02/18/1998 01:35 PM Senate CRA

                                                                               
           SB  28 - UNINCORP. COMMUNITY MATCHING GRANTS                        
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN MACKIE called the Senate Community & Regional Affairs                 
Committee meeting to order at 1:35 p.m., and noted the presence of             
Senators Phillips, Hoffman, Donley and Mackie.                                 
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN MACKIE announced SB 28  would be taken up as the first                
order of business.  He noted there was a draft committee substitute            
which is substantially different than the original bill and is the             
result of his working with Senator Torgerson on several issues.                
                                                                               
SENATOR JOHN TORGERSON, prime sponsor of SB 28, speaking to the                
committee substitute, said the thrust behind the bill was to let               
unincorporated communities that are in organized boroughs also                 
participate in the unincorporated community matching grant program.            
Currently, that grant money is only available if the community is              
outside of a borough.                                                          
                                                                               
Senator Torgerson outlined the following revisions to the                      
Unincorporated Community Capital Project Matching Grant Program:               
                                                                               
.    The legislation provides that the unincorporated communities              
     in an organized area must come up with a 30 percent match in              
     money similar to the way boroughs do for their Capital                    
     Matching Grant Program.  This does not change the existing                
     unincorporated communities outside the boroughs from the                  
     current required match of 5 percent;                                      
                                                                               
.    It changes the program so that  a community must have a                   
     project in order to be granted the money.  Currently, a grant             
     is given regardless if there is a project on the books or not;            
                                                                               
.    It revises the fund distribution so projects can be based on              
     health and safety considerations subject to a ranking system              
     put together by the department.  It is anticipated that the               
     ranking system would be something similar to the Department of            
     Environmental Conservation's ranking process for water                    
     projects, as well as other ranking criteria that's used across            
     the board in other departments;                                           
                                                                               
.    It requires the governor to include projects in his capital               
     projects which would then come to the Legislature for final               
     appropriation; and                                                        
                                                                               
.    It changes the lapse time of the program from five years to               
     four years.  If a community has a project approved, it can                
     accumulate money for up to four years for a same project since            
     the maximum that be granted in one fiscal year is $25,000.                
                                                                               
Senator Torgerson directed attention to backup information                     
containing a list of incorporated areas by Senate district, the                
communities that are currently in the program by Senate district,              
and the communities that would be added to the program.  He noted              
that it roughly doubles the number of entities that could be                   
eligible for this program.                                                     
                                                                               
Number 090                                                                     
                                                                               
CHAIRMAN MACKIE asked Senator Torgerson what happens if the                    
projects  that are submitted to the Legislature by the governor and            
agencies  are funded below the amount requested for the $25,000                
grants to these communities.  SENATOR TORGERSON responded that is              
where they anticipate the ranking system would kick in and projects            
would be ranked by the departments based on health and safety                  
considerations.  He also noted that unincorporated areas inside of             
boroughs must have borough assembly approval for projects and the              
borough assemblies must recognize a nonprofit entity that's going              
to represent that area.                                                        
                                                                               
Number 115                                                                     
                                                                               
SENATOR HOFFMAN said the legislation seems to treat all of the                 
unincorporated communities much more fairly, but he expressed                  
concern that Section 2 changes the amount of the grant from a                  
minimum of $25,000 to a maximum of $25,000, so a community can                 
accumulate up to $100,000 over a four-year period, but in many                 
rural areas of the state it is conceivable that $100,000 wouldn't              
even cover a forty by sixty building.  SENATOR TORGERSON responded             
that there are other processes to go through to receive grant                  
money, and this was never intended to be everything for an                     
unincorporated community  to  pick projects without having some                
kind of fiscal restraint on it.  He said this levels the playing               
field, and by going to the maximum,  probably more communities can             
be squeezed in if they have smaller requests to begin with.                    
                                                                               
Number 180                                                                     
                                                                               
SENATOR PHILLIPS  directed attention to page 2, line 2 and the                 
phrase "social unit," which he thought should be defined in the                
legislation.  SENATOR TORGERSON replied that it was a good point,              
and that he would check with the drafter to see if it should be                
further defined.                                                               
                                                                               
Number 200                                                                     
                                                                               
Responding to an inquiry by Chairman Mackie, SENATOR TORGERSON                 
explained that the original legislation included recognized                    
nonprofits within the state of Alaska, but it was taken out in a               
sponsor substitute, and he has no intention of expanding the                   
legislation.  He added that some entities aren't communities as                
defined by unincorporated community and filed under the state as a             
recognized  unincorporated community, and that might be why "social            
unit" was included in the legislation.                                         
                                                                               
Number 256                                                                     
                                                                               
KIM METCALFE-HELMAR, Special Assistant, Department of  Community &             
Regional Affairs, said the department had not had a chance to look             
over the new committee substitute, but she thought the                         
establishment of a ranking system would change program                         
administration significantly.                                                  
                                                                               
There being no further testimony on SB 28, CHAIRMAN MACKIE                     
requested a motion to adopt the committee substitute and to move               
the bill out of committee.                                                     
                                                                               
SENATOR PHILLIPS moved the adoption of CSSB 28(CRA) and to move                
CSSB 28(CRA) out of committee with individual recommendations.                 
Hearing no objection, it was so ordered.