HB 379: "An Act establishing a state community service program; establishing by statute the Alaska State Community Service Commission; and providing for an effective date."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 379 01 "An Act establishing a state community service program; establishing by statute 02 the Alaska State Community Service Commission; and providing for an effective 03 date." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. INTENT. The legislature recognizes that the Alaska State Community Service 06 Commission required to administer the national community service program under 42 U.S.C. 07 12638 has already been established in the Department of Community and Regional Affairs 08 under Administrative Order No. 162. It is the intent of the legislature that the Alaska State 09 Community Service Commission established under this Act be a continuation of that 10 commission and that its duties be expanded to include administration of the state community 11 service program established under this Act. 12 * Sec. 2. AS 44.47 is amended by adding new sections to read: 13 Article 9B. Alaska State Community Service Commission. 14 Sec. 44.47.910. Commission. (a) There is created in the department the
01 Alaska State Community Service Commission. The members shall be appointed by 02 the governor to staggered three-year terms in a manner that satisfies the requirements 03 of 42 U.S.C. 12638. 04 (b) The commission shall, to the extent that appropriations are available to it, 05 (1) act as, and perform the duties required of it under federal law as, 06 the administrative entity established under 42 U.S.C. 12638 to receive and distribute 07 funds available to the state from the Corporation for National and Community Service 08 under 42 U.S.C. 12571 for the national community service program; 09 (2) administer the state community service program established under 10 AS 44.47.910 - 44.47.929. 11 (c) The department shall provide administrative support to the commission. 12 Sec. 44.47.912. State community service program. (a) In addition to the 13 grants it distributes under federal law for national community service programs, the 14 commission shall distribute grants to municipalities, public or private nonprofit 15 organizations, and institutions of higher education that will carry out, directly or 16 through subgrants to other entities, full- or part-time state community service programs, 17 including summer programs, that address unmet human, educational, environmental, 18 or public safety needs. 19 (b) The commission shall establish a system to recruit individuals who desire 20 to perform state community service and assist in the placement of these individuals in 21 approved state community service positions. 22 (c) The commission shall disseminate information regarding available approved 23 state community service positions through cooperation with municipalities, secondary 24 schools, institutions of higher education, employment service offices, state vocational 25 rehabilitation agencies, and other state agencies that primarily serve individuals with 26 disabilities, and other appropriate entities, particularly organizations that provide 27 outreach to disadvantaged youths and youths who are individuals with disabilities. 28 Sec. 44.47.914. Types of programs; limitation. (a) Subject to (b) of this 29 section, a state community service program funded by the commission may include 30 the types of programs listed in 42 U.S.C. 12572(a) and other types, as approved by the 31 commission under its regulations.
01 (b) The commission may not use, or allow a grantee to use, funds available 02 under AS 44.47.910 - 44.47.929 for a state community service position that performs 03 services that provide a direct benefit to 04 (1) a business organized for profit; 05 (2) a labor union; 06 (3) a nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions 07 contained in 26 U.S.C. 501(c), except that this restriction may not be construed to 08 prevent community service participants from engaging in advocacy activities 09 undertaken at their own initiative; or 10 (4) an organization engaged in religious activities unless the services 11 provided under AS 44.47.910 - 44.47.929 do not include any of the following: 12 (A) religious instruction; 13 (B) the conduct of worship services; 14 (C) the provision of instruction as part of a program that 15 includes mandatory religious education or worship; 16 (D) the construction or operation of facilities devoted to 17 religious instruction or worship or the maintenance of facilities primarily or 18 inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship; or 19 (E) proselytization. 20 Sec. 44.47.916. Assistance criteria. (a) The commission shall use the 21 following criteria when evaluating a state community service program submitted by 22 an applicant for assistance from the commission: 23 (1) the quality of the program proposed to be carried out directly by 24 the applicant or supported by a subgrant from the applicant; 25 (2) the innovative aspects of the program and the feasibility of 26 replicating the program; 27 (3) the sustainability of the program, based on evidence such as the 28 existence of strong and broad-based community support, multiple funding sources, or 29 private funding; 30 (4) the quality of the leadership of the program, the program's past 31 performance, and the extent to which the program builds on existing programs;
