The Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee was called to order by Chairman Randy Phillips at 9:08 a.m. He brought SB 232 (SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION BOND REIMBURSEMENT) before the committee as the first order of business. Number 012 CAROL CARROL, staff to Senator Jay Kerttula, said at the previous hearing on SB 232, the Department of Education spoke of an excess capacity that is built into the system, and Senator Kerttula requests that the committee consider changing the date on page 1, line 8 to December 1, 1994 so that the excess capacity could be used after this year's elections. If this were done, it would not be necessary to increase the capacity that the state would have to pay. Number 060 SENATOR TAYLOR moved the following amendment to SB 232: AMENDMENT NO. 1 Page 1, line 8: Delete "July 1, 1996" and insert in its place "December 1, 1994" Hearing no objection, the Chairman stated Amendment No. 1 was adopted. Number 082 DUANE GUILEY, Director, School Finance, Department of Education, explained that SB 7, which was passed last session, carried with it a $250 million capital project authorization for the department based upon principal amount of the project. Of that $250 million that was allocated, $133 million went to Anchorage, $67 million to Fairbanks and $50 million to the remainder of the state. The allocation was effective through July 1, 1996. Currently, there is available capacity of the $250 million allocation. Of the $50 million that was allocated to the remainder of the state, there is $14.8 million that has yet to have voter approval. There is $133 million available in Anchorage. There is $44.4 million available in Fairbanks. So of the $250 million, the amount that has actually been voted on and approved by voters to date includes an amount just short of $36 million in the $50 million group, and in the case of Fairbanks, $22 million has been approved of the $67 million. Number 123 SENATOR TAYLOR asked what the cut-off date was for the current program. DUANE GUILEY answered that under the current program, if the ballot issue fails, the bond reimbursement authorization is immediately voided and the department then goes to the next project on the list. In the case of Anchorage and Fairbanks, they are currently competing only against themselves until July 1, 1996, but the amendment changes that to December 1, 1994. Number 155 SENATOR TAYLOR asked if Mr. Guiley agreed that with the adoption of the amendment, the additional $90 million was not needed. DUANE GUILEY acknowledged that was correct. Number 168 SENATOR TAYLOR moved the following amendment to SB 232: AMENDMENT NO. 2 Page 1, line 7: Delete "$340,000,000" and reinsert "$250,000,000" " Page 2, lines 1 & 2: Delete subparagraph (D) Hearing no objection, the Chairman stated the amendment was adopted and the two amendments would be incorporated into a C&RA committee substitute. Number 187 SENATOR RANDY PHILLIPS closed the public hearing on SB 232 and stated that the bill would be rescheduled for another hearing.