite all this, women are
working more than ever; they're holding lots of jobs. Their
incomes are absolutely critical and yet there is still a very
significant wage gap.
2:13:03 PM
MS. WU said she heard at the summit that the Alaska Department
of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) has run its own
detailed statistics - unlike the U.S. Census Bureau that does it
based on a very big picture sampling. The U.S. Census indicates
that in Alaska, women earn $.76 to a man's dollar while state
statistics indicate that it is more like $.66. This difference
amounts to approximately $10,000 per year, a very big gap and
translates into things like several months of mortgage, a year
of rent, one and a half years of food bills, years of family
health insurance premiums and over 3,000 additional gallons of
gas. "So, the wage gap really makes a tremendous difference for
our working families." She said if you added up the wage gap for
all working women in Alaska it would be something like $1
billion in lost wages.
2:14:18 PM
Another issue is how far behind we are in terms of work-family
laws and protections with the changed workplace. Women have
higher labor participation than ever, yet they haven't stopped
being mothers or daughters or primary care givers in their
families. Unfortunately, workplace laws haven't caught up in
this regard. Roughly, 40 percent of Alaskans don't have a single
paid sick day through their employer. Alaska does not have a law
requiring paid sick days (some minimal number of days to take
care of your own illness like the flu). A person with no sick
leave may also be afraid of losing their job if they don't show
up to work. In some states that have passed laws like this the
leave may be used to cover things like domestic violence needs
like going to a court appointment to get a restraining order.
MS. WU said what's very notable about this trend is that usually
it's the higher wage workers that have paid sick days. That's
because this problem is often concentrated in many lower wage
jobs and more vulnerable jobs. So they won't be surprised to
learn that 80 percent of lower wage workers don't have paid sick
days. A very disturbing trend is that 75 percent of food service
workers and childcare workers do not have paid sick days, which
means that people who touch us, our food and children are the
ones who are least likely to be able stay home when sick. They
are also the ones who are most likely to spread communicable
diseases.
MS. WU said that nearly half of Americans are not covered by the
Family and Medical Leave Act, which is the only federal law that
provides any leave - but it is unpaid leave and there is no paid
maternity leave in this country. California and New Jersey have
paid leave caregiving laws and have an insurance system that
works very well. Sometimes when she talks to states they say
that they want to be competitive with the rest of the world.
But, actually the U.S. is incredibly behind the rest of the
world in this respect. Therefore, we are failing to retain
skilled women workers when we could be keeping them in our
workforces.
She emphasized that because of the lack of protections, some
workers can be written up or disciplined for missing work
because they are sick or because their child is sick.
2:17:03 PM
SENATOR PASKVAN joined the committee.
MS. WU went on to say that two of the issues they are pressing
not only in Washington D.C. but in the states around the country
are equal pay and work family issues. Health care has many
challenges with respect to implementation and funding especially
when listening to the budget debates. Debates are also ongoing
about Social Security that has a tremendous potential to impact
on Americans and Alaskans.
On the point of fair pay, the first major substantive bill that
President Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay
Act in 2009. It reversed a negative Supreme Court decision
basically saying you didn't have an act of discrimination every
time you were underpaid. You had to figure it out and file your
claim after the first time it happened. And as everyone knows,
sometimes you don't realize you've been underpaid until quite a
bit latter. However, she said they are still fighting for
changes and improvement to equal pay laws to be sure that women
can help close the wage gap. The current piece of legislation
pending before the Congress is the Paycheck Fairness Act. It
passed the House and fell two votes short in the Senate. Another
vote is coming up in this Congress. This act closes some
loopholes that have developed over the years and without it,
closing the gap for women will be difficult. At the current rate
it may be closed in 2058 or 2060.
MS. WU said the budget cuts debate is going on in Congress, but
HR 1 is the most draconian version of the proposals on the
table. They hope it won't pass, but items under discussion have
very dramatic consequences for people in Alaska. Eliminating
funds for job training at a time when millions of people are out
of work could hurt 2,200 workers here, as well as hundreds of
children who could lose Head Start and childcare. Thousands of
students would be hurt by Pell Grant cuts, and obviously women
and men would be hurt by the loss of family planning and related
preventive health services.
