00                       CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 385(L&C)                                                                    
01 "An Act relating to occupational licensing fees."                                                                       
02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
03    * Section 1. AS 08.01.065(c) is amended to read:                                                                 
04 (c)  Except as provided in (f) - (k) of this section, the department shall establish                                    
05 fee levels under (a) of this section so that the total amount of fees collected for an                                  
06 occupation approximately equals the actual regulatory costs for the occupation. The                                     
07 department shall annually review each fee level to determine whether the regulatory                                     
08 costs of each occupation are approximately equal to fee collections related to that                                     
09 occupation. If the review indicates that an occupation's fee collections and regulatory                                 
10 costs are not approximately equal for a reason other than fees being reduced under                                  
11 (l) of this section, the department shall calculate fee adjustments and adopt regulations                         
12 under (a) of this section to implement the adjustments. In January of each year, the                                    
13 department shall report on all fee levels and revisions for the previous year under this                                
14 subsection to the office of management and budget. If a board regulates an occupation                                   
15 covered by this chapter, the department shall consider the board's recommendations                                      
01       concerning the occupation's fee levels and regulatory costs before revising fee                                   
02       schedules to comply with this subsection. In this subsection, "regulatory costs" means                            
03       costs of the department that are attributable to regulation of an occupation plus                                 
04                 (1)  all expenses of the board that regulates the occupation if the board                               
05       regulates only one occupation;                                                                                    
06                 (2)  the expenses of a board that are attributable to the occupation if the                             
07       board regulates more than one occupation.                                                                         
08    * Sec. 2. AS 08.01.065 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:                                            
09            (l)  For any calendar year after the initial calendar year in which a license is                             
10 issued to a licensee, the licensee may submit to the department, in the manner                                          
11 prescribed by the department, proof of the economic hardship the licensee experienced                                   
12 in the previous calendar year. If a licensee submits proof of economic hardship, the                                    
13 department shall collect from the licensee only 50 percent of the total fees established                                
14 under (c) and (f) - (k) of this section required to be collected from the licensee in the                               
15       current calendar year.