Legislature(2015 - 2016)BUTROVICH 205
02/10/2015 09:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB6 | |
| SJR2 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 6 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SJR 2 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
SB 6-ELIMINATE DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
9:02:10 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE announced that the business before the committee
was the consideration of SB 6.
9:02:30 AM
SENATOR ANNA MACKINNON, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau,
Alaska, provided a sponsor's overview as follows:
SB 6 is requesting a conversation with the people of
Alaska about the repeal of Daylight Saving Time (DST).
As many of you know in 1784, Benjamin Franklin in an
effort to save "wax and wicks" suggested that we could
change the time that we do our daily living activities
and save energy. DST was first implemented in the
United States in 1918 and in 1966, America adopted the
Uniform Time Act. In 2005, the Energy Policy Act
extended DST, we're now participating in the moving
forward of one hour every day for almost 7 months. Mr.
Chairman and members of the committee, I don't have
any personal ambition about repealing DST or not, but
I would like to bring to your attention is some of the
effects that DST has differently than other states on
Alaskans, and Americans in general.
9:02:59 AM
SENATOR COGHILL joined the committee meeting.
SENATORY MCGUIRE joined the committee meeting.
SENATOR MACKINNON reviewed statistics from a study referring to
health consequences from DST as follows:
I know each of you are aware of the heavy incidences
of suicide in Alaska. I alluded to this in a previous
session. When I first brought forward DST I asserted
that there may be a relationship between suicide and
DST and it's just the flipping, it's the changing of
times and how everyone's body associates itself with
the sun. We are creatures of this world and the sun
and the moon actually does have an effect on our
wellbeing and as we move back and forth between these
two times that are artificially put before us by the
U.S. Government, we are affecting people's health.
In your packets there are studies, we have studies
that show that heart attack rates for men in the first
24 or 48 hours coming out of DST in March that your
heart attack rates increase by almost 5 percent; as
well, we have a study that shows the rates of suicide
for men. There's also issues regarding safety in the
workplace and car crashes that happen more frequently
in the spring. We have feedback from across the state,
but specifically Northwest Alaska regarding attendance
issues in schools as well as testing issues for our
students and how students actually have lower
performance rates when we move on and off of DST.
While I haven't provided it, I do have the
documentation for you, we have studies regarding
energy and the increased energy cost, at least in
Indiana when they moved on to DST and they saw an
increase of $9 million overall for that increase. What
I'm here to tell you is in the past we've moved on and
off because of energy issues because of DST and while
that may or may not be a fact, from my perspective, we
have adverse health effects with this flipping on and
off.
9:06:13 AM
SENATOR MAKINNON addressed support for SB 6 as follows:
I always like to know who is in support and who is in
opposition to different pieces of legislation so that
we may make sure we bring those particular
constituencies to the table when we talk about policy
issues that could affect businesses or health. So I
would just advise you that some feedback I've received
is from the financial markets, they are concerned that
moving off of DST would create their employees having
to come to work one hour earlier, so we would be off
of Wall Street per se by five hours for almost seven
months out of the year, so that is a concern that
those employees would have to come to work earlier;
but, I would refer you to other personal testimony,
Mr. Dan Cuddy, [Chairman] of First National Bank
Alaska, is in favor of moving the time zone, that's
just one instance of people with different
perspectives of this issue, but I wanted to make sure
you knew that from a financial perspective people
would have to come to work earlier, possibly to meet
those markets or change the way that they do business
in some way. To counteract that particular assertion,
we do have people that believe that technology has
brought us a long way and that those business
practices could be accommodated in this world for
Alaska.
The second group I have heard from when I carried this
bill in the past was the networks and the networks
said that they may have trouble bringing live TV, like
a live football game may be a challenge because of
timing issues; so to try to address that particular
need we extended the effective date out until 2017 so
that those that had to schedule things like Alaska
Airlines who we are reaching out to and others that
have scheduling issues, cruise ships as an example,
that they would have a full year and a half to
implement changes and so they could respond. So we
have tried to be responsive to people who have
suggested troubles for their particular industry. In
addition, I had a group of individuals before me
yesterday during a meeting environment that was
talking to me about DST, those are private tourism
companies that have direct schedules to when a cruise
ship docks and the specific folks spoke to me
yesterday said there may be difficulty getting the
last helicopter flight or the last air flight during
the evening if we moved forward in time and stayed
there.
