Legislature(2011 - 2012)HOUSE FINANCE 519
04/15/2012 09:00 AM House FINANCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB53 | |
| SB25 | |
| SB119 | |
| SB136 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 136 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 25 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 53 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 119 | TELECONFERENCED | |
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 53(FIN)
"An Act reestablishing the Alaska Commission on the
Status of Women; and relating to the purpose and
powers of the Alaska Human Relations Commission."
10:22:16 AM
Vice-chair Fairclough MOVED CSSB 53 27-LS0107\M before the
committee.
CELESTE HODGE, STAFF, SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS, explained that
the legislation reestablished the Alaska Commission on the
Status of Women, a nine member body that was devoted to
improving the status of women in Alaska. She provided
opening remarks:
The Alaska Commission on the Status of Women was
established in 1978, renewed, and renamed to the
Alaska Women's Commission in 1983. In 1993 the Alaska
Women's Commission and the Alaska Commission on
Children and Youth were absorbed into the Alaska Human
Relations Commission, which continues to exist in
statute, but was never funded and declared inactive in
1996. Staggering statistics for women in Alaska show
need to reestablish the Alaska Women's Commission. To
focus on broad, diverse cross section issues effecting
women. Alaska faces disproportionately high levels of
poverty among women of all ages. Poverty rates for
unmarried female householders with children are
particularly high and have consistently been two or
three times as high as overall male and female poverty
rates since 1996. Survey data compiled by the American
Community Survey shows that of 26,518 families in
Alaska with a female head of household 22.6 percent
live below the poverty level. The gender wage gap
persists in Alaska and across a wide spectrum of
occupations and industries. In 2009 according to the
Alaska Department of Labor, Alaskan women on average
earned only 66.6 percent of what men earned. Although
more women than men in Alaska hold a bachelor's degree
or higher, data shows that men's median annual
earnings are higher in every educational level.
Alaskan women, in particular women of color,
experience health care disparities and women living in
rural Alaska have worse than average disparities on
access and utilization of services. Alaska continues
to have the highest rates of sexual assault and
domestic violence in the nation.
Members of this committee, it's so unfortunate [that]
Alaska has maintained these startling statistics for
decades. It's past time for Alaska to reestablish the
Alaska Women's Commission; an official state entity to
begin focusing on improving the status of women and
children in Alaska. Continued long-term improvement in
the status of women in Alaska is not only of personal
benefit to the health and well-being of individual
women and children, but contributes to the general
health and stability of our economy as well.
Ms. Hodge was available for questions and thanked the
committee for hearing the bill.
10:25:52 AM
ARLISS STURGELEWSKI, SELF, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference),
spoke in strong support of the legislation. She had been
very active with the original women's commission and had
been sorry to see it go away. She was in favor of the
bill's structure that called for hearings in both rural and
urban areas of the state; it would allow for a forum where
issues of concern could be expressed. She thanked the
committee for hearing the legislation.
10:27:38 AM
CECILIA ZAMORA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
COMMISSION FOR WOMEN, CALIFORNIA (via teleconference),
vocalized support for the bill and the reestablishment of
the commission in Alaska. She discussed the importance of
the legislation that would help the women and girls
throughout Alaska. She stressed that state commissions
played a vital role for the governor and legislature in
advising on important issues; the funds spent on the
commission would be money well spent. She assured the
committee that the commission would be a help to the state.
10:29:52 AM
Co-Chair Stoltze CLOSED the public testimony.
Vice-chair Fairclough addressed the fiscal note from the
Office of the Governor. The allocation was to the Alaska
Women's Commission and added three full-time employees. The
funding request included $515,400 for FY 13, $472,000 for
FY 14, $481,300 for FY 15, $490,900 for FY 16, $580,000 for
FY 17, and $508,500 for FY 18.
Co-Chair Thomas asked about the second page of the fiscal
note related to geographic representation that was not
included in the bill.
Co-Chair Stoltze believed the governor's office was using
random locations to determine the fiscal note.
Co-Chair Thomas asked whether three employees were needed
to run the commission; he believed the number seemed high.
He asked whether there had been three staff members in the
past. Ms. Hodge replied that there had originally been
three staff members on the commission. She emphasized that
the staff had accomplished a significant amount of work
apart from organizing several meetings a year. She
furthered that in the former commission's later years it
had gone to a volunteer organization; the annual report had
gone from pages down to a paragraph due to the reduction in
work accomplished.
10:32:50 AM
Co-Chair Thomas thought a range 24 was high on the pay
scale. He noted that the three positions were ranges 24,
18, and 15. He believed the numbers were excessive for work
related to the planning of four or so meetings per year.
Representative Wilson asked what the average number of
staff was for a board with seven members. Ms. Hodge did not
know. She added that the board would be comprised of seven
members and two appointed members at the administrative
level.
Co-Chair Thomas restated his question related to the number
of proposed staff for the commission.
GUY BELL, ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, answered
that the fiscal note had been modeled after the commission
when it had existed in FY 90 and FY 91. There had been as
many as four or five staff on the commission at the time
with pay ranges similar to those proposed in the fiscal
note.
Co-Chair Thomas did not believe the fact that the positions
had existed previously was justification to include them
currently.
Representative Neuman pointed to the duties of the
commission (page 3 of the legislation); the duties were to
improve the status of women by conducting research. He
stated that the commission members were supposed to do a
portion of the research; therefore, he believed one staff
to help coordinate the research would be sufficient.
10:36:29 AM
Co-Chair Stoltze asked Representative Joule how many
members made up the Arctic Policy Commission. He believed
the commission had an employee who was paid at a range 19
or 20.
