ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE  January 26, 2010 8:04 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Bob Lynn, Chair Representative Paul Seaton, Vice Chair Representative Carl Gatto Representative Craig Johnson Representative Peggy Wilson Representative Max Gruenberg Representative Pete Petersen MEMBERS ABSENT  All members present COMMITTEE CALENDAR  OVERVIEW(S): ALASKA LAND MOBILE RADIO - HEARD CONFIRMATION HEARING: LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR'S SUCCESSOR - HEARD HOUSE BILL NO. 76 "An Act relating to the membership of the Alaska Legislative Council and the membership of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee." - HEARD & HELD PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION BILL: HB 76 SHORT TITLE: LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL & LB&A MEMBERSHIP SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) GRUENBERG, BUCH, CISSNA, DOOGAN, GARDNER, GUTTENBERG, HOLMES, KAWASAKI, KERTTULA, PETERSEN, SALMON, TUCK 01/20/09 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/16/09 01/20/09 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 01/20/09 (H) STA, FIN 03/12/09 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 03/12/09 (H) Scheduled But Not Heard 04/09/09 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 04/09/09 (H) Scheduled But Not Heard 01/26/10 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106 WITNESS REGISTER RACHAEL PETRO, Deputy Commissioner Department of Administration Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information during the overview on the Alaska Land Mobile Radio (ALMR). JIM KOHLER, Deputy Director Juneau Business Office Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Provided technical information related to the overview on the Alaska Land Mobile Radio (ALMR). LARRY HARTIG, Commissioner Department of Environmental Conservation; Appointee lieutenant governor's successor Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: As appointee to the position of lieutenant governor's successor, discussed his background and answered questions. ACTION NARRATIVE 8:04:02 AM CHAIR BOB LYNN called the House State Affairs Standing Committee meeting to order at 8:04 a.m. Representatives Seaton, Gatto, Johnson, Petersen, and Lynn were present at the call to order. Representatives Gruenberg and Wilson arrived as the meeting was in progress. ^OVERVIEW(S): ALASKA LAND MOBILE RADIO OVERVIEW(S): ALASKA LAND MOBILE RADIO  8:04:24 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that the first order of business was the overview regarding the Alaska Land Mobile Radio. 8:05:34 AM RACHAEL PETRO, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Administration, noted that in the committee packet is a "white paper" and timeline update related to ALMR. Also in the committee packet, she said, are frequently asked questions related to the State of Alaska Telecommunication (SAT) System, on which ALMR depends. 8:07:22 AM JIM KOHLER, Deputy Director, Juneau Business Office, reviewed that ALMR is a specific radio communications system designed for public safety "first responders." The benefit of the system, he said, is that it allows full interoperability, so that first responders from various departments are able to communicate with each other on the same radio frequency. CHAIR LYNN related that in the past he served as a fire fighter, and there was a radio frequency called "the guard channel" which everyone involved used for communication. He said the system proved helpful when coordinating between different entities. MR. KOHLER confirmed such systems were used, but pointed out that the challenge of those older systems was the necessity to "frequency hop." The present ALMR system eliminates that and also allows an incident commander to speak with all agencies. 8:10:02 AM MS. PETRO stated that the ALMR project has been a cooperative since its beginning. She recalled that when last before the committee, in January 2008, the cooperative agreement had just been signed between the State of Alaska, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), and non-DOD federal agencies involved. At that time, the Alaska Municipal League (AML) chose to become an associate member of the cooperative. MS. PETRO reported that the state has two additional ALMR sites to build: one in Ketchikan and one in Haines. She said both projects were scheduled to be complete by now, but a site change in Haines and a U.S. Forest Service delay in Ketchikan slowed down the progress. Ms. Petro said the department anticipates that both those projects will be completed by August [2010]. 8:11:07 AM MR. KOHLER, in response to Chair Lynn, said currently it is possible to speak with Canadian personnel via the ALMR system, although there would be limited conversation. He stated that it would be possible to link a conversation from Alaska to the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and the Yukon. 