Legislature(2001 - 2002)
05/01/2002 10:40 AM Senate RLS
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE RULES COMMITTEE
May 1, 2002
10:40 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Randy Phillips, Chair
Senator John Cowdery, Vice Chair
Senator Gene Therriault
Senator Rick Halford
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Johnny Ellis
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 181
"An Act making the interest rate for the Alaska Housing Finance
Corporation's small community housing mortgage loans the same as
the interest rate on mortgage loans purchased under the
corporation's special mortgage loan purchase program from the
proceeds of the most recent applicable issue of taxable bonds
before the origination or purchase of the small community housing
mortgage loans."
APPROVED FOR CALENDARING
SENATE BILL NO. 364
"An Act relating to medical services under the state Medicaid
program."
APPROVED FOR CALENDARING
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 281(JUD)
"An Act relating to civil liability for providing alcoholic
beverages to a person under 21 years of age; and providing for an
effective date."
APPROVED FOR CALENDARING
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 331(STA)
"An Act relating to appointment of persons to positions that
require confirmation by the legislature; and providing for an
effective date."
APPROVED FOR CALENDARING
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 402(FIN)
"An Act relating to diversion payments, wage subsidies, cash
assistance, and self- sufficiency services provided under the
Alaska temporary assistance program; relating to the food stamp
program; relating to child support cases that include persons who
receive cash assistance or self-sufficiency services under the
Alaska temporary assistance program; and providing for an
effective date."
APPROVED FOR CALENDARING
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 462(RES)
"An Act relating to the release of certain confidential records
and reports concerning fishing, fish buying, or fish processing;
and providing for an effective date."
APPROVED FOR CALENDARING
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 23
Proposing amendments to Uniform Rule 20 of the Alaska State
Legislature; and providing for an effective date for the
amendments.
HEARD AND HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
SB 181 - See Finance Report dated 4/24/02.
SB 364 - See Finance minutes dated 4/24/02.
HB 281 - See Labor and Commerce minutes dated 3/21/02 and
Judiciary minutes from 4/24/02.
HB 331 - See State Affairs minutes dated 3/21/02 and 4/2/02.
HB 402 - See HES minutes dated 4/10/02 and Finance Report dated
4/25/02.
HB 462 - See Resources minutes dated 4/24/02.
WITNESS REGISTER
Ms. Katrina Matheny
Staff to Representative Gary Stevens
Alaska State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified for the sponsor of HB 462
Ms. Karen McCarthy
Staff to Representative Bunde
Alaska State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified for the sponsor of HCR 23
Mr. Tom Wright
Staff to Representative Porter
Alaska State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions related to HCR 23
Ms. Amy Erickson
Staff to Representative Murkowski
Alaska State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Requested that HB 262 be held in committee
24 hours.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 02-11, SIDE A
Number 001
CHAIRMAN RANDY PHILLIPS called the Senate Rules Committee meeting
to order at 10:40 a.m. Senators Cowdery, Therriault and Phillips
were present.
SENATOR HALFORD moved to calendar at the Chairman's discretion SB
181-SMALL COMMUNITY HOUSING LOANS with its accompanying fiscal
notes.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS announced that with no objection, the motion
carried.
SENATOR HALFORD moved to calendar at the Chairman's discretion SB
364-MEDICAID PAYMENTS FOR ABORTIONS and its zero fiscal note.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS announced that with no objection, the motion
carried.
SENATOR HALFORD moved to calendar at the Chairman's discretion HB
281-CIVIL LIABILITY FOR PROVIDING ALCOHOL and its accompanying
fiscal notes.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS announced that with no objection, the motion
carried.
SENATOR HALFORD moved to calendar at the Chairman's discretion HB
331-PRESENTMENT OF GOVERNOR'S APPOINTEES and its accompanying
fiscal notes.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS announced that with no objection, the motion
carried.
SENATOR HALFORD moved to calendar at the Chairman's discretion HB
402-ALASKA TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM and its accompanying
fiscal notes.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS announced that with no objection, the motion
carried.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS announced the committee would take up HB 462-
CONFIDENTIALITY OF FISHING RECORDS.
MS. KATRINA MATHENY, staff to Representative Gary Stevens,
explained that HB 462 was introduced to provide some needed
changes to the confidentiality provisions for information
submitted to the Department of Fish and Game and the Limited
Entry Commission. HB 462:
· Clarifies that reports submitted by the catcher exporters
are included;
· Provides that certain information held as confidential may
be released back to the entity that is the subject of the
information;
· Provides that certain confidential information be provided
to third parties at the request of the entity that is the
subject of the information;
· Adds salt water charter logbooks to information that is
available to the Department of Public Safety; and
· Provides that Commercial Operators Annual Reports (COAR) are
available to the Department of Public Safety and to
enforcement personnel of the National Marine Fisheries
Service and NOAA.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS asked what committee referrals the bill had in
the Senate.
MS. MATHENY said it was heard by the Senate Resources Committee.
SENATOR HALFORD moved to approve HB 462 and its accompanying
fiscal notes for calendaring with individual recommendations.
There being no objection, CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS noted the motion
carried.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS announced the committee would take up HCR 23-
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES: SPLIT HOUSE HESS. He noted that Senate
members have a lot of questions about this bill so his plan is to
hold it in committee until those questions are answered.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if the House Majority Caucus instructed
Representative Bunde to introduce this measure or whether it was
his idea.
