HOUSE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE March 23, 1993 3:00 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Rep. Cynthia Toohey, Co-Chair Rep. Con Bunde, Co-Chair Rep. Gary Davis, Vice Chair Rep. Al Vezey Rep. Pete Kott Rep. Harley Olberg Rep. Bettye Davis Rep. Irene Nicholia Rep. Tom Brice MEMBERS ABSENT None COMMITTEE CALENDAR HB 82: "An Act relating to school construction grants and major maintenance grants to school districts; providing for school district participation in the cost of school construction and major maintenance; creating a major maintenance grant fund; and providing for an effective date." HEARD AND HELD TO TIME CERTAIN HB 83: "An Act making appropriations for construction and major maintenance of schools; and providing for an effective date." HEARD AND HELD TO TIME CERTAIN *HB 12: "An Act relating to health insurance for small employers; and providing for an effective date." NOT HEARD - POSTPONED AT SPONSOR'S REQUEST (* First public hearing.) WITNESS REGISTER None PREVIOUS ACTION BILL: HB 82 SHORT TITLE: SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE GRANTS BILL VERSION: SPONSOR(S): RULES BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR TITLE: "An Act relating to school construction grants and major maintenance grants to school districts; providing for school district participation in the cost of school construction and major maintenance; creating a major maintenance grant fund; and providing for an effective date." JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION 01/22/93 131 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S) 01/22/93 132 (H) HES, FINANCE 01/22/93 132 (H) -FISCAL NOTE (DOE) 1/22/93 01/22/93 132 (H) -2 ZERO FNS (DOT, REV) 1/22/93 01/22/93 132 (H) GOVERNOR'S TRANSMITTAL LETTER 02/09/93 (H) HES AT 03:00 PM CAPITOL 106 02/09/93 (H) MINUTE(HES) 03/09/93 (H) HES AT 03:00 PM CAPITOL 106 03/09/93 (H) MINUTE(HES) 03/16/93 (H) HES AT 03:30 PM CAPITOL 106 03/16/93 (H) MINUTE(HES) 03/23/93 (H) HES AT 03:00 PM CAPITOL 106 BILL: HB 83 SHORT TITLE: APPROP:SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION GRANT FUND BILL VERSION: SPONSOR(S): RULES BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR TITLE: "An Act making appropriations for construction and major maintenance of schools; and providing for an effective date." JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION 01/22/93 134 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S) 01/22/93 134 (H) HES, FINANCE 01/22/93 134 (H) -REVENUE FN (REV) 1/22/93 01/22/93 134 (H) -ZERO FISCAL NOTE (DOT) 1/22/93 01/22/93 134 (H) GOVERNOR'S TRANSMITTAL LETTER 02/09/93 (H) HES AT 03:00 PM CAPITOL 106 02/09/93 (H) MINUTE(HES) 03/09/93 (H) HES AT 03:00 PM CAPITOL 106 03/09/93 (H) MINUTE(HES) 03/16/93 (H) HES AT 03:30 PM CAPITOL 106 03/16/93 (H) MINUTE(HES) 03/23/93 (H) HES AT 03:00 PM CAPITOL 106 BILL: HB 12 SHORT TITLE: GROUP HEALTH INS. FOR SMALL EMPLOYERS BILL VERSION: SSHB 12 SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S) B.DAVIS,Ulmer,Nordlund,Brice TITLE: "An Act relating to health insurance for small employers; and providing for an effective date." JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION 01/04/93 27 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 01/11/93 27 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME/REFERRAL(S) 01/11/93 27 (H) HES, L&C, JUDICIARY, FINANCE 01/27/93 167 (H) COSPONSOR(S): NORDLUND 02/10/93 312 (H) COSPONSOR(S): BRICE 02/18/93 380 (H) SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE INTRODUCED-REFERRALS 02/18/93 380 (H) HES, L&C, JUDICIARY, FINANCE 03/23/93 (H) HES AT 03:00 PM CAPITOL 106 ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 93-43, SIDE A Number 000 CHAIR BUNDE called the meeting to order at 3:03 p.m. He announced that the meeting would adjourn at 3:30 p.m., when a meeting of the House majority caucus was due to begin. He then noted members present and brought HB 82 and HB 83 to the table. He announced the meeting was being teleconferenced. HB 82 - SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE GRANTS HB 83 - APPROP: SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION GRANT FUND Number 041 CHAIR BUNDE invited testimony from those attending the meeting in Juneau, or by teleconference at remote sites. Hearing none, he closed public testimony and began committee discussion. He asked Rep. Vezey, chairman of a subcommittee appointed March 16, 1993, to give a report on the subcommittee's work. REP. VEZEY