Legislature(2021 - 2022)ADAMS 519
05/07/2021 01:30 PM House FINANCE
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB132 | |
| HB110 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 70 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 197 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 202 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 110 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 132 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HOUSE BILL NO. 132
"An Act relating to technical education and
apprenticeships; relating to concurrent vocational
education, training, and on-the-job trade experience
programs for students enrolled in public secondary
schools; relating to child labor; and providing for an
effective date."
1:36:27 PM
Co-Chair Merrick indicated that the bill was first heard in
committee on May 6, 2021.
1:36:37 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ZACK FIELDS, CO-CHAIR, LABOR AND COMMERCE
COMMITTEE, introduced himself and declined to make any
additional opening comments regarding the legislation.
1:36:44 PM
Co-Chair Merrick OPENED public testimony.
1:36:52 PM
AT EASE
1:39:57 PM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Merrick noted there were no testifiers.
Co-Chair Merrick CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair Merrick asked Ms. Reynold to review fiscal
note #5.
1:40:44 PM
DEBORAH RIDDLE, DIVISION OPERATION MANAGER, DIVISION OF
INNOVATION AND EDUCATION EXCELLENCE, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT (via teleconference), spoke to
published zero fiscal note 5 [FN 5 (EED)] for the
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED). She
related that DEED currently worked in collaboration with
school districts to increase career, technical, and
culturally relevant education to meet student and workforce
needs. The bill was not expected to have a fiscal impact
1:41:30 PM
Representative Carpenter stated that the sectional analysis
in section 2 added duties for DEED, to collaborate with
Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DLWD). He
suggested that adding duties cost something and implied
that extra work was required to fulfill the mandate. He did
not understand how the extra duties did not incur a fiscal
impact to DEED.
1:42:36 PM
Representative Fields replied that DEED currently provided
financial support to the school districts through the
Perkins grants. The intent of the language was to provide
supporting statutory language to allow DEED and the
Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DLWD) to
collaborate on ways to use the forthcoming federal grants
to support school apprenticeship programs. He confirmed
that the relationships were already established, and the
language ensured that the agencies could capitalize on the
grant opportunities.
Ms. Riddle relayed that DEED had a state plan with the
United States Department of Education to work with DLWD to
help facilitate work based learning which fell under the
apprenticeship bill.
1:43:50 PM
Representative Carpenter thought the phrases like work
with or additional duties was incredibly vague. He
asked what the additional duties were being added to DEED.
Ms. Riddle reported that further work with the sponsor
would better define the details. She reiterated that DEED
would partner with DOL to facilitate the grants and were
currently working with them to match districts with
apprenticeship activities.
Representative Carpenter wanted the specific list of the
added duties and better understanding of what the added
duties were before he approved of a program that could
potentially need future funding.
Representative Fields replied that the commissioner of DEED
had done a good job of figuring out how to support work
based learning and collaborate across departments. He
characterized the fiscal note request as providing
statutory support for something the department already
carried out. He thought the outcomes of work based programs
made the statutory support important but because of
departmental leadership the engagement already existed.
1:46:56 PM
NICOLE REYNOLDS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, TAX DIVISION, DEPARTMENT
OF REVENUE (via teleconference), indicated that published
fiscal note 3 [FN 3 (REV)] from the Department of Revenue
(DOR) was indeterminate because the revenue impact of the
bill could not be determined because the department lacked
sufficient information to estimate the number of registered
apprentices a taxpayer may hire or the number of corporate
income tax taxpayers who may hire registered apprentices.
She offered that the additional cost to the department to
administer the credit was minimal and could be absorbed by
the department. All the required tasks like updating tax
forms on the Tax Revenue Management System (TRMS), and
updating Revenue Online the public taxpayer portal,
could be administered with the resources currently in
place.
JOY HARTLIEB, DIVISION OF LABOR STANDARDS AND PUBLIC
SAFETY, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT (via
teleconference), reported that the published zero fiscal
note [FN 2 ((LWF)] showed there were zero costs related to
the bill.
1:49:55 PM
GREG CASHEN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, EMPLOYMENT SECURITY,
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT (via
teleconference), commented that the published fiscal note
was zero. The department collaborated with DEED regularly.
He added that DLWD and the University of Alaska created the
CTE plan in 2010, updated it in 2018, included school to
apprenticeship pathways from career and technical education
to post-secondary education and registered apprenticeship
programs that DLWD administered.
Representative Carpenter cited page 4, line 2 of the bill
and read using funds available for that purpose He
wondered what funds the bill referred to. Representative
Fields responded that there were ongoing federal funding
streams through DLWD. Some of the streams were grants to
organizations such as the American Apprenticeship
Initiative. He noted that other funding streams like
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) went to
individuals to support training [through local programs
providing youth services] in partnership with American Job
Centers. He expected more funding would be available in the
future and reiterated that the primary funding stream
currently was the Perkins grants.
