HB 260 - MARINE PILOTS CHAIRMAN PETE KOTT said the last time HB 260 was discussed in the Labor & Commerce Committee, there was an amendment that was being drafted. Chairman Kott said he had opted to withdraw that amendment at this time. He said the original bill will be replaced with the CSHB 260(TRA), as amended. Chairman Kott noted the bill would become CSHB 260(L&C). REPRESENTATIVE JERRY SANDERS made a motion to adopt CSHB 260(L&C). CHAIRMAN KOTT noted CSHB 260(L&C) consists of the same language as CSHB 260(TRA) with the three amendments that were made to the bill. He said there was a motion to adopt the new CSHB 260(L&C), which is the amended version of the Transportation Committee Substitute. REPRESENTATIVE BRIAN PORTER said as he understood it, the new version did not include a maximum tariff, a fixed tariff, or a resolution. CHAIRMAN KOTT stated that was correct. There is no language that addresses either/or any of those. REPRESENTATIVE KIM ELTON asked what version of the bill was being discussed. REPRESENTATIVE GENE KUBINA said the amendments are not incorporated yet. CHAIRMAN KOTT said the amendments would be incorporated into a Labor & Commerce Committee Substitute. REPRESENTATIVE KUBINA asked what the two amendments were that did pass. CHAIRMAN KOTT responded there were three amendments offered. Maximum tariff which was amendment one and that was rejected. Amendment two took the bill back to the original state as it related to the number of members on the board. He said we decreased that to its present state, as it currently stands. Amendment three which was adopted, addressed the reissuance or renewal of a temporary license for emergency purposes to ensure that the commissioner, after that one year, can extend the temporary license if that same condition exists. Chairman Kott said there was a motion before the committee to adopt the Labor & Commerce Committee Substitute, as amended. He asked if there was any objection. Hearing none, the motion passed. REPRESENTATIVE SANDERS made a motion to move CSHB 260(L&C) from committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note. REPRESENTATIVE PORTER objected. He stated he has gone back and forth on this bill, and after hearing all the testimony he did not feel that an equitable situation had been created between the pilots and the shippers. He felt that without some provision to guide the resolution of a wage dispute or to set a maximum tariff or a tariff, that we're saying in effect by state law, "you must do this, but we're going to put you at the mercy of those that we require you to put on your ships." REPRESENTATIVE ELTON asked for clarification as to what was being moved from Committee. He thought he understood Chairman Kott to say what they were going to move out...they were going to address two of the amendments. One to restore the board of its original state. His understanding was the motion is to move the bill that does not restore the board to its original state. He asked if that was correct. CHAIRMAN KOTT responded no, and directed Representative Elton's attention to page 1, line 9 and said they added three, but now it is back to two. He emphasized it was amendment two that was adopted. Amendment one was the maximum tariff. Number 133 REPRESENTATIVE KUBINA said he had tried to get all the groups together since last week to reach a consensus, and felt that he was unable to do so. He said since he was unsuccessful in getting a consensus, he didn't want to put himself in the middle any longer and he would support moving the bill and the motion. CHAIRMAN KOTT stated there had been a lot of effort on a number of people's behalf, and he agreed with Representative Kubina. He said members of the previous committee had expressed frustration because this bill had been in their committee for over a month while they were trying to address the issues, and they didn't reach agreement either. REPRESENTATIVE SANDERS said he had been on the other committee, and he could verify Chairman Kott's comments. He stressed that the bill has gone through many changes, and it is a better bill now than what it was. He felt it was time to move the bill on. Number 169 REPRESENTATIVE ELTON commented he would not object to moving the bill out of committee, but stated, "we are the Labor & Commerce Committee and maybe one of the reasons we can never come to resolution, is because we don't hold on to things long enough to make the interested parties think we are serious about dealing with it in the best way possible, and we have." He has heard from a number of different people regarding what the best way to do this is. REPRESENTATIVE NORMAN ROKEBERG felt the committee has really tried to work with this issue to find some clarity and certainty. He stated it was one of the most difficult problems he had encountered in the legislature. It is his belief that arms-length transactions can be conducted and those contracts can be negotiated between business entities, not between labor and management, but two different business entities. He expressed uncertainty about his vote on this issue and that uncertainty troubles him. CHAIRMAN KOTT felt the troubling area with this issue is there was no road; you either have one or the other and it's difficult to grasp for something in the middle. CHAIRMAN KOTT said there was a motion to move the bill out of committee with individual recommendations and there is objection. A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Kott, Sanders, Elton, Kubina, Rokeberg and Masek voted yes. Representative Porter voted no. CSHB 260(L&C) passed out of the House Labor & Commerce Committee.