2:19:51 PM
MS. WU said don't look to Washington to lead on the issues of
work family and fair pay laws and that much of domestic policy
is made in the states first. The states are the innovators and
drivers. Some states and cities are considering laws with
anywhere between 5 and 9 paid sick days for workers to take off
to care for their illness or a child's illness, but also to seek
preventive care. Preventive care can really reduce costs for
employers, but it's important that workers can get the time off
to get that mammogram or cholesterol screening. San Francisco,
Washington, D.C. and Milwaukee have all passed laws doing this;
Connecticut and some other states are also considering laws. She
said parents who don't have paid sick days are five times more
likely to take their child to the emergency room than parents
who do have paid sick days. It's because they cannot get there
during the work day.
New Jersey and California have instituted paid leave systems for
more serious illnesses and those are going well. There have been
some interesting findings for maternal and infant health, for
example, along with breast feeding, and for men to be able to
take some time to bond with newborns, which improves fatherhood
involvement, and also for self-care and care for elderly
parents.
Other states have looked at expanding the Family and Medical
Leave Act that is unpaid leave, but states often have higher
thresholds than the federal law, which only covers workplaces
with 50 or more employees. Ms. Wu said she recently testified in
front of the Pennsylvania Committee on Labor on behalf of a
woman whose sister had cervical cancer; she was single in her
30s, she had no spouse, and their parents were elderly or
deceased. So, this other sister had to quit her job, because she
did not have Family and Medical Leave Act protection to care for
her sister through the end of her life.
Other states and cities have moved forward with school leave, so
parents can get a couple hours off to go to a PTA meeting to
stay involved and help their kids learn at school or address
discipline problems early. The right to express breast milk at
work helps new nursing moms and has recently become a federal
law through the new federal Health Care bill. But dozens of
states already had their own laws.
Finally, Ms. Wu said she wanted to highlight the issue of worker
driven workplace flexibility. Everyone understands that flexible
workplaces can be good, but they have to remember that workers
need to have some control over their hours, particularly in this
economy where mandatory overtime and just-in-time scheduling is
used. Businesses lose out when they see increased turnover that
can be very expensive for them, particularly among lower wage
workers, by not having more sophisticated policies.
2:24:19 PM
She said the White House has convened a series of conversations
around the country called "The National Dialogue on Workplace
Flexibility" and it's run by the U.S. Department of Labor. These
are business-to-business conversations allowing businesses to
highlight their best practices and share with each other. Some
of the people involved in these forums include Ted Childs,
former CEO of IBM, and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs, who talked a lot about what the military has done
in terms of workplace flexibility. They have paid paternity
leave - of only a few days - but they have it because they
realize they need to recruit and retain good people. Good work
family policies are absolutely critical for that. She said this
is not only an issue for workers' economic security for our
public health, but also for employers' productivity and
competitiveness.
MS. WU said they are seeing attacks on work family policies in
Wisconsin where collective bargaining is under attack, as well.
A bill has been introduced to roll back the state Family Medical
Leave Act. She related that the voters of Milwaukee voted to
pass a paid sick day ordinance that got tied up in litigation,
but was just certified as being a legal ordinance. However, a
bill was introduced at the state level cutting off what the
voters at the city level passed, saying that cities can't
legislate about public health and wellbeing matters. That is
very discouraging, because they feel it is important for cities
to be able to have that kind of autonomy. These policies seem to
be working and why not allow cities to protect their employees
and also their communities?
CHAIR EGAN thanked her for taking the time to make her
presentation to the committee.
SB 32-APPROP: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY REV. LOAN FUND
2:27:15 PM
CHAIR EGAN announced SB 32 to be up for consideration.
2:27:44 PM
MICHELLE SYDEMAN, staff to Senator Wielechowski, sponsor of SB
32, said that this measure would capitalize an existing loan
fund designed to provide loans to businesses and Alaska non-
profits interested in upgrading the energy efficiency of their
buildings or installing alternative energy systems. This fund
was originally created in 1978 to provide loans to homeowners
for renewable energy systems. It was capitalized with $18
million and almost 3,000 loans were made. However, in 1986 the
legislature started taking money out of the fund and the program
became inactive soon thereafter. Since then, the Alaska Housing
Finance Corporation (AHFC) has initiated two very popular
programs, weatherization and home energy rebates, to help
Alaskans keep their homes more efficiently and inexpensively.
