1995-06-26                     Senate Journal                      Page 1963
SB 1                                                                         
Message of June 16 was received, stating:                                      
                                                                               
Dear President Pearce:                                                         
                                                                               
Under the authority of Art. II, sec. 15, of the Alaska Constitution,           
I have vetoed the following bill:                                              
                                                                               
HOUSE CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 1(FIN)                                           
"An Act relating to state implementation of federal                           
statutes."                                                                     
                                                                               
This bill would require all commissioners and agency heads to                  
review their programs every four years, in order to identify federal           
directives which are inconsistent with state policy or are not cost-           
effective.  Commissioners and agency heads must also submit reports            
to the governor and the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee that            
recommend changes in federal law which will make federally                     
mandated state programs consistent with state policy or more cost-             
effective.                                                                     
                                                                               
                                                                               

1995-06-26                     Senate Journal                      Page 1964
SB 1                                                                         
I find it ironic that this "unfunded mandate" bill represents an               
unfunded mandate on state agencies.  When the bill was introduced,             
seven departments submitted fiscal notes totaling nearly $700,000.             
However, the funding requested by these departments to implement               
HCS SB 1 (FIN) was entirely deleted by the Senate Finance                      
Committee, apparently because the committee concluded that the                 
departments already do what the bill requires.                                 
                                                                               
A regular review of major or problematic federal mandates is an                
integral part of good state agency management.  However, I believe             
that the "scatter-gun" approach called for by HCS SB 1 (FIN), which            
requires a review of every state program linked to federal statutes or         
mandates, regardless of scope or level of importance, would be a               
wasteful use of public resources.                                              
                                                                               
The people of Alaska are better served by a focused approach which             
targets the federal mandates and programs which are of greatest                
importance and impact to Alaska.  And, state agencies are reviewing            
and suggesting changes to these major federal mandates as a matter             
of course.  Knowing of the Legislature's interest, I will ensure that          
the departments share this information with you.                               
                                                                               
I recognize that the issue of unfunded federal mandates is an area             
of major concern to both the legislature and the public.  I also agree         
with the underlying intent of this bill  to seek changes in federal            
programs which have a negative impact or are excessively costly for            
Alaska.  But this bill is unnecessary, and would add a new reporting           
requirement for virtually every state agency.  Given our need to               
reduce the cost of state government wherever possible, we can't                
afford to impose unnecessary requirements like the ones in this bill           
on state agencies.                                                             
                                                                               
	Sincerely,                                                                    
						/s/                                                                      
	Tony Knowles                                                                  
	Governor