Legislature(2015 - 2016)CAPITOL 106
04/01/2015 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB52 | |
| HB163 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 52 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 163 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 163-NUTRITION STANDARDS; SCHOOL FUNDRAISERS
8:23:02 AM
CHAIR KELLER [announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 163, "An Act relating to school fundraisers;
relating to the duties of the Department of Health and Social
Services; and providing for an effective date."]
8:23:10 AM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ moved to adopt the proposed committee
substitute (CS) for HB 163, Version 29-LS0758\H, Glover,
3/31/15, as the working document. There being no objection,
Version H was before the committee.
8:23:50 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TAMMIE WILSON, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor
of HB 163, offered her belief that Version H is a much better
bill, requiring the [Department of Education and Early
Development (EED)] to do less than under the original version of
the bill. Under Version H, the bill's title no longer
stipulates in part that the bill relates to the duties of the
department, both to limit what might be added to the bill as it
moves through the process, and because the original version of
the bill referenced the wrong department for purposes of
amending Title 14. Under Version H, the bill's proposed new
AS 14.07.020(a)(18) now reads:
(18) authorize schools to approve up to five
fundraisers of not more than three days each semester
involving the sale of foods that do not meet the food
nutrition standards under 42 U.S.C. 1779 for each
group, sports team, or club in a school and allow
school districts to request authorization to approve
additional fundraisers. [REPEALED]
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON indicated that this new language resembles
that of other states, and is intended to provide local control;
for example, if a school doesn't wish to hold any fundraisers
involving the sale of foods that don't meet federal nutrition
standards, it wouldn't have to, but if a particular school
district wished to hold more than five such fundraisers, it
could request the authorization to approve those additional
fundraisers. She mentioned in closing that the bill has an
immediate effective date.
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON, in response to comments and questions,
indicated that it is not her intent for HB 163 to address the
sale of food from vending machines; rather, the bill is intended
to address the sale of food sold as part of a fundraising effort
- bake sales, for example. Again, nothing in the bill would
require a school to approve the sale of foods that do not meet
federal nutrition standards, but because of existing federal law
limiting the types of foods that may be sold [on school campuses
during the school day outside of school meal programs], without
a specific statutory waiver in place - such as that being
proposed by the bill - foods that do not meet federal nutrition
standards simply may not be sold in those circumstances, even
for fundraising purposes.
8:29:16 AM
MIKE HANLEY, Commissioner, Department of Education and Early
Development (EED), pointed out that one [expectation of] such
waivers is that state agencies will ensure that the frequency of
such exempted fundraisers does not reach a level that would
impair the effectiveness of the requirements set forth in the
[federal interim final rule titled, "National School Lunch
Program and School Breakfast Program: Nutrition Standards for
All Foods Sold in School as Required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free
Kids Act of 2010"]. The federal government might therefore find
it problematic for the EED to authorize [schools to approve] as
many exempted fundraisers for as many days as is currently
provided for under HB 163's Version H; for the Juneau School
District alone, for example - given its number of school groups,
sports teams, and clubs - such exempted fundraisers could be
held on as many as 255 school days [each semester] - more days
than are even in an entire school year.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY said he is not in opposition to the bill
moving forward, and indicated that he is willing to do as the
bill requires - via its use of the phrase, "the department
shall" - and provide the aforementioned authorization. However,
there is a reason that the federal law has come to be in place;
for example, [even as recently as] 2012, more than one-third of
children were overweight or obese - primary causes of diabetes
in children, a disease that's on the rise. "So I want to do it
prudently," he remarked, regarding the bill's proposal to allow
the EED to authorize schools to approve exempted fundraisers;
"I want to make sure that we are not just nullifying a move
forward to provide healthy opportunities for our kids - ...
negating that and not recognizing the issues that our kids face
today."
8:32:01 AM
CHAIR KELLER expressed favor with the concept of providing for
local control with regard to what foods a particular school
approves for its fundraisers - including not approving any - and
indicated a lack of concern over the number of exemptible
fundraiser-days currently provided for under Version H.
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON questioned whether keeping the number of
exemptible fundraiser-days currently provided for in the bill
would place Alaska's [federally-funded food programs] at risk
if, for example, the federal government determines that
requiring the EED to authorize schools to be able to approve
what could amount to one or more exempted fundraisers every day
of the school year is unacceptable, thwarting the intent of the
federal law.
COMMISSIONER HANLEY indicated that he didn't know whether the
federal government would make such a determination, or, if it
did, what that would ultimately mean. In response to a further
question, he relayed that he isn't aware of any acceptable
number of exemptible fundraiser-days being specified in the
federal law; he's only come across the stipulation that the
frequency of exempted fundraisers may not reach a level that
would impair the effectiveness of the requirements set forth in
the aforementioned federal [interim final rule].
8:36:09 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON questioned where the number currently
provided for under Version H came from, and whether that number
could be changed without impacting school groups, sports teams,
and clubs. In other words, do such entities actually hold that
many fundraisers of those durations and thus lowering the number
currently provided for in the bill would impact those entities?
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON referred to a document in members' packets
titled, "Smart Snacks: State Agency Fundraising Exemption"
produced by the School Nutrition Association, and indicated that
that number was chosen because of what other states had in their
statutory waivers, and to provide Alaska's school districts with
flexibility.
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON, noting that it's Alaska's school
districts which have elected boards that set policy, questioned
whether the phrase, "authorize schools to approve" on page 3,
line 25, should instead read, "authorize school districts to
approve".
REPRESENTATIVE WILSON acknowledged that for purposes of
consistency, the language probably should read, "authorize
school districts to approve" since the phrase, "allow school
districts to request authorization to approve" is used on
page 3, line 28.
8:40:08 AM
MIKE COONS said he supports HB 163 in its entirety, and asked
the committee to vote "yes" on the bill.
CHAIR KELLER closed public testimony on HB 163.
8:42:09 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON made a motion to adopt Conceptual
Amendment 1, to change the phrase, "authorize schools to
approve" on page 3, line 25, to the phrase, "authorize school
districts to approve".
CHAIR KELLER objected and opined that the language currently in
the bill is fine as is because he doesn't want schools to have
to work with their school districts on this issue until the
number of exemptible fundraiser-days needed by a school exceeds
the number currently provided for under Version H.
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON argued that as currently written, the EED
would be authorizing the schools themselves, and so those
schools wouldn't have to comply with any of their school
district's policies on this issue. Again, it's the school
districts which have the elected boards that are responsible for
setting policy, and so to not change the aforementioned language
as proposed via Conceptual Amendment 1 would result in thwarting
the will of the voters who elected their school board members.
CHAIR KELLER disagreed.
8:44:54 AM
A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Kreiss-Tomkins and
Seaton voted in favor of Conceptual Amendment 1.
Representatives Talerico, Vazquez, and Keller voted against it.
Therefore, Conceptual Amendment 1 failed by a vote of 2-3.
8:45:38 AM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ moved to report the proposed CS for
HB 163, Version 29-LS0758\H, Glover, 3/31/15, out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal
notes. There being no objection, CSHB 163(EDC) was reported
from the House Education Standing Committee.