Legislature(2021 - 2022)SENATE FINANCE 532
04/06/2021 09:00 AM Senate FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB71 | |
| SB64 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 76 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 20 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 64 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 71 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SENATE BILL NO. 71
"An Act relating to special request registration
plates celebrating the arts; relating to artwork in
public buildings and facilities; relating to the
management of artwork under the art in public places
fund; relating to the powers and duties of the Alaska
State Council on the Arts; and providing for an
effective date."
9:10:27 AM
Co-Chair Bishop relayed that it was the first hearing of SB
71, and the intent of the committee was to hear the bill
and set it aside. After hearing from invited testimony, he
would open public testimony on the bill.
9:11:32 AM
SENATOR GARY STEVENS, SPONSOR (via teleconference), thanked
the committee for hearing the bill. He relayed that SB 71
was drafted at the request of the Alaska State Council on
the Arts (ASCA). It was a bill that allowed the council to
raise funds from the sale of arts license plates, and held
the council harmless by disallowing a veto hold for funding
the council raised private funds.
9:12:32 AM
TIM LAMKIN, STAFF, SENATOR GARY STEVENS, addressed a
Sectional Analysis for Version I of the bill (copy on
file):
Sec. 1: AS 28.10.421(a), relating to fees paid to the
Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for vehicle license
plates, allows for an additional fee, set by Alaska
State Council on the Arts (ASCA) regulation, and not
to exceed $50, when a person chooses a new or
replacement ASCA artistic plate.
The subsection also provides that these additional
fees will be accounted for separately and that
the total amount that exceeds the costs of the
Artistic License Plate Program may be appropriated
to fund the ASCA.
Mr. Lamkin noted that in Section 1, the fee was intended
not to exceed $50, but clarified that the fee would not be
set at $50. He continued to address the Sectional Analysis:
Sec. 2: AS 35.27.020(h), relating to the Art Works in
Public Buildings and Facilities program, adds a new
subsection to specify ASCA's management responsibility
for public artwork created under the program, to
include the management of the relocation, disposition,
or exchange of such artwork.
Sec. 3: AS 44.27.050(7), relating to the duties of the
ASCA, is a cross reference to the prior section,
specifying ASCA's management responsibility for public
artwork created through its programs, to include the
management of the relocation, disposition, or exchange
of such artwork.
Sec. 4: AS 44.27.053(a), establishes the Attorney
General being legal counsel for ASCA, similar to other
state agencies, and allows the ASCA to retain
additional legal counsel as needed, subject to the
approval of the Attorney General.
Sec. 5: AS 44.27.055(d), relating to the ASCA managing
its affairs, exempts from the purview of the Executive
Budget Act those funds received by ASCA from private
non-profit foundation partners.
Sec. 6: AS 44.27.080(a), relating to an ASCA-sponsored
competition for artistic plates design, from being
mandatory to being optional, every four years, at the
discretion of ASCA.
Sec. 7: AS 44.27.080(c), relating to the artistic
plate design competition, restores authority for the
ASCA to award the artist of the winning design a
monetary amount set in regulation, from the funds
generated by the artistic plates. This provision was
repealed in 2018.
Sec. 8: Provides an effective date of July 1, 2021.
9:15:59 AM
BEN BROWN, CHAIRMAN, ALASKA STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS (via
teleconference), thanked the sponsor and his staff for the
work on the bill. He affirmed that Mr. Lamkin had addressed
the provisions accurately and succinctly. He commented that
the bill was somewhat time sensitive. He discussed the
current Alaska Artistic License Program, which involved
artist-designed license plates. He explained that the
plates were not like other special plates. There was a dual
purpose to the plates: to celebrate an Alaskan artist, and
to provide a small piece of visual artistic beauty on cars.
The program was originally structured with no additional
fee to Alaskans. The public response had been amazingly
positive.
Mr. Brown mentioned the National Arts and Humanities Act,
which dictated the calculation for state funding, and
explained that there was a minimum state contribution in
every state to trigger the federal match, which for the
arts council equated approximately $600,000. He noted that
much of the ASCA budget was from non-governmental sources.
Without the state contribution, the council would not have
access to funding partners such as the Rasmussen
Foundation. He relayed that the council wanted to earn some
income to help with the state match. He continued that
foundation funds could not be used to fund the state much,
however designated general funds (DGF) in the form of
revenues from the Artistic License Program, could do so. He
asserted that every dollar from an artistic license plate
signified an undesignated general fund (UGF) dollar that
did not need to be requested from state general funds. He
noted that other provisions of the bill were targeted
changes identified when the topic of the bill had been
raised.
9:20:47 AM
Senator Wilson asked about the total of state funds needed
for matching funds.
Mr. Brown specified that the council needed $686,000 to
trigger federal matching funds.
