02/19/2018 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Confirmation Hearing(s): State Assessment Review Board, Regulatory Commission of Alaska | |
| SB164 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | SB 164 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE
February 19, 2018
3:30 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Cathy Giessel, Chair
Senator John Coghill, Vice Chair
Senator Natasha von Imhof
Senator Bert Stedman
Senator Kevin Meyer
Senator Bill Wielechowski
Senator Click Bishop
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARING)S)
State Assessment Review Board
Bradley Pickett, Mat-Su
- CONFIRMATION ADVANCED
Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA)
Paul Lisankie, Anchorage
- CONFIRMATION ADVANCED
SENATE BILL NO. 164
"An Act relating to the confidentiality of certain records on
animals and crops; and providing for an effective date."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 164
SHORT TITLE: CONFIDENTIALITY OF ANIMAL & CROP RECORDS
SPONSOR(s): RULES BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR
01/26/18 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/26/18 (S) STA, RES
02/08/18 (S) STA AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
02/08/18 (S) Moved SB 164 Out of Committee
02/08/18 (S) MINUTE(STA)
02/09/18 (S) STA RPT 2DP 3NR
02/09/18 (S) DP: MEYER, EGAN
02/09/18 (S) NR: WILSON, GIESSEL, COGHILL
02/19/18 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
WITNESS REGISTER
BRADLEY PICKETT
Mat-Su, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Appointee to the State Assessment Review
Board.
PAUL LISANKIE
Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Appointee to the Regulatory Commission of
Alaska (RCA).
TOM BOUTIN, member
Alaska Chapter Association of Mature American Citizens
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Urged withholding action on any appointee
until the Senate District E vacancy is filling.
MIKE COONS, representing himself
President, Alaska's Chapter for Association of Mature American
Citizens (AMAC)
Palmer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Urged withholding action on any appointee
until the Senate District E vacancy is filled.
CHRISTINA CARPENTER, Director
Division of Environmental Health
Department of Environmental Conservation
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 164.
ROBERT GERLACH, State Veterinarian
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 164.
ARTHUR KEYES, Director
Division of Agriculture
Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
Palmer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 164.
JENNIFER CURRIE
Alaska Department of Law
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 164.
AMY SEITZ, Executive Director
Alaska Farm Bureau
Kenai, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 164.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:30:09 PM
CHAIR CATHY GIESSEL called the Senate Resources Standing
Committee meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Bishop, Stedman, Meyer, Wielechowski,
Coghill, Von Imhof, and Chair Giessel.
^Confirmation Hearing(s): State Assessment Review Board,
Regulatory Commission of Alaska
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)
State Assessment Review Board
Regulatory Commission of Alaska
3:30:46 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced consideration of the Governor's
appointees. She said Ms. Wilson was on the agenda, but something
came up and she couldn't be here. The first appointment was for
the State Assessment Review Board: Bradley Pickett, from Mat-Su.
She said this is a five-member board that must be knowledgeable
about the assessment procedures for pipeline transportation of
gas or unrefined oil. It meets once a year for two to three days
and the compensation is standard travel and per diem. She
invited Mr. Pickett to the table to tell them about himself and
why he is interested in serving on the State Assessment Review
Board.
3:32:43 PM
BRADLEY PICKETT, appointee to the State Assessment Review Board,
Mat-Su, Alaska, said he is currently the Mat-Su Borough
assessor. He has been in the appraisal business for 16 years, 8
of which he served as the commercial appraiser. So, he has a
background to serve on this board and is familiar with the type
of applications they will be reviewing. He is honored to be
appointed to this board and he looks forward to working with its
distinguished members and to gaining knowledge as he works on
the board.
3:34:05 PM
SENATOR COGHILL thanked him for being willing to step up and
serve and asked if he had attended any board meetings.
MR. PICKETT answered yes, he attended two meetings last year and
found them very well run and professional.
SENATOR COGHILL asked his perspective on going from the
municipal level to the state level in terms of what he brings to
the table and what will be new to him.
MR. PICKETT replied that he brings a strong background in
commercial appraisals doing the cost approach to the table, but
he needs to learn some of the oil and gas pipeline terminology.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if he had a chance to look at some of the
case law that the legal experts on that board represent.
