Legislature(2007 - 2008)BELTZ 211
03/22/2007 09:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB117 | |
| SB92 | |
| SB115 | |
| SB16 | |
| SB33 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 16 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 117 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 33 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| = | SB 92 | ||
| = | SB 115 | ||
SB 16-EXTEND REGULATORY COMMISSION OF ALASKA
9:36:10 AM
CHAIR MCGUIRE announced the consideration of SB 16. This is the
first hearing and the bill would not move today.
SENATOR GENE THERRIAULT, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor of SB
16, said the original bill contained the auditor's suggestion of
an eight-year sunset extension for the Regulatory Commission of
Alaska (RCA), but CSSB 16(CRA) is before the committee, and it
rolls the extension back to six years and adds a two-year report
card. The report card would not be a full-fledged audit but
simply information on the RCA meeting its timelines. The two-
year report card makes it important to keep the extension at
multiples of two. He noted that regulated entities have
requested changes to the RCA, but he suggested extending the RCA
first. Without the RCA, all the issues will end up in the
legislature's lap. "We do need to extend the RCA; the bill that
is before you is that specific policy call." He said he has been
working on the proposed changes, and he hoped the administration
would support a separate package of changes to the way the RCA
operated, but the administration is too busy so he will look for
a sponsor.
9:40:22 AM
SENATOR THERRIAULT said there is growing consensus to make
changes including commissioner salaries, adding an executive
director, and adding statutory timelines. If the regulated
community doesn't get too greedy, a package can be created with
broad support. He said he is working on that. The legislature
may want to bundle the two issues together, but keeping the
sunset extension clean is his preference, he stated.
9:41:43 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked what the two-year report does, and asked
if changes can occur at that time.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said certainly the legislature can introduce
a bill at any year if it thinks the RCA has gone way off course.
The report card provides that information to the legislature to
indicate if something is going astray, like missing timelines or
increasing the number of appealed cases. It is useful
information to have before the sunset, he said. The RCA is a
quasi-judicial entity overseeing a lot of dollars, he noted.
9:43:37 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked if the report would just go to the Budget
and Audit committee.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said it would be done by the "audit shop" and
submitted to the legislature.
SENATOR STEVENS asked how it will arrive and who will see it.
SENATOR THERRIAULT it would just be a report that is presented
to the bodies with the secretary reading it across. He noted
that anyone in the regulated community with a concern will
certainly bring it to the attention of legislators.
9:44:44 AM
SENATOR FRENCH asked why Sections 2 and 3 are repealers and
reenactments, and what has changed or been lost.
KATE GIARD, Chair, Regulatory Commission of Alaska, said there
was language that changed a reporting date. November 15 is far
timelier and gives auditors a chance to look at it and report to
the legislature by January. There was also language that
required the RCA to report on things that it did not actually
do, including the status of the development of utilities, which
it has never done. Repealing that will clean things up.
9:46:57 AM
CHAIR MCGUIRE read the statute that is being eliminated. AS 42.05.211
currently states:
The commission shall by February 15 of each year publish an
annual report reviewing its work and notify the legislature
that the report is available. The report must contain
information and data that bear a significant relationship
to the development and regulation of public utility
services in the state and include an outline of the
commission's program for the development and regulation of
public utility services in the forthcoming year.
MS. GIARD said the RCA doesn't develop the public utilities, so
it took the language out. "We've never obeyed that law in our
annual report," she explained
9:47:53 AM
SENATOR FRENCH said the language has a forward-looking aspect
about plans for the following year. "It certainly looks like
that is being lost."
MS. GIARD said this year the RCA annual report shows the new
cases that were filed, and that hasn't been done before. There
is a great amount of time that goes by, she stated. "We put it
in here because the time was so different we wanted you to know
what's happening today."
9:49:10 AM
MS. GIARD said the RCA regulates approximately $1.5 billion
worth of commerce, and decisions can impact one entity for
hundreds of millions of dollars. Its decisions can impact the
state's economy, as well. If the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) follows the decisions of the RCA on the TAPS
pipeline case, it will have an impact of $818 million a year on
royalty revenue, so the RCA should be held accountable and
transparent. She appreciates that the legislature checks on the
RCA. Since Ms. Giard became chair three years ago, the RCA has
been working with utilities to bring deep institutional change.
The effort requires the help of the legislature and the RCA
going out to the utilities to listen to complaints and fix them.
The companies will not say they love all of the decisions, but
she hopes they will say that the RCA is getting better. That was
said in the audit report, and 55 percent of the regulated
utilities and pipeline carriers said the RCA had improved. She
said the RCA is comfortable with the six-year extension. A four-
year extension is too short and too challenging to a new
governor. "We put in the two-year audits because we believe we
should be held accountable for the transparency, and we're going
to put it in our annual report, and we want it audited."
9:53:45 AM
CHAIR MCGUIRE said she would like the committee to look at the
information and consider rolling the substantive changes into
the sunset bill. She said she wants to have time to formulate
meaningful questions.
9:54:56 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked if the issues of concern are addressed in
the committee packet.
MS. GIARD said the RCA provided information from a public
process that the utilities participated in. It has all of their
comments of what they would like see changed. The RCA held
public hearings, "and then voted on some to bring forward to
you." She said the governor's office was unable to sponsor a
second piece of legislation, so she combined what she thought
the public wanted with SB 16 and HB 209. She said it is balanced
and addresses timelines, "and there's conversations we need to
have about those. I am really excited about shortening those
timelines." Commissioner salaries are also addressed, she said.
9:57:12 AM
CHAIR MCGUIRE asked committee members to read RO6-10 and
distinguish between what the public commented on and what was
included. This committee could create a bill or add it to the
current one. It is incumbent on the Senate to come up with
concerns and the method to deal with them.
GEORGE GORDON, Director, Regulatory Affairs, Utility Services of
Alaska, said he was once President and CEO of College Utilities
Corporation and Golden Heart Utilities that provided water and
waste water service to Fairbanks. He supports the legislation,
and he agrees with the RCA on many issues. It is necessary to
reduce the statutory time allowed for rate cases, he said, from
16 months down to 9 months. It is important to limit discovery
during regulatory matters. He said the RCA is considering
opening up a rule-making docket that would limit discovery. It
is too open ended and not in the public interest, he stated. The
salary and qualifications of the RCA need to be raised. The
commissioners should earn what superior court judges earn. He
supports having a staff person to exercise staff control and to
act as a liaison to utilities. He said he doesn't care if the
issues are addressed in the sunset bill or a separate bill.
10:01:09 AM
CHAIR MCGUIRE said visitors to her office have made those points
to her.
DEAN THOMPSON, Attorney, Alaska Power Association (APA), said
the APA is a trade association for electric utilities throughout
Alaska. The APA has 39 member utilities, and it supports the
reauthorization of the RCA. The general perception is that the
RCA has improved significantly over the past few years in terms
of docket management and seeking input from the industry. He
said Chair Giard is doing a good job of improving efficiency and
effectiveness, but there are further improvements as promoted by
Mr. Gordon. The regulated entities have to interact with the
RCA, so continuity and predictability are important. He said the
APA has not taken a position on the term for the extension, but
it doesn't oppose CSSB 16(CRA). Members of APA might support
some of the proposed changes but would like to see them first.
10:05:42 AM
CHAIR MCGUIRE said she would like to hear more detail from the
APA next week. She thanked Chair Giard. Regarding public input,
she said, "What a difference a few years makes."
CHAIR MCGUIRE held SB 16 over.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|