02/16/2004 03:20 PM House L&C

HJR 34-FED TRAINING AND ASSISTANCE FOR FISHERMEN                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
Number 0446                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR ANDERSON  announced that the  next order of  business would                                                               
be HOUSE  JOINT RESOLUTION NO.  34, Requesting the  United States                                                               
Department  of Agriculture  and the  United States  Department of                                                               
Labor to  extend Trade Adjustment  Assistance benefits  to Alaska                                                               
fishermen; requesting  the United States Congress  and the United                                                               
States Department  of Agriculture  to extend  additional disaster                                                               
and  price  support  benefits to  Alaska  salmon  fishermen;  and                                                               
requesting  the  United  States   Department  of  Agriculture  to                                                               
establish terminal markets in Alaska  for all covered commodities                                                               
including salmon.  [Before the committee was CSHJR 34(FSH).]                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
Number 0462                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE DAN OGG, Alaska  State Legislature, sponsor, noted                                                               
that  he'd  sponsored  HJR  34   at  the  request  of  the  Joint                                                               
Legislative   Salmon  Industry   Talk  Force.     He   introduced                                                               
Ms. Dover.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
Number 0480                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
MELISSA  DOVER, Staff  to Representative  Dan  Ogg, Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature, presented the resolution as follows:                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
     HJR 34  seeks to ask  Congress to make some  changes to                                                                    
     the  current Trade  Adjustment  Assistance programs  to                                                                    
     make them a better fit  for commercial fishermen.  Both                                                                    
     the  United States  Department of  Agriculture and  the                                                                    
     United   States   Department   of  Labor   have   Trade                                                                    
     Adjustment  Assistance programs  that  are designed  to                                                                    
     help  workers who  have been  hurt by  imports.   Those                                                                    
     programs  were  primarily   designed  for  agricultural                                                                    
     workers.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
     Last year,  with the  recognition that  imported salmon                                                                    
     has  dramatically  hurt   wild  salmon  prices,  [U.S.]                                                                    
     Senator  Lisa  Murkowski  was   able  to  get  Alaska's                                                                    
     commercial   salmon  fishermen   qualified  for   those                                                                    
     programs.   We've  been working  with  her office,  and                                                                    
     with fishermen and other stakeholders,  to look at some                                                                    
     of the issues hitting commercial fishermen.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
MS.  DOVER  concluded  that   the  resolution  requests  specific                                                               
changes to  the existing programs to  make them a better  fit for                                                               
commercial  fishermen,  and,  ultimately,   asks  that  the  U.S.                                                               
Secretary  of Commerce  create a  program specific  to commercial                                                               
fishermen.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
Number 0616                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  DAHLSTROM moved  to report  CSHJR 34(FSH)  out of                                                               
committee  with individual  recommendations and  the zero  fiscal                                                               
note.  There being no  objection, CSHJR 34(FSH) was reported from                                                               
the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.