MR. PICKETT replied that they had given him information to
review, and he has reviewed some the legal standings that
previous cases were based on.
3:36:54 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no further questions for Mr. Pickett,
invited Mr. Lisankie, who has been appointed to the Regulatory
Commission of Alaska (RCA) to tell the committee about the
experience that would qualify him for this position and why he
is seeking it. She said this is a five-member board and
requirements are: good standing with the Alaska Bar Association
or a degree with a major in engineering, finance, economics,
accounting, business administration, or public administration,
and then actual experience for a period of five years in the
practice of law or in the field of engineering, finance,
economics, accounting, business administration, or public
administration. The compensation is a range 27 as an exempt
employee and the hearings are continuous throughout the year.
PAUL LISANKIE, appointee, Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA),
Anchorage, Alaska, introduced himself. He thanked the committee
for the opportunity to appear before them today. He also thanked
Governor Walker for appointing him to complete the term of his
former colleague, Commissioner and former representative, Norman
Rokeberg. This appointment is due to expire March 1, 2019.
MR. LISANKIE said he had just completed a full term, 2009-2015,
on the RCA and left a substantial record concerning the
regulatory matters he dealt with and the nature of his
participation in them. He is a lawyer who has a degree in
economics. He said those with an economics background sometimes
have more exposure to numbers than some of the lawyers. In
dealing with rate cases, exposure to statistics and mathematical
analysis comes in handy.
3:41:00 PM
MR. LISANKIE said he is an Alaskan by choice and has lived in
Anchorage since 1984. He arrived in Kodiak in 1982. Since his
retirement, the longest he has been out of state is 26 days in
one shot.
He said it is an honor - and a great responsibility - to serve
the people of Alaska in this capacity, Mr. Lisankie said, and he
attempts to be diligent in his preparations, so he can be fully
prepared to responsibly consider the matters that come before
the commission. He tries to treat everyone coming before them
with respect, and to fairly resolve disputes to the best of his
ability.
MR. LISANKIE said in the past, when the RCA resolved disputes or
adopted regulations, he tries to apply basic broad guidelines,
and most importantly, make sure their actions are consistent
with the intent of the underlying statutory provisions.
Similarly, when they are asked to make policy pronouncements,
his first and last questions are whether they are operating
within the parameters of the statutory provisions that they have
been appointed to apply.
Lastly, he apologized if he makes extra work for the
legislature, but he sometimes says if he is not convinced that
what they are being asked to do falls within their statutory
authority, no matter how good the idea, his recommendation is
that the legislature be consulted, and the law be appropriately
amended.
SENATOR VON IMHOF asked if he anticipated the RCA looking at the
Chugach/ML&P purchase.
MR. LISANKIE answered yes; he expects that the RCA will be asked
to examine any proposed sale of Municipal Light & Power to
Chugach Electric Association. But the process hasn't evolved yet
and he hadn't done much to prepare.
3:45:19 PM
SENATOR COGHILL thanked him for stepping up and serving again.
He said that Mr. Lisankie deals with several different worlds
within the RCA and as a commission there has always been
pressure on how to deal in depth with some of the issues that
are different on hydrocarbons versus electrons and asked how he
sees the legislature doing in his experience.
MR. LISANKIE said he touched the core of a lot of the primary
challenges the commissioner faces on a policy basis. A lot of
what the commission is asked to do is to fill in some of the
particulars of broader policy guidelines. It's not easy. For
every good idea, somebody thinks it's a bad idea. But they do
their best to parse what works for Alaska. Alaska may not be
unique in certain ways, but when it comes to energy and
regulating utilities, Alaska is unique, and is referred to as an
"energy archipelago," islanded by various mountain ranges, the
sea, and rivers. Trying to adopt what the Lower 48 is doing
doesn't always work in Alaska. All he could promise is that he
would take a hard look and try to do what seems to make sense
for Alaska regardless of how it plays at the annual convention.
SENATOR COGHILL said he knows every topic is dense and
complicated and often the question of separating out some of the
units like the telecoms from the electron world or the gas world
filters up to the legislature. They are so vastly different, and
the bodies of law seem to get bigger and bigger. He asked if
the RCA staff has the expertise and the workload time to handle
those complexities. Should subject experts be housed in each
section?
