SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE April 27, 1993 2:55 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Tim Kelly, Chairman Senator Steve Rieger, Vice Chairman Senator Bert Sharp Senator Georgianna Lincoln Senator Judy Salo MEMBERS ABSENT All Present COMMITTEE CALENDAR CS FOR SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 249(STA) am "An Act reestablishing the Board of Electrical Examiners and extending the termination date of the Board of Mechanical Examiners; relating to electrical and mechanical administrators; and providing for an effective date." CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 158(L&C) "An Act making appropriations for contract settlement costs and cost-of-living adjustments for public employees who are members of certain collective bargaining units; and providing for an effective date." HOUSE BILL NO. 54 "An Act relating to eavesdropping, telephone caller identification, and telephone directory listings and solicitations." SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 196 "An Act relating to the state employment preference for veterans and prisoners of war." PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION HB 249 - No previous action to record. HB 158 - See Labor & Commerce minutes dated 4/22/93. HB 54 - No previous action to record. HB 196 - No previous action to record. WITNESS REGISTER Representative Gary Davis State Capitol Juneau, Alaska 99811-1182 POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of HB 249 Charles Mahlen, Commissioner Department of Labor P.O. Box 21149 Juneua, Alaska 99802-1149 POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 249. Josh Fink, Legislative Aide to Senator Kelly State Capitol Juneau, Alaska 99811-1182 POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 249. Mr. White Unidentified POSITION STATEMENT: Supported HB 249. Nancy Usera, Commissioner Department of Administration P.O. Box 110200 Juneau, Alaska 99811-0200 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported HB 158. Represenatative Kay Brown State Capitol Juneau, Alaska 99811-1182 POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of HB 54. Tom Roy, Executive Director Alaska Telephone Association 3305 Arctic Blvd., #102 Anchorage, Alaska 99503 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed HB 54. Cindy Smith Alaska Network on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault 419 6th, #116 Juneau, Alaska 99801 POSITION STATEMENT: Supported HB 54. George Dozier, Legislative Aide to Representative Pete Kott State Capitol Juneau, Alaska 99811-1182 POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 196. ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 93-30, SIDE A Number 001 SENATOR KELLY called the Senate Labor and Commerce meeting to order at 2:55 p.m. and announced CSSSHB 249(STA) (ELECTRICAL, MECHANICAL, TRADESPERSONS) to be up for consideration. REPRESENTATIVE GARY DAVIS, prime sponsor of HB 249, said this bill addresses a problem that he sees as an emergency. On August 31, 1993 all electrical administrators licensed in the state, about 600, will expire. He said an electrical administrator is a master tradesperson who is above the journeyman level in electrical installations. He insures that electrical systems are installed according to code. CHARLES MAHLEN, Commissioner, Department of Labor, explained that the Electrical Examiners Board sunseted June 30, 1992. Since then there has been no method to regulate or supervise the people in the field. Number 142 SENATOR SALO wanted to know the reason for the two year period for having a lapsed license. COMMISSIONER MAHLEN said it is hard to get the examination and there are a lot of people whose licenses have expired since last year. SENATOR SALO commented that even if the Board is reestablished, there is still a long period of allowable lapse time in statute. SENATOR LINCOLN asked him to comment on the difference in the two fiscal notes. COMMISSIONER MAHLEN explained the latest fiscal note was lower because they added a clerk rather than an inspector. JOSH FINK, Legislative Aide for Senator Kelly, explained the Senate Labor & Commerce SCS. He said there were basically four changes. It transfers the Board of Mechanical Examiners and the Board of Electrical Examiners from the Department of Commerce and Economic Development to the Department of Labor. Secondly, it would reduce the extension of the Boards from June 30, 1996 to June 30, 1994. A representative from the Department of Commerce said the Governor's office made a decision on this legislation so they had no position. Speaking to the third change, MR. FINK explained that there was a repealer in the previous version that eliminated the requirement that electrical administrators be limited to one licensed contractor. It also repealed the requirement that mechanical administrators be limited to one licensed contractor. It repealed the class B misdemeanor for failure to appear in court to answer a citation. The fourth change was the addition of an immediate effective date. Number 279 SENATOR LINCOLN commented that by taking out the language, "shall reside in different judicial districts" leaves the appointees to be from one community. She wanted an amendment saying that each member shall reside in a different judicial district of the state. REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS said that although the district are structured very strange, they didn't have a problem with it per se. SENATOR KELLY suggested inserting that one of the three has to be from a community with a population of less than 5,000 people. SENATOR KELLY made a conceptual amendment that the appointees had to come from different geographical areas. There were no objections and the amendment was adopted. MR. WHITE supported HB 249. SENATOR SALO asked why the sunset period was shortened. MR. FINK explained it was the intent that next year the powers of the Board would be transferred to the Department of Labor as part of the effort to reduce the number of Boards. SENATOR KELLY asked if there should be concern over the four-year licensing term. REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS explained there have been attempts to renew licenses from various individuals. Four years would cover those that he is personally aware of that have made these attempts. The licenses would be renewed upon proof of continued competency. Number 392 SENATOR SHARP moved