04/12/2022 08:00 AM House COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS

           HB 402-IDENTIFICATION OF CONTRACTOR IN ADS                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
9:04:54 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR HANNAN announced  that the next order  of business would                                                               
be  HOUSE  BILL  NO.  402, "An  Act  relating  to  identification                                                               
requirements for contractors and home inspectors."                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
9:05:07 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
RYAN  JOHNSTON,  Staff,  Representative  Calvin  Schrage,  Alaska                                                               
State Legislature,  presented HB 402 on  behalf of Representative                                                               
Schrage, prime sponsor.  He said  the bill would address an issue                                                               
related to the advertising requirements  of contractors, based on                                                               
statute  established  in 1968.    The  contractors currently  are                                                               
required  "to list  fairly specific  language" and  HB 402  would                                                               
provide opportunity for an online  option.  He read the sectional                                                               
analysis of HB  402, included in the committee packet.   The bill                                                               
would amend  AS 08.18.171 to  add new language specifying  that a                                                               
contractor's  Internet website  or "landing  page" satisfies  the                                                               
contractor's  identification requirements.    He  said Section  2                                                               
would amend  AS 08.18.053(b); he  indicated that the  same action                                                               
would be taken  for home inspectors.  He noted  that HB 402 would                                                               
add  the  definition of  "landing  page"     a single  page  that                                                               
appears  in response  to clicking  on a  search engine  and other                                                               
advertisement.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
9:07:15 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  DRUMMOND  expressed  total understanding  of  the                                                               
proposed legislation.                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
MR. JOHNSTON  noted that  the bill looks  to help  small business                                                               
owners with multiple licenses by modernizing the process.                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
9:09:06 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MR. JOHNSTON,  in response  to Representative  McCarty, explained                                                               
that  the   bill  would  establish   a  way  for   all  licensing                                                               
information to be  made available in one  online search platform.                                                               
In response to a follow-up  question, he confirmed Representative                                                               
McCarty was correct in saying  that the website information would                                                               
still need to be included in a print advertisement.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
9:11:53 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR HANNAN,  to clarify, offered her  understanding that the                                                               
proposed bill would not require use  of a website but would allow                                                               
it.                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
MR. JOHNSTON confirmed that is correct.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
9:13:54 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  SCHRAGE,  as  prime sponsor,  confirmed  that  Co-Chair                                                               
Hannan had aptly  expressed the status quo in  comparison to what                                                               
HB 402 would allow.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
9:14:04 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR HANNAN announced that HB 402 was held over.