MR. LISANKIE replied that he had been back for two weeks, he
can't give him an up-to-the-minute impression. Based on his
prior experience, he felt that staff was able to deal with the
subject matters confronting them. However, they have fewer staff
today than three years ago, and he would take a hard look and
ask the chairman for his opinion.
SENATOR COGHILL said this is a public seat and asked what seat
he held prior.
MR. LISANKIE replied that they are all denominated public, now.
The RCA changed its laws years ago, and there's no denominated
seats.
3:50:51 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said the big issue for Southcentral has
been Cook Inlet gas prices over the years and asked if he is
comfortable in terms of one corporation holding a predominant
amount of the gas. Does Cook Inlet have sufficient competition,
so utilities can get fair gas prices?
MR. LISANKIE answered there is not a lot of leverage to drive
competition in the gas market in Cook Inlet and no control over
who acquires what assets. The natural gas industry was
deregulated by the federal government and he wished there was
more competition. He will do whatever he can in approving gas
contracts that are negotiated by the various utilities to give
them the flexibility to inject whatever competition they can
through negotiated procurements. Not much more could be done at
this point.
SENATOR BISHOP remarked that Mr. Lisankie failed at retirement
twice and the state thanks him for it.
MR. LISANKIE assured him that he was coming into this one by
telling everybody his intention is to serve out the short
remainder of Commissioner Rokeberg's term and then ride off into
the sunset.
3:53:04 PM
SENATOR BISHOP said Mr. Lisankie bailed him out at the
Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) when he
stepped up to the plate then: he was going to retire a year
early and it appears that everything he said about being in
Alaska by choice is true.
CHAIR GIESSEL also thanked him for being willing to step in to
an open seat.
CHAIR GIESSEL opened public comment on the two appointees.
3:54:29 PM
TOM BOUTIN, member, Alaska Chapter Association of Mature
American Citizens, Juneau, Alaska, urged the committee to
withhold action on any Walker Administration appointees until he
fills the Senate District E vacancy.
MIKE COONS, representing himself, said he is president, of
Alaska's Chapter for Association of Mature American Citizens
(AMAC), Palmer, Alaska. He commented off topic.
CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no further comments, closed public
testimony. She said in accordance with AS 39.05.080, the
Resources Committee reviewed the following and recommends the
appointments be forwarded to a joint session for consideration:
Bradley Pickett and Paul Lisankie. This does not reflect an
intent by any of the members to vote for or against the
confirmation of the individuals during any further sessions.
3:57:58 PM
At ease
SB 164-CONFIDENTIALITY OF ANIMAL & CROP RECORDS
3:59:01 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL announced consideration of SB 164, sponsored by
the Rules Committee at the request of the Governor. She said
Alita Bus was at the table and would manipulate the slides for
those speaking on line, Arthur Keys, Director, Division of
Agriculture, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Christina
Carpenter, Director* Division of Public Health, Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC), and Robert Gerlach, State
Veterinarian, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
CHRISTINA CARPENTER, Director, Division of Environmental Health,
Department of Environmental Conservation, Anchorage, Alaska,
said SB 164 amends AS 03.05 to add a new section to make certain
animal health and crop records held by the DEC and DNR are
confidential. This has been a coordinated effort across both
departments, but the request is coming from industry.
Agricultural producers have contacted them repeatedly over the
last 10 years or so requesting a change in statute that would
provide Alaskan agricultural producers with similar
confidentiality that is already afforded to many other
commercial industries in Alaska. For example, the Alaska
Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has a statute that
specifically makes commercial fishing records held by them
confidential. That was used as an example in working with their
attorney to develop this bill.
4:02:14 PM
MS. CARPENTER said she calls this the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for hogs and hay. She
opined that it would allow the department to engage with Alaskan
producers earlier in the event of a suspected disease outbreak,
morbidity, or mortality circumstance, to identify a threat early
on and try to limit any sort of disease outbreak so that it
wouldn't spread to neighboring facilities or be a public health
risk.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked her to justify why having these records
confidential protects the public, because that is the role of
these kinds of animal and crop testing procedures.
4:04:04 PM
MS. CARPENTER replied in the event there was a suspected
zoonotic disease outbreak on a farm, but it wasn't a reportable
disease, the department would hope that producers and their
private veterinarians would engage with them very early before
the outbreak grew and got off premise and maybe started
impacting some of their neighbors or members of the public.