In favor of DST opposition I believe are over 50
percent of Alaskans. We have a survey that is opening
up online right now, that's at AlaskaSenate.org\DST.
The last time I had this legislation we had over 500
people from across the Alaska, specifically our
teachers in Northwest Alaska and as I've said before,
are supportive and talked to increased disruption I
their classroom.
9:09:42 AM
SENATOR MACKINNON summarized that the DST issue is very
important to Alaskans. She noted that she had introduced similar
legislation six years prior and added that Senator Wielechowski
also introduced a bill during the Session. She said the
difference between the bill she introduced 6 years ago and SB 6
was that the previous bill was tied to specific DST dates. She
explained that the federal government can change dates at any
time and Alaska would then randomly be forced back on DST. She
said SB 6 is tied directly to the federal government's code on
time versus the specific dates. She added that the effective
date is further out to accommodate those that may be adversely
effected by scheduling.
9:10:28 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE asked Senator MacKinnon to address the effects
from Alaska's time zone consolidation in 1983.
SENATOR MACKINNON noted that Southeast Alaska is geographically
opposed. She noted that Southeast Alaska had given up an hour
from consolidation. She pointed out that Southeast Alaska used
to be linked to Seattle and they still believe their economy is
crucially linked to Seattle. She said Southeast Alaska feels
like they have already given up their hour as a team effort for
the whole state to align. She specified that there are currently
two time zones, Adak and further west is on Hawaii Time.
CHAIR STOLTZE asked how many time zones Alaska had prior to the
consolidation.
SENATOR MACKINNON answered five.
CHAIR STOLTZE commented that Alaska had more time zones than the
Continental U.S.
SENATOR MACKINNON added that her original attempt was to advance
Alaska's time zone and stay off of DST so Alaska would be three
hours off of the stock markets and aligned with Seattle. She
revealed that Alaska was told that the state could not do that.
She said SB 6 is specific about the revolving back-and-forth
issue that is directly related to health that is supported with
statistics. She conceded that an additional conversation is
needed at some point to address the consolidation of five time
zones. She noted that the Northwest Arctic's students are
impacted from the artificial time change when the sun is at its
highest at 3:00 p.m. rather than noon. She stated that sun-time
has a significant impact on health. She revealed that while
serving on Alaska's Suicide Prevention Council, she hypothesized
whether there could be an issue with Alaska's sun-time versus
suicide rates and noted that she did not have any proven studies
when she carried her previous bill six years ago. She asserted
that she now has some initial research that addresses sun-time
versus suicide rates.
CHAIR STOLTZE asked what authorizing entities must be contacted
for time zone changes and inquired what the next steps are
should SB 6 pass.
SENATOR MACKINNON replied that a letter would be issued by the
Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) to the federal
government for the state to make a case for changing a time
zone.
9:13:36 AM
ERIN SHINE, Staff, Senator Mackinnon, Alaska State Legislature,
Juneau, Alaska, explained that changing a time zone requires a
two-step process. She specified that the state would have to
exempt itself from the Uniform Time Act and then either pass a
resolution or executive order to petition the U.S. DOT.
CHAIR STOLTZE noted that Senator Wielechowski has a companion
bill. He asked Senator Wielechowski for any comments.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI explained that he has met with Senator
MacKinnon and supports SB 6. He noted that when he first ran for
office going door-to-door, he was surprised at the magnitude of
feeling that people have about DST. He revealed that he surveyed
his constituents a year ago and 75 percent supported changing
DST.
CHAIR STOLTZE commented that the feeling from constituents is
probably higher during March and October.