to adopt SCS CSSS HB 249(L&C) as amended. SENATOR SALO objected because she liked the other version of the bill better than the SCS. SENATOR SHARP, SENATOR RIEGER, and SENATOR KELLY voted to adopt the SCS and SENATOR SALO and SENATOR LINCOLN voted against its adoption. The Chairman stated the Labor & Commerce SCS was adopted. SENATOR SHARP moved to pass SCS CSSS HB 249(L&C) from committee. There were no objections and it was so ordered. Number 429 SENATOR KELLY announced CSHB 158(L&C) (APPROP: CONTRACT SETTLEMENT COSTS) to be up for consideration. NANCY USERA, Commissioner, Department of Administration, explained the Labor & Commerce SCS. It includes the terms and conditions of the Centralized Correspondence Education Association Contract which was agreed to and ratified by the membership of that group within the last couple of weeks. SENATOR RIEGER moved to adopt SCS CSHB 158(L&C). There were no objections and it was so ordered. SENATOR RIEGER moved to pass SCS CSHB 158(L&C) from committee. There were no objections and it was so ordered. Number 480 SENATOR KELLY announced HB 54 (TELEPHONE CONSUMER PROTECTION) to be up for consideration. REPRESENTATIVE KAY BROWN said there was a need to pass this legislation so that the caller I.D. service could be provided without charge to the customer for both blocking the line on a per call and per line basis. She said the bill was requested by the people in the domestic violence community. It is also of concern to doctors, law enforcement, and other professionals, who for various reasons, may not want their number divulged. REPRESENTATIVE BROWN said this is mainly a service for the use of telemarketing. She thinks it reasonable that people who don't want to participate can have their privacy protected without having to pay extra for not having the service. TOM ROY, Executive Director, Alaska Telephone Association, said that the telephone industry stands in the forefront of privacy protection. He said they wouldn't allow any entity to suffer unduly from any service they provide them. TAPE 93-30, SIDE B Number 580 He asked if every new service or feature would be subject to legislative treatment the way this one has, before the telephone industry can even propose delivery. He said they also have to answer to the APUC. MR. ROY said a recent survey conducted by the Anchorage Telephone Utilities said 80.3 percent of their customers believed they had the right to view the telephone number of the caller before answering the phone. If this bill does move forward, the telephone utilities have no problem with blocking on a per call basis or per line blocking. They asked, however, to insert the word "initial" after the "without" on line 7. He explained that experience in other states has taught them that people move in and out of line blocking and there is an administrative cost to allowing frequent movement which they would like to charge for. They would like to be able to charge a standard service fee for line blocking the second and third time around. Number 532 SENATOR SALO asked if they couldn't charge a fee for opting back into the service after you had opted out. MR. ROY said they would like to charge for the second and third times around. SENATOR RIEGER asked why there is so much movement in and out of line blocking. MR. ROY said people who have their lines blocked don't realize how much trouble it is and change their minds. SENATOR LINCOLN asked how blocking was reversed. MR. ROY explained a technician would have to go to the "central office" and reprogram that number. It would take about 20 minutes. SENATOR SHARP asked if he knew of any other place that had statutory regulation of service offered by a utility instead of going to the APUC. MR. ROY said he didn't know of any, although there probably was. He added that before they offer caller I.D., they have to go through a tariffing process that will last at least 90 days. If the APUC does their job well, they will have to prove every facet of that tariff. The public has ample opportunity during those times to have all the input they want. SENATOR SALO asked if people could testify to the APUC that Alaska doesn't want the service at all. He answered yes. SENATOR SALO asked what the charge was going to be. MR. ROY said it would be an average of $4.50 per month to $6.95 per month. Number 392 CINDY SMITH, Alaska Network on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault, said that 13 states offer free per line call blocking. About five states have regulated by statute the introduction of caller I.D. primarily because it is such a major change in the type of service that you get from the phone company and the privacy issues that result from it. She said the market is very small for this service and seems to be commercial. The Alaska Network on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault relies very heavily on volunteers and phone contact with victims. They would need to be able to block their number so as not to endanger a client. They support the bill and think it is real important for the safety of women and children. SENATOR SALO said that people should not have to pay for not having a service. SENATOR SHARP said he thought the APUC should handle the whole issue. He is against statutory regulations for any services. SENATOR RIEGER said he didn't see how the bill would hurt anything. SENATOR LINCOLN said she supported the bill without "initial" in it. Number 292 SENATOR SHARP asked if the APUC has this scheduled. MR. ROY said the APUC is accepting comments on it, but that is all they have done. SENATOR KELLY said he wanted assurance from Representative Brown that she wouldn't allow this to turn into a phone wars bill before going further with it. SENATOR KELLY announced SSHB 196 (STATE EMPLOYMENT VETERANS PREFERENCE) to be up for consideration. GEORGE DOZIER, Legislative Aide to Representative Kott, commented on the bill. He said HB 196 removes the limitation on the use of the points. It has overwhelming support in the House. SENATOR RIEGER asked if this says a veteran gets a preference over non-state employees, but not a preference over state employees. MR. DOZIER said it does not mean that. It has the effect of culling out the use of points for promotion purposes. Number 122 SENATOR SHARP moved to pass SSHB 196 from committee with individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was so ordered. SENATOR KELLY adjourned the meeting at 4:25 p.m.