The department believes that engaging with farmers early would
encourage better animal and public health, because they would no
longer be reluctant to submit their animals or crops to
voluntary testing, and the department could respond faster in
the event of a disease outbreak.
4:05:32 PM
ROBERT GERLACH, State Veterinarian, Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC), Anchorage, Alaska, said his office is
responsible for the prevention, control, and eradication of
animal diseases for livestock and pets, as well as diseases
livestock and pets may carry that may be transmitted to people,
as well as food safety. To do these jobs they need to collect
quite a bit of data and information from animal owners - where
they obtained their animals, where the animals are located, what
disease test records they may have, and what animals are being
processed to other farms or locations, so if there is an
outbreak, they would have access to that information to do their
job.
4:06:59 PM
Every year they are collecting more and more data from people,
because of animal disease certification programs and other
marketing programs that require this data collection which
includes import data on permits and health records of animals
coming into the state and disease surveillance records that are
kept to ensure that state and international partners that the
state is free of diseases (such as TB or rabies).
MR. GERLACH explained that a lot of these programs are required
for access to certain markets; some are required for importation
of animals to the state and some are just for proof of animal
health. Others are validation programs that are used for farmers
to gain access to markets and to be able to promote and declare
the quality of their product as a marketing tool. As the
department collects this data, they would like to be able share
it with their partners who would be involved with mitigating or
controlling the spread of disease and keeping animals healthy
and food safe, and not necessarily releasing confidential
business data, proprietary, or personal data that may leave the
producer vulnerable. It would allow the department to collect
more data and have more people participate in these programs
while protecting the proprietary information from the
participants.
4:09:04 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL remarked that the header on slide 4 says "Office
of the State Veterinarian" but he is not the only veterinarian
in state government.
MR. GERLACH said that is true; several veterinarians work for
the state, but he is the only veterinarian in statute classified
as the State Veterinarian with the authority for regulating
animal health, collecting this data, and being responsible for
the control and mitigation to prevent the spread of diseases.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked him to clarify that the Department of Health
and Social Services (DHSS) has at least one veterinarian and the
Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has a wildlife
veterinarian and to describe his interaction with the other
state veterinarians.
MR. GERLACH replied that his interaction with those other
veterinarians is on a continual basis regarding disease issues
that would be important to their particular function. Dr. Louisa
Castrodale in the Division of Public Health in the Department of
Health and Social Services (DHSS) is involved with food safety
and zoonotic disease issues as well as the epidemiology of other
human diseases when it comes down to identifying or determining
an outbreak or a contaminated product. His responsibility is
limited to control of the animals and Dr. Castrodale would work
with public health officials to control and prevent further
spread in the case of a zoonotic disease among human beings.
In regard to the functions of Dr. Kimberly Beckman, ADF&G is
looking at hiring a second veterinarian and the same type of
cooperation would be used to control a disease outbreak in
domestic animals from spreading to wildlife resources. It
applies to a disease that could impact the food safety of the
meat or animals that are harvested for subsistence,
recreational, or commercial use.
4:12:33 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL asked how many staff are in the dairy program
(slide 5) and how many dairy farms are in Alaska.
MR. GERLACH replied that there is one dairy farm in production
of Grade A milk and a second is gearing up for production. A
third dairy is considering participating in grade A milk
production of pasteurized milk for commercial sale. The
department is working with those two dairies to get them up to
speed to meet the facility requirements for the care and feeding
of animals, sanitation and disinfection, transport, and
processing at a pasteurization plant to make sure that the end
product meets the state requirements for Grade A milk.
4:13:55 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL asked how many people are in the dairy section.
MR. GERLACH replied that two other people work in the dairy
program: Dr. Sarah Coburn, Assistant State Veterinarian, and a
dairy sanitarian who does the farm inspections and tests
equipment. Dr. Coburn does many of the inspections and
certification inspects and acts as the communicator with the FDA
to assure that the state program is meeting the federal
requirements for production of Grade A milk.
CHAIR GIESSEL said she assumed that the dairies must pay fees
that cover this program.
