02/19/1997 03:40 PM Senate RES

              SB  22 BOARD OF GAME QUALIFICATIONS                             
                                                                              
  VICE CHAIRMAN GREEN  announced  SB 22  to be up for consideration.           
                                                                               
  SENATOR SHARP , sponsor, said it amends the required qualifications          
 for persons who may be appointed to the Board of Game by adding the           
 requirements that the applicant must have held an Alaska hunting or           
 trapping license or a permanent I.D. card of being over 60 years of           
 age during each of the five years immediately preceding the                   
 appointment to the Board.  This added requirement would provide               
 improved assurance of interest fostered by past involvement in                
 legal utilization of the game resource and understanding the                  
 dynamics of arctic game resource management.  Several states have             
 this license qualification requirement for appointment to their               
 state wildlife boards.  SB 22 has a $0 fiscal note from ADF&G.  He            
 thought there would still be a large pool of qualified applicants.            
                                                                               
  SENATOR TAYLOR  said part of the motivation for this is to make              
 certain that that pool of Alaskans from which the Governor would              
 select would at least have some peripheral contact with the                   
 resource they are regulating and would have some background to make           
 certain that those uses that are protected in our constitution                
 would be reflected in their previous life-style.                              
                                                                               
 Number 453                                                                    
                                                                               
  SENATOR LINCOLN  said she supports the intent of the bill, but she           
 is concerned with the five consecutive year standard  .  She asked            
 what if someone were ill or missed getting their license one year,            
 would they have to start out all over.  Her second concern was that           
 women might be precluded from being on the Board because they                 
 didn't actually have a license although they were involved in a               
 hunt and they may be good members.                                            
                                                                               
  SENATOR SHARP  responded to her first concern saying that the five           
 year period was selected because it's easier to document the                  
 records for the last five years.  Beyond that the records are                 
 unreliable.  He wanted it to be enough to where the nominee has               
 demonstrated participation as a user of the resource.                         
                                                                               
 Number 512                                                                    
                                                                               
  MR. WAYNE REGELIN,  Director, Division of Wildlife Conservation,             
 said that he thought it was very appropriate for members of the               
 Board of Game to be hunters and he thought most of them had been.             
 Regarding the five year requirement, he said there are a lot of               
 hunters who don't hunt every year, because they are sick or they              
 are hunting in other states or countries once in a while.                     
                                                                               
  VICE CHAIRMAN GREEN  asked if there were any regional requirements.          
 MR. REGELIN answered that there were no requirements for geographic           
 or any other reason.  The statute says is that the Governor shall             
 appoint members on the basis of interest in public affairs, good              
 judgement, knowledge and ability, with a view to providing                    
 diversity of interests and points of view in membership.                      
                                                                               
  SENATOR TAYLOR  asked if either of the Governor's recent appointees          
 have met the qualifications if this law were in effect.  MR.                  
 REGELIN replied he hadn't checked the records on those two people.            
                                                                               
 Number 542                                                                    
  SENATOR TAYLOR  moved to amend line 12 by deleting "each" and                
 inserting "at least five" of the "previous seven years."  SENATOR             
 SHARP asked if records were available for seven years.  MR. REGELIN           
 answered that they are.  SENATOR SHARP said he would accept that              
 amendment.  There were no objections and the amendment was adopted.           
                                                                               
  SENATOR TAYLOR  asked if he knew of the gender mix for licenses.             
 MR. REGELIN said they had a figure of about 10,000 women, but he              
 would check it out.  SENATOR TAYLOR asked how many licenses they              
 normally issue in a given year.  MR. REGELIN replied 88,600                   
 licenses were sold last year.                                                 
                                                                               
  SENATOR TAYLOR  moved to pass CSSB 22am(RES) from committee with             
 individual recommendations.  There were no objections and it was so           
 ordered.