SENATOR HUGGINS concurred that his constituents feel the same as
Senator Wielechowski's constituents. He asked if the
Administration supports SB 6.
SENATOR MACKINNON answered that a request was made to meet with
the Governor's office and to date there has not been a response
that allows her to ask the question.
SENATOR HUGGINS noted that receiving word from the
Administration is important in order to unite the regions and
understand the rational and the Administration is the right
place to do that. He apologized for addressing DST over the past
years because it is artificial and people realize that. He
commended Senator Mackinnon for taking on the DST task once
again.
9:16:21 AM
SENATOR MCGUIRE noted that she has supported the DST change in
the past. She said a series of economic and health impacts were
noted and pointed out that the committee had not heard whether
the Chamber of Commerce supported SB 6 due to possible DST
impact on workplace efficiency.
MS. SHINE noted two DST studies that show a financial impact on
businesses where an increase in non-work related websites are
accessed as well as an increase in workplace injuries during the
time switch in the spring when an hour is lost.
SENATOR MACKINNON noted that an article pointed out that
thousands of hours are lost as far as gross domestic product by
just changing mechanical clocks twice a year.
SENATOR COGHILL asked why the U.S. DOT must be involved.
SENATOR MACKINNON explained that the U.S. DOT acts as a central
location to notify other countries. She reiterated that the
state has to make a case for a time zone change with a
resolution.
9:19:47 AM
SENATOR COGHILL asked if the Governor is involved in the time
zone change request.
MS. SHINE replied that to change Alaska's time zone, the state
would have to petition or pass a resolution requesting the U.S.
DOT to change the state's time zones.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if a resolution should be prepared in
anticipation of a time zone change.
SENATOR MACKINNON replied that she will let Senator Coghill know
as soon as she talks to the Governor.
CHAIR STOLTZE explained that in 1983, Governor Sheffield made
the personal request to then Secretary of Transportation,
Elizabeth Dole during the Regan Administration. He specified
that a state generally asks permission for a time zone change
rather than demanding a change from the federal government.
MS. SHINE answered that Chair Stoltze is correct.
SENATOR HUGGINS stated that to say Alaska is in a different time
zone is an understatement. He noted that the number of days to
gain 1 hour of daylight after DST is 6 days in Barrow and 40
days in Miami.
CHAIR STOLTZE announced that the committee will proceed to
public testimony.
9:22:44 AM
LYNN WILLIS, representing himself, Eagle River, Alaska, Supports
SB 6. He said most Alaskans want to stop DST. He pointed out
that he is concerned that the bill will meet the same fate as
five previous bills that did not pass the Legislature since
1999. He stated that the 1983 time zone change placed Alaska's
southcentral and western communities on permanent DST. He noted
that DST causes problems with the human circadian rhythm where
the sun is at its highest during DST at 2:00 p.m. in Anchorage,
3:00 p.m. in Kotzebue and Nome. He opined that proponents have
argued that DST is necessary for commerce, a claim that is no
longer valid due to the impact from the internet's 24 hour a day
business cycle. He said DST works in the temperate zones and
tends not to work in the polar or equatorial regions where the
length of day either varies significantly or hardly at all. He
stated that when DST was moved up a month, mornings without
daylight were extended which makes for dangerous working
conditions for outdoor workplaces. He summarized that DST does
not save energy and noted that no testimony has ever been given
or information provided that cites energy savings in Alaska.
9:27:50 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE noted that he is a co-sponsor for SB 6. He
revealed that Senator MacKinnon's previous legislation passed
through the House Finance Committee.
9:28:25 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE announced that committee will stand at ease.
9:28:37 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE called the committee back to order. He stated that
now is the time for the Administration to step forward and note
their issues or concerns. He asked Senator MacKinnon if she had
any questions for the Administration.
SENATOR MACKINNON noted that the financial impact on the state
changing its "mechanicals" twice a year is not known.
CHAIR STOLTZE asked Mr. Mayer for a comment on DST's fiscal or
technical impacts on the state.