MR. GERLACH replied there is a permit fee to initially become a
part of the program, but the equipment test, sanitation, and
farm inspection do not have a charge, neither does the testing
of raw milk as well as the processed products that is done at
the Environmental Health Laboratory in Anchorage
4:15:39 PM
MR. GERLACH said slide 6 showed the increased number of imported
animals in the last four fiscal years which resulted in an
increase in import permits, demonstrating the growing amount of
information being collected from a larger number of people
throughout the state. Keeping that information confidential, it
protects or business data. Because of taking primacy of the
Produce Food Safety Program under the Federal Drug
Administration's (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act, the state
is also collecting data from an increased number of agricultural
farms. It requires farms to disclose financial information as
well as product and inspection information on their farms, which
is the business and proprietary data that he wants to protect.
4:17:11 PM
He said slide 7 lists some of the disease outbreaks in Alaska.
The point is to show that they collect a lot of surveillance
data to maintain a large list of reportable diseases that
producers and veterinarians are required to report to them. This
data is used to investigate morbidity and mortality events in
both wild and domestic animals across the state to get an idea
of disease issues and try to maintain animal health and prevent
spread of these diseases. The number of reports they get each
year for this type of disease outbreak is increasing, as well.
MR. GERLACH said they want people to feel comfortable in sharing
their data with the department. With this bill they want to
collect and maintain data while protecting business and
proprietary data that can often be misused or put that producer
in a vulnerable state.
4:19:25 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL asked if the information gets disclosed if there
is an outbreak.
MR. GERLACH answered yes, it would be shared with their
partners. Zoonotic or food borne disease information would be
shared with the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS),
the Food Safety Sanitation Division in DEC, the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) and the FDA. Data from an outbreak
associated with a disease that might impact the health of
livestock or domestic pets, as well as wildlife, would be shared
with the DNR, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G),
and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) so their
resources could be used to help his division do a better job in
containing the disease and preventing the spread.
4:20:42 PM
SENATOR MEYER asked what prevents people from importing animals
and then selling them as Alaska-grown.
MR. GERLACH replied as long as animal meet both federal and
state requirements for importation into the state, they can be
used by the importer for whatever purpose they intend them for.
If it's for commercial sale, the labelling and marketing are
regulated by other entities. If the owner is going to make a
claim that it meets the standards for Alaska-grown products, the
Division of Agriculture is responsible for validation of that
program and would approach that producer to get information that
would assure that the product they are selling does meet the
Alaska-grown program requirements.
CHAIR GIESSEL said, so you must regulate animals as they are
imported and asked if he would share that information with the
Division of Agriculture.
MR. GERLACH replied not necessarily. The import information is
maintained to keep track of animals that come into the state to
make sure they are not threatening the health of other animals
whether domestic or wild. That data is not shared with other
entities. As slide 6 indicates they give reports to the Farm
Bureau and producers as well as the Alaska Veterinary Medical
Association and the USDA to inform them of the animals that are
being imported and the work the department is doing.
4:23:26 PM
SENATOR BISHOP asked if most of the imports come via truck
through Canada and what the impound timeline is.
MR. GERLACH answered in the past, most animals came up through
the land port at the Alaska-Canada Highway or down into Haines.
Recently that changed with the animal transport restrictions in
Canada for sheep and goats. Now many of the sheep and goat
producers are shipping animals up by airline. He said they have
been working with the Canadians and the USDA to resolve those
issues to provide better service for the producers who want to
bring up new animals for increasing the efficiency of their
production and broadening genetic stock. Probably a minority of
animals are moved up through the ferry system.
SENATOR BISHOP asked if the animals are impounded when they get
here.
MR. GERLACH replied no. The ports don't have a person that would
have the authority to do that. State import regulations are set
so that people are assured animals are healthy and safe when
they come through the border and to the final destination. One
of the reasons they want to provide this confidentiality to the
producers is if the animals do have a problem, they will do a
follow-up report to his office. Some animals imported from
Canada directly are impounded at the destination until the USDA
veterinarian can inspect them. Often his office sends a
representative with him.
