Legislature(2015 - 2016)SENATE FINANCE 532
03/03/2015 09:00 AM Senate FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB6 | |
| SB30 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 6 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 30 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SENATE BILL NO. 6
"An Act exempting the state from daylight saving time;
and providing for an effective date."
9:01:46 AM
Vice-Chair Micciche MOVED to ADOPT the proposed committee
substitute for SB 6, Work Draft 29-LS0111\N (Shutts,
3/2/15). Senator Dunleavy OBJECTED for discussion.
ERIN SHINE, STAFF, SENATOR ANNA MACKINNON, stated there
were two new sections in the committee substitute. She
looked at page 1, line 12, which added a requirement that
the governor petition the U.S. Department of Transportation
21 days after the effective date of that section. She
looked at page 2, line 11, which provided the immediate
effective date for Section 2 for the petition. The
effective date for Section 1, which was the elimination of
daylight saving time remained January 1, 2017.
Senator Dunleavy wondered if the bill was intended to start
a process for the U.S. Department of Transportation to
examine the issue. The department could deny the change if
they felt that it did not have a positive impact on
commerce. Ms. Shine replied in the affirmative. She
explained that the petition would not trigger the time zone
change in Alaska.
Senator Dunleavy asserted that the department must find
that the change had a positive impact on commerce. Ms.
Shine responded in the affirmative.
Co-Chair MacKinnon queried the requirements that the
department used to consider a time zone change. Ms. Shine
referred to a document "Procedure for Moving and Area from
One Time Zone to Another" (copy on file). The overarching
substantial requirement would be to decide whether the
change to a time zone was convenient for commerce.
Senator Dunleavy WITHDREW his OBJECTION. There being NO
further OBJECTION, Work Draft 29-LS0111\N was ADOPTED.
MIKE STEDMAN, OWNER, ALASKA SEAPLANES, JUNEAU, testified
against the legislation. He felt that the bill was did not
benefit commerce. He stated that his company had several
flights that operated late into the evenings, so losing an
hour of daylight would affect those operations
substantially. He stated that the five hour time difference
from the east coast would be difficult for acquiring parts.
He shared that he was also personally against the
legislation, because it would affect evening recreation.
9:07:09 AM
Senator Olson wondered if there were conversations with the
other extreme of the time zone in Alaska. Mr. Stedman
replied that the other operators had similar concerns.
Senator Olson asked if those businesses were aligned with
Mr. Stedman's perspective. Mr. Stedman replied in the
affirmative.
Co-Chair MacKinnon shared that she had received a letter
from a float plane operating company that was in support of
the legislation, because they dealt with issues of fog in
the early morning.
Senator Bishop asked for a timeframe of the most impacted
evening flying. Mr. Stedman replied that the bill would
negatively affect evening flying beginning in mid-July to
mid-September.
CRAIG DAHL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JUNEAU CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
JUNEAU, spoke against the legislation. He shared that there
was a survey conducted among the Chamber members, and over
25 percent of the members answered the survey. He stated
that 74 percent of those responding were against SB 6. He
furthered that 20 percent were in favor and 6 percent had
no opinion. The comments fell into two groups: 1) the loss
of one hour of daylight affecting tour operations; and 2)
the differential in time change with the Alaska's adjacent
market areas.
Co-Chair MacKinnon wondered if the members were informed
about the other issues of why the bill was proposed. Mr.
Dahl replied that the members were presented a straight-
forward yes or no answer option. The members were also
provided a link to the Senate Finance Committee survey.
9:12:23 AM
DAN CORSON, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, WINGS AIRWAYS, JUNEAU,
spoke against the legislation. He echoed Mr. Stedman's
comments. He shared that the bill would cause a 15 percent
loss of business.
Senator Olson wondered if there was a concern from federal
officials as to whether the bill would have enforcement
action against pilots or the air taxi. Mr. Corson replied
that he had not heard from the federal government about
enforcement action.
Senator Olson stressed that he was concerned with flight
standards of the federal government. He wondered if federal
agencies had voiced an opinion on the bill. Mr. Corson
replied that he had not heard from any federal agencies.
JIM PARISE, DIRECTOR FIXED INCOME, ALASKA PERMANENT FUND,
JUNEAU, commented against the legislation. He stressed that
they often recruited employees, based on a nice quality of
life in Juneau. He remarked that pushing the beginning of
the day to 4am, would cause many employees to get to bed
around 7pm.
Vice-Chair Micciche wondered if Mr. Parise would be in
support of two time zones in the state, as long as Juneau
was only four hours from New York City. Mr. Parise was only
commenting on the original bill.
Co-Chair MacKinnon explained that the current bill stated
that there would be an elimination of daylight savings, so
half of the year would be a four hour difference and half
of the year would be a five hour difference from New York
City. The bill would petition the federal government to
advance Alaska to Pacific Time.
Mr. Parise felt that the Pacific Time would be less
troublesome, but there would still be some confusion as to
what time to conduct business with New York.
9:17:19 AM
Vice-Chair Micciche surmised that a new time zone would see
an improvement from four hours to three hours. Mr. Parise
agree.
Co-Chair MacKinnon wondered if Mr. Parise was in
opposition. Mr. Parise stated that he was entering
comments.
LYNN WILLIS, SELF, EAGLE RIVER (via teleconference),
testified in support of the legislation. He felt that the
arguments supporting daylight saving time were not
sufficient in forcing 700,000 Alaskans to observe the
archaic law twice a year. He felt that the intent of the
federal law authorizing daylight saving time was to save
energy, and he felt that there was no testimony indicating
a reduction of energy costs by observing daylight saving
time.