01 (5) the extent to which participants in the program are recruited from 02 among residents of the communities in which service projects are to be conducted and 03 the extent to which participants and community residents are involved in the design, 04 leadership, and operation of the program; 05 (6) the extent to which service projects would be conducted in the 06 following areas where they are needed most: 07 (A) communities designated as empowerment zones or 08 redevelopment areas, targeted for special economic incentives, or otherwise 09 identifiable as having high concentrations of low-income people; 10 (B) areas that are environmentally distressed; 11 (C) areas adversely affected by federal actions related to the 12 management of federal land that result in significant regional job losses and 13 economic dislocation; 14 (D) areas adversely affected by reductions in defense spending 15 or the closure or realignment of military installations; and 16 (E) areas that have an unemployment rate greater than the state 17 average unemployment rate for the most recent 12 months for which 18 satisfactory data are available; 19 (7) the extent to which measurable results are documented; and 20 (8) other criteria that the commission considers to be appropriate and 21 that are included in its regulations. 22 (b) The commission shall ensure that the grantees under the state community 23 service program are geographically diverse and include projects to be conducted in the 24 urban and rural areas of the state that have the highest rates of poverty. 25 (c) The commission may not approve a community service program that does 26 not agree to 27 (1) provide a basic health care policy for each full-time participant who 28 does not already have basic coverage; the commission shall establish minimum 29 standards that all health plans must meet in order to qualify under this paragraph, any 30 circumstances in which an alternative health care policy may be substituted for the 31 basic health care policy, and mechanisms to prohibit participants from dropping
01 existing coverage; and 02 (2) make child care available for children of each full-time participant 03 who needs child care in order to participate in the program or provide a child care 04 allowance to each full-time participant who needs the allowance in order to participate 05 in the program. 06 Sec. 44.47.918. Program participants. (a) An individual is considered to be 07 a participant in a state community service program if the individual 08 (1) meets the eligibility requirements, directly related to the tasks to be 09 accomplished, that are established by the program; 10 (2) is selected by the program to serve in a position with the program 11 for a term of service specified by the program; 12 (3) has received a high school diploma or its equivalent, or agrees to 13 obtain a high school diploma or its equivalent, and the individual did not drop out of 14 an elementary or secondary school to enroll in the program; and 15 (4) is a citizen or national of the United States or a lawful permanent 16 resident alien of the United States. 17 (b) The commission and a grantee of the commission may not discriminate in 18 its recruitment or selection of participants on any basis for which discrimination is 19 forbidden for participants under the national community service program under 42 20 U.S.C. 12592. 21 (c) Acceptance into a state community service program to serve a second term 22 of service is only available to individuals who perform satisfactorily in their first term 23 of service. The commission shall adopt regulations regarding the manner and criteria 24 upon which the service of a participant shall be evaluated to determine whether the 25 service is satisfactory and successful for purposes of eligibility for a second term of 26 service, a state educational award under AS 44.47.920, or a state housing award under 27 AS 44.47.922. 28 Sec. 44.47.920. Educational award. (a) A state community service 29 participant is eligible for an educational award if the person 30 (1) satisfactorily completes at least 31 (A) one term of full-time service consisting of at least 1,700