MS. KAREN MCCARTY, staff to Representative Bunde, informed
members that Representative Guess first sponsored a resolution to
split the committee. The House Special Committee on Education
supported the idea and introduced HCR 23. The House discussion
centered on the fact that education is a core constitutional
mandate and, aside from permanent fund dividends, it is the
highest expense of state government. The House felt that a
standing committee on education would allow legislators to focus
on the topic more than is currently possible. Because the House
recognized that the Senate might not be interested in doing the
same, it structured the resolution so as not to affect Senate
committee structure. Tam Cook, legal counsel, found no legal
requirement for image committees in the House and Senate.
SENATOR COWDERY asked what is broken and whether another standing
committee will require extra work and more personnel.
MS. MCCARTY said she doesn't know that House members felt
something was broken but they did feel the situation could be
improved. Representative Bunde stated that from his six years of
experience chairing House HESS, and two years chairing the
Special Committee on Education, a standing committee on education
would be very beneficial. The Legislative Affairs Agency prepared
a zero fiscal note, indicating that no additional staff would be
required. In looking through the bills that have been referred to
both the House HESS Committee and Special Committee on Education,
there does not appear to have been any overlap of health and
social services issues and education issues during the past two
years. She said she believes that creation of a standing
committee will require less work on the part of the Department of
Education and Early Development (DOEED).
SENATOR COWDERY asked how many members serve on the two existing
committees.
MS. MCCARTY said seven on each, although three members are common
to both committees.
SENATOR HALFORD said during the time he has served in the
legislature, three or four proposals have come up to split
committees: splitting the Resources Committee into renewable and
non-renewable resource committees; splitting the HESS committee;
and splitting the Finance Committee into an appropriations
committee and a ways and means committee. He said what makes
sense for a 40 member House does not necessarily make sense for a
20 member Senate. What has kept it from happening is not the
legal issue, but the attitude that the public understanding of
the process benefits by having similar structures in both bodies.
He advised Ms. McCarty that the House needs a strong argument to
change that attitude.
SENATOR HALFORD acknowledged that the House, as an organization,
always needs more committees and creates special committees to
"fill in the number of people it is trying to keep in an
organization." The Senate always has too many committees so that
Finance Committee members must chair a standing committee or, at
times, one Senator chairs more than one standing committee. He
said the request to split a committee is not unreasonable given
the operating structure of the House, but the question is do
legislators want to change the Uniform Rule that designates the
same standing committees in both bodies. He suggested that
another way to get the same result is to add, in Section 1, a
specific provision so that by resolution, either body could split
a committee for a session.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if the two committees would share the
same committee room.
MS. MCCARTY said that could occur. This session, the Special
Committee on Education met in the House Judiciary Committee room
in the morning and then used the House Finance room after
subcommittees finished their work.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said he agrees with Senator Halford that the
House needs more committees but it has taken care of that problem
by creating special committees over the years or by appointing
co-chairs. He pointed out that by using co-chairs, the workload
is split and the committee can meet at the same time in the same
place on different days. He expressed concern that HCR 23 will
not work down the line because of the need for dedicated space.
MS. MCCARTY said there has not been a lot of discussion in the
House about the logistical details; however, the operations of
the special committee have worked smoothly so she sees no reason
that the operations of a standing committee would not be the
same.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if education-related legislation is only
referred to the Special Committee on Education and by-passes the
House HESS Committee.
MS. MCCARTY said quite a few bills received a double referral to
both the House HESS Committee and Special Committee on Education.
The House HESS Committee had 42 education-related bills referred
to it, most of those were previously heard in the special
committee. Her understanding, from Mr. Wright, is that all
education-related legislation, except bonding issues, was
referred to both.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS asked, if the bills moved from the Special
Committee on Education to the House HESS Committee, how HCR 23
will improve anything. He said he has a saying, "If it ain't
broke, don't fix it," and is trying to understand how HCR 23 will
improve anything.
MS. MCCARTY said one of the benefits, if HCR 23 passes, will be a
more efficient use of time because legislation will not need
double committee referrals.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS maintained that Ms. McCarty said that many of
the education-related bills were referred to both committees. He
then asked if those bills will be referred to only one of those
committees if HCR 23 passes.
MS. MCCARTY said that is correct.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked why that is not done now.
MR. TOM WRIGHT, staff to Representative Porter, Speaker of the
House, explained that every bill needs a referral to a standing
committee.
SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if most of the bills that got the double
referral were referred to other standing committees.
MR. WRIGHT said those that needed an additional referral were
given one - it depended on the content of the bill. However, if
the bill needed no other referrals, it was referred to House
HESS.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS noted that all bills must go through the Rules
Committee.
MR. WRIGHT said that is correct but the House has a different
Rules process.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS announced the committee would take up HB 262.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS asked Ms. Erickson what Representative
Murkowski would like the committee to do in regard to HB 262-
BUILDING SAFETY ACCOUNT.
MS. AMY ERICKSON, staff to Representative Murkowski, asked
members to hold the bill another day to give Representative
Murkowski a chance to discuss the matter with her caucus.
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS agreed.
There being no further business to come before the committee,
CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS adjourned the meeting at 10:58 a.m.
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