9:30:02 AM
THOMAS MAYER, Director, Division of General Services, Alaska
Department of Administration (DOA), Juneau, Alaska, explained
that the DOA manages approximately 20 buildings and the vast
majority are on electronic systems that automatically adjusts.
He specified that electronic systems are simple to adjust and
there is minimal savings if Alaska goes off of DST. He said for
the buildings that DOA manages, most have had a significant
amount of energy work done. He asserted that the DOA does not
see any fiscal impact to the department at all.
CHAIR STOLTZE stated that it is hard to put a value on a
happier, healthier, more rested workforce.
MR. MAYER replied that what Chair Stoltze noted is pretty hard
to do from a facility standpoint. He pointed out that he was
speaking specifically from a facility standpoint and did not
claim to have personal knowledge of whether or not having DST
will make him healthier or not.
SENATOR COGHILL asked Mr. Mayer if the DOA manages some of the
DOT's facilities.
MR. MAYER answered no. He explained that the DOA strictly
manages facilities assigned by the Legislature or the
Administration. He specified that DOA manages 12 public building
fund buildings and 6 non-public building fund buildings which
are traditionally non-office space buildings that are warehouse
type buildings. He specified that DOT manages their own
buildings and noted that they have a very large portfolio of
buildings as well.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if there is anything that Mr. Mayer would
find in opposing the resolution he previously proposed to the
Administration to exempt the state from DST.
MR. MAYER answered no.
SENATOR COGHILL noted that DOT should be on the record due to
their impact from DST.
CHAIR STOLTZE opined that there is consensus to move SB 6 out of
committee. He asserted that all of the Administration's
departments should provide comments on any DST challenges.
9:34:21 AM
JAY BUTLER, MD, Chief Medical Officer, and Director, Division of
Public Health, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services,
Anchorage, Alaska.
CHAIR STOLTZE announced that the committee will not ask Dr.
Butler to take a position and asked for general comments. He
stated that Dr. Butler's input will not be viewed as the
Administration's position.
DR. BUTLER addressed the increased rates of heart attaches after
the period DST takes effect and pointed out that the study came
from Sweden, an Arctic region rather than a temperate area. He
noted another study that revealed increased rates of motor
vehicle accidents during the day after the one hour DST change
in the spring. He revealed that he had recently looked at the
seasonality of suicide. He explained that there is a peak in
suicide in mid-summer and another in November. He stated that he
cannot say that there is a causation in November is due to the
change back to standard time from DST.
CHAIR STOLTZE thanked Dr. Butler and asked if anyone would like
to testify.
9:36:55 AM
MIKE STEDMAN, business owner, Wings Airways, Juneau, Alaska,
explained that Wings Airways is a tour operator business that
caters to the cruise ships in the summer time. He added that
Alaska Seaplanes is also a business that he owns that acts as a
small commuter airline that flies throughout Southeast Alaska.
He said he opposes SB 6 because in the summer time, as the
daylight starts to dwindle, there are late trips that will be
impacted because of the daylight issue. He explained that
floatplanes cannot land on water during darkness. He revealed
that Wings Airways' cruise ship business will realize a 20
percent reduction in tours as well as a loss of charter business
on Alaska Seaplanes due to the loss of DST. He asserted that SB
6 is a commerce issue that will cause a big impact with a 20
percent loss in revenue for his business.
9:38:50 AM
MIKE WILSON, member, Leadership Council, National Federation of
Independent Business-Alaska, Juneau, Alaska, noted that he
operates an aviation business in Juneau and stated that his
business finds DST to be an inconvenience.
CHAIR STOLTZE noted that Mr. Wilson's company is a helicopter
tour business.
MR. WILSON answered correct.
SENATOR COGHILL noted that the timeline for the bill's sponsor
takes the movement of cruise ships into account. He asked if Mr.
Wilson's company is in the tourism business.
MR. WILSON answered correct. He stated that his business will
not be affected because his permits require tours to be
completed by 8:00 p.m.
CHAIR STOLTZE asked if Mr. Wilson's permit is based on a local
ordinance.