01 hours of service during a period of at least nine months but not more than 12 02 months; 03 (B) one term of part-time service consisting of at least 900 04 hours of service during a period of not more than two years if the person was 05 not enrolled in an institute of higher education while performing all or a 06 portion of the service; or 07 (C) one term of part-time service consisting of at least 900 08 hours of service during a period of not more than three years if the person was 09 enrolled in an institute of higher education while performing all or a portion 10 of the service; 11 (2) at the time the person uses the educational award, has received a 12 high school diploma or the equivalent and is enrolled at an institution of higher 13 education; and 14 (3) is a citizen or national of the United States or a lawful permanent 15 resident alien of the United States. 16 (b) Although an individual may serve more than two terms of service in an 17 approved state community service position, an individual may not receive an 18 educational award from the state for more than the equivalent of two full-time terms 19 of state community service. 20 (c) An individual eligible to receive a state educational award under this 21 section may not use the award after the end of the seven-year period that begins on the 22 date the individual completes the last term of service that is the basis of the award 23 except that the commission may extend this period if the commission determines that 24 the individual was unavoidably prevented from using the award during the original 25 seven-year period or performed another term of state or national community service 26 during the seven-year period. 27 (d) Subject to the limitation in (b) of this section, the amount of an 28 educational award under this section is 29 (1) $2,500 for each term of full-time state community service, up to 30 two terms; and 31 (2) $1,250 for each term of part-time state community service, up to
01 three terms. 02 (e) An educational award under this section may be used to 03 (1) repay a qualifying student loan, or interest on a student loan, 04 incurred by the participant for postsecondary education; 05 (2) pay all or part of the cost of attendance at a qualifying institution 06 of higher education. 07 (f) The commission shall adopt regulations to implement this section, including 08 regulations determining which student loans are qualifying loans and which institutions 09 of higher education are qualifying institutions. 10 Sec. 44.47.922. Housing award. A participant who has successfully 11 completed at least two terms of full-time state or national community service or three 12 terms of part-time state or national community service, or a combination of three full- 13 time and part-time terms, is eligible for a housing award. The housing award consists of the 14 availability to the participant of a mortgage loan voucher by the commission or the purchase 15 of mortgage loan insurance by the commission that is sufficient to allow the participant to 16 apply for a mortgage loan under AS 18.56 for a single-family residence in a loan-to-value 17 ratio of 100 percent. The commission and the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation shall 18 cooperate in implementing this section. 19 Sec. 44.47.929. Definitions. In AS 44.47.910 - 44.47.929, 20 (1) "commission" means the Alaska State Community Service 21 Commission established under AS 44.47.910; 22 (2) "participant" means an individual who performs community service 23 under a state community service program; 24 (3) "state community service program" means a program approved 25 under AS 44.47.914. 26 * Sec. 3. AS 18.56.096(b) is amended to read: 27 (b) The loan-to-value limitation established in (a)(4) of this section does not 28 apply to a mortgage loan that is federally insured or guaranteed or for which the 29 borrower holds a current voucher issued by the Alaska State Community Service 30 Commission under AS 44.47.922 . The loan-to-value limitations established in (a)(1) 31 and (4) of this section do not apply to a mortgage loan that is a refinancing mortgage
01 loan under AS 18.56.108. 02 * Sec. 4. AS 44.66.010(a) is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 03 (20) Alaska State Community Service Commission -- June 30, 2002. 04 * Sec. 5. TRANSITION. (a) Litigation, hearings, investigations, application processes, 05 and other proceedings pending with the Alaska State Community Service Commission 06 established under Administrative Order No. 162 continue in effect and may be continued and 07 completed by the Alaska State Community Service Commission established under this Act. 08 (b) Contracts, rights, liabilities, and obligations created by the Alaska State 09 Community Service Commission established under Administrative Order No. 162 and in effect 10 on June 30, 1998, remain in effect and are transferred to the Alaska State Community Service 11 Commission established under this Act. Records, equipment, appropriations, and other 12 property of the Alaska State Community Service Commission established under Administrative 13 Order No. 162 are transferred to the Alaska State Community Service Commission established 14 under this Act. 15 (c) Notwithstanding other provisions of this Act, the members of the Alaska State 16 Community Service Commission established under Administrative Order No. 162 whose terms 17 of office have not expired by June 30, 1998, are entitled to remain in their offices until the 18 expiration of their terms. 19 * Sec. 6. This Act takes effect July 1, 1998.