8:12:47 AM MS. PETRO said a total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis was completed in August 2009. An executive summary of the TCO is in the committee packet, while the full study is available on line. She stated that the TCO accomplished three things: identified and quantified future operations and maintenance (O&M) costs for the ALMR system at [$5.4 million] annually; put O&M costs in context with other somewhat similar systems; documented the actual cost of the ALMR system through June 30, 2008, at $151 million for a total of 8 sites, with a cost for the 15 Anchorage Wide Area Network (AWARN) sites at $193 million. MS. PETRO reported that since the department's last briefing to the House State Affairs Standing Committee, an economic analysis was conducted. The purpose of the analysis was to decide whether to keep the ALMR cooperative intact or to divide it into separate entities. She said the analysis conducted an independent validation for "cost reasonableness" across the system and "benchmarked" with the two other systems: the Pacific Land Mobile Radio, in Hawaii, and the Fort Lewis Mobile Radio in Washington. The conclusion was that it would be more costly for independent entities within Alaska to create separate interoperable land mobile radio systems than it would be to maintain the current cooperative system. She stated, "It is very important to note that the ultimate conclusion of this economic analysis was that the total benefit and capability of the interoperable system could not be obtained separately by any of the major stakeholder groups currently partners in the ALMR system, considering the build out and the sustainment costs of such systems." 8:15:52 AM MS. PETRO, regarding the issue of current funding, reported that the governor has proposed in the fiscal year 2011 (FY 11) budget to cover the cost for both the municipal and State of Alaska agency per-radio handset cost. She highlighted that the department has worked with partners to reduce ongoing maintenance costs, particularly in the Office of Management & Operations (OMO). She said the department is pleased it has been able to reduce costs from $629,000 in FY 09 to $440,000 in FY 10, and there is a proposed cost of $450,000 for FY 11. 8:17:02 AM MS. PETRO said Colonel George Hays, DOD's ALMR Executive Council representative, explained to the council that there is a fundamental procurement conflict within DOD when it comes to supporting the ALMR system in the future. Originally DOD's support for the ALMR project originated with a direct mission- related need for munitions transport along the highway system. That need no longer exists today. She stated, "That is in direct conflict with DOD's directive from Homeland Security to support civil authorities." She said Colonel Hayes has offered assurance that he is working to resolve these issues. MS. PETRO said that because ALMR is a mature cooperative that has effectively followed the national guidance for "224 standards" to achieve the single standards-based shared system, the Office of Emergency Communications (OEC), within the federal Department of Homeland Security, will be conducting a study on ALMR to document the legal, regulatory, and fiscal contracting barriers. Ms. Petro relayed that ALMR partners have used to resolve past barriers, OEC is dedicated to putting together a plan to "resolve the barriers that ALMR faced," so that other cooperatives around the country will face those same barriers. 8:19:54 AM MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Johnson, said the Municipality of Anchorage currently has 12 sites, with 3 more to be built. MR. KOHLER, in response to Representative Johnson, stated that the construction of the ALMR system, exclusive of the separate system being built by the Municipality of Anchorage, costs over $150 million. The addition of the separate system of the Municipality of Anchorage, which costs approximately $30 million, brings the total cost of the entire interoperable system to $190 million. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON concluded that the average cost per site is $10 million. MR. KOHLER responded that the Anchorage Municipality system has 15 sites, totaling approximately $30 million, and included in that is the cost of 600-700 handsets at $5,000 a piece. Therefore, he explained, the per site cost is closer to between $750,000 and $1 million. MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Johnson, confirmed that there are no handsets listed for the Municipality of Anchorage on the municipal and nongovernmental organization (NGO) list. She explained that the Municipality of Anchorage is a partner, but it does not participate in the cost-share portion, because it owns its own equipment. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON said he wants to know how handsets are included in cost if the Municipality of Anchorage owns its own system. 