02/07/2022 01:00 PM Senate FINANCE

SENATE BILL NO. 33                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
     "An Act  relating to a seafood  product development tax                                                                    
     credit; providing  for an  effective date  by repealing                                                                    
     secs. 32  and 35, ch.  61, SLA 2014; and  providing for                                                                    
     an effective date."                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
1:48:20 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
Co-Chair Stedman MOVED to ADOPT the committee substitute                                                                        
for SB 33, Work Draft 32-LS0308\O (Nauman, 2/7/22).                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
Co-Chair Bishop OBJECTED for discussion.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
1:48:44 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
ERIN SHINE, STAFF, SENATOR CLICK BISHOP, explained the                                                                          
committee substitute. She read from a prepared statement:                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
     Because  the  seafood  product development  tax  credit                                                                    
     expired January 1,  2021, legislative legal recommended                                                                    
     that the bill  be redrafted in the form  that is before                                                                    
     you today for consideration with version O.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
     Basically,  the prior  version, version  B, repealed  a                                                                    
     repealer that has now been repealed.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
     To  highlight the  drafting issue,  if  you pulled  the                                                                    
     2020 statute books on all  our shelves, AS 43.75.035 is                                                                    
     repealed and is no longer there.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
     Version O  reestablishes the  repealed statutes  as new                                                                    
     law changing it from AS 43.75.035 to AS 43.75.037                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
     I'd like to  note that version B and  O look dissimilar                                                                    
     in  bill draft  form, however,  they are  accomplishing                                                                    
     the  same thing  with a  few policy  changes. The  only                                                                    
     difference  between  the  versions  are  the  following                                                                    
     policy changes:                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
     Page 3, Lines 21-22                                                                                                        
          -    Version O defines "eligible fish" instead of                                                                     
          listing the fish in each subsection                                                                                   
               o    There are conforming changes throughout                                                                     
               the bill                                                                                                         
          -    The inclusion of sablefish in the definition                                                                     
          of "eligible fish"                                                                                                    
          -    Further defining that the tax credits apply                                                                      
          to "pacific cod", not "cod"                                                                                           
     Page 5, line 20                                                                                                            
          -    the tax credits are repealed January 1, 2027                                                                     
          And finally, Page 5, line 26                                                                                          
          -    the retroactive effective date was changed                                                                       
          from January 1, 2021, to be an immediate                                                                              
          effective date                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
1:51:10 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
Co-Chair  Bishop  WITHDREW  the OBJECTION.  There  being  NO                                                                    
further OBJECTION, it was so ordered.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
Senator  Wielechowski  MOVED  to   ADOPT  Amendment  1,  32-                                                                    
LS0308\O.1.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
Co-Chair Bishop OBJECTED for discussion.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
Senator Wielechowski  explained Amendment 1. He  referred to                                                                    
the   document,  "Indirect   Expenditure  Report   from  the                                                                    
Legislative Finance Division" (copy  on file). He cited that                                                                    
there  was  a  recommendation  by  the  Legislative  Finance                                                                    
Division  (LFD)  to  modify  the  confidentiality  rules  to                                                                    
enable publication  of more complete  data usage on  all tax                                                                    
credits. He  noted that LFD  reiterated that it was  hard to                                                                    
determine how  effective the tax  credit was or how  much it                                                                    
cost the state and had  recommended making changes. Page one                                                                    
of  the document  was in  response  to Senator  Wielechowski                                                                    
contacting the LFD office with questions.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
Senator   Wielechowski  continued   that   based  on   LFDs                                                                     
response, he  had asked the Legislative  Legal Department to                                                                    
draft the amendment. He simplified  that the amendment would                                                                    
simply  allow  the  legislature   to  have  points  of  data                                                                    
including the total number of  tax credits that were claimed                                                                    
for each  eligible fish,  and the  number of  recipients. He                                                                    
advised that no confidential information would be included.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
1:54:37 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR GARY  STEVENS, SPONSOR, commented positively  on the                                                                    
amendment.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
Co-Chair  Bishop  WITHDREW  the OBJECTION.  There  being  NO                                                                    
further  OBJECTION,  it  was so  ordered.  Amendment  1  was                                                                    
ADOPTED.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
1:55:01 PM                                                                                                                    
AT EASE                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
1:55:13 PM                                                                                                                    
RECONVENED                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
Co-Chair Bishop stated that Amendment 1 would be                                                                                
incorporated into a new CS, which would be considered in                                                                        
committee the following day with an updated fiscal note.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
SB 33 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further                                                                               
consideration.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
Co-Chair Bishop discussed the agenda for the following day.