Legislature(2021 - 2022)BARNES 124
05/06/2022 01:00 PM House RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB219 | |
| HB120 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 219 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 120 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 120-STATE LAND SALES AND LEASES; RIVERS
2:03:30 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 120, "An Act relating to state land; relating
to the authority of the Department of Education and Early
Development to dispose of state land; relating to the authority
of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to
dispose of state land; relating to the authority of the
Department of Natural Resources over certain state land;
relating to the state land disposal income fund; relating to the
leasing and sale of state land for commercial development;
repealing establishment of recreation rivers and recreation
river corridors; and providing for an effective date." [Before
the committee was the proposed committee substitute (CS) for HB
120, Version 32-GH1634\G, Bullard, 4/22/22, ("Version G"),
adopted as the working document on 5/2/22.]
2:04:08 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK opened public testimony on HB 120.
2:04:36 PM
JOHN SONIN, representing self, opined that the administration
feels it is all about personal fantasies and doesn't consider
the source of benefits, which he finds disdainful. He
characterized the governor as having "turned [he Department of
Natural Resources (DNR)] into a Safari Club." He said there is
nothing more precious than fresh water and the oil Alaska has
been extracting over the last 30 years. He stated that Alaska
is losing its freshwater reserves from glaciers, and he cannot
stand by while the administration takes control of those waters.
2:07:41 PM
BILL THOMAS, representing self, testified in support of HB 120.
He expressed his support for the amendment that allowed a land
exchange between the State of Alaska and potential Native
Vietnam veteran Native allotments. He said he served in Vietnam
in 1968 and doesn't intend to go to the Interior, so he supports
the amendment and the bill.
2:09:26 PM
BECKY LONG, representing self, testified regarding her concerns
with Section 13 of HB 120. She requested that the committee
think about striking Section 13 because the regulatory process
that would be initiated for a new commercial disposal would be
broad and vague. She offered her belief that it circumvents the
public process, which would create legal problems given the
Alaska State Constitution provides the right of people to enjoy
state lands. She stated that a responsible and transparent
public process would require legal notification of adjacent
landowners, a public comment period, and the ability for the
public to ask for a public hearing to express their opinions on
a public record. She addressed the DNR commissioner's statement
that it would be a process like the oil and gas leasing best
interest process but related that she had just gone through that
process with the huge coalbed methane exploratory licenses in
the Susitna Valley where DNR did not do any adjacent landowner
notification and said that there is no ability for a recorded
public hearing. The department had two informational meetings
that weren't recorded, she continued; therefore, it lost all the
public comment. She urged that Section 13 be struck and that
there be a robust public process if HB 120 is passed.
2:11:27 PM
JAN CONITZ, representing self, stated she is concerned about the
provisions for public land disposal contained in HB 120. She
said it seems there would be significant loss of public land
under HB 120. She further said that the language to reclassify
"any state land the department deems appropriate for commercial
development" is irresponsibly broad and would give sweeping
authority to the commissioner to reclassify state public lands
without public process. She stated there doesn't appear to be a
requirement for the commissioner to honor existing local and
state land use plans that were developed through various public
processes at significant time, effort, and cost. Nor does the
bill appear to uphold existing riparian area protections, to
notify adjacent landowners, or even to generate any profit or
other public benefit, she pointed out. The bill, she continued,
allows the removal of valuable land and habitat protections from
the Alaska public at the discretion of a single politically
appointed official. The effect of HB 120, Ms. Conitz added,
would be to fragment Alaska's vast public lands and current
access points to waterways, drainages, ridgelines, and historic
trails, and put up no trespassing signs where people have been
free to roam for countless generations. She said other serious
consequences of HB 120 would be to accelerate and exacerbate
salmon and other fish habitat loss, as well as to fragment
wildlife habitat and cut off caribou migratory routes. She
maintained that Alaska's wild resources and public land access
and enjoyment are vastly more valuable in the long term than the
gravel pit, vacation home, or box store that would permanently
replace them if HB 120 were to pass. The only justified
provision, Ms. Conitz continued, is for the Alaska Native
Vietnam era veterans to receive the allotments that they were
unfairly denied.
2:14:58 PM
MELISSA HEUER, Executive Director, Susitna River Coalition,
testified in opposition to HB 120. She expressed her concern
that disposing of land with minimal consideration of the local
land use plans is government overreach. Local governments
throughout Alaska have spent thousands of hours drafting local
land use plans, she continued, so it is highly concerning that
the state thinks this bill is appropriate or beneficial for all
Alaskans and Alaska communities. She said she values and
supports Alaska's veterans but that this is not the way to go
about doing it. She urged that the committee not advance the
bill, but if it is moved, that Section 13 should be removed.
She further urged that all language in the bill related to land
use and disposal should be changed to require that any new
owners need to comply with all local land use and management
plans and that the commissioner should not be able to reclassify
these lands without written approval by local land use
management groups.
2:16:25 PM
KATIE ROOKS, representing self, stated that as a passionate
advocate for public land she is in opposition to HB 120,
particularly Section 13. She said state and federal public
lands are Alaska's greatest assets, and their disposal to
corporate entities, people from out of state, and others will
result in not caring for those lands in the way the public can.
Disposal [under HB 120], she continued, bypasses the public
process, and ignores the desires of many folks on how to treat
this land and what to do with it. She charged that it is
another assault by the governor's administration on public lands
and public processes and HB 120 should not be moved forward.
2:17:44 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK closed public testimony on HB 120 after
ascertaining that no one else wished to testify.
2:18:37 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN noted that the Tenakee Springs School is
part of the Chatham School District, a Regional Educational
Attendance Area (REAA), but that the transfer in the bill is to
the City and Borough of Sitka, which does not operate the
Tenakee Springs School. She further noted that all the rest are
changing to municipalities. She asked whether the bill's
provision for the Tenakee Springs School has to do with it being
an REAA. She said she is concerned because it is an REAA school
district and she knows that the Tenakee Springs School has
struggled, and transferring away the Tenakee school site has
some ongoing policy implications.
2:21:04 PM
HEIDI TESHNER, Director, Finance and Support Services Division,
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), confirmed
that the Tenakee Springs School is in the Chatham School
District. She said she will get back to the committee with a
follow-up to the question because she hasn't seen the document
being referred to by Representative Hannan.
CHAIR PATKOTAK surmised it is clarifying whether that is the
appropriate place that the land gets transferred to so that the
Tenakee Springs School can take possession of it.
REPRESENTATIVE HANNAN responded that the Tenakee school is
currently below the [required] student population, so is not
functioning as a full attending school. She explained that
Tenakee is a remote community and not everyone can do distance
[schooling] from home, so it is being operated as "everybody
come in and you can get on broadband from there and do your
schoolwork." Of course, she added, the school district is
hoping it will get back over the student population threshold
and be able to operate as an in-person school again. She said
it appears that the school is being transferred out of ownership
of the state in an REAA and to the City and Borough of Sitka,
which concerns her because it would preempt that REAA school
district from ever being able to operate it because it is not
part of the City and Borough of Sitka.
2:23:06 PM
CHAIR PATKOTAK announced HB 120 was held over.