AHFC also offers residential loans to homeowners for efficiency
upgrades. Through these programs the state is helping many
Alaskans reduce their home heating costs. Yet, little is being
done to help small Alaskan businesses and non-profits struggling
with the same high fuel costs.
Last year, when the Senate was crafting its omnibus Energy bill,
many debated what could be done to ease the burden skyrocketing
energy costs were imposing on businesses and non-profits across
the state. The solution they arrived at was to expand the
purposes of the Alternative Energy Loan Fund to enable
businesses and non-profits to borrow money at a reasonable
interest rate to pay for energy conservation improvements shown
to reduce costs over the long run. SB 222, passed unanimously by
the legislature last session, did just that.
MS. SYDEMAN said they were here now to ensure that the fund
created last year is capitalized. The purpose, of course, is to
help Alaskan-owned businesses and non-profits to become stronger
and in the case of businesses, more profitable. The second
purpose is to enable the state to fulfill the goals of the
energy policy the legislature adopted last year, one of which
was to achieve a 15 percent increase in energy efficiency on a
per capita basis by 2020. The achievement of that goal becomes
even more important as the state contemplates substantial
investments in energy production, transportation and cost
equalization, such as construction of a bullet line, the Watana
Dam or power cost equalization (PCE) program.
She said there is high demand within the commercial sector for a
loan fund of this sort. On February 15, the Alaska Energy
Authority (AEA) closed the application period for its new
Commercial Energy Audit Program funded with federal stimulus
funds. There was a five-week application period and over 135
businesses applied for subsidized audits under this program.
Participating businesses offered to voluntarily implement wide-
ranging efficiency measures in exchange for acceptance,
indicating a high level of need and commitment to saving energy
and money.
MS. SYDEMAN said that Alaskan businesses are hit not only by
high fuel costs, but they also use twice the energy of
businesses nation-wide. Businesses applying for AEA's commercial
energy audit program reported average energy costs of $2.35 sq.
ft. when it's $1.19 sq. ft. nation-wide. This difference puts
Alaskan businesses at a disadvantage.
There is ample evidence that investments in energy efficiency
pay off quickly. For instance, in 2007, an Anchorage company
invested $30,000 in energy efficiency improvements at its 21,000
sq. ft. building. The return on this investment has been 27
percent per year, far beyond the normal rate of return on many
other investments. However, this substantial rate of return is
consistent with what they have seen with residential energy
efficiency investments. AHFC's Home Energy Rebate Program has
reduced energy use by an average of 33 percent for almost 10,000
homes, saving each household an average of $1,535 annually. For
every dollar spent on energy efficiency through both home energy
rebates and weatherization, $.24 is saved annually. Comparable
savings could be expected for businesses through this loan fund
making them more profitable and competitive.
This program would also create jobs. AHFC estimates 2,500 jobs
were created from the Home Energy Rebate and Weatherization
programs. Similar job trends could be expected from this loan
fund.
2:33:25 PM
MS. SYDEMAN said this bill proposes an initial capitalization of
$10 million, which would enable the state to lend $30,000 to
approximately 85 businesses each year on a revolving basis. It
will be up to the Finance Committee to ultimately decide what
rate of capitalization is appropriate and affordable given other
state commitments and needs.
2:34:10 PM
SENATOR BILL WIELECHOWSKI, sponsor of SB 32, said this bill
attempts to close what is seen as a gap in energy assistance
funding. Energy assistance funding exists for governments and
individuals and they are simply trying to close the gap by
including businesses.
2:35:10 PM
MARY WALKER, Executive Director, Stewards of Creation,
Fairbanks, said they are the only faith-based environmental
stewardship non-profit in the state. She reported that 14
churches and 1 synagogue applied to the AEA's Energy Audit
Program under the commercial side. She said a lot of
congregations are spending a lot of money on energy. For
instance, the University Presbyterian in Fairbanks is spending
$32,000 a year for fuel and $18,000 in electricity and it is a
congregation of 100 people. She said she liked this loan piece
because it's not a handout, but rather a hand up.
