Legislature(2025 - 2026)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
02/26/2025 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: How Workers' Compensation Works | |
| SB54 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| *+ | SB 54 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 54-EXT ARCH, ENG, SURVEY BRD; REG INT DESIGN
2:34:09 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN reconvened the meeting and announced the
consideration of SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILL NO. 54 "An
Act relating to registered interior designers and interior
design; extending the termination date of the State Board of
Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors;
relating to the State Board of Registration for Architects,
Engineers, and Land Surveyors; establishing requirements for the
practice of registered interior design; relating to the practice
of architecture, engineering, land surveying, landscape
architecture, and registered interior design by partnerships;
relating to the scope of the certification requirements for
architects, engineers, land surveyors, landscape architects, and
registered interior designers; relating to liens for labor or
materials furnished; relating to the procurement of landscape
architectural and interior design services; and providing for an
effective date."
2:34:36 PM
SENATOR MATT CLAMAN, District H, Alaska State Legislature,
Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of SB 54 presented the following
summary:
[Original punctuation provided.]
Senate Bill 54 will extend the statutory authorization
for the Board of Architects, Engineers, and Land
Surveyors (AELS Board), add Registered Interior
Designers to the board's jurisdiction, and make
statutory changes requested by the board. This bill
will allow the AELS Board to continue the important
work of regulating design professionals in Alaska and
add a qualified interior designer to the board.
The 2024 Sunset Audit of the AELS Board concluded that
the board served the public's interest and recommended
that it be extended for eight years. In this bill, the
AELS Board is taking the opportunity to update
outdated language based on their analysis since the
last sunset audit.
Another important part of SB 54 is the opportunity for
qualified interior designers to register with the AELS
Board. Those wishing to practice registered interior
design in buildings of public occupancy within a
regulated scope of services impacting public health,
safety, or welfare will now have a pathway to
registration. SB 54 will allow designers practicing in
public occupancy buildings to be qualified to do so,
providing another measure of public safety protection
and risk-mitigation for commercial buildings. It will
increase the amount of design professionals able to
work independently within the commercial real estate
industry.
The NCIDQ is a three-part, 11-hour examination that
was established to identify interior design
professionals with the skills and experience to take
on additional responsibility. This test is designed to
assess the competency of candidates to protect the
public through the practice of interior design, and
covers subjects such as fire safety, ADA compliance,
emergency egress, and material flammability. A
candidate unable to prove their understanding of life
safety, codes, and standards would be unlikely to pass
the exam.
2:36:42 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN continued with the summary of SB 54.
The goal is not to measure Interior Designers by the
standards used by architects. While there are shared
skillsets between architects and interior designers,
interior designers focus on a narrower scope of work.
By comparison, there are different licensing
requirements for nurse practitioners and doctors, even
though they sometimes perform similar activities.
Currently, there is no state licensing of the interior
design profession in Alaska. One consequence of this
licensing gap is that Registered Interior designers do
not have access to a construction stamp that would
allow them to submit their work for permitting.
Passage of SB 54 will allow Alaska to join other
forward-looking states in providing a construction
document stamp to allow registered interior designers
to submit their own work for permitting.
SB 54 does not restrict the requirements or daily
practice for any other professional in design or
construction including architects, engineers,
contractors, trades people, decorators, or residential
designers.
SB 54 is intended to be cost neutral to the State, as
it is self-funded within the AELS Registration Board
through application, registration, and renewal fees.
As shown in the attached fiscal note, the passage of
this bill would enable the AELS Registration Board to
hire a much-needed additional Occupational Licensee
Examiner, and the cost per licensee would only be an
additional $50 every two years.
We often talk of making Alaska open and ready for
business. This bill turns those words into action and
will make Alaska a better place to do business. Please
join me in supporting SB 54.
2:38:29 PM
SARENA HACKENMILLER, Staff, Senator Matt Claman, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, summarized the sectional analysis
for SB 54 as follows:
[Original punctuation provided.]
Section 1 extends the AELS Board's termination date by
eight years to June 30, 2033, per audit
recommendation.
Sections 2 and 3 would add two seats to the board, one
for a registered interior designer and an additional
engineering seat, creating separate seats for
electrical and mechanical engineering, which currently
share a seat, and expanding the mining engineer seat
so that three disciplines may be chosen to fill this
seat.
As we go into the remaining sections, please note that
most of these sections are conforming changes to add
"registered interior designer" or "registered interior
design" to the list of professions regulated by the
AELS Board. To save time, I will simply indicate that
these are conforming changes and the section's general
subject as we proceed.
Section 4 Conforming change (related to records and
reports)
Section 5 This is a new subsection authorizing the
AELS Board to adopt regulations establishing a
definition of registered interior design and provides
some of the practices that must be included in the
definition.
