Legislature(2013 - 2014)HOUSE FINANCE 519
03/20/2013 01:30 PM House FINANCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB64 | |
| HB99 | |
| HB84 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | HB 84 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 99 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 64 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HOUSE BILL NO. 84
"An Act relating to applying military education,
training, and service credit to occupational licensing
and certain postsecondary education and employment
training requirements; providing for a temporary
occupational license for qualified military service
members; and providing for an effective date."
3:03:19 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DAN SADDLER, SPONSOR, presented HB 84, which
enabled separating service members to transition
appropriately into the civilian workforce. He explained
that HB 84 asked the Division of Professional Licensing,
the University of Alaska and the Department of Labor and
Workforce Development to evaluate military training and
education and to assign civilian credit where appropriate
without compromising current licensing standards. The bill
would improve the probability of veterans finding jobs by
accelerating the licensing process and/or their educational
credits.
Representative Saddler noted that service members often
experienced delays and lost opportunities in qualifying for
licenses even with the applicable training and experience.
As of July 12th, 19 states enacted similar legislation and
more than 30 states were in the consideration process for
2013. Forced reductions, sequestration and budget cuts
would soon mean that more veterans would be looking for
work and he believed that they deserved every opportunity
to leverage their military experience and training into
academic credit, job qualification or vocational training
credit.
Co-Chair Stoltze commented on the Senate President's
veteran's caucus.
3:05:45 PM
MARK SANSOUCI, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, TACOMA (via
teleconference), testified in support of the legislation.
He informed the committee of the target to help young
veterans who were separating and had received world-class
education. He noted that 12 hundred veterans returned
annually to Alaska creating approximately 1 million new
veterans between 2011 and 2016. He echoed testimony from
Representative Saddler regarding decisions made by other
states to enact similar legislation. He mentioned that the
Joint Service Transcript was unveiled in March 2013, which
was meant to ease the burden of translating services into a
generic method for transcript evaluation.
3:08:14 PM
PATRICIA SENNER, ALASKA NURSES ASSOCIATION, ANCHORAGE (via
teleconference), supported most aspects of the bill. She
spoke to some concerns related to the possibility that
veterans could assume automatic eligibility for registered
nursing licenses without furthering their education. Since
the issue was a national one, the National Council of State
Boards and Nursing was developing a document for use by the
boards of nursing to make the determination. She explained
that the roles and responsibilities of Registered Nurses
(RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) were different
from those of medics, core men and airmen. All RNs serving
in the military were licensed as such before entering
service. Medics trained by the military were certified as
Emergency Medical Technicians. She mentioned programs that
would facilitate the transfer of designation for medics or
core men to LPNs.
3:11:20 PM
Representative Wilson asked whether the board ever used
Skype for board meetings. Ms. Senner was not on the board
and could not answer the question.
JEFF SELVEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALASKA WORKFORCE
INVESTMENT BOARD, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT (via teleconference), was available for
questions.
Co-Chair Stoltze CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair Stoltze expressed intent to confer with the
sponsor on the issue related to nursing. He did not want to
create a false impression that the bill would enable an
automatic entry into the field.
Representative Saddler noted that the nursing profession
was a special case. He stated that it was up to various
entities to judge whether the military credentials and
experience met the requirements. He was pleased that nurses
were evaluating the potential.
3:15:03 PM
Representative Thompson asked the sponsor to look at the
$137,000 fiscal note, requiring that 11 different boards
meet in person. He believed the amount seemed excessive in
light of the technology available. He thought
teleconference meetings should be possible to save on
travel costs.
Co-Chair Stoltze suggested a delayed effective date to
reduce the fiscal impact. He asked the Division of
Occupational Licensing for input on the issue.
Representative Gara looked at the 180-day period related to
licensing. He wondered if the 180-day period was long
enough to achieve the certificates or licenses needed.
Representative Saddler replied that 180 days was determined
to be a reasonable time unless unforeseen circumstances
arose, in which case an option to extend a second 180 days
existed.
Co-Chair Stoltze asked if an opportunity for bar
credentials might exist via the legislation. Representative
Saddler replied that the board could best address that
issue.
Representative Guttenberg requested clarification related
to the language on page 2, line 13 "held the current
license." Representative Saddler stated that he would
discuss the issue with the drafter.
3:18:25 PM
Representative Munoz asked for an identification of the
names of the boards, which were identified with acronyms in
the fiscal note. Representative Saddler replied that he
would provide the information to the committee in writing.
Representative Munoz appreciated the information.
HB 84 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.