Legislature(1993 - 1994)
03/29/1993 03:00 PM House HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
Number 366
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked if the Department of Education
(DOE) could tell the committee what impact the amendments
just passed would have on the list of school projects
outlined in HB 83.
CHAIR BUNDE said it would be premature, as he intended to
rewrite HB 83 thoroughly.
Number 379
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE said he had been provided HB 83, a list
of projects and an appropriations bill with $150 million
going to those projects. He asked if the changes to HB 82
would change the amount of money available for the projects
in HB 83.
CHAIR BUNDE said that, while he hesitated to speak for the
DOE, the percentages under consideration by the DOE were not
the same as those presented by the DOE. He said the changes
were revenue-positive.
REPRESENTATIVE OLBERG said the committee might at least have
to make HB 83 not subject to the changes in HB 82, because
he was sure that HB 83 represented money available before
any changes, and that if the committee changed the funding
figures in HB 82 it would throw off the numbers in the
priority list.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE said that the committee would have to
change the effective date on HB 82. He said the committee
should keep in mind that it could establish various
effective dates for different parts of the bill.
REPRESENTATIVE IRENE NICHOLIA asked a representative from
the DOE to explain the impacts of the changes in the
district participating share provisions of HB 82 on Rural
Education Attendance Areas (REAAs).
Number 412
GARY BADER, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES,
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION said, "It is very difficult to say,
the first question about overall, would it require more
state money to fund the same list, or less, (I) simply can't
say without actually running the numbers. The table is
different, the match requirements are different. As you
recall, HB 83 as it's before you without the committee
substitute, has a sliding scale on the first year. The
matching requirements weren't as aggressive as they were
further out. So it's just impossible to say."
MR. BADER continued, "In terms of the REAAs, clearly we have
a zero match the first year. This committee substitute
would have a 5% match. And so in terms of the dollar amount
of match that would have to be raised, I couldn't say, but
we can certainly get a feel for it."
HB 83: APPROP: SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION GRANT FUND
Number 170
CHAIR BUNDE opened public testimony on HB 83.
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY distributed copies of a blank CS
version of HB 83.
REPRESENTATIVE OLBERG asked if the CS version of HB 83 was
different from the version under consideration earlier.
CHAIR BUNDE asked Representative Vezey to address the
question.
Number 179
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY said that the CS contained changes in
the funding source. The original funding source for HB 83
was to have been a school construction fund, the name of
which he could not recall. The CS to HB 83 discussed in the
HESS subcommittee which he chaired considered the General
Fund as a source of funding. The blank CS currently before
the committee assumed the constitutional budget reserve as
its source of funding, he said.
REPRESENTATIVE NICHOLIA asked Representative Vezey if he
followed the governor's priority in writing his work draft.
She observed that some of the construction proposals in the
work draft were low on the governor's list.
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY replied in the negative.
REPRESENTATIVE NICHOLIA repeated her question.
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY repeated his answer.
Number 206
CHAIR BUNDE said the governor's priority list did not come
close to allocating funds in relation to the percentage of
students in a district or area. He said that the blank CS
was an attempt to allocate the funds more equitably; the
more students in a district, the more projects it received.
The governor's construction projects' proposal invested 9%
in Anchorage, 8% in Fairbanks, 3% in Mat-Su, and 0.3% in
Kenai, but 56% in REAAs, he said. In the CS, the funding
was distributed in approximate proportion to the
distribution of the student population in the state, he
said.
CHAIR BUNDE pointed out that the title called for
appropriation from the constitutional budget reserve, and
called that a major step forward which he believed deserved
to be noted.
Number 231
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked for comment from the DOE, and
asked a departmental representative if he had seen the list
earlier.
MR. BADER answered that the list contained in the blank CS
was presented in the subcommittee two weeks before. He said
he could not comment, and added that when the DOE assembled
the list it had not tried to balance it according to
percentages of money spent by each school district.
Number 245
REPRESENTATIVE NICHOLIA said the governor had written his
list based on how long schools had been waiting for funding,
and on whether the funding addressed life-threatening
situations.
MR. BADER said the governor's list was built according to an
internal DOE ranking of all projects statewide, and that
there was a decision to spend approximately $40 million on
maintenance, with the balance coming from the school
construction account.