Representative Joule replied that the fiscal note included
one staff position that had been changed to a range 19 from
a range 24 by the Senate Finance Committee. The commission
was comprised of 19 members. He discussed that one of his
employees had staffed the Northern Waters Task Force and
had been busy for the duration of the task force. He noted
that committee members did engage primarily at the meetings
when information was brought to them by staff.
Co-Chair Stoltze remarked that the information was
illustrative related to the current bill.
Representative Wilson could not vote for the bill if it
included three staff positions. She had heard opposition
from constituents related to the $0.5 million price tag.
She believed the fiscal note should be dropped to one
position at a range 19; the commission could come back to
the legislature in the future if it needed additional
staff.
Co-Chair Stoltze was mixed on the bill, but was currently
leaning towards a "do not pass."
Representative Edgmon was also concerned about the fiscal
note. He believed an approval of the fiscal note went
against the committee's actions throughout the session. He
looked at page 3 of the bill and discussed that any
research conducted at the outset would be secondary. He
surmised that perhaps the need for more staff would develop
over time; however, the bill currently included $3 million
through FY 18 and the committee had not included funding in
that amount for any of the other commissions. He supported
the bill, but not the hefty fiscal note.
10:41:06 AM
AT EASE
10:45:53 AM
RECONVENED
Representative Doogan MOVED to AMEND the fiscal note to
reduce the staff to two; one at a range 20 and one at a
range 17.
Co-Chair Stoltze clarified that the positions would include
an executive director and a support staff.
Representative Neuman commented that the Arctic Policy
Council was a large council with a significant amount of
work and only had one employee at a range 19. He did not
believe two positions made sense for a seven member
commission. He proposed one position at a range 20.
Representative Edgmon asked if the commission would be
located in the governor's office. Ms. Hodge replied in the
affirmative.
Representative Edgmon asked whether phone calls would be
directed through the governor's office central line.
Co-Chair Stoltze did not believe that would be the case. He
believed there was an overall committee consensus to
include funding for two positions. He acknowledged
Representative Neuman's expression that the positions
should be reduced to one.
Representative Neuman MOVED to reduce the fiscal note to
include one position at a range 20. He referenced the large
amount of work done by legislative staff who dealt with a
significant number of constituents. He reiterated that one
position should be sufficient to staff the commission.
10:49:45 AM
Vice-chair Fairclough declared a conflict of interest due
to the gender specific nature of the legislation. She
discussed that there were disadvantaged women and children
throughout the state. She had been a strong supporter of
equity, respect, and for children of Alaska who had been
harmed. The bill provided an opportunity for groups to come
together to address some of the disparaging things that
occurred in Alaska, such as suicide prevention, wage
disparities, and other. She understood that other
commissions only had one staff member; however, it would
require a significant amount of work for the commission to
catch up. She pointed out that the legislature could always
reduce the number further in the future if needed. She
understood that the fiscal note was a point of contention.
She discussed that the sponsor would still like to see
three positions. She asked for the committee to consider
keeping the positions at two and to review the commission
the following year to ensure that it held value for the
people in Alaska. She stressed the importance of creating
equity in the conversation about how women were on the
victim side of perpetration in the state.
Representative Gara asked whether the governor's office
could report to the legislature the following year to relay
whether the two positions were sufficient or necessary. Mr.
Bell responded in the affirmative. He detailed that the
commission would be an independent organization that was
administratively under the Office of the Governor; the
office would track how the commission evolved and would
come to the legislature with any funding suggestions going
forward.
Co-Chair Stoltze acknowledged Representative Neuman's
desire to reduce the staff.
Representative Doogan had not made the recommendation to
include two positions lightly. He could easily see why the
positions would be needed to do the job. He pointed out
that legislators had two or more staff during legislative
sessions and had no problem employing them year-round. He
did not believe that the committee should arbitrarily
change the entire arrangement in the absence of any
compelling information. The goal was to have people in the
state's employ concentrating on the issues.
10:55:19 AM
Representative Neuman understood the issue. He noted that
his concern was related to future years when government
would need to be reduced. He opined that it was easier to
create public employee positions than it was to eliminate
them. He discussed a personal story. He WITHDREW his
OBJECTION. Co-Chair Stoltze noted the concern.
Co-Chair Thomas pointed out that there had been significant
savings by reducing the fiscal note to two positions.
Representative Joule told a related personal story.
Representative Edgmon asked whether ranges 22 and 15 would
be a better spread in terms of attracting qualified
applicants for the executive director position. He wondered
whether an administrative services director position was a
range 22. Mr. Bell replied that an administrative services
director position was a range 27.
Representative Edgmon surmised that a range 22 would be
more attractive to an executive director compared to a
range 20.
Representative Gara agreed that the director was a high
level person and the support staff would assist with
meetings. He believed ranges 22 and 15 would better serve
the commission than ranges 20 and 17.
Representative Guttenberg stressed that the position was
not only a logistics position. He believed that the
commission would be made up of dynamic members who would
provide direction to the staff. He believed the director
position deserved a higher range.
Representative Edgmon MOVED to change the two positions to
a range 22 and range 15. There being NO OBJECTION, it was
so ordered.
11:01:00 AM
Vice-chair Fairclough MOVED to report CSSB 53(FIN) out of
committee with individual recommendations and the
accompanying fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was
so ordered.
CSSB 53(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass"
recommendation and with one previously published amended
fiscal impact note: FN3 (GOV).
SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS, SPONSOR, appreciated the work of the
committee. She pointed out that there were many
possibilities for work to be done voluntarily and potential
grants to obtain. She believed that in the long-term the
commission would save the state money and that the
legislature would be proud that a statewide commission for
women had been reestablished. She thanked the committee for
its support.
11:01:51 AM
AT EASE
11:02:22 AM
RECONVENED