Legislature(2023 - 2024)BUTROVICH 205
03/15/2023 03:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB68 | |
| SB34 | |
| SB87 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 68 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 34 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 87 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
SB 68-PUBLIC NOTICE FOR WATER RIGHTS
3:31:24 PM
CO-CHAIR BISHOP announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO.
68 "An Act relating to public notice for a sale, appropriation,
or removal of water, or for filing a declaration of a right of
water; and providing for an effective date."
3:32:03 PM
SENATOR CATHY GIESSEL, District E, sponsor of SB 68, provided
the introduction to SB 68. The sponsor statement read as
follows:
[Original punctuation provided.]
Senate Bill 68 proposes changes to certain public
notice requirements relating to the sale,
appropriation, or removal of water, and for the
commencement of the process for determining the rights
of persons holding existing appropriations of water.
Specifically, SB 68 proposes that public notices, as
originally required in statute, instead be posted on
the Alaska Online Public Notice System. This change
would remove the current requirement that notices be
posted in a newspaper of general circulation in the
affected area. The bill would update, but not
substantively change, any other requirements for
notice by the commissioner to determine the rights of
persons holding existing appropriations, removal, or
sale of beneficial water use rights.
Eliminating the newspaper notice requirement would
prevent delays in the water permitting process and
save the applicants a significant amount of money
required for newspaper notice. The changes would
utilize the state's existing online public notice
system, which is available to most Alaskans at no
cost. All public notices posted on the online public
notice system are permanently retained for future
reference by interested parties, whereas newspaper
notices are much more difficult to retrieve. Utilizing
the online public notice system ensures that each
Alaska resident has equal access to public notices
rather than just newspaper subscribers or residents of
an affected area. Further, elimination of coordinating
newspaper publications reduces the permit processing
timeframe.
The public is encouraged to utilize the
"Subscriptions" feature on the Alaska Online Public
Notice System website
(https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/) to
either register for all notifications through the
system, or to tailor what notifications from which
departments they wish to receive. The Department of
Natural Resources is eager to educate the public on
the benefits of using the online notice system; SB 68
enables notice to be delivered to Alaskans through the
power of the Internet.
3:34:36 PM
RYAN RIVERS, Staff, Senator Cathy Giessel, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, presented the following sectional
analysis for SB 68:
Section 1:
Amends AS 46.15.065(b)(2) by removing language
requiring that notice be by means of "a newspaper of
general circulation in the affected area" and
replacing that language to require notice be published
on the Alaska Online Public Notice System (AS
44.62.175) for a period of three weeks.
Section 2: Amends AS 46.15.133(b) by requiring that
notice be provided on the Alaska Online Public Notice
System (AS 44.62.175) and removing language requiring
that notice be by means of a newspaper of general
circulation in the affected area."
Section 3:
Adds an immediate effective date.
3:35:58 PM
CO-CHAIR BISHOP turned to invited testimony.
3:36:19 PM
CHRISTY COLLES, Director, Division of Mining, Land, and Water,
Department of Natural Resources, Anchorage, Alaska, thanked the
sponsor for introducing SB 68 because the current process has a
large impact on staff time and is costly for those who request
water rights. She deferred to Tom Barrett to start the
presentation.
3:37:16 PM
TOM BARRETT, Water Resources Section Chief, Division of Mining
Land and Water, Department of Natural Resources, Anchorage,
Alaska, spoke to the following to provide background on the
appropriation of water:
[Original punctuation provided.]
• Alaska Constitution Article 8 Section 13
• Title 46.15 Water Use Act
• Appropriation of Water
o Right to Use Water
?Permit
?Certificate
o Reservation of Water
3:40:21 PM
MR. BARRETT turned to slide 3, AS 46 Public Notice Requirements,
and spoke to the following to explain the current process to
publicly notice an application to use water:
[Original punctuation provided.]
• Alaska Statute 46.15.133 (b) requires that, "The
commissioner shall publish the notice in one issue
of a newspaper of general distribution in the area
of the state in which the water is to be
appropriated?"