said the subcommittee met April 16 and 17, and while he could not say they reached a consensus or decision, he said they did review a draft committee substitute he had presented. He stated he believed the subcommittee was at the point of addressing the formula for local funding. The subcommittee unanimously supported the idea of matching local grants as a way to police the demand on limited state funds, and discussed the maximum and minimum amounts for contribution by local school districts or REAAs. He asked Rep. G. Davis if he had made a fair assessment of the meeting. Number 078 REP. G. DAVIS answered yes. REP. NICHOLIA said she had not received a copy of the subcommittee's working draft. Number 090 REP. VEZEY offered to have copies made for distribution. CHAIR BUNDE asked Rep. Vezey whether the subcommittee developed a majority opinion, if not a consensus, on any of the several options he said the subcommittee had agreed upon. REP. VEZEY said the subcommittee had more than a consensus. He stated they had a representative from an REAA (Rural Education Attendance Area) who expressed the concerns of the REAAs, but the subcommittee had not come up with a solution. While all members agreed on the need for matching grants, they did not agree on the formula; three of four votes might have gone the same way. He said the subcommittee was unable to find common ground between the matching grant levels in HB 82 and the working draft of the bill considered by the subcommittee. Number 117 REP. G. DAVIS said the subcommittee had come to a consensus on eliminating the sliding scale of increasing percentages of local matching grants levels. He suggested the committee consider the issue. CHAIR BUNDE, as a long-time speech teacher, noted that "consensus" meant that all members agreed, and if the subcommittee did not have consensus, then it did not have total agreement. He asked Rep. G. Davis if he would introduce an amendment concerning sliding scales. Number 140 REP. G. DAVIS moved deletion of language in HB 82 on page 2, lines 27-31. CHAIR BUNDE stated, "As I read that, that's for the ADM (Average Daily Membership) of over $100,000. We do have a percentage district participation share of $1 to $100,000." REP. G. DAVIS said, "Yes, it creates some additional cost to the district for those ADMs over $100,000." (Rep. B. Davis arrived at 3:12 p.m.) Number 168 CHAIR BUNDE notified Rep. B. Davis that the committee would adjourn at 3:30 p.m. for the majority caucus. He asked for a motion to accept the committee substitute considered by Rep. Vezey's subcommittee as a working document. REP. VEZEY made the motion. REP. NICHOLIA asked for time to consider the committee substitute, as it was the first time she and other committee members had seen the document. CHAIR BUNDE said it would be a working document for discussion purposes and he would not ask members to make decisions on it in a half hour. He asked for objections to the motion. Number 185 REP. BRICE objected for purposes of discussion. He said, as a member of part of the subcommittee, he believed there was not a consensus on the sliding scale issue, but he believed the issue deserved discussion. He asked whether Rep. Olberg had been present during discussion of that issue. Number 196 REP. VEZEY said he recalled that there was consensus on having a flat rate that would not vary over time. He said he recalled that Rep. Olberg's concerns were not with the flat rate, but with the ability of REAAs to come up with money for their local contribution. REP. BRICE recalled his objection. Number 206 CHAIR BUNDE declared the motion passed upon hearing no objection to the motion to adopt the subcommittee committee substitute as a working committee document. Number 210 REP. G. DAVIS announced, for the sake of the teleconference audience which did not have copies of the work draft, that the sliding scale provision was not included in the working draft, and the motion he had made to cut those provisions from the original HB 82, but which had not been voted upon, had taken effect. Number 219 CHAIR BUNDE announced that he did not intend to move the bill out of committee that day and the public would have a chance to study the bill and any adjustments the committee made to it. (Rep. Olberg arrived at 3:15 p.m.) (Rep. Kott arrived at approximately 3:15 p.m.) REP. B. DAVIS asked whether it was the chair's intention merely to walk through the working draft. CHAIR BUNDE answered that was correct. He asked the sponsor of