Legislature(1993 - 1994)
02/19/1993 09:03 AM Senate STA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SENATE STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
February 19, 1993
9:03 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Loren Leman, Chairman
Senator Mike Miller, Vice Chairman
Senator Robin Taylor
Senator Jim Duncan
Senator Johnny Ellis
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 26
"An Act relating to the location of the convening of the
legislature in regular session; and providing for an
effective date."
SENATE BILL NO. 18
"An Act making an appropriation for a grant to the
Municipality of Anchorage for renovation and addition to
West Anchorage High School; and providing for an effective
date."
SENATE BILL NO. 80
"An Act eliminating, consolidating, changing the membership
requirements of, and transferring the duties of various
boards, commissions, councils, panels, authorities,
corporations, foundations, and similar entities of state
government; and providing for an effective date."
PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
SB 26 - See Community & Regional Affairs minutes dated
1/28/93, 2/4/93, 2/9/93 and State Affairs
minutes dated 2/17/93.
SB 18 - See State Affairs minutes dated 2/10/93.
SB 80 - See State Affairs minutes dated 2/10/93,
2/17/93.
WITNESS REGISTER
Paul Bowers, Airport Manager
Juneau International Airport
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Presentation on DGPS
Tom Jensen, District Manager, Customer Services
Alascom, Inc.
8745 Glacier Highway
Juneau, AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed video teleconferencing
Hugh Malone
2517 David St.
Juneau, AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to SB 26
Jim Kohler
124 W. 5th St.
Juneau, AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed T.V. coverage of legislature
Jamie Parsons, Mayor
City & Borough of Juneau
155 S. Seward St.
Juneau, AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed access to Juneau
Joe Poor, Executive Director
Juneau Chamber of Commerce
124 W. 5th St.
Juneau, AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed access to Juneau
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 93-11, SIDE A
Number 001
The meeting of the Senate Affairs Committee was called to
order by Chairman Loren Leman at 9:03 a.m.
SENATOR LEMAN brought SB 26 (LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS TO BE IN
ANCHORAGE) before the committee as the first order of
business.
SENATOR DUNCAN noted that at a previous hearing, Senator
Miller brought up the the question of of what Juneau is
doing about access, and he believes it is a question worth
considering and seeing what can be done or what has been
done. He said he was confident that the City of Juneau has
done everything in its power to help try to improve access.
Senator Duncan said several witnesses were waiting to
testify before the committee on what is being done to
improve access to the capital city.
Number 060
PAUL BOWERS, Airport Manager, Juneau International Airport,
using slides and a FAA film, made a presentation on Project
Juneau, which is a differential global positioning system
(DGPS) operational demonstration for an FAA approved
approach and departure procedure at Juneau.
Currently, there has to be a 1,000 foot ceiling with two-
mile horizontal visibility for air carrier landings. The
DGPS goal is to reduce it to less than a 400 foot ceiling
with a half mile visibility. Probably more significant is
that it will change the missed approach point to a missed
approach procedure relative to terrain. The goal for this
would be to reduce the weather induced missed approaches by
a minimum of 70 percent, and the likelihood is that it will
be about 95 percent. Mr. Bowers pointed out that the
internal cost to Alaska Airlines due to missed approaches is
approximately $10,000 per missed approach. The system will
not only improve the weather dependency to the airport, but
it will reduce costs associated with operating there.
The FAA has recently approved a pilot project of the DGPS
for Juneau. It will be a $730,000 project fully funded out
of the FAA satellite program and is scheduled for
installation this summer. It will be installed on a Alaska
Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft, and data will be collected
for a six to twelve month period. Mr. Bowers said at the
end of that trial period, which begins in September, they
anticipate the program to be approved for an operational
procedure to go in and out of Juneau.
Number 448
SENATOR TAYLOR spoke to a lack of repeaters in the state,
particularly in Southeastern Alaska. He said because of the
lack of repeaters there are many blank areas, and if a pilot
gets into trouble and calls out a Mayday, chances are very
likely that he will not be heard by anyone. He asked when
that problem going to be fixed so that people aren't dying
in Southeast Alaska because they can't be heard. PAUL
BOWERS answered that he could not answer that question, but
he would pass Senator Taylor's concern on to the FAA.
Number 540
TOM JENSEN, District Manager for Customer Service for
Alascom in Southeast Alaska, read into the record a letter
from Mr. Ownby, Vice President of Alascom, offering to
demonstrate Alascom's video teleconferencing, which could
serve as a cost-effective way to increase public access to
the legislative process. The purpose of the demonstration
would be to show how the standard feature of media
teleconferencing could serve the legislature and the public
as useful and flexible tools.
Mr. Jensen distributed a PR brochure showing the product
used by Alascom in their demonstrations in Southeast Alaska.
He then outlined the various features of the video
teleconferencing unit.
TAPE 93-11, SIDE B
Number 010
SENATOR PHILLIPS pointed out that his bill addresses moving
the legislature from Juneau to Anchorage, and he asked what
hindrance did Mr. Jensen see if the state agency divisions
or commissioners use this system from Juneau in
communicating with the legislature in Anchorage. TOM JENSEN
responded that the technology is such that is it not
personal face to face, but they can still exchange
documents, however, the cost may be of some concern. He did
point out that if an individual does not have to travel back
and forth to attend meetings, it does save time and money.
