Legislature(2005 - 2006)CAPITOL 124
04/14/2005 01:00 PM House MILITARY & VETERANS' AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB245 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 245 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 212 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AND VETERANS' AFFAIRS
April 14, 2005
1:08 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Bob Lynn, Chair
Representative Nancy Dahlstrom
Representative Jim Elkins
Representative Bill Thomas
Representative Max Gruenberg
Representative Sharon Cissna
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Lesil McGuire
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 245
"An Act relating to registration and license plate fees for
Purple Heart recipients, prisoners of war, Congressional Medal
of Honor recipients, and spouses of current prisoners of war."
- MOVED CSHB 245(MLV) OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE BILL NO. 212
"An Act relating to exemptions from municipal property taxes for
certain primary residences; and providing for an effective
date."
- BILL HEARING POSTPONED
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 245
SHORT TITLE: VETERANS' & POW'S VEHICLE FEES/TAXES
SPONSOR(S): MILITARY & VETERANS' AFFAIRS
04/01/05 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
04/01/05 (H) MLV, FIN
04/07/05 (H) MLV AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 124
04/07/05 (H) <Bill Hearing Postponed>
04/14/05 (H) MLV AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 124
WITNESS REGISTER
DUANE BANNOCK, Director
Division of Motor Vehicles
Department of Administration
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Offered explanation of the fiscal note for
HB 245 as well as suggested changes to the legislation.
NANCY MANLY, Staff
to Representative Lynn
House Special Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information regarding discussions
with Legislative Legal and Research Services regarding HB 245.
BENNO CLEVELAND, President
Alaska Native Veterans' Association;
Commander, Military Order of Purple Hearts - Chapter 675
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 245.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR BOB LYNN called the House Special Committee on Military
and Veterans' Affairs meeting to order at 1:11:05 PM.
Representatives Lynn, Dahlstrom, Elkins, Thomas, and Gruenberg
were present at the call to order. Representative Cissna
arrived as the meeting was in progress.
HB 245-VETERANS' & POW'S VEHICLE FEES/TAXES
CHAIR LYNN announced that the only order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 245, "An Act relating to registration and license
plate fees for Purple Heart recipients, prisoners of war,
Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, and spouses of current
prisoners of war."
1:12:31 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG explained that HB 245 was originally
offered to allow Purple Heart recipients to receive special
license plates without paying the $30 special license plate fee.
However, the legislation has been expanded to include prisoners
of war and their spouses as well as Congressional Medal of Honor
recipients. He further explained that these individuals would
receive one noncommercial motor vehicle special license plate.
He noted that the director of the Division of Veterans' Affairs
is designated to determine the design and color of the
Congressional Medal of Honor license plates.
1:15:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG moved to adopt CSHB 245, Version 24-
LS0604\F, Luckhaupt, 4/13/05, as the working document. There
being no objection, Version F was before the committee.
1:15:49 PM
DUANE BANNOCK, Director, Division of Motor Vehicles, Department
of Administration, noted that the division has reviewed HB 245
and has attached a relatively small fiscal note. Mr. Bannock
related that conceptually the division is in support of this
legislation. However, the new language in Section 3 of Version
F is inconsistent with the language in Section 1, which
specifically provides free vehicle registration along with [a
free] special license plate.
CHAIR LYNN announced that the committee would address that later
in the hearing.
1:17:53 PM
CHAIR LYNN turned attention to the fiscal note and related his
understanding that there would be a cost to design the
Congressional Medal of Honor license plate, which would be about
$250, which is included in the fiscal note.
MR. BANNOCK confirmed that, adding that $250 to $300 will take a
license plate from design to production, but won't obtain the
design of the plate. Section 2, he pointed out, specifies that
the design and the color will be done in conjunction with the
Division of Veterans' Affairs. The aforementioned has been done
in the past with other organizations.
CHAIR LYNN said that at this time he didn't know of any
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who lives in Alaska.
Furthermore, he said that he couldn't imagine there will ever be
more than a few living in the state at any given time.
1:19:42 PM
MR. BANNOCK agreed, and highlighted that's largely why the
fiscal note is so small.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked then if Mr. Bannock would have an
objection to changing the fiscal note to eliminate the
contractual provision since there are no Congressional Medal of
Honor recipients in Alaska.
MR. BANNOCK pointed out that the fiscal note attached to the
legislation is for $500, which includes the prisoners of war
section as well.
1:21:01 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ELKINS asked if there are any spouses of these
individuals living in Alaska, and said that he would want to be
sure of that before changing the fiscal note.