• Once the Division of Mining, Land and Water (DMLW)
determines which newspaper best fits that
description, the identified newspaper is contacted
by DMLW, and a copy of the public notice is sent to
the newspaper in order to obtain both a quote of the
price of the ad and a copy of the proof of the ad
for review before authorizing publication of the ad.
• The applicant is also sent the proof and provided
with a contact at the newspaper in order to make
payment, pursuant to AS 46.15.133 (b).
• Once the proof has been accepted, the ad is run in
the newspaper with a date as close as possible to
the starting date of the online public notice.
• There is an exemption to public notice in regulation
11 AAC 93.100 for appropriations of 5,000 gallons of
water per day (gpd) or less.
3:42:48 PM
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked if Title 46 currently requires online
public notice.
MR. BARRETT said no; the statutes were written in 1966.
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked if the current process was to publish the
notice online and then the department helps the applicant get
the notice published in a newspaper.
MR. BARRETT clarified that DNR staff puts the notice in the
online public notice system.
3:43:52 PM
MR. BARRETT advanced to slide 4 to describe the inefficiencies
associated with newspaper notices. He spoke to the following
points:
[Original punctuation provided.]
• Identifying a newspaper of general distribution in
the area of the state in which the water is to be
appropriated is not clear, especially in rural
areas.
• A single day advertisement is a limited window of
time to provide notice.
• Online services to get information have become more
accessible since the Water Use Act was promulgated
in 1966.
• The cost of a single day newspaper advertisement for
a water right is expensive and can cost the
applicant $500 to $1,500, depending on the length of
the publication and the individual newspaper.
• It is expensive to extend a public notice in
newspapers.
• DMLW staff must carefully coordinate newspaper
publication dates with the Online Public Notice
system. He noted that
3:45:36 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR asked how many notices of water rights are
published in a year.
MR. BARRETT said the department publishes approximately 80 high-
volume water rights in an average year. He noted there is a
threshold below which notice is not required.
SENATOR DUNBAR asked if the major newspapers like ADN and the
Fairbanks News Miner publish most of the notices.
MR. BARRETT said that would be his guess.
CO-CHAIR BISHOP asked if the 80 high-volume water rights
applications are to use 5,000 gallons or more per day, and that
volumes under 5,000 are considered de minimis and don't need
public notice.
MR. BARRETT replied that's correct.
3:47:14 PM
MR. BARRETT advanced to slide 5, Online Public Notice Benefits,
and discussed the following points:
[Original punctuation provided.]
• The Alaska Online Public Notice System (Online
System) is available to everyone.
• There is no cost to applicants.
• Public notices are easily extended at no cost.
• Additional documents, maps, and figures can be
attached.
• Submitting comments to DMLW through links provided
in the Online System is easy and accurately sends
the comment to the correct destination.
• Anyone can establish a subscription to get notified
of specific topics, such as water rights.
• The Online System permanently archives public
notices for future reference.
• DMLW already utilizes the Online System for land and
mining notices.
CO-CHAIR BISHOP asked if the subscription would be mailed to his
address in Bush Alaska if he didn't have access to the Internet.
MR. BARRETT clarified that this notice is distributed to email
addresses. He noted that many people in remote areas access
their email periodically using the public access at a local
school. They're able to get to the email within the two-week
public comment period. He noted that the graphic on the upper
right of the slide included directions on how to sign up for the
subscriptions.
3:50:01 PM
MR. BARRETT turned to the table on slide 6, Water Use Fees from
11 AAC 05.260(b), to illustrate the magnitude of the advertising
costs. He directed attention to the third category in the first
column, "(7) Appropriation of water > 5,000 gpd and < 30,000
gpd." These are small entity users such as schools, businesses,
small utilities, and farmers. The fee to issue them a permit is
$595 and the cost to advertise that permit is often more than
that. He calculated that 80 high-volume water rights publicized
per year multiplied by $750 for the average newsprint cost
totals $60,000. He said that's how much these Alaskans are
paying for advertising every year and SB 68 would eliminate that
cost.