2:37:11 PM
DENNIS SWIDERSKI, owner, Orca Island Cabins, Seward, said he
supported SB 32, because small businesses like his can benefit
from funding earmarked for the development of alternative
energy. He explained that his business is part of the ecotourism
industry in Alaska. Because they are off the grid, they use
solar power to provide the limited electricity on their one-acre
island close to Seward. They carry their water to the island
from the small boat harbor in Seward and pump it to the holding
tanks under each cabin and use propane as fuel for the cabin
heaters, on-demand hot water, kitchen ranges, et cetera. Their
costs are quite large, but they are eco-friendly and many of
their guests have expressed appreciation for that approach.
MR. SWIDERSKI said they are at a financial crossroads, because
the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has authorized them to
build an 80-foot pedestrian foot bridge connecting them with the
mainland to build additional cabins there. They will need
funding and a large part of that will be to enhance the solar
system that they now use; a desalinator would be nice as well.
CHAIR EGAN handed that gavel over to Vice Chair Paskvan saying
he had to go to a budget close-out.
2:41:42 PM
MARK MASTELLER, State Director, Cascadia Green Building Council,
said they are a non-profit group and part of the U.S. Green
Building Council that does education, training and promotion of
high performance buildings in primarily the commercial and
public sector. He said he supported SB 32 especially since it
included measures to promote conservation efficiency in
businesses and non-profits. These are the critical first steps
that need to be taken before thinking about energy systems. "We
don't want to waste any energy, whether it's fossil energy or
renewable energy; so conservation and efficiency has to be done
first." This funding will allow that to happen in the loan
program. It will clear the way for the eventual use of renewable
energy systems.
MR. MASTELLER suggested it would be nice if this loan program
required conservation and efficiency measures first, because
that is what is the best return on investment and it's the best
step to a world where everything can be powered on renewable
energy.
2:44:07 PM
DAVID LESH, owner, Gustavus Inn, Gustavus, Alaska, said this
revolving loan fund is an important step for the state to help
rural businesses adapt to rising energy prices and the need to
keep costs low to compete with tourist destinations throughout
the world. He said his family's business has been operating
since 1965 and they have seen many changes regarding
availability and cost of energy in their community. Currently
they are paying in excess of $.30 kwh and over $4 gallon for
heating oil. Some improvements have been relatively easy to do
such as improving insulation; but he has more extensive
improvements planned that require more time and money than he
has available.
MR. LESH said he is currently participating in the AEA's new
commercial energy audit grant program and has agreed to
implement energy improvements with a seven-year payback. The
revolving loan fund is designed to work in conjunction with
professional energy audits to ensure that money is being spent
on responsible projects at responsible businesses. Access to low
interest monies would make it much easier and more likely for
him to finish the improvements identified in the audit.
2:45:54 PM
JOHN WEDDLETON, representing himself, said he owns a small
business in Anchorage with 20 employees. He said he also
supported SB 32. He said his business is pretty typical of
Anchorage businesses that are in fairly inefficient buildings.
He related how a couple of years ago he substantially reduced
his energy usage in his 5,000 sq. ft. concrete block warehouse.
He prioritized his work based on an audit by Andy Baker. At the
time, his warehouse was mostly empty and he was lucky to have
the money to do the work. In 2008, he insulated the exterior
walls, added ceiling fans, insulated an overhead door, added
programable thermostats, did weather stripping, put thermal
blinds on the windows and sealed cracks. He converted all the
lights to T5 or T8s. The insulation cost about $9,500 and the
lights about $3,500. As a result of these improvements, in the
peak months there was a 20-25 percent reduction in both gas and
the electric use. Before he did the work the warehouse was used
mostly for storage and after he did that work he got four
employees in there working regular business hours. The lights
were on a lot more and it was kept quite a bit warmer. So the
reduction was fairly substantial. At this point, there is a lot
more to do, but it gets into a lot more money and longer payback
times.
He said if gas and electric went up 20 percent or more he would
look for ways to cut those costs again. He said he was lucky to
have a good cash flow when he needed to do the work, but a lot
of businesses don't have the extra dollars. It's still a
sensible thing for them to do.
He said the quality of life in his warehouse has been improved
substantially and that leads to better employee productivity,
something that is hard to put a dollar value on.
VICE-CHAIR PASKVAN said he had two dozen letters from individual
Alaskan businesses supporting SB 32 and finding no further
comments closed public testimony.
[SB 32 was held in committee.]
HB 28-TEMP LICENSE/FEE WAIVER FOR PROFESSIONALS
2:50:26 PM
VICE CHAIR PASKVAN announced HB 28 to be up for consideration.