Number 261
CHAIR BUNDE had a letter from the governor seeking a
technical adjustment to the funding list. He said the
Ketchikan Gateway Borough High School was already under
construction, and that the funding amount in HB 83 should be
$9,501,600. He said there had been a funding error, which
the governor's suggested funding level would correct.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE MOVED an AMENDMENT to increase the
Ketchikan High School line to the level requested by the
governor.
Number 279
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY OBJECTED. He did not believe it was
possible to simply add money to that project without cutting
funding elsewhere in the bill. He opposed any motion to add
an increment without taking a corresponding decrement.
CHAIR BUNDE said the committee would discuss the decrement
after addressing the increment.
Number 290
REPRESENTATIVE G. DAVIS said that HB 83 drew money from the
constitutional budget reserve. He said any additions to the
bill could simply be added to the bill, and the additional
money withdrawn from that reserve fund.
REPRESENTATIVE OLBERG asked Representative Brice to amend
his motion to increase the total appropriation by the same
amount as it increased money for the Ketchikan High School,
which he said was $2,850,500, as stated in the governor's
letter.
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY did not believe the motion was
necessary, as the $8,240,000 in the blank CS was a state
grant, and if there was a 20% local match, the project would
have enough money to be completed.
Number 305
MR. BADER said the project had been going on for several
years. The DOE believed Ketchikan had already met its
obligation for matching funds, he said, which was the reason
the appropriation amount was understated. He said the
school project was in its final phase, and short-funding it
by about $1.3 million would force the addition of another
phase to the project, and add expenses.
There followed much general discussion among committee
members relating to the total amount of money necessary to
fund the various phases of the high school building project,
how much money had already been appropriated for it, and how
much of the Ketchikan school district's obligation for local
matching funds had already been provided.
Number 355
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE CALLED THE QUESTION.
CHAIR BUNDE acknowledged the call for the question of
whether the committee should amend the working draft of
HB 83 to increase the appropriation to the Ketchikan Gateway
Borough for the final construction phase of its high school
building project to $9,501,600. He called for a roll call
vote on the motion. Those voting YEA were Representatives
G. Davis, Olberg, B. Davis, Nicholia, Brice, Toohey, and
Bunde. Those voting NO were Representatives Vezey, and
Kott. The MOTION PASSED.
CHAIR BUNDE said that the committee then faced the question
of whether to increase the total appropriation by
$1,261,666, or whether there should be a decrement in that
amount to the total appropriation amount.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE believed the motion was to increase the
total appropriation.
CHAIR BUNDE said that the committee had already increased
the Ketchikan portion but had not decided if there would be
a decrement. He asked if Representative Brice was making a
motion to increase the total appropriation by the $1,261,666
making the total appropriation $109,441,663.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE CALLED THE QUESTION.
Number 450
REPRESENTATIVE OLBERG asked if the committee was working
from HB 83 or from the CS for the bill. He was notified
that the committee was working from the CS version. He then
asked if the committee was amending the amount in section 1
as well as the amount of the appropriation.
CHAIR BUNDE said the committee had amended line 12 to read
$9,501,600.
Further discussion followed.
Number 465
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE announced that he had to leave for
another engagement, and asked the chair's intention.
CHAIR BUNDE intended to have a vote on the bill soon.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked for 15 to 20 minutes.
CHAIR BUNDE noted that there was an amendment on the table
to increase the total amount of the appropriation to
$109,446,663. He called for further discussion.
Number 470
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY OPPOSED the AMENDMENT because the
committee would get unlimited requests for additional
projects, and $150 million in FY 94 school spending had been
agreed upon. Without some discipline, he said, the requests
for more funding for school construction would be unlimited.
REPRESENTATIVE G. DAVIS could not disagree with a little
discipline, and stated there had been some dispute about the
numbers. He did not want to see the state's share of the
Ketchikan High School project reduced, as his district had
experienced the shock of the state reducing its share of
school funding, and leaving it up to the local school
district to make up the difference. He said it was
impossible for the committee to deduce the meaning of the
governor's letter. He said he would support the legislation
as a way to reduce the shock to the people of Ketchikan.
CHAIR BUNDE asked for more discussion, and hearing none,
called for a roll call vote on the amendment. Those voting
YEA were Representatives Kott, Olberg, B. Davis, Nicholia,
Toohey, Bunde, and G. Davis. Representative Vezey voted NO.