3:51:34 PM
MS. COLLES turned to slide 7 to discuss the public notice
requirements under AS 38.
[Original punctuation provided.]
• In 2012, the passage of HB 361 modernized public
notice requirements in AS 38.05.945, the statute
that provides general notice provisions in the
Alaska Land Act.
• AS 38.05.945 now requires notice on the Alaska
Online Public Notice System and one of the
following:
o Newspapers
o Public service announcements
o Posting in conspicuous location
o Notification of known or likely affected
parties
o Publication of a legal notice
o Another method calculated to reach affected
persons
SENATOR KAWASAKI asked for confirmation that she said that the
department has not had problems with people saying they had not
seen the published notices.
MS. COLLES replied that there have been instances of people not
getting their mail or their address no longer being accurate,
but they didn't hear complaints that people didn't see the
notice because it was not available in the newspaper. She
continued to say the department is always looking for ways to
deliver notices to individuals, other than knocking on doors.
3:54:16 PM
MS. COLLES concluded the presentation by speaking to the
following points:
[Original punctuation provided.]
• DNR supports SB 68
o Notification to affected parties in addition to
the Online Public Notice System.
o It aligns with other notice requirements under
Title 38.
o It will save Alaskans unnecessary advertising
costs that can exceed the cost of a water right.
o A process efficiency will be realized as DNR staff
will be relieved of the responsibility to
coordinate duplicative notifications.
o The reduction in staff efforts will enable them to
work on processing additional applications.
o Statutory requirement to contact potentially
affected appropriators of record by certified
mail still applies.
SENATOR CLAMAN recalled that the Alaska Online System was
implemented in 1985 or 1986. He asked if there had been any
complaints about that system since the department started using
it more for state notices.
MS. COLLES said not to her knowledge. She agreed with Senator
Giessel that the public appeared happy with the online notices.
She acknowledged that it was important to continue to educate
the public about this no-cost tool.
SENATOR CLAMAN noted that the lieutenant governor's office
manages the online system, and asked whether she had
communicated with that office to see whether they'd encountered
any problems.
MS. COLLES answered no.
3:56:45 PM
CO-CHAIR BISHOP held SB 68 in committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 68 Version B.PDF |
HSTA 4/11/2024 3:00:00 PM SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 68 |
| SB 68 Sponsor Statement ver. B 02.20.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
|
| SB 68 Sectional Analysis ver. B 02.20.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 68 |
| SB 68 Fiscal Note DNR 03.10.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 68 |
| SB 68 Support Doc DNR January 2023.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 68 |
| SB 68 Support Doc Pew Research Center 02.20.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 68 |
| SB 68 Support Letters through 3.14.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 68 |
| SB 68 Presentation DNR DMLW 03.14.2023.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 68 |
| SB 34 Version B.PDF |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 34 |
| SB 34 Sponsor Statement ver. B 02.15.23.pdf |
SFIN 4/17/2023 1:30:00 PM SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 34 |
| SB 34 Fiscal Note DNR 03.10.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 34 |
| SB 34 Support Doc CACFA Audit Report 04.08.2020.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 34 |
| SB 34 Support Doc CACFA Audit Summary 03.13.23.pdf |
SFIN 4/17/2023 1:30:00 PM SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 34 |
| SB 34 Support Letters rec'd by 03.14.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 34 |
| SB 87 Version A.PDF |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 87 |
| SB 87 Sponsor Statement ver. A 03.15.23.pdf |
SFIN 4/12/2023 1:00:00 PM SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 87 |
| SB 87 Sectional Analysis ver. A 03.15.23.pdf |
SFIN 4/12/2023 1:00:00 PM SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 87 |
| SB 87 Fiscal Note DNR 03.10.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 87 |
| SB 87 Support Letters rec'd by 03.14.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 87 |
| SB 87 DOF Lumber Grading Presentation 03.15.2023.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 87 |
| SB 34 Sectional Analysis ver. B 02.15.23.pdf |
SRES 3/15/2023 3:30:00 PM |
SB 34 |