MR. WILSON answered that the permits are federal and regulated
by the U.S. Forest Service.
9:40:41 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE announced that public testimony is closed. He
asked Senator MacKinnon if she had spoken to the education
community regarding DST's impact.
SENATOR MACKINNON replied that her office is reaching out to
every opportunity that it can. She said that she will verify
that her staff has reached out to all of the school districts in
Alaska.
CHAIR STOLTZE noted that a principal in his district is
addressing DST to advise the district's superintendent.
SENATOR MACKINNON specified that she does not want to adversely
affect any business. She said after she heard from Mr. Stedman,
she reached out to the cruise industry and noted that Mr.
Stedman had indicated that it is difficult to change the
schedules for the cruise ship because her intention is not to
harm anyone but to help people in any way possible. She conceded
that there are tradeoffs and asserted that the health aspect is
the overwhelming concern for her in advancing SB 6. She said she
will run the numbers in the Senate Finance Committee to
absolutely understand how businesses will be disadvantaged by SB
6.
9:43:10 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE stated that he is confident that Senator MacKinnon
will continue to research the bill's pros and cons. He said he
has no discomfort in moving SB 6 forward and noted the bill's
zero fiscal note. He added that Senator MacKinnon will further
study any impacts and noted that the Administration certainly
has a right to change the fiscal note.
SENATOR MACKINNON stated that her purpose is to have a policy
discussion in front of the people of Alaska. She noted that she
had discussions with the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation and
the Department of Revenue regarding the negative impact from SB
6 due to the added time difference when dealing with the
financial markets. She reiterated that her concern pertains to
the issue of health. She said she would consider a second step
to review Alaska's time zones after DST is addressed. She
reiterated that the state's legal department revealed that
Alaska cannot change to permanent DST.
SENATOR COGHILL commented that every policy the committee brings
up uncovers another need for policy. He opined that the time
zone really answers more to the objections of this bill than
almost anything that he has seen so far. He said if the state is
going to be under one time zone, then the flexibility between
the furthest east and the furthest west are just going to be in
huge tension with DST highlighting that. He asked if there is
anything the Legislature can do to help bring the time zone
issue up. He assumed that the time zone change is a federal
issue. He inquired if a resolution is required for a time zone
change.
9:45:22 AM
SENATOR MACKINNON replied that she has reached out to Alaska's
congressional delegation. She pointed out that different states
at different times are all trying to get off of DST and
specified that time-flipping is a health problem. She noted that
Dr. Butler had suggested that time-flipping is similar to jet-
lag where some people require 5 to 10 days to adjust.
She summarized that there is nothing that can be done at the
current time except recognizing DST's health consequences
followed by addressing Southeast Alaska's business issues. She
asserted that Alaska's northern and western communities,
especially children, struggle with being three hours off of
their circadian rhythm. She noted that March and November are
higher points of suicide rates in Alaska and she is trying to
see if the rates occur after the DST changes. She opined that
the state is having huge issues and dealing with DST from a
biological perspective is the right way to go.
9:48:10 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI noted that switching permanently to DST
solves a lot of the business community issues. He asked what
Senator MacKinnon's concerns are with switching to permanent
DST.
SENATOR MACKINNON answered that she is in favor of a permanent
DST and noted that she had originally asked the Legislature's
legal department to look at permanent DST. She revealed that the
legal department said the state could not switch to permanent
DST. She added that the National Conference of State
Legislatures revealed that several other states were actually
proceeding with eliminating DST. She added that changing DST and
time zones at the same time previously delayed legislation. She
reiterated that addressing Alaska's time zones should occur
after the state is taken off of DST.
CHAIR STOLTZE noted that he erred in saying that there was a
fiscal note. He added that the Administration has the
opportunity to express any concerns or potential costs.
9:50:17 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI moved that the committee move SB 6, [29-
LS0111\H], out of committee with individual recommendations and
zero fiscal note.
9:50:27 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE announced that hearing no objection, SB 6 moves
from committee.