SENATOR DUNCAN commented that it is not necessary to spend
money to move the legislature and disrupt communities and
people's lives because access is available on a face to face
basis with video teleconferencing. He encouraged the Chair
to consider video teleconferencing a future committee
meeting.
Number 075
HUGH MALONE said he was appearing before the committee as a
person who is concerned about the dramatic, perhaps
traumatic effects that SB 26 would have on government in
Alaska. He believes if the legislation were enacted, a
realistic analysis could only show that the legislation will
result in a defacto capital move.
Mr. Malone said as a member of the legislature for 12 years
and four years as commissioner of the Department of Revenue,
he has a perspective of how those branches work together
from both sides. He then described the interaction between
the two branches, saying it was important to recognize that
the bureaucrats play a role that is integral to the
legislative process. That role is different in degree and
in kind from the role that the public carries out in the
legislative process.
Mr. Malone also spoke to the importance of departments and
agencies providing continuous budget information to the
legislature throughout the whole appropriations process.
Mr. Malone said if the legislature were to move it would
create a separation of government that would increase costs
and cause delays in decision making and an eventual
migration of offices, followed by moving key staff. The
state would end up having a "winter capital" in Anchorage
and a "summer capital" in Juneau.
Number 265
SENATOR DUNCAN asked in his experience as a commissioner,
how often did he interact with the legislature. HUGH MALONE
responded that probably about half of the time during the
session there was some presence at the legislature on his
part and some of it is delegated to deputies or to
legislative liaisons.
Mr. Malone added that he was testifying on his own time to
share his perspectives with the committee based on his
experience. He also noted that he has been doing some work
on a fiscal note analysis with Clark Gruening who is the
lobbyist for the City and Borough of Juneau.
Number 315
JIM KOHLER, a Juneau resident and Director of the Southeast
Conference, raised the question of just how accessible the
legislature wants to be. He said there are different
degrees of access, and if it is the ultimate goal that the
legislature becomes as accessible as possible to all that
elect them, it is certainly a goal more primary than the
issue that SB 26 speaks to directly. To that end, he said
it would be possible, without a direct expenditure of
dollars by the legislative body, to provide statewide live
coverage of floor sessions, selected committee sessions
across the entire 120-day period that the legislature in
session. It would be possible to provide it on the basis of
paid commercial sponsorships, no more than perhaps five
minutes worth every hour. However, it would need the
legislative body to say it wants to move towards that, and
he said he would be happy to work with legislators to try to
achieve that particular result.
Number 465
SENATOR RANDY PHILLIPS pointed out that he had sent out a
questionnaire and that over 80 percent of the people in his
district have responded in the affirmative to move the
legislature from Juneau to Anchorage, and this is the point
of view he is representing. He said the people have a right
to have that access to the legislature.
Number 500
SENATOR TAYLOR expressed his appreciation to Mr. Kohler,
saying he thought his proposal is very innovative and very
creative.
Number 660
MAYOR JAMIE PARSONS, City and Borough of Juneau, said the
community is very sensitive and concerned about access to
the capital and has worked to try to bring in additional
airlines, as well as additional stops by Alaska Airlines.
TAPE 93-12, SIDE A
Number 001
Mayor Parsons said the community of Juneau would be willing
to be a financial partner with the state to find better
access to teleconferencing, C-Span, any kind of
communications with the rest of the state.
Number 012
SENATOR DUNCAN asked how Mayor Parsons viewed Juneau's
interaction with the rest of Southeast Alaska and the rest
of the state. MAYOR PARSONS answered that during his term
as mayor he has stressed that their be more outreach by the
community towards the rest of the state. He said he thinks
that traditionally Juneau has been supportive throughout the
state and particularly this region. SENATOR DUNCAN said he
was very sensitive to Senator Miller's comments at an
earlier hearing about Juneau's interaction with the rest of
the state, and he wanted to be sure that it was on record
that Juneau is aware that there are needs outside of this
community.
Number 075
JOE POOR, Executive Director, Juneau Chamber of Commerce,
agreed that the community is very sensitive to the concerns
raised by Senator Miller and it is trying to change. He
said the Chamber tries to respond to any business related
requests and concerns anywhere in the state. He said he
believes we need this strong unification of Alaskan business
communities in order to resolve some of the problems that we
have.
Number 132
SENATOR ELLIS voiced his concern with the fiscal notes,
saying he thinks they deserve a lot of attention. He said
he believes that moving the legislature means moving
everything eventually, and he has never been a supporter of
that. His main concern centers around what will really
happen with the bureaucracy.
Number 168
SENATOR PHILLIPS noted that SB 26 still has referrals to the
Judiciary Committee and the Finance Committee, and he
suggested that a video teleconferencing demo could be held
in one of those committees.
Number 180
SENATOR LEMAN asked for the will of the committee on SB 26.
Hearing no motion, he stated SB 26 would be held over for
the next meeting.
SENATOR LEMAN also stated that SB 18 (APPR: WEST ANCHORAGE
HIGH SCHOOL) and SB 80 (BOARDS, COMMISSIONS, COUNCILS,
AUTHORITIES) would be held over until the next committee
meeting.
There being no further business to come before the
committee, the meeting was adjourned at 10:52 a.m.
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