8:22:47 AM MR. KOHLER said he understands the confusion. He explained that although the Municipality of Anchorage is building and maintaining its own interoperable communication system, there are times when it needs to use the state's system and times when the state needs to use the municipality's system. There is an agreement not to charge each other for that crossover use. The Municipality of Anchorage is funding its handsets through its own revenue source and is not relying on ALMR funding for its system. He said, "So, handset support, as well as the maintenance and construction of their system, is a funding resourced project separate from any funding flowing through the state or federal government to the ALMR system." Mr. Kohler noted that the handset list included in the committee packet pertains to all the municipalities within the ALMR system. MS. PETRO, in response to a follow-up question, said she is not aware of any time in which the Municipality of Anchorage has asked for assistance, but encouraged Representative Johnson to speak directly to the municipal authorities because she said she does not want to speak for them. She said if the Municipality of Anchorage were to ask for support, that discussion would be brought to the legislature. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON said he anticipates that that issue will arise. 8:26:39 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked how many emergency responders are not on the list in the committee packet, and why. 8:27:13 AM MR. KOHLER explained that decisions are made locally as to which entities to add to the system. He said, for example, that the City & Borough of Juneau is bringing more of its first responders into the system as it matures. He said he fully expects all entities to be on the system in time. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG requested the names of all first responders who are not on the list. He then asked from what source the funds for the Municipality of Anchorage's system come. MS. PETRO said the tax payers of Anchorage partially pay for the system there, with federal dollars covering a portion of the cost. MR. KOHLER added that at least 95 percent of the dollars applied to build the Municipality of Anchorage's system, including the cost of the municipality's handsets, have been acquired through federal grant funding. 8:31:11 AM MS. PETRO, in response to a question from Representative Gruenberg, confirmed that the timeline in the committee packet only goes through 2009. She reiterated that two ALMR sites will be completed in 2010, as well as three Anchorage Wide Area Radio Network (AWARN) sites. She anticipated that another milestone for 2010 may be the completion of a study by [the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's] Office of Emergency Communications (OEC). 8:32:02 AM MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Gruenberg, referred to pie charts in the committee packet, one of which illustrates that the core infrastructure costs are funded by DOD and the State of Alaska. Then there are shared costs, which are for each radio. She deferred to Mr. Kohler for further information. 8:32:54 AM MR. KOHLER directed attention to the pie chart labeled, "Estimated Annual FY 11 ALMR O&M Costs $5,339,449." He said one cost related to ALMR is the cost of the actual maintenance of the ALMR equipment. The responsibility for maintaining the equipment rests with the individuals that own it, he said. Mr. Kohler related that the projected cost of infrastructure maintenance, as shown on the pie chart, is [$3,273,949]. The projected cost for state-owned equipment that the state pays for and maintains is approximately $1.3 million of that, he said. The U.S. Department of Defense owns the balance of the equipment and independently spends approximately $1.8 million just to maintain its own equipment. Another set of costs, Mr. Kohler relayed, are the operating costs, which cover the management of the use of the system by all parties. Those are costs that are shared; they are distributed across all users. The shared costs are just over $2 million and are distributed across 13,500 handsets currently in use in the system. He said the Department of Defense has about 46 percent of the handsets. He said the pie chart [labeled "Total ALMR Handsets December 31, 2009"] is critical, because it shows, from a shared cost perspective, who owns how many handsets. All four stakeholders meet and work at the executive council level and have a cooperative agreement to calculate costs for operating maintenance and request dollars from the funding authority. 8:37:54 AM MS. PETRO, in response to Representative P. Wilson, said local entities make their own decisions regarding how many handsets to have. MR. KOHLER confirmed that is correct. He added that municipalities have secured funding for handsets, usually from outside sources, but they determine how many they want for their system. 8:41:41 AM MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Wilson, said approximately 10 years ago, Motorola was the sole company producing handsets. Today, she relayed, there are three or four entities producing Project 25 (P25)-capable radios, and all of those radios are used in conjunction with the ALMR system. MR. KOHLER added further details. He said the ALMR council does not promote any particular handset, but asks to be able to test any new handset system before it goes out on the market in Alaska. 