Section 6 conforming changes relating to suspension of
license. This section also removes the requirement
that the code of ethics be distributed in writing to
every registrant and applicant.
Sections 7-11 Conforming changes (related to
qualifications and application for registration by
examination or comity)
2:40:17 PM
MS. HACKENMILLER continued with the summary of the sectional
analysis for SB 54:
Section 12 distinguishes that retirement status under
this chapter is only available for those professions
registered under a Practice Act, interior designers
are excluded.
Section 13 relates to a Title Act with Permitting
Privileges, adds a new section specifying that
unregistered interior designers may practice interior
design but may not use the title "registered interior
designer"
Sections 14-20 conforming changes (related to seals
and registration as a corp, LLC, or LLP)
Section 21 relates to a Title Act with Permitting
Privileges, adds a new subsection specifying that a
person that is not registered with the board may not
use the title "registered interior designer."
Sections 22-24 conforming changes (related to
violations and civil penalties)
Section 25 relates to a Title Act with Permitting
Privileges, adds a new subsection specifying that
using the title "registered interior designer" implies
that that person is registered with the board.
Section 26 is unrelated to registered interior
designers. In this section, two exemptions are updated
at the request of the AELS Board. The first is under
exemption 10, the industry exemption, which would
require a professional license for the construction of
natural gas pipelines. Secondly, exemption 15 would
allow certain Alaska Department of Environmental
Conservation employees to construct conventional
onsite wastewater systems if the capacity is under 500
gallons of wastewater a day.
Sections 27 and 28 conforming changes (related to
definitions)
2:42:16 PM
MS.HACKENMILLER continued with the summary of the sectional
analysis for SB 54:
Section 29 defines the practice of registered interior
design and registered interior designer.
Sections 30-34 conforming changes under other titles.
Adds both landscape architects and registered interior
designers and their respective professions under
Workers' Comp, Property, Public Buildings, and Public
Contracts. Section 35 adds only registered interior
design to Title 36 Public Contracts.
Section 36 repeals AS 08.48.011(c) which had listed
the conditions for board seat engineering disciplines,
the changes in Sections 2 and 3 of this bill make this
section obsolete.
And Sections 37-39 would establish the effective date
and grace period for registration.
2:43:43 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR asked to revisit Section 26 of the sectional
analysis. He stated he wasn't sure why Section 26 was in SB 54.
He asked what changes occurred for Section 26(a)(10) and who are
the licensed employees mentioned in the exclusion.
2:44:06 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN answered that [changes to] Section 26(a)(10)
creates a new Section 26(a)(15). This change addresses federal
concerns from past gas pipeline explosions. He said some
pipeline designs now require approval by a licensed engineer
with stamping authoritythese can't be done in-house. He said
his office has received feedback, particularly from Enstar,
asking to clarify the language. He stated that the goal is to
distinguish between pipelines that must have stamped drawings
and those that don't. The sponsor is working with the chair's
staff to clean up that wording. He said the core intent remains-
high-pressure gas pipelines must have engineer-stamped designs.
2:45:38 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR stated that even though most of SB 54 focuses on
architects and interior designers, it also involves the State
Board of Registration for Engineers, and asked that's why it's
relevant to SB 54.
2:45:56 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN answered yes.
2:46:12 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN announced invited testimony for SB 54.
2:46:32 PM
KRIS CURTIS, Legislative Auditor, Legislative Audit Division,
Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, presented the audit
findings for SB 54. She stated that the audit report only covers
the extension at the beginning of SB 54. The audit found the
board is operating in the public interest and recommends the
full eight-year extensionno improvements were suggested. She
said on page 6 it states, as of January 2024, there were 6,628
active registrants, a 10 percent drop since 2016. Appendix B
compares occupation data from 2016 to 2024. Page 8 shows the
board had a $1.2 million surplus, and the commissioner and board
chair both support the audit's findings, as noted in the
response beginning on page 23.
2:48:13 PM
COLIN MAYNARD, Chair, State Board of Registration for Architect,
Engineers and Land Surveyors (AELS), Legislative Liaison
Committee, Anchorage, Alaska, testified by invitation on SB 54
as follows:
[Original punctuation provided.]
At our February 2025 meeting, the AELS Board voted to
support this bill. I would like to address a few
provisions in which we have particular interest and
suggest a couple of amendments:
• Section 1 we are proud to see that the
Legislative Audit found that the Board has been
complying with the relevant statutes and
regulations and is performing its duty to protect
the public safety, health, and welfare. We
believe that an extension of eight years is
warranted.
• Section 2 Board makeup
-Adding petroleum and chemical engineering
disciplines to the mining engineering seat as an
option, instead of a fallback position, expands
the pool of possible volunteers from 36 to 148
while keeping the seat in the resource
extraction industry.