4:26:38 PM
MS. CARPENTER said slide 8 was a brief sectional analysis as
follows:
Section 1: Makes certain animal and crop records
maintained by the Departments of Environmental
Conservation and Natural Resources exempt from the
Alaska Public Records Act if they
1) are importation records that identify a particular
animal, crop, business, or individual;
2) contain animal or crop test results if certain
conditions are met; or
3) are trade secrets or proprietary business or
financial information.
Allows the Departments to disclose the above described
records in the case that the Departments determine
that there is a threat to the health or safety of an
animal, crop, or the public.
Provides the definition of "varietal".
Section 2: Allows the Departments of Environmental
Conservation and Natural Resources to adopt
regulations to implement the Act. She said at this
time, DEC does not see a need to adopt any
regulations.
Section 3: Provides for an immediate effective date
for Section 2.
Slide 9 recapped the benefits captured with passage of SB 164:
Routine surveillance testing may encourage better
animal husbandry and crop management, resulting in a
higher quality product for sale and increased
production efficiency.
Early identification and testing of sick or dead
animals and crops decreases the potential for more
serious outbreaks and spread of disease to other
farms, plants or wildlife.
[Confidentiality of proprietary data prevents unfair
advantage to a competitor regarding product
development, marketing strategy, and source of animal
inventory.]
SENATOR COGHILL asked what has to be done immediately, because
the confidentiality issue could impact business practices. Is it
a welcome relief or a yank in the system?
MR. GERLACH replied that it is a welcome relief for producers
knowing that the personal and business data from the animal
owners and the agricultural farms that are participating in the
Produce Food Safety Program will be kept confidential.
4:30:03 PM
SENATOR COGHILL said once that happens, he would need some kind
of alert that is not in place now and asked what practice he
would have to institute.
MR. GERLACH replied that they already have a communication plan
for response to disease outbreaks as part of an emergency
response plan. It is very important for just the daily function
of doing their job.
4:31:10 PM
SENATOR COGHILL said he anticipated usage would go up and would
that involve a fiscal note.
MR. GERLACH replied there wouldn't be any increase in the number
of reports as just part of the department's normal functions;
there would be no fiscal note. For a disease outbreak they would
normally release only the appropriate data pertinent to the
threat at hand. A good example may be a disease outbreak of
Tuberculosis on a farm. They would contact their other animal
health participants about it and the DHSS because Tuberculosis
from animals can be transmitted to people. Then they would
contact the farms adjacent to the outbreak farm to see if any of
their animals had been exposed. Then they would go back and
determine from the animal records where those animals originated
to determine where the disease may have been introduced, whether
from a new import of animals or the possibility that a worker
came to the farm who actually had tuberculosis and infected the
animals (which has happened in other states). Then they would
look at the animal movement records to see if any animals were
moved from that farm to another farm, and then contact those
individuals, test and do surveillance on their farms to see if
the disease may have spread.
4:33:20 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said he was trying to determine the meaning
of "varietal" on page 1. The definition on the next page says it
means "characteristic of or forming a distinct variety of
organism," which seemed odd.
MS. CARPENTER said she would defer that question to the DNR,
because that definition was added at their request.
ARTHUR KEYES, Director, Division of Agriculture, Department of
Natural Resources (DNR), Palmer, Alaska, explained that the
Plant Material Center has over 230 varieties of potatoes. So,
variety is broad definition of different varieties of crops.
CHAIR GIESSEL summarized that Mr. Keyes was saying "varietal" is
a term of art for various varieties of particular vegetables or
other plants.
MR. KEYES said that was a good way to put it. For instance,
everyone knows what a red delicious apple is, but there are over
50 different varieties of red delicious apple. That holds true
for a lot of crops.
4:36:34 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said he just wanted to bring it to their
attention and if everyone is fine with it, he is, too. He had
another question on page 2, lines 7-11, where it says:
(b) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, DEC and DNR
may disclose any records that are subject to this
section if they find there is a threat to health or
safety of an animal, crop, or the public.
He asked how that works in reality, because this is a Freedom of
Information Act provision. Is there a right of appeal? He noted
that language says "may" not "shall" disclose....