the committee substitute to begin such a discussion. Number 229 REP. VEZEY said he was not completely ready to do a comparison of the two bills. He said there was no change to sections 1 and 2. In section 3, he removed the words "city or borough" from line 15 to eliminate the distinction between types of school districts. The committee substitute deleted the sliding scale for local contributions for construction grants. Number 248 REP. OLBERG asked if the committee members could discuss the changes. CHAIR BUNDE answered that Rep. Vezey was presenting an overview and that discussion would be possible at any time. However, Rep. Bunde said that given the time limitations, it might be better to let Rep. Vezey finish his presentation at the meeting and hold discussion at a later meeting. Number 256 REP. VEZEY said that Rep. Olberg's objections to the provisions contained in lines 22-25 had been noted. He noted the changes in the classification of school districts, changing the first classification to $0 to $100,000, instead of $1 to $100,000, to include areas with no local property value. Number 266 CHAIR BUNDE interrupted Rep. Vezey to comment on the changes in percentages. Number 268 REP. VEZEY noted the percentage shares had been changed in the committee substitute to the following categories and percentage shares: the category of $0 - $100,000 (which included REAAs with no local property value) was changed to 20 percent from 5 percent; the category of $100,001 - $300,000, which included most state schools, including the Railbelt schools, was changed to 30 percent from 15 percent; the category of $300,001 - $600,000, which included about nine schools, was changed to 40 percent from 30 percent; and the category of $600,000, which included four districts and above was changed from 40 percent to 50 percent. He said the changes were an attempt to develop a reasonable range. Number 300 REP. VEZEY noted that the escalating clause had been deleted in the committee substitute. He said the district's matching funds could come from any source, including local taxes and private, state or federal money, but the money could not come from construction of maintenance funds established by HB 82. REP. NICHOLIA said, "I'd just like to put this on record that the rewritten part of section C is totally out of line from what we had hoped it would have been. We liked the original form in the original bill, number 82. And I think that it was very much in our favor. We really liked what was written there, and don't really concur what has been rewritten here." Number 321 REP. VEZEY said he was just highlighting the differences in the two bills and that change was indeed a major difference. He said he did not believe there were no changes in sections 4, 5, 6 or 7. He said it was pointed out in the subcommittee that those were important sections and did warrant further attention because they established procedures to establish priorities, involving the legislature, local communities and school boards and the Department of Education. He offered to entertain questions. CHAIR BUNDE asked the committee members to examine closely the working draft of HB 82 and to return ready to discuss it in detail. He declared his intention to hear HB 82 on Monday, April 29, and to take action on it. He also declared his hope to move HB 83 at that meeting as well, if possible. Number 248 REP. VEZEY announced that the subcommittee would meet Friday, March 26, at 1 p.m. CHAIR BUNDE invited all committee members interested to attend the subcommittee meeting, and all interested members of the public to send in written testimony. Number 357 REP. B. DAVIS asked if the subcommittee would consider HB 83 as well as HB 82. REP. VEZEY answered that the subcommittee would address both bills, as it had become clear at previous meetings that the two needed joint consideration. REP. B. DAVIS asked if the subcommittee had finished its major modifications to HB 82. REP. VEZEY said he was inclined to say no, but Rep. B. Davis would be a better judge of whether the subcommittee had finished its major revisions. CHAIR BUNDE noted again that he expected that there would be changes and adjustments to the working document, and that nothing was cast in concrete at that time. There being no further business before the committee, CHAIR BUNDE apologized for the swift adjournment and ADJOURNED the meeting at 3:27 p.m. House Bill 12 was not heard during this meeting. It was postponed at the request of the sponsor.