03/22/1995 01:37 PM Senate JUD

 SJUD - 3/22/95                                                                
                                                                               
         SJR 14 CONFIRMATION OF MEMBERS OF PUBLIC CORP                        
                                                                              
 SENATOR RICK HALFORD, sponsor of SJR 14, gave the following                   
 testimony.  SJR 14 has been reviewed by the Senate Finance                    
 Committee but was returned to the Senate Judiciary Committee to               
 create specific language to achieve the intent.  Had the                      
 corporations that control close to $20 billion in state assets been           
 envisioned at the time of statehood, a constitutional mechanism               
 would have been devised to prevent confirmation overlap problems.             
 He stated the question is how specific should constitutional                  
 language be.  The language needs to clearly cover the public                  
 entities that control billions of dollars of state assets and                 
 provide the voters an opportunity to amend the constitution so that           
 a check and balance system with regard to the boards and                      
 commissions is established.                                                   
                                                                               
 SENATOR TAYLOR discussed the need to keep the language sufficiently           
 generic so as to encompass the public entities that currently exist           
 and will be created in the future, and avoid the problem of                   
 providing a specific list of names that will be intentionally                 
 avoided by administrations in the future.                                     
                                                                               
 Number 420                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR HALFORD stated one possibility is to change the words                 
 "public corporation" to "entity" but it is not clear what agencies            
 would be considered "entities."   He suggested scheduling a work              
 session with the Legislative Legal Services Division to refine the            
 language.                                                                     
                                                                               
 SENATOR ADAMS agreed with Senator Halford's statement about which             
 agencies should be covered, and felt CFAB should be included, but             
 he did not believe the list should include the smaller                        
 corporations.  SENATOR HALFORD stated one consideration was to only           
 include corporations that manage more than $50 million in state               
 assets but that would not include CFAB.                                       
                                                                               
 SENATOR HALFORD noted in an early draft, the addition of another              
 section was considered, however he felt a constitutional amendment            
 needs to be short, easily understood and self explanatory to gain             
 voter approval.  The Administration raised the argument that                  
 defining the assets as state assets might increase state liability            
 for default by the entity that controls those assets.                         
                                                                               
 SENATOR TAYLOR suggested establishing a work session on record to             
 review the measure and develop new language.  SENATOR HALFORD                 
 suggested including Judge Stewart since he was a member of the                
 Constitutional Convention.                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR HALFORD expressed concern that the Legislature approves all           
 members of the Board of Barbers and Hairdressers, yet has nothing             
 to do with the Permanent Fund Corporation Board, which has been               
 replaced by the past two administrations.                                     
                                                                               
 SENATOR TAYLOR announced he planned to set up a work session on SJR
 within the next 10 days.                                                   
                                                                               
 SENATOR GREEN asked if the intent of SJR 14 is to provide                     
 legislative confirmation of members of public corporations and does           
 not set up a kind of audit system.  SENATOR HALFORD responded SJR
 allows for legislative confirmation.   He recommended the                  
 creation of overlapping terms, and the ability to discharge for               
 cause also be included in law.  Because the Constitution provides             
 for legislative confirmation of heads of principle departments or             
 regulatory or quasi-judicial agencies only, board members of                  
 agencies like the Alaska Railroad Corporation are not confirmed by            
 the Legislature.  He stated the boards of public corporations are             
 usually comprised of commissioners as well as public members,                 
 therefore the composition of the board changes significantly with             
 a change of administration.  He noted the Permanent Fund                      
 Corporation Board has only one member that was on the last Board,             
 although some members from the previous board were recently                   
 reappointed after being removed by the previous governor.