01/29/1998 08:05 AM House STA

HB 304 - MOVE LEGISLATURE TO ANCHORAGE                                         
                                                                               
Number 2031                                                                    
                                                                               
CHAIR JAMES announced the next order of business was HB 304, "An               
Act relating to the location of the convening of the legislature in            
regular session; repealing provisions relating to student guests of            
the legislature; and providing for an effective date," sponsored by            
Representative Green.                                                          
                                                                               
CHAIR JAMES noted HB 304 had received extensive discussion,                    
however, it did have the votes to pass at its last hearing.  The               
sponsors indicated they now have the votes.                                    
                                                                               
Number 2040                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN, Alaska State Legislature, testified                  
before the committee.  He mentioned some members were absent at the            
previous hearing.                                                              
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said HB 304 recommends that the state does                
something that no other state has ever done and that is separate               
the executive branch from the legislative branch.  That is dramatic            
and is the kind of policy that is destructive.  He referred to the             
argument that the Capitol Building is not safe and that the state              
needs to reinvest.  He stressed he objects to reinvesting in                   
buildings and new quarters for the legislative branch before they              
reinvest in a school building (which he visited) which is sliding              
down a hill.                                                                   
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said, "If we are going to invest in a new                 
building, and we are going to invest in new quarters, we should                
invest first in Alaskans and invest last in legislators who are                
supposed to be looking at the needs of all Alaska."  He believes               
they might spend an awful lot of energy on it and at the end of                
session and they are going to say, "Why did we do this, and why                
didn't we invest our energy working on something constructive                  
rather than trying to redivide the pie for somebody else."                     
                                                                               
Number 2134                                                                    
                                                                               
CHAIR JAMES stated people in her district did not vote to move the             
capital due to the cost.  Although she will vote to move HB 304 out            
of committee, she will be a no vote on the bill unless someone                 
proves to her there is a savings.                                              
                                                                               
CHAIR JAMES agreed with Representative Elton.  She said, "My big               
challenge is to fix our fixed assets, and taking any money for                 
doing other things that I don't think needs to be done now, or in              
the immediate future, I think is not necessary.  I will agree, and             
I believe that probably without this piece of legislation that the             
legislature may have the authority to rove, in which case, you know            
I have some support for that in my district because it will allow              
some districts to have access to the legislature that don't now.               
And you know the problem with that is where do you do it, and do               
you have the facilities, and we don't.  So that would be up to the             
private sector to come up and provide a place for us to do that.               
So I think, even though contrary to Representative Elton's                     
statement that no other state has a legislative group separate from            
their administrative group, Alaska is like no other state, and we              
do have a huge state with disproportionate amount of people in some            
parts of the area that are not served, and so there is a good                  
arguement to that.  I just wanted to put on the record what my                 
position is on this issue.  It is the money issue with me and so I             
don't think the public is going to like us spending money that's               
unecessary at this time."                                                      
                                                                               
Number 2206                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE FRED DYSON said, like Representative Elton, he                  
suspected HB 304 is going nowhere.  He asked Representative Green              
if it is not in the best interest for the people of the state to               
have the executive and legislative branches geographically in                  
separate locations.  Does the executive branch have the authority              
to move any and all portions of its operations?                                
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN said many functions of the Administration have            
already moved to Anchorage.  There are more employees in the                   
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality                      
[Department of Environmental Conservation] in Anchorage than there             
are in Juneau.                                                                 
                                                                               
Number 2289                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE DYSON asked again, does the executive branch have               
the authority to relocate any and all executive branch offices.                
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN replied, "With the possible exception of his              
office, he does."  He noted one of the commissioners publicly                  
announced that she will locate her office in Anchorage.                        
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE HODGINS stated his district has difficulty in                   
getting to local government.  He would like to see a roving session            
and suggested holding session one year in the Fairbanks area, one              
year in Southcentral and one year in Southeast.  He indicated the              
Kenai Borough Assembly visited different locations which gave the              
people a lot of access which they would not otherwise have.                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE HODGINS said the square footage in the building that            
the state purchased last year in Anchorage is probably more than               
the rest of the state combined, or fairly close to it.  In common              
sense thinking, the capital is already in Anchorage because that is            
where the bulk of state services is.  He indicated he had no                   
problem with moving the session there.  There will be an impact on             
the rest of the state.                                                         
                                                                               
Number 2427                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE IVAN said his constituents favor less expensive                 
access to express their needs.                                                 
                                                                               
TAPE 98-8, SIDE B                                                              
Number 0001                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE IVAN indicated he would support HB 304.  At the same            
time Alaska continually has other needs.                                       
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said we cannot continue to define 'access' the            
same way we did 30 years ago.  Access now means that we can pull up            
every bill, committee minutes, whatever we want through the                    
Internet.  We can sit down in front of a video teleconference unit             
and we can testify face to face.  The Legislative Information                  
Offices also provides access.                                                  
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON stated the other thing that tends to bother               
him about this debate is it has been discussed before and is                   
debilitating to some regions of the state.  When do we learn to set            
aside some issues and concentrate on issues that are perhaps more              
important?                                                                     
                                                                               
Number 0132                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said maybe we should put it in the context of             
moving the capital to the wealth producing part of the state,                  
closer to areas that are actually funding state government.  He                
indicated they would be on the North Slope, Dillingham, Kodiak or              
Dutch Harbor.  Maybe bump it out of the context of where the people            
are and move it to the people who are paying the bills for state               
government.                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said access is no longer defined by somebody              
coming into their office and shaking their hand.  Access is also               
defined by Public Opinion Messages, E-Mail, 1-800 telephone                    
numbers, video or audio teleconferencing.                                      
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN said Representative Elton mentioned several               
means of communication that we did not have years ago, the                     
historical convening of the governor and the legislature was                   
because they did not have communication.  He indicated the public              
would have to purchase a computer or go to a Legislative                       
Information Office to send messages which is still not face to                 
face.  That is one reason that there is no more a necessity to have            
the legislature convening where the governor lives.                            
                                                                               
Number 0267                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE HODGINS pointed out the City and Borough of Juneau              
have been extremely helpful in providing "Gavel to Gavel" in trying            
to establish communications.  He concluded you still have the                  
majority of the population in one area, and that is where                      
government should be.                                                          
                                                                               
CHAIR JAMES indicated having the capital in Juneau restricts a lot             
of people from running for office.  She jokingly asked have you                
ever wondered what it would be like if we put a call on the House              
in Anchorage.                                                                  
                                                                               
Number 0338                                                                    
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE HODGINS made a motion to move HB 304 from the                   
committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal                  
notes.                                                                         
                                                                               
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER objected.                                                 
                                                                               
CHAIR JAMES requested a roll call vote.  Representatives Berkowitz,            
Dyson, Hodgins, Ivan and Chair James voted in favor of moving the              
bill.  Representatives Elton and Vezey voted against it.  HB 304               
moved from the House State Affairs Standing Committee by a vote of             
5-2.