HB 355: "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. 355 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. AS 44.27 is amended by adding new sections to read: 06 Article 3. Alaska State Community Service Commission. 07 Sec. 44.27.100. Commission. (a) There is created in the department the 08 Alaska State Community Service Commission. The members shall be appointed by 09 the governor to staggered three-year terms in a manner that satisfies the requirements 10 of 42 U.S.C. 12638. 11 (b) The commission shall, to the extent that appropriations are available to it, 12 (1) act as, and perform the duties required of it under federal law as, 13 the administrative entity established under 42 U.S.C. 12638 to receive and distribute 14 funds available to the state from the Corporation for National and Community Service
01 under 42 U.S.C. 12571 for the national community service program; 02 (2) administer the state community service program established under 03 AS 44.27.100 - 44.27.190. 04 (c) The department shall provide administrative support to the commission. 05 Sec. 44.27.110. State community service program. (a) In addition to the 06 grants it distributes under federal law for national community service programs, the 07 commission shall distribute grants to municipalities, public or private nonprofit 08 organizations, and institutions of higher education that will carry out, directly or 09 through subgrants to other entities, full- or part-time state community service programs, 10 including summer programs, that address unmet community needs. 11 (b) The commission shall establish a system to recruit individuals who desire 12 to perform state community service and assist in the placement of these individuals in 13 approved state community service positions. 14 (c) The commission shall disseminate information regarding available approved 15 state community service positions through cooperation with municipalities, secondary 16 schools, chartered community councils, institutions of higher education, employment 17 service offices, state vocational rehabilitation agencies, and other state agencies that 18 primarily serve individuals with disabilities, and other appropriate entities, particularly 19 organizations that provide outreach to disadvantaged youths and youths who are 20 individuals with disabilities. 21 (d) The commission shall promote innovation in community service programs 22 and select high performing initiatives for official recognition. 23 Sec. 44.27.120. Types of programs; limitation. (a) Subject to (b) of this 24 section, a state community service program funded by the commission may include the 25 types of programs listed in 42 U.S.C. 12572(a) and other types, as approved by the 26 commission under its regulations. 27 (b) The commission may not use, or allow a grantee to use, funds available 28 under AS 44.27.100 - 44.27.190 for a state community service position that performs 29 services that provide a direct benefit to 30 (1) a business organized for profit; 31 (2) a labor union;
01 (3) a nonprofit organization that fails to comply with the restrictions 02 contained in 26 U.S.C. 501(c), except that this restriction may not be construed to 03 prevent community service participants from engaging in advocacy activities 04 undertaken at their own initiative; or 05 (4) an organization engaged in religious activities unless the services 06 provided under AS 44.27.100 - 44.27.190 do not include any of the following: 07 (A) religious instruction; 08 (B) the conduct of worship services; 09 (C) the provision of instruction as part of a program that 10 includes mandatory religious education or worship; 11 (D) the construction or operation of facilities devoted to 12 religious instruction or worship or the maintenance of facilities primarily or 13 inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship; or 14 (E) proselytization. 15 Sec. 44.27.130. Assistance criteria. (a) The commission shall use the 16 following criteria when evaluating a state community service program submitted by 17 an applicant for assistance from the commission: 18 (1) the quality of the program proposed to be carried out directly by 19 the applicant or supported by a subgrant from the applicant; 20 (2) the innovative aspects of the program and the feasibility of 21 replicating the program; 22 (3) the sustainability of the program, based on evidence such as the 23 existence of strong and broad-based community support, multiple funding sources, or 24 private funding; 25 (4) the quality of the leadership of the program, the program's past 26 performance, and the extent to which the program builds on existing programs; 27 (5) the extent to which participants in the program are recruited from 28 among residents of the communities in which service projects are to be conducted and 29 the extent to which participants and community residents are involved in the design, 30 leadership, and operation of the program; 31 (6) the extent to which service projects would be conducted in the
01 following areas where they are needed most: 02 (A) communities designated as empowerment zones or 03 redevelopment areas, targeted for special economic incentives, or otherwise 04 identifiable as having high concentrations of low-income people; 05 (B) areas that are environmentally distressed; 06 (C) areas adversely affected by federal actions related to the 07 management of federal land that result in significant regional job losses and 08 economic dislocation; 09 (D) areas adversely affected by reductions in defense spending 10 or the closure or realignment of military installations; 11 (E) areas that have an unemployment rate greater than the state 12 average unemployment rate for the most recent 12 months for which 13 satisfactory data are available; and 14 (F) areas that are in need of additional child care employees or 15 employees to provide care to elderly persons; 16 (7) the extent to which measurable results are documented; and 17 (8) other criteria that the commission considers to be appropriate and 18 that are included in its regulations. 19 (b) The commission shall ensure that the grantees under the state community 20 service program are geographically diverse and include projects to be conducted in the 21 urban and rural areas of the state that have the highest rates of poverty. 22 Sec. 44.27.140. Program participants. (a) An individual is considered to be 23 a participant in a state community service program if the individual 24 (1) meets the eligibility requirements, directly related to the tasks to be 25 accomplished, that are established by the program; 26 (2) is selected by the program to serve in a position with the program 27 for a term of service specified by the program; 28 (3) has received a high school diploma or its equivalent, or agrees to 29 obtain a high school diploma or its equivalent, and the individual did not drop out of 30 an elementary or secondary school to enroll in the program; and 31 (4) is a citizen or national of the United States or a lawful permanent
01 resident alien of the United States. 02 (b) The commission and a grantee of the commission may not discriminate in 03 its recruitment or selection of participants on any basis for which discrimination is 04 forbidden for participants under the national community service program under 42 05 U.S.C. 12592. 06 (c) Acceptance into a state community service program to serve a second term 07 of service is only available to individuals who perform satisfactorily in their first term 08 of service. The commission shall adopt regulations regarding the manner and criteria 09 upon which the service of a participant shall be evaluated to determine whether the 10 service is satisfactory and successful for purposes of eligibility for a second term of 11 service, a state educational voucher under AS 44.27.150, or a state housing voucher 12 under AS 44.27.160. 13 Sec. 44.27.150. Educational voucher. (a) A state community service 14 participant is eligible for an educational voucher if the person 15 (1) satisfactorily completes at least 16 (A) one term of full-time service consisting of at least 1,700 17 hours of service during a period of at least nine months but not more than 12 18 months; 19 (B) one term of part-time service consisting of at least 900 20 hours of service during a period of not more than two years if the person was 21 not enrolled in an institute of higher education while performing all or a 22 portion of the service; or 23 (C) one term of part-time service consisting of at least 900 24 hours of service during a period of not more than three years if the person was 25 enrolled in an institute of higher education while performing all or a portion 26 of the service; 27 (2) at the time the person uses the educational voucher, has received 28 a high school diploma or the equivalent and is enrolled at an institution of higher 29 education; and 30 (3) is a citizen or national of the United States or a lawful permanent 31 resident alien of the United States.