Co-Chair MacKinnon apologized for not hearing Mr. Willis's
testimony at the bills previous hearing.
TOM LAURENT, SELF, PETERSBURG (via teleconference), spoke
against the original version of SB 6. He shared that moving
Southeast Alaska to the Alaska Standard Time lost an hour
of daylight during the summers. He was did not want to lose
another hour of evening daylight.
9:21:51 AM
PAULA RAK, SELF, WRANGELL (via teleconference), testified
against the original version legislation. She did not want
to lose an hour of daylight in the evenings. She felt that
an hour of daylight at 2am did not provide for a better
quality of life.
STUART COHEN, OWNER, INVISIBLE WORLD, JUNEAU, spoke against
the legislation. He stated that the legislation would
impact his business in a number of ways. He shared that the
evening tourist business after dinner was approximately 10
percent of the sales for the year. He felt that removing
the light may force cruise ship passengers to remain on the
boat.
9:26:17 AM
TOM WILLIAMS, FINANCIAL OFFICER, WARD AIR, JUNEAU,
testified against the legislation. He felt that the
legislation would adversely impact his business and
personal life. He felt that the initial drivers of the
legislation included health and safety issues; and also the
time zone issue. He felt that the original bill would have
an adverse effect on the Southeast Alaska economy.
DAVID BERG, VIKING TRAVEL, PETERSBURG (via teleconference),
spoke against the legislation. He felt that the health
issues that some likened to daylight savings time would
still occur at various times of the year. He felt that the
visitors to Alaska would be confused by the different time
zones.
9:32:18 AM
MARINA LINDSEY, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke
against the legislation. She felt that eliminating daylight
saving time would only further separate Alaska from the
contiguous United States. She worked in an office that was
based in Maryland, and hoped that she would not need to
arrive to work earlier, should the legislation pass.
RICK CURRIER, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke in
opposition to the legislation. He shared that he and his
wife were each teachers, and saw a disruption in students.
Even though he had experienced a negative disruption, he
was against the legislation. He felt that Juneau was
already in the wrong time zone.
DOROTHY WILSON, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), felt
that Southeast Alaska should not be a different time zone
than the rest of the state. She shared that she conducted
business throughout the state, and felt that splitting time
zones in the state would have an adverse effect on her
business and personal life.
9:38:59 AM
PATTI MACKEY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, KETCHIKAN VISITORS BUREAU,
KETCHIKAN (via teleconference), spoke against the
legislation. She relayed that some of the tourism
businesses in Ketchikan would be negatively impacted by the
loss of evening daylight. She remarked that some of the
maritime vessel operations would also be negatively
impacted. She focused her comments on the impact on the
cruise ship industry.
POSIE BOGGS, SELF, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), spoke
against SB 6. She shared that there were 23 national health
centers that were reflected in Alaska's health non-profits.
She shared that she was a volunteer for literacy non-
profits, and her colleagues were online late at night from
the eastern part of the U.S. She felt that it would disrupt
the health work, because it often took weeks to take phone
meetings with researchers.
MARY DESMET, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke
against the legislation. She stated that she had
experienced all of the time zone changes in Alaska. She
stressed that Alaska was a large state, so most of the
impacts were related to Southeast Alaska. She felt that
issue was extremely complicated. She urged the committee to
examine the issue further, and she felt that the statistics
in the polls did not reflect accurate data. She urged the
committee to focus on other issues.
9:46:12 AM
BRETT CARLSON, SELF, COLDFOOT (via teleconference),
testified against the legislation. He appreciated the
efforts of the committee. He stressed that it started to
get darker in the Arctic region beginning in August. He
stated that it was important that there be sunlight for the
flight seeing industry. He remarked that time zone change
would eliminate the ability to operate the tours in the
last quarter of the season.
Senator Olson stressed that safety was the paramount
concern in the air travel industry. He wondered how the
legislation would impact Mr. Carlson's safety operations.
Mr. Carson replied that he also operated an air taxi
service. He stated that Alaskans tended to fly later in the
evening. He stressed that the adjustment to early evening
departure times in the late summer was in order to avoid
the darkness. He remarked that many rural aircrafts did not
have sophisticated lighting and navigation systems.
Co-Chair MacKinnon CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair MacKinnon remarked that there was a zero fiscal
note. She wondered if the committee substitute would
require a change in the fiscal note.
9:53:22 AM
TOM MAYOR, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF GENERAL SERVICES,
DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION, JUNEAU (via teleconference),
responded that the department did not anticipate a change
to the fiscal note.
Vice-Chair Micciche MOVED to REPORT CS SB 6 (FIN) out of
committee with individual recommendations and the
accompanying fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was
so ordered.
Senator Hoffman commented that he understood the impacts of
the legislation on Southeast Alaska. He was a strong
supporter of keeping the capital in Juneau. He shared that
he represented western Alaska, and remarked that Dutch
Harbor was closer to Tokyo than it was to Washington D.C.
He stressed that there were many parts of the state that
would see a great benefit to the legislation. He stated
that every portion of the state of Alaska supported the
legislation in the survey that was provided by the
committee.
Co-Chair MacKinnon explained that there was a survey that
Alaskans could take on the Senate Finance Committee
website.
CSSB 6 (FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass"
recommendation and with one previously published zero
fiscal note: FN1 (ADM).
9:57:37 AM
AT EASE
10:04:22 AM
RECONVENED