Legislature(2003 - 2004)
02/18/2004 03:33 PM Senate RES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 295-EXTEND NAVIGABLE WATERS COMMISSION
CHAIR SCOTT OGAN announced SB 295 to be up for consideration.
MR. ZACH WARWICK, Staff to Senator Therriault, sponsor,
explained that SB 295 adds two years to the life of the Joint
Federal and State Navigable Waters Commission that was
established in 2002, but not funded. The hope is that if the
state passes legislation again, the federal side of the
commission will be funded.
CHAIR OGAN asked why this bill is needed since the Department of
Natural Resources (DNR) legislation asks the same thing.
MR. WARWICK replied SB 295 is an attempt to build consensus
between the state and federal governments on creating the lists
and maps.
MR. RON SOMERVILLE, consultant to the Senate and House Majority,
explained:
It's the quickest possible way you could essentially
identify those reaches of those particular streams,
which both parties agree are navigable. Certainly,
that then leaves the remainder to be settled in
court.... The concept here was to entice them to sit
down, because of the massive size of the state, and
cooperatively identify them so we could resolve these
clouded titles, if you will, in many areas of the
state.
CHAIR OGAN asked what is driving the situation now.
MR. WARWICK replied that the state side of the commission was
passed last year, but wasn't funded. Current language says seven
members are appointed by the state, which would drop down to
four upon federal appointment of their four members. The state
members could get some groundwork done before the federal
members came on board.
SENATOR ELTON said if SB 305, which asserts state ownership of
certain submerged lands, is adopted, the state might not want to
have a commission. Why would the state want to sit down with the
feds and negotiate away something it has just asserted?
MR. SOMERVILLE answered that the concept in SB 295 is to try to
develop a mechanism whereby the state can have title as
described by Mr. Mylius. Developing the lists would happen much
faster with a commission rather than using recordable
disclaimers or by developing a state list.
It seems to me that it's complementary. If the state
has its list, it would be submitted to the commission
for hopefully ratification by the combined state and
federal representatives. It would be similar to the
Federal State Land Use Planning Commission that was
created out of ANCSA [Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act].
SENATOR ELTON asked if anyone had actually been appointed in the
past.
MR. WARWICK replied that no one had been appointed.
CHAIR OGAN remarked that, based on the fiscal note, it doesn't
look like the administration intends to appoint anybody until
the federal government does and the feds aren't going to do
anything until the state does. The commission could be extended
for another two-year stalemate.
MR. SOMERVILLE said that Senator Therriault thought the law
could be kept on the books and noted that Senator [Ted] Stevens
made some mention of the commission that the Secretary of
Interior was supportive of at the time. If Congress does pass
something, this process would be much quicker than using a
supplemental appropriation to quickly initiate the state's
portion of the commission.
SENATOR ELTON replied that he didn't dispute that, but the
future cost of the commission could be out of the state's hands
until the feds enacted their side. He could envision a scenario
in which the feds wouldn't pass a law, but the state would still
have to fund seven commissioners and not have the BLM
information it wanted.
CHAIR OGAN closed public testimony.
SENATOR THOMAS WAGONER moved to pass SB 295 from committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal note. There were
no objections and it was so ordered.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|