SENATOR MENARD moved to adopt SCS CSHB 28( ), labeled 27-
LS0192\T.
VICE CHAIR PASKVAN objected for discussion purposes.
2:52:10 PM
KACI SCHROEDER, staff for Representative Thomas, sponsor of HB
28, said the CS makes two changes. The first one is in section 2
on page 2, line 29, through page 3. She explained that the
previous version had a section that dealt directly with the
service member and since the rest of the bill deals only with
military spouses, the drafter suggested moving that section to
another area of law that also deals with service members. Now,
the new section deals only with military spouses and the other
section deals only with service members.
The other change is on page 3, line 3, where a period was
inserted after "area" breaking up a run-on sentence and
clarifying that the exemption is good for 180 days.
MS. SCHOREDER said that HB 28 focuses on bettering the lives of
military families whose lives are dominated by frequent
deployments, relocations and extended periods of single
parenthood. Military spouses are extremely transient with 14.5
percent of them crossing state lines each year as opposed to
only 1.1 percent of their civilian counterparts. They are less
likely to be employed and if they are employed, they tend to
earn less than their civilian counterparts. However, they are
not unlike their civilian counterparts in that they depend on
two incomes and they want to achieve their goals and
aspirations. So, HB 28 allows a military spouse to obtain a
temporary license so they can work while fulfilling the
requirements for a full Alaskan license in their various
professions.
SENATOR MENARD posed a situation in which a military spouse is a
dental hygienist and there is strict licensing with that. So,
now they're going to go from the West Coast to the East Coast -
would that be temporary or is it just for people coming into
Alaska.
MS. SCHROEDER replied just for people coming into Alaska.
SENATOR MENARD said she knows these professions become very
volatile and asked if she had been in contact with the different
highly qualified fields, the medical field especially.
MS. SCHROEDER replied yes; the bill has changed drastically from
the first draft based on feedback from the professions, the
department and Senator Giessel in the last committee.
2:55:24 PM
MARK SANSOUCI, Regional Liaison for Military Families for the
Northwest, U.S. Department of Defense, said he would be brief
since he saw two of the three members passed this bill out of
State Affairs two days ago. This bill doesn't require a fiscal
note. This temporary license issue is part of what they consider
"a kitchen table" issue for families who need the dual incomes.
It frequently determines whether the family will stay in the
military as experienced NCOs or officers.
He said since most military spouses are women that among the
wage gap earners discussed earlier and these situations get
exacerbated when the spouse who tends to be a professionally
licensed person may be hung up on requirements and can't get to
work quickly. This measure will help in that respect also. It
has no intent to professionally license a person who is not
going to meet Alaskan requirements; it just gets them to work
earlier while they work on fulfilling those requirements.
2:57:13 PM
Finally, Mr. Sansouci said, military spouse employment and
careers is one of the top ten key issues of the Department of
Defense state liaison office.
SENATOR GIESSEL thanked Ms. Schroeder for her work and said this
is very clearly written now.
2:59:25 PM
VICE CHAIR PASKVAN thanked everyone for their testimony and
finding no further questions, closed public testimony. [HB 28
was held in committee.] Finding no further business to come
before the committee, he adjourned the meeting at 2:59 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 28 Sen L&C CS v G.pdf |
SL&C 3/24/2011 2:00:00 PM |
HB 28 |
| HB 28 History.pdf |
SL&C 3/24/2011 2:00:00 PM |
HB 28 |
| HB 28 Sen L&C CS Changes.pdf |
SL&C 3/24/2011 2:00:00 PM |
HB 28 |
| SB 32 Cash Flow Analysis at 10 M Earnings.pdf |
SL&C 3/24/2011 2:00:00 PM |
SB 32 |
| SB 32 Session Laws 2010.PDF |
SL&C 3/24/2011 2:00:00 PM |
SB 32 |
| SB 32 Cash flow Analysis at 10 M 3-26-10.pdf |
SL&C 3/24/2011 2:00:00 PM |
SB 32 |
| SB 32 Fact Sheet.pdf |
SL&C 3/24/2011 2:00:00 PM |
SB 32 |
| SB 32 Sponsor Statement.PDF |
SL&C 3/24/2011 2:00:00 PM |
SB 32 |