Senator Wielechowski asked for the approximate amount of
private funding or funds from nonprofit organizations the
council received.
Mr. Brown relayed that for FY 22, the governor's proposed
budget for the council included $685,100 in UGF, $10,900 in
DGF, $806,000 in federal funds, and $2,359,700 in
statutorily designated program receipts. He approximated
that about 54 percent of the council's overall budget was
coming from non-governmental foundation partner sources.
Senator Wielechowski referenced Section 5 of the bill,
which exempted the council from the Executive Budget Act.
He asked for the rationale behind the provision.
Mr. Brown explained that the provision was a direct result
of the council's experience from a few years ago when all
of the council's funding had been vetoed. He explained that
at the time, if the statutorily designated program receipts
had not been vetoed, the council would have been able to
stay in operation longer and not have had to abruptly shut
down and lay off all its staff, close its offices, and
erase its website. After the funds had been restored by the
legislature, he had met with the governor and his chief of
staff to discuss putting a provision in the statute to
exempt the component of the budget from the Executive
Branch Budget Act. He noted that the bill section was there
with the concurrence of the Dunleavy Administration. He did
not see the provision as problematic. The rationale was
that the funds were not governmental and did not need to be
subject to the act in the same way that state and federal
dollars were.
9:24:04 AM
Co-Chair Bishop asked if Mr. Brown could discuss auditing
protocol for the council if Section 5 of the bill were to
go into effect.
Mr. Brown did not believe that being exempted from the
Executive Branch Budget Act would prevent the Legislative
Audit Department from looking at all funds received and
spent by the council. He noted that the council was
administratively housed in the Department of Education and
Early Development (DEED). He elaborated that the council
could come up with any new procedures that might be
necessary if Section 5 became law along with the rest of
the provisions of the bill. He noted that there were
specific provisions that detailed how funds from the
National Endowment for the Arts could be spent. He thought
there might be additional steps to ensure transparency for
Legislative Audit or other entities but assured that the
provision was not to escape tracking but rather to prevent
private foundation funds from being vetoed by a future
governor.
Co-Chair Bishop stated he would reach out to the
legislative auditor for clarification on some of the
questions that had been raised.
Senator Wielechowski was curious how procurement would be
done with funds from private or non-profit organizations.
He asked if there were any related procedures in place at
the council.
Mr. Brown explained that ASCA had undergone a transition to
become a quasi-public corporation and ceased to be a
regular-line agency, it was already somewhat exempted from
the strictures of state procurement. He relayed that ASCA
had since endeavored to come up with a standalone code, but
at the current time, the council followed all of DEED's
current requirements. He continued that ASCA was farther
along with its personnel policy that the conversion to a
public corporation status allowed for. He noted that ASCA
only had three staff that were juggling the administrative
and finance tasks to run the agency, and unfortunately did
not have a dedicated finance person.
Mr. Brown continued to address Senator Wielechowski's
question. He qualified that ASCA was not in the same
position of a regular agency but continued to behave as one
with regard to procurement until such time that there was
sufficient staff to set up a separate set of procedures.
The change in procedure would be done in concurrence and
with the approval of DEED, and he was confident that the
change would satisfy the public's interest in ensuring that
procurement activities were legitimate and documented.
9:28:53 AM
Co-Chair Bishop OPENED public testimony.
9:29:10 AM
Co-Chair Bishop CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair Bishop set the bill aside.
SB 71 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 71 Arts Council Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/9/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 71 |
| SB 71 DMV License Plate Options.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/9/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 71 |
| SB 71 Sample Plates Plate Demand.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/9/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 71 |
| SB 71 Sectional Analysis.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM SSTA 3/9/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 71 |
| SB 71 ArtsCouncil_Support-Letter_KodiakArts_08March2021.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM |
SB 71 |
| SB064_ShellfishEnhancement_Sponsor-Statement.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM SRES 2/22/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 64 |
| SB064_ShellfishEnhancement_Sectional_VersionA.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM SRES 2/22/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 64 |
| SB064_Shellfish-Enhancement_Research Backup_PSPA-UFA Flyer_Pays-Its-Way.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM SRES 2/22/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 64 |
| SB064 AFDF Letter of Support 2- Alaska Mariculture Development Plan.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM SRES 2/22/2021 3:30:00 PM |
SB 64 |
| SB 64 ShellfishEnhancement_SupportLetter_JEDC_09March2021.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM |
SB 64 |
| SB 64 ShellfishEnhancement_SupportLetter_UFA_23Feb2021.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM |
SB 64 |
| SB 64 - ASMI Support.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM |
SB 64 |
| SB 71 Public Testimony Rogers.pdf |
SFIN 4/6/2021 9:00:00 AM |
SB 71 |