2:49:09 PM
MR. MAYNARD continued with his testimony of SB 54:
-Breaking the current mechanical/electrical
engineering seat into two seats recognizes that
they are the two most common disciplines after
civil engineering, even more than architects or
land surveyors. It also recognizes that these
disciplines are different from each other and
expecting one person to have expertise in both
is asking a bit much.
-could understand that we are already one of the
largest State licensing Boards, but we regulate
eighteen different disciplines with more
registrants than all but two Boards. The cost of
the Board is borne by those registrants, not by
the public.
• Section 26 Exemptions on page 13 of the bill
-Item 10 (B) In 2018, a natural gas pipeline
explosion in Massachusetts resulted on the
destruction of 40 residences. The National
Transportation Safety Board attributed design by
unlicensed engineers as part of the cause. They
wrote all 50 state governors and copied their
respective licensing boards in 2019 asking for
removal of the industrial exemption for natural
gas pipelines where public safety is an issue.
The AELS Board wrote a letter to the Governor
indicating support for this request. The NTSB
wrote an additional letter in 2022 asking for an
update. The AELS Board again wrote a letter to
the Governor indicating support and stated that
they would address it during the sunset process,
had it not been addressed earlier. That is the
genesis of this language. At our February
meeting, we determined that the language you see
before you is too extensive and should be
limited to pipelines where public safety is an
issue. We are interested in licensed engineers
designing pipelines in communities and not
necessarily on the North Slope or Beluga. We
suggest the following language for this
exception to the exemption:
(B) natural gas distribution systems that
could pose a threat to public safety;
"natural gas pipeline" has the meaning given
in AS31.25.390;
2:50:50 PM
MR. MAYNARD continued with his testimony of SB 54:
-Item 15 during a discussion with the
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)
regarding regulations that they had adopted that
required engineers to perform tasks that violate
licensing law, DEC requested that an exemption
be granted for small commercial domestic
wastewater systems, so that they could be
designed by DEC certified contractors instead of
licensed engineers. The Board agreed to that
request. However, this exemption should not be
applicable to industrial wastewater, just
wastewater from kitchens and bathrooms. Thus, we
suggest one small change to the current language
modify 'conventional onsite wastewater system'
to "conventional onsite commercial domestic
wastewater system" in both locations it occurs.
There is one other provision that the Board
would like to have added to the bill. The Board
has been having problems retaining our Executive
Administrator. We have been working with the
Division and Department to get an Office of
Management and Budget class evaluation for
years. The fact that it is a class of one has
not made that very easy and it has dragged out
for years. The evaluation finally started last
fall, still has several steps to go, and may not
have a conclusion with which the Board agrees.
Before the evaluation started, the Board decided
to request that our statute specify that the
AELS Executive Administrator has a salary in
Range 23. Other Boards that have a similar
number of registrants have a similar provision.
2:52:36 PM
MATT BARUSCH, Director, Council for Interior Design
Qualification (CIDQ), Government Affairs and Advocacy, testified
by invitation on SB 54. He stated that the National Council for
Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) along with its members,
supports SB 54 which aims to create reasonable regulations for
certifying interior designers. SB 54 would allow designers to
fully practice based on their education, experience, and
examination. This policy is already implemented in 29 states,
along with D.C. and Puerto Rico.
2:54:38 PM
SENATOR CLAMAN stated that his office is willing to work with
the suggestions made.
[CHAIR BJORKMAN held SB 54 in committee.]
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SSSB54 ver I.pdf |
SL&C 2/26/2025 1:30:00 PM |
SB 54 |
| SSSB54 Sponsor Statement ver I 02.19.25.pdf |
SL&C 2/26/2025 1:30:00 PM |
SB 54 |
| SSSB54 Sectional Analysis ver I 02.19.25.pdf |
SL&C 2/26/2025 1:30:00 PM |
SB 54 |
| SSSB54 Legislative Legal Memo 01.5.25.pdf |
SL&C 2/26/2025 1:30:00 PM |
SB 54 |
| SB54 Fiscal Note-DCCED-CBPL 02.21.25.pdf |
SL&C 2/26/2025 1:30:00 PM |
SB 54 |
| SSSB54 Supporting Document - ASID Report 03.9.23.pdf |
SL&C 2/26/2025 1:30:00 PM |
SB 54 |
| SSSB54 Supporting Document - Sunset Review of AELS Board 04.07.24.pdf |
SL&C 2/26/2025 1:30:00 PM |
SB 54 |
| SSSB54 Supporting Document - USACE Contract Opportunity 01.31.24.pdf |
SL&C 2/26/2025 1:30:00 PM |
SB 54 |