03/22/1993 03:00 PM House HES

  HJR 30 - QUARANTINE SERVICES AT PORTS OF ENTRY                               
                                                                               
  MEL KROGSENG, LEGISLATIVE AIDE TO REP. RAMONA BARNES,                        
  testified on behalf of the prime sponsor of HB 174.  She                     
  read a sponsor statement, which is on file in the committee                  
  room.   In summary, the statement said that the resolution,                  
  introduced at the request of the Department of Health and                    
  Social Services (DHSS), was a reaction to the                                
  discontinuation of epidemiological and quarantine services                   
  at Ports of Entry into Alaska.  The resolution asks the                      
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide extra                  
  staff in Alaska to monitor potential outbreaks of                            
  communicable diseases carried into Alaska by travellers,                     
  especially those from Russia and the Far East.                               
                                                                               
  (Reps. Brice, Kott, Olberg and B. Davis arrived at                           
  approximately 3:15 p.m.)                                                     
                                                                               
  Number 065                                                                   
                                                                               
  CHAIR BUNDE asked why the resolution carried a zero fiscal                   
  note.                                                                        
                                                                               
  MS. KROGSENG said that the federal government would pay for                  
  any health officers, and that there would therefore be no                    
  cost to the state.                                                           
                                                                               
  REP. VEZEY asked the location of Alaska's Ports of Entry.                    
                                                                               
  MS. KROGSENG answered that they were the international                       
  airports in Fairbanks and Anchorage.                                         
                                                                               
  Number 090                                                                   
                                                                               
  REP. VEZEY recommended that it might be better to place such                 
  health officers in port communities like Valdez and Dutch                    
  Harbor.                                                                      
                                                                               
  Number 095                                                                   
                                                                               
  REP. TOOHEY commented that more people from the Far East and                 
  Russia arrived in Alaska through the airports than through                   
  maritime shipping ports.                                                     
                                                                               
  Number 104                                                                   
                                                                               
  REP. VEZEY commented that he had contracted some of the                      
  hardest to cure diseases in his life in port cities.                         
                                                                               
  Number 106                                                                   
                                                                               
  CHAIR BUNDE quieted the resulting laughter with a reminder                   
  that the committee had much work to do and limited time.                     
                                                                               
  Number 110                                                                   
                                                                               
  REP. BRICE moved passage of HJR 30 with individual                           
  recommendations.                                                             
                                                                               
  CHAIR BUNDE asked for objections, and, hearing none,                         
  announced HJR 30 PASSED WITH INDIVIDUAL RECOMMENDATIONS.  He                 
  brought HB 235 to the table.