01 (b) Although an individual may serve more than two terms of service in an 02 approved state community service position, an individual may not receive an 03 educational voucher from the state for more than the equivalent of two full-time terms 04 of state community service. 05 (c) An individual eligible to receive a state educational voucher under this 06 section may not use the voucher after the end of the seven-year period that begins on 07 the date the individual completes the last term of service that is the basis of the 08 voucher except that the commission may extend this period if the commission 09 determines that the individual was unavoidably prevented from using the voucher 10 during the original seven-year period or performed another term of state or national 11 community service during the seven-year period. 12 (d) Subject to the limitation in (b) of this section, the amount of an educational 13 voucher under this section is 14 (1) $2,500 for each term of full-time state community service, up to 15 two terms; and 16 (2) $1,250 for each term of part-time state community service, up to 17 three terms. 18 (e) An educational voucher under this section may be used to 19 (1) repay a qualifying student loan, or interest on a student loan, 20 incurred by the participant for postsecondary education; 21 (2) pay all or part of the cost of attendance at a qualifying institution 22 of higher education. 23 (f) The commission shall adopt regulations to implement this section, including 24 regulations determining which student loans are qualifying loans and which institutions 25 of higher education are qualifying institutions. 26 Sec. 44.27.160. Housing voucher. A participant who has successfully 27 completed at least two terms of full-time state or national community service or three 28 terms of part-time state or national community service, or a combination of three full- 29 time and part-time terms, is eligible for a housing voucher. The housing voucher consists of 30 the availability to the participant of a mortgage loan voucher by the commission or the 31 purchase of mortgage loan insurance by the commission that is sufficient to allow the
01 participant to apply for a mortgage loan under AS 18.56 for a single-family residence in a 02 loan-to-value ratio of 100 percent. The commission and the Alaska Housing Finance 03 Corporation shall cooperate in implementing this section. 04 Sec. 44.27.190. Definitions. In AS 44.27.100 - 44.27.190, 05 (1) "commission" means the Alaska State Community Service 06 Commission established under AS 44.27.100; 07 (2) "department" means the Department of Education and Early 08 Development; 09 (3) "participant" means an individual who performs community service 10 under a state community service program; 11 (4) "state community service program" means a program approved 12 under AS 44.27.120. 13 * Sec. 2. AS 18.56.096(b) is amended to read: 14 (b) The loan-to-value limitation established in (a)(4) of this section does not 15 apply to a mortgage loan that is federally insured or guaranteed or for which the 16 borrower holds a current voucher issued by the Alaska State Community Service 17 Commission under AS 44.27.160 . The loan-to-value limitations established in (a)(1) 18 and (4) of this section do not apply to a mortgage loan that is a refinancing mortgage 19 loan under AS 18.56.108. 20 * Sec. 3. AS 44.66.010(a) is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 21 (20) Alaska State Community Service Commission -- June 30, 2004. 22 * Sec. 4. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 23 to read: 24 TRANSITION. (a) Litigation, hearings, investigations, application processes, and 25 other proceedings pending with the Alaska State Community Service Commission established 26 under Administrative Order No. 162 continue in effect and may be continued and completed 27 by the Alaska State Community Service Commission established under this Act. 28 (b) Contracts, rights, liabilities, and obligations created by the Alaska State 29 Community Service Commission established under Administrative Order No. 162 and in effect 30 on June 30, 2000, remain in effect and are transferred to the Alaska State Community Service 31 Commission established under this Act. Records, equipment, appropriations, and other
01 property of the Alaska State Community Service Commission established under Administrative 02 Order No. 162 are transferred to the Alaska State Community Service Commission established 03 under this Act. 04 (c) Notwithstanding other provisions of this Act, the members of the Alaska State 05 Community Service Commission established under Administrative Order No. 162 whose terms 06 of office have not expired on or before June 30, 2000, are entitled to remain in their offices 07 until the expiration of their terms. 08 * Sec. 5. This Act takes effect July 1, 2000.