8:43:41 AM MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Wilson and Chair Lynn, said she believes that as the selection of handsets expands, hopefully the cost will come down. She said the state follows its usual procedural standards of procurement. MR. KOHLER reiterated that the way the ALMR project is set up, the entity that owns equipment is responsible for the cost of its maintenance. He noted that the majority of local handsets have been purchased through various federal grants from the Department of Homeland Security. 8:48:31 AM MS. PETRO, in response to a question from Representative Gatto, said there is nothing prohibiting anyone from buying a handset; however, that does not mean everyone is allowed access to the system, which is a secure system. The media, for example, is not allowed on the system. In response to another question from Representative Gatto, she said discussions about the ALMR system started before 1997. She deferred to Mr. Kohler to provide further information. MR. KOHLER relayed that the executive council is comprised of representatives from four entities that came together in 1997 to figure out how to achieve the ALMR system. Those entities were: the Department of Defense, the State of Alaska, representatives from municipalities, and all the non-DOD federal agencies. The executive council seats one person from each of those entities, and that council has the government's authority regarding how the project was built and how it will continue. REPRESENTATIVE GATTO said that in 1996, as a member of the Anchorage Fire Department, he helped fight the Miller's Reach fire, and at that time he did not see any difficulty with communications. He said he is wondering if the system that is currently in place has served the state well, and he questioned what the state is getting in return for its investment. 8:53:59 AM MS. PETRO, regarding the concern that the system in place was started long ago, assured Representative Gatto that new technology is being utilized. 8:54:35 AM MR. KOHLER added that the system is one that allows every public safety responder agency in the state to communicate with each other in the event of an incident that requires a full range of multiagency response. He emphasized the number of frequencies necessary to be able to build a system. He said the state does not have enough frequencies allocated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to be able to set up and operate a communication system across its entire road system; therefore, it takes all frequencies being pooled together to create a single system that relies on that larger pool of frequencies. 8:56:43 AM CHAIR LYNN noted that he had to leave for another meeting and offered comments related to Colonel Hartig [upcoming]. CHAIR LYNN passed the gavel to Vice Chair Seaton. 8:57:35 AM VICE CHAIR SEATON mentioned the recent earthquake disaster in Haiti, and said he anticipates there are a number of committee questions in need of follow-up answers. For example, he said he wants to know if there are P25-capable systems in Haiti, and whether the systems in use during the disaster have maintained their integrity. MS. PETRO, in response to a comment by Vice Chair Seaton, said the department recommends that the entities use the ALMR within their daily operations so that they are familiar with its use in the event of an emergency. 9:01:05 AM MR. KOHLER said it is a rare exception, only in the case of small, local communities, where the ALMR handset is not used as the day-to-day radio system. By December 31, 2011, all local municipalities within the state will have to convert to narrowband frequency for their public safety radio operations. Any community that is not using the ALMR system for its day-to- day radio will have to reconstruct its local system to meet the new standards. The ALMR system meets those requirements. He said the narrowband mandate was issued by the FCC between 1990 and 1992 when it started "refarming" frequencies, and now that the equipment is available, there has been no sign that the FCC will waiver from enforcing the aforementioned mandate. 9:04:31 AM MR. KOHLER, in response to Representative Petersen, confirmed that the ALMR system relies on "line of sight." There are some ALMR sites in Anchorage that could be of use to Anchorage's system if something were to happen to it and vice versa. He said, "So, there is some redundancy within Anchorage, but it is not 100 percent redundancy." MS. PETRO, in response to Representative Petersen, confirmed that the ALMR system has high security standards. 9:08:35 AM MR. KOHLER, in response to Vice Chair Seaton, said a handset is any type of communication equipment, whether it is a mounted unit within a motor vehicle or a hand carried unit. In a majority of cases, the public safety officials on the system use a handheld unit. 9:11:08 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said this is a technical issue, and he requested that members be given a couple days to put together written questions. VICE CHAIR SEATON said that is in line with the wishes of Chair Lynn. 9:12:56 AM MR. KOHLER, in response to Representative Gatto, reviewed the meaning of a "line of sight" system and indicated that the same limitations apply to handsets as cell phones, because they both use line of sight. 