1:52:32 PM
Representative Carpenter asked if any of the funding went
directly to school districts. Representative Fields
answered that the Perkins funds went directly to school
districts. Most of the DLWD funds historically, had not
gone directly to the school districts with limited
exceptions.
1:53:16 PM
Representative Carpenter felt that he had to protest what
he was hearing. He voiced that tasks like develop, create
and, expand cost money and he found the zero fiscal notes
unbelievable. Representative Fields provided background
history on DLWD involvement in supporting apprenticeships.
He shared that the Commissioner at the time [Click Bishop,
former commissioner, DLWD] trained department employees to
become apprenticeship specialists. He elaborated that the
specialists worked closely with the federal Department of
Labor that regulated and oversaw apprenticeships. The state
specialists started apprenticeship programs and supported
employers. The infrastructure continued across many
administrations. When additional federal grant
opportunities became available, the department utilized the
federal apprenticeship grant money and distributed it. He
shared that he had worked for DLWD and administered the
grants at a time when DLWD experienced significant budget
reductions. He deduced that by looking back, it was
possible to see that the department could expand support
for apprenticeships when federal funds became available
even with reduced Undesignated General Funds (UGF). There
had been proposals put forward by the administration to
further expand federal grant dollars and the bill was
targeting the opportunity for when additional grant dollars
were received.
1:55:27 PM
Representative Carpenter asked if the school districts
could absorb the burden of creating additional programs.
Representative Fields replied that he asked the same
question to school districts when crafting the bill. He had
discussions with the career and technical education
directors at several school districts who wanted to expand
school apprenticeship programs. He had inquired about what
could be done to support the districts to strengthen the
programs thus, creating more opportunities for the
students. He relayed that the answer was they needed school
apprenticeship coordinators who worked under the schools
CTE directors. The coordinators would strengthen the
programs and create more apprenticeship placement
opportunities for students. He referred to prior testimony
from Trish Zugg, Information Technology Instructor/Grants
Administration, Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District,
who hoped the state would secure more of the federal grant
funding and fund the positions in the school districts. He
ascertained that the school districts needed more capacity
and he hoped that through the collaboration with DEED, some
of the funds could be used for the positions.
1:57:11 PM
Representative Thompson referred to page 5 lines 6 through
11 and read the following:
(f) In this section, "veteran" means an individual who
was honorably discharged from service in the (1) armed
forces of the United States, including a reserve unit
of the armed forces of the United States; or (2)
Alaska Territorial Guard, the Alaska Army National
Guard, the Alaska Air National Guard, or the Alaska
Naval Militia.
Representative Thompson asked whether the Coast Guard
should be included on the list. Representative Fields
answered in the affirmative.
Co-Chair Merrick noted amendments for HB 132 were due by
6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 10, 2021.
1:58:17 PM
Representative Rasmussen believed that high school seniors
should have more options upon completing high school. She
related that a college degree was not required for her
career as a residential appraiser. She did not have the
kind of college debt that others had making the same level
of income. She thought that the districts were already
anticipating the shift toward career or vocational
programs. She did not view the bill as a means of forcing
an unfunded mandate. She thought that there was broad
consensus in the legislature to support career and
vocational opportunities. The state had a higher need for a
skilled labor workforce. She suggested that even if the
bill did have a cost to it, the state would benefit in the
long term. She supported the legislation and relayed that
school districts embraced the concept of career and
vocational education.
Representative Carpenter took offense to the prior
comments. He believed that Representative Rasmussens
comments were addressed to him, and he felt lectured to.
2:01:04 PM
AT EASE
2:01:51 PM
RECONVENNED
Representative Johnson referred to page 4, lines 22 to 24
which she read the following:
To qualify as a registered apprentice for the purposes
of the credit under this section, a person must
participate in a registered apprenticeship program
recognized by the Department of Labor and Workforce
Development.
Representative Johnson asked if there was a list available
of registered participants in the committee members
packets. Representative Fields answered in the negative. He
indicated that there were several hundred registered
apprenticeship programs in the state sponsored by hundreds
of employers. He offered to follow up with the full list.
Representative Johnson thanked the sponsor.
HB 132 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
2:03:13 PM
AT EASE
2:09:05 PM
RECONVENED
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 110 Public Testimony by 051021.pdf |
HFIN 5/7/2021 1:30:00 PM |
HB 110 |
| HB 132 Amendments 1-3 051121.pdf |
HFIN 5/7/2021 1:30:00 PM |
HB 132 |