02/20/2008 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES

        HB 315-EXTEND BIG GAME COMMERCIAL SERVICES BOARD                                                                    
                                                                                                                              
4:52:53 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR HUGGINS announced HB 315 to be up for consideration.                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
4:53:21 PM                                                                                                                    
LINDA HAY,  staff to  Representative Ralph  Samuels, said  HB 315                                                               
was introduced by  the Legislative Budget and  Audit Committee to                                                               
extend the sunset date of  the Big Game Commercial Services Board                                                               
to June  30, 2012. This  complies with the recommendation  of the                                                               
Legislative Budget and Audit Committee  who conducted an audit of                                                               
the newly reinstituted board.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
4:54:04 PM                                                                                                                    
PAT DAVISON, Legislative Auditor,  Division of Legislative Audit,                                                               
said the  results of  their audit recommended  that the  board be                                                               
extended for  four years. A  four-year extension rather  than the                                                               
typical eight-year  was appropriate in this  circumstance because                                                               
this board had been reconstituted  and had only been in existence                                                               
for  two years.  The  audit didn't  recommend  any regulatory  or                                                               
statutory changes.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR HUGGINS asked  if there were any red flags  the audit found                                                               
that they should be aware of.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
MS. DAVIDSON  replied the audit found  administrative issues. One                                                               
of  the recommendations  suggested  that less  data be  captured,                                                               
because they were capturing data  from hunt reports and it wasn't                                                               
clear who  the users  were; so the  audit wasn't  confident those                                                               
records would  be used by anyone.  The board has a  lot of issues                                                               
to deal with, but they are dealing with them.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR HUGGINS  commented that it  appears there is a  pretty long                                                               
time-line   for  resolving   some   of  the   issues,  which   is                                                               
understandable since it is a new organization.                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
4:57:08 PM                                                                                                                    
ROBERT FITHIAN,  Executive Director, Alaska  Professional Hunters                                                               
Association, supported HB 315. He said  the board is doing a good                                                               
job and its image has improved.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR HUGGINS  thanked everyone for  their testimony and  held HB
.