9:15:04 AM MS. PETRO, in response to a question from Representative Johnson, said there is approximately $660,000 in the governor's request for projected handset use cost, as well as $376,000 for municipal shared costs. Additionally, the budget includes projections for the infrastructure cost of $1.3 [million]. The total is roughly $2.2 million. MR. KOHLER, in response to a question from Representative Johnson, estimated that there are 1,000 handsets that could be made available without taking handsets from existing users on the system. In response to a follow-up question, he said that if another state sent handsets to Alaska as an emergency response, it would take approximately 10-15 minutes to program those handsets for use in Alaska. 9:18:47 AM REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON expressed concern about small communities being able to maintain handsets. She asked about the expense of maintenance. MR. KOHLER answered that of the approximately 4,000 handsets that the State of Alaska maintains, it sees about 10-15 a year that malfunction and need repair. The handsets are reliable, so that the amount necessary to maintain them is negligible. He said if any entity has handsets that need repair, "we" can work with the community and lend handsets from "the cash unit" so the community can maintain its radio quantity until it regains its system. 9:22:33 AM MS. PETRO told the committee that she would be happy to return with more answers to any future questions from the committee. 9:23:07 AM ^CONFIRMATION HEARING(S): LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR'S SUCCESSOR CONFIRMATION HEARING(S): LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR'S SUCCESSOR  VICE CHAIR announced the next order of business was the confirmation hearing of Larry Hartig, Commissioner, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), as appointee to the position of lieutenant governor's successor. [CHAIR LYNN, at 8:57 a.m., had remarked that he had the pleasure of meeting Commissioner Hartig and was pleased with what he heard regarding Commissioner Hartig's qualifications as appointee to the Office of Lieutenant Governor.] 9:23:41 AM LARRY HARTIG, Commissioner, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC); Appointee to the position of lieutenant governor's successor, offered a brief history of his professional experience. He said he has only been in public service for three years, but has enjoyed the experience. He said he hopes he never has to fulfill the duty of taking over for the Lieutenant Governor, but said it is an honor to be asked to be "standing in the wings if needed." 9:26:25 AM MR. HARTIG, in response to Vice Chair Seaton, said the primary task of the lieutenant governor is to oversee the Division of Elections. He added that the lieutenant governor also has a role in the initiative process, the filing of regulations, keeping the state seal, and ensuring the appointment of notaries public. In response to Representative Wilson, he offered his understanding that until such time as he may be needed to step into the role of lieutenant governor, he is allowed to retain his current job. He said he plans to ask the governor and lieutenant governor to tell him any critical information he would need to know should he be called to fill the role of lieutenant governor. 9:30:58 AM REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON congratulated Colonel Hartig on his appointment. 9:31:23 AM MR. HARTIG, in response to a question from Vice Chair Seaton, offered his understanding that it is the lieutenant governor's responsibility to ensure the director of elections is an experienced, capable person dedicated to the task at hand, which includes making certain there is good communication with all those involved with elections in communities throughout Alaska. 9:32:33 AM MR. HARTIG, in response to Vice Chair Seaton, said the lieutenant governor's position regarding regulations is that of an administrator, not a gate keeper. The role of the lieutenant governor is to make sure that regulations brought forth for filing have gone through the correct process. The Department of Law does the final review, both substantively and procedurally, to ensure the regulations are written in correct state form and that the public process is followed. The department then makes recommendations to the lieutenant governor for the regulations to be filed with the applicable agency. Mr. Hartig opined that when the process first begins, the lieutenant governor could look at regulations and try to identify those which could use some input from a policy or financial perspective and highlight those for the Office of the Governor and the applicable agency; however, once the public process is over, it would not be appropriate for the lieutenant governor to exert his/her personal will. VICE CHAIR SEATON said part of the problem is that agencies can have tunnel vision. 9:35:19 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said Mr. Hartig is a well-respected member of the Alaska Bar, and he related that he is glad Mr. Hartig serves in the administration and has been designated. 