The MOTION PASSED.
CHAIR BUNDE announced that the appropriation from the
constitutional budget reserve in HB 83 was $109,446,663. He
called for discussion.
Number 500
REPRESENTATIVE OLBERG asked if the committee was willing to
dive into the constitutional budget reserve at that point.
CHAIR BUNDE said he was ready to do so.
Number 506
REPRESENTATIVE PETE KOTT SUGGESTED a TECHNICAL AMENDMENT to
page 5 line 25, concerning $1.2 million for a new Eagle
River elementary school road, and said that he would like to
see the money used for roads, even though it was probably
appropriated to schools.
CHAIR BUNDE said he could not speak to the correctness of
the list, as it was taken from the governor's list. He
examined the original HB 83, and asked Representative Vezey
to offer information on the project.
Number 518
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY said the best information the committee
had was the information in the bill, and that Representative
Kott was the first to question it.
MR. BADER SUGGESTED that DELETING the word "roads" from the
language in question and INSERTING the words "new
elementary" would probably cover the intended purpose, and
allow the money to be used for either purpose.
CHAIR BUNDE asked Representative Kott if he would make such
a motion.
REPRESENTATIVE KOTT MOVED AMENDING page 5, line 25 to DELETE
the word "roads" from the language in question and INSERT
the words "new Eagle River elementary."
REPRESENTATIVE TOOHEY said, "If we could build a school for
$1 million, I'd say let's do it. I don't think we can."
REPRESENTATIVE B. DAVIS said the money must be for site
preparation, not a whole school.
CHAIR BUNDE asked if the committee had the original
information the projects were taken from. He said
Representative B. Davis was probably correct.
Number 555
JOE RYAN, LEGISLATIVE AIDE TO REPRESENTATIVE AL VEZEY,
testified in Juneau on HB 83. He said that the Anchorage
School District did not appropriate money for roads when it
built the school. Since that time, inflation had raised the
cost of roads to the price listed in HB 83, he said.
REPRESENTATIVE KOTT WITHDREW his AMENDMENT.
Number 562
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE MOVED an AMENDMENT to page 3, line 19
of the bill, to ADD $61,631,000 for phase two of a Fairbanks
North Star Borough high school.
CHAIR BUNDE RULED Representative Brice OUT OF ORDER.
Number 572
REPRESENTATIVE TOOHEY OBJECTED.
CHAIR BUNDE said, "Now, back to reality. Representative
Brice, would you like us to vote on that amendment?
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE indicated that he did, indeed, want the
committee to vote on his amendment, when he had finished
reading it. He said his amendment also included changes to
page 1, line 5, increasing the total appropriation to
$170,811,963.
CHAIR BUNDE continued, "Any other discussion? May we vote
us back to reality?"
REPRESENTATIVE TOOHEY reminded the chair that she had
objected to the motion.
CHAIR BUNDE said that the committee would then vote.
REPRESENTATIVE B. DAVIS added, "I thought he was just
kidding, but if he's serious I need to know what he wants us
to vote on. Because if we're going to play that game then I
guess we could all start putting some out."
CHAIR BUNDE threatened, "If we're going to play that game,
we'll adjourn. If he wants $61 million for a high school in
Fairbanks, a noble cause, but..."
A roll call vote showed that those voting YEA were
Representatives Brice, and Vezey. Those voting NO were
Representatives Kott, Olberg, B. Davis, Nicholia, Toohey,
Bunde, and G. Davis. The MOTION FAILED.
REPRESENTATIVE BRICE noted for the record that he and
Representative Vezey had voted together on an issue, setting
a record.
TAPE 93-51, SIDE A
Number 026
REPRESENTATIVE TOOHEY MOVED PASSAGE OF THE BILL WITH
INDIVIDUAL RECOMMENDATIONS.
CHAIR BUNDE heard OBJECTION to the motion, and called for a
roll call vote. After a brief interruption from
Representative Kott, the chair ordered the roll call vote to
resume. Those voting YEA were Representatives Olberg, B.
Davis, Nicholia, Toohey, Bunde, G. Davis, Vezey, and Kott.
Representative Brice voted NO. The MOTION PASSED.
ADJOURNMENT
Seeing no further business before the committee, CHAIR BUNDE
adjourned the meeting at 4:40 p.m.
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