MR. GERLACH replied information that would be released would be
at the discretion of the Office of State Veterinarian in
consultation with the director and commissioner. Not all
information would be released. For instance, for an outbreak of
a disease at a farm, only the information that was pertinent to
the threat either to other animals or the public, or an issue of
food safety would be released. They would not necessarily
release the total number of animals that are on the farm or the
fact that the farmer owned chickens (if it was a disease
outbreak in cattle) unless that disease would affect those other
animals and raise concern about those other species being a
source of spreading it.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI pointed out they are making DEC and DNR
complete gatekeepers of these records, and that is a lot of
power. It's a policy call that makes him a bit uncomfortable.
MR. GERLACH said they are bound by professional and interaction
requirements of the USDA and other public health officials to
disclose that information. So, if there is a threat, it must be
disclosed.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked for a copy of any statutes,
regulations, or ethical requirements that would bind somebody in
DNR and DEC to disclose that information.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked the Department of Law if any other
information might be helpful.
4:40:56 PM
JENNIFER CURRIE, Alaska Department of Law, Anchorage, Alaska,
said that Dr. Gerlach had addressed when he would be required to
disclose information and she imagined circumstances might
require some of this information remain undisclosed, but she
wasn't 100 percent sure.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked if she heard the concern about the term "may
disclose" and wondered if this particular section was patterned
after other confidential information and disclosure language.
Why does it say "may?"
MS. CURRIE answered that she didn't draft this language based on
any other disclosure statutes, adding that she would review
them.
CHAIR GIESSEL said that would be helpful. She opened public
testimony.
4:42:51 PM
AMY SEITZ, Executive Director, Alaska Farm Bureau, Kenai,
Alaska, supported SB 164. Allowing confidentiality of certain
personal and business records for farmers will afford them some
security in their business and keeping animals healthy, she
said:
In order to comply with state and federal laws,
farmers have to provide certain information to DEC or
DNR. There are also situations where a farmer may be
required to submit test results or want to participate
in voluntary disease testing. Records that DEC and DNR
maintain can be very specific to particular animals or
crops, information on our farmers' businesses and
results from testing, and under current law these
records are not protected.
We want our farmers to feel comfortable working with
state agencies in maintaining the health of our
animals and crops, and also the public health. Knowing
that someone could access specifics on these test
results - who tested, where they are located, and what
the test results were - does not afford farmers the
security necessary for them to participate in these
testing for diseases. Having more farmers
participating in testing could help us produce higher
quality products and increase efficiencies in
production. It could also help as an early detection
of a possible outbreak of diseases, and our state
agencies having this information could help them be
ready in the event of a health concern.
Our farmers should also have the security of knowing
that certain import and business records are
confidential. These records that identify a particular
animal, crop, business, or individual shouldn't be
public information, especially when we are looking at
new rules like the Federal Produce Safety Rule coming
on line. If our farmers are going to be required to
submit financial records to state agencies, they
should be afforded the protections that those records
are going to be confidential. Other commercial
industries are already afforded those securities.
For recent examples: right now, some of our farmers
are dealing with the sheep and goat issue where
Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae is of concern and they opened
up a voluntary testing program to find out what the
prevalence is here in the state. Once the producers
learned that there was not confidentiality within the
Office of the State Veterinarian, there was a lot of
concern to participate. We did work around it, but it
made a little more of a hassle not being able to have
it go through one office.
Also, we have discussed the option of a Disease-free
Certification Program for people who want to do goat
packing, but again, once producers learned there was
not confidentiality of these records within the Office
of the State Veterinarian, there was a lot of
reluctance to participate in something like that.
SB 164 would add a lot protection for our farmers'
businesses, but it would still allow, if there was a
health or safety threat, that information could be
released so the appropriate agencies could protect the
public.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked her if she could better explain the term
"varietal."
MS. SEITZ answered that Mr. Keyes did a good job of talking
about what it means. Even within one crop there are a lot of
different sub-varieties.
CHAIR GIESSEL asked why that would have to be kept confidential.
MS. SEITZ replied that a lot of decisions about what to grow are
business decisions. For instance, one farmer may discover they
are really good at growing a specific variety of potato and they
may not want to share where they get the seed start for it. An
animal farmer could find out where a particular breed is
purchased and beat out the original farmer.
4:50:07 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL said she would leave public testimony open and
hold SB 164 in committee awaiting further information.
4:50:41 PM
CHAIR GIESSEL, finding no further business, adjourned the Senate
Resources Standing Committee meeting at 4:50 p.m.