9:35:45 AM REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON moved to advance the confirmation of Commissioner Larry Hartig to the joint session of the House and Senate; he requested unanimous consent. There being no objection, the nomination of Commissioner Larry Hartig to the position of lieutenant governor's successor was advanced. The committee took an at-ease from 9:36:33 AM to 9:50:00 AM. HB 76-LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL & LB&A MEMBERSHIP  9:50:15 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that the final order of business was HOUSE BILL NO. 76, "An Act relating to the membership of the Alaska Legislative Council and the membership of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee." 9:50:21 AM VICE CHAIR SEATON moved to adopt the committee substitute (CS) to HB 76, Version 26-LS0335\S, Chenoweth/Cook, 3/3/09, as a work draft. There being no objection, Version S was before the committee. 9:50:57 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG introduced HB 76 as co-prime sponsor. He said the bill would ad parity and fairness with respect to proportional representation in Legislative Council and Legislative Budget & Audit. He related that in the late 1980s, at the request of the minority leader at the time, the legislature, in which he was serving as the majority leader, adopted amendments to Uniform Rule 1, which applied more equal representation to all the standing committees. However, joint committees were not included at that time. The only joint committee that is not being included in the proposed legislation is the Joint Armed Services Committee, and that is because that committee does not do "the same kind of work the others do." REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he could find no reason or discussion related to why the two aforementioned committees were not included. He said Representative Stoltze imparted that the reason may have been that Legislative Council was "a little more political" and "they didn't want to get into it at the time." Representative Gruenberg opined that 20 years later it is time to have full parity. He noted the Minority names who are listed as co-prime sponsors [as shown on page 1 of Version S], and he invited any member of the Majority to become a sponsor. He said in the future when he looks back at his time serving in the legislature, he will consider [the support of proportional representation in standing committees] one of the better things the legislature has done, because it improved the system. He opined that HB 76 would make the system work better, as well. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG expressed appreciation that the committee members adopted Version S as a work draft, because it contains an applicability clause which clarifies that the bill will not apply until the next legislature, which will not disrupt the legislature. He said he thinks people want bipartisanship, and HB 76 is "as much a symbolic statement of that as anything else." 9:56:27 AM REPRESENTATIVE GATTO questioned if the issue of fairness is enough of a reason [to support HB 76] or whether it is more important for the Majority, which will be making serious decisions, to "maybe have an over-weighted presence." He said he is not ready to support the bill right now, because he needs more time to study it. 9:57:21 AM REPRESENTATIVE PETERSEN said all representatives are elected to represent districts of more or less equal size; therefore, if there is less representation of one party in a given committee, then "maybe some of the people from that member's district may not have equal representation that they deserve." He opined that it is an issue of fairness. He stated, "It seems to me like if we're going to do it for the committees that are set up that way now, ... we should do it for all the committees." 9:58:25 AM VICE CHAIR SEATON noted that language would be deleted from page 1, beginning on line 9, of Version S, which requires at least one member from each of the two major political parties, and would be substituted with "the idea of Majority and Minority of unaffiliated political parties." He asked Representative Gruenberg if he thinks that would be the affect of the language being deleted. [VICE CHAIR SEATON handed the gavel back to CHAIR LYNN.] 10:01:36 AM CHAIR LYNN interjected, "It is." He noted the time, remarked that the bill merits substantial discussion time, and committed to hearing HB 76 again. 10:02:14 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG told Representative Seaton, "I believe the language covers your problem." He said he would check with the bill drafter[s]. Regarding Representative Gatto's concern, he said, "I will put that on the record in a very succinct way when we reconvene." CHAIR LYNN said there may be other bills that may have some affect on HB 76. 10:04:13 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that HB 76 was held over. 10:04:52 AM ADJOURNMENT  There being no further business before the committee, the House State Affairs Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 10:04 a.m.