1:21:49 PM
MR. BANNOCK pointed out that the fiscal note addresses several
functions. The one-time $5,000 contractual fee is intended to
go to the division [for the work required to offer this].
Furthermore, the division is working hard to make this as
automated [a process] as possible. Because of the projected use
of the new plate being so small, Mr. Bannock felt comfortable
[with this small fiscal note]. He explained that the change in
revenues in the amount of negative $2,000 comes from the
division's projection that 50 Purple Heart license plates
would've paid $30 per license plate and a projected five current
prisoners of war or Congressional Medal of Honor recipients and
their spouses would take advantage of this special license
plate.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked if Mr. Bannock had any suggested
changes.
1:25:15 PM
MR. BANNOCK suggested that if Section 3 was eliminated entirely,
the division would, by prior design, have a Congressional Medal
of Honor license plate that would be provided at no extra cost
and individuals otaining such license plates would have no
charge for their vehicle registration. The aforementioned is
how the license plates were handled for Pearl Harbor survivors
and former prisoners of war. While there is no specific
statutory provision for the creation of a Pearl Harbor license
plate, the division has that plate in inventory. Therefore, by
adding Congressional Medal of Honor to Section 1, it would seem
to achieve what the committee desires.
1:26:23 PM
MR. BANNOCK, in agreeing with Representative Gruenberg,
confirmed that he merely wanted to eliminate the change on page
2, line 15, but leave the change on page 2, line 12.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG moved that the committee adopt
Amendment 1, as follows:
Page 2, line 15:
Delete all material
CHAIR LYNN objected for purposes of discussion.
REPRESENTATIVE ELKINS informed the committee that he and
Representative Thomas will have to leave shortly to attend
another meeting.
CHAIR LYNN removed his objection. There being no further
objection, Amendment 1 was adopted.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked if Mr. Bannock wanted to have
statutory authorization to manufacture prisoner of war,
Congressional Medal of Honor, and Pearl Harbor plates. If so,
Representative Gruenberg offered to propose a conceptual
amendment to do so.
MR. BANNOCK suggested inserting "or Congressional Medal of
Honor" at the beginning of line 14 because he believed that
would provide the division the statutory authority to create the
plates.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG surmised then that the division would
be able to sell those plates to the spouses of prisoners of war.
MR. BANNOCK said that would be correct under the language in
Section 1.
CHAIR LYNN informed the committee that committee staff has been
in contact with Legislative Legal and Research Services, which
would rather have such a change done conceptually.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG moved that the committee adopt
Conceptual Amendment 2, as follows:
Page 1, line 13, following "Pearl Harbor":
Insert "Congressional Medal of Honor, prisoner of
war"
MR. BANNOCK pointed out that the aforementioned almost renders
Section 2 moot.
1:29:18 PM
NANCY MANLY, Staff to Representative Lynn, House Special
Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs, Alaska State
Legislature, related that the drafting attorney, Jerry
Luckhaupt, said that if the committee wanted the Congressional
Medal of Honor recipients to have free registration, then he
preferred it to be conceptual and not specifically in Section 1.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG then amended Conceptual Amendment 2
such that [Congressional Medal of Honor recipients receive free
registration and that the drafting attorney insert this where
best suited in the legislation].
There being no objection, Conceptual Amendment 2, as amended,
was adopted.
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to report CSHB 245, Version 24-
LS0604\F, Luckhaupt, 4/13/05, as amended, out of committee with
individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes.
There being no objection, CSHB 245(MLV) was reported from the
House Special Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs.
1:30:50 PM
BENNO CLEVELAND, President, Alaska Native Veterans' Association;
Commander, Military Order of Purple Hearts - Chapter 675, began
by noting his support for HB 245. He remarked that there are a
lot of veterans in the state. Mr. Cleveland opined that this
license plat may help with the healing process that some need to
go through. Passage of this legislation will be a good way for
the state to honor those who have received the Purple Heart.
CHAIR LYNN thanked Mr. Cleveland for his service.
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM also thanked Mr. Cleveland for his
service, and added that this legislation is a small token to
honor those who have served this nation.
CHAIR LYNN invited committee members to review the resumes of
the Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. He then suggested
that at some point the committee may want to consider doing
something for Vietnam veterans.
[CSHB 245(MLV) was reported out of committee.]
CHAIR LYNN asked if the subcommittee [on HB 168] had met.
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM said no, but assured the committee that
it will meet prior to the next meeting of the committee as a
whole.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG noted that there have been discussions
with the administration and the drafters.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs meeting was
adjourned at 1:35:05 PM.
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