Legislature(1997 - 1998)
04/15/1998 01:04 PM House TRA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 153 - SPECIALIZED LICENSE PLATES FOR ARTS Number 0120 CHAIRMAN WILLIAMS said the committee would hear SB 153, "An Act relating to issuance of special license plates to commemorate the arts." Number 0135 KRAG JOHNSEN, Legislative Administrative Assistant to Senator Drue Pearce, Alaska State Legislature, provided the sponsor statement for SB 153. He informed the committee that the bill would create a new specialized license plate to benefit the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA). He said the fee for the specialty license plate would be $150 for the first year and the subsequent fees would be dependent on the type of vehicle. He stated that there a number of specialty plates that have been created over the years. He said the Senate Finance Committee does realize that there is a proliferation of license plates and the one thing that makes ASCA stand out is that they have the ability to promote such a program to a success. Number 0234 REPRESENTATIVE JERRY SANDERS noted that there is a fiscal note attached and asked if the license plates pay for themselves. He asked if the money goes into the general fund and then back out. MR. JOHNSEN said that is correct. He pointed out that the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) submitted a fiscal note in the amount of $19.9 thousand. He said the way that it would work is the funds that are generated would pay back the cost of the plates first, and then any funds above that amount would be appropriated to the ASCA. He added that it would make up that cost first. REPRESENTATIVE SANDERS commented that it seems like the legislature gets a lot of similar bills like this one a year. He asked if the legislature could submit a bill that would let anyone make any kind of a plate they want to as long as they pay for it. He said, "This gets old." MR. JOHNSEN said they did look into something like what Representative Sanders just described. He said there are other programs across the nation that do things such as a tag, and not such a specialty plate, then the money goes toward a specific group. He said there's other ways to do it, but at this point, it would take a major clean-up. He noted there are at least a dozen specialty plates. REPRESENTATIVE SANDERS he said, for the record, he hopes that the next person who wants a specialty plate will make it blank. He said, "Let's have specialty plates for everybody in Alaska, and as long as they pay for them, we won't have to be involved in this all the time." MR. JOHNSEN told the committee members that ASCA will be responsible for creating the plate, designing the plate; for the most part, everything will be on their shoulders to promote and create the program. He indicated that the DMV will act as (indisc.). REPRESENTATIVE BILL HUDSON asked where the cost of the plates is included in the fiscal note. MR. JOHNSEN informed Representative Hudson that on page 2 of the fiscal note, there's a breakdown of the costs. REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON noted that according to the fiscal note it's $2.43 for a set of plates. Number 0457 JUANITA HENSLEY, Chief, Driver Services, Division of Motor Vehicles, Department of Administration, came before the committee to testify. She explained that the $2.43 is for the personnel services costs to reissue the plates. She said the division has to order a minimum of 900 sets of plates, whether or not they sell all of them and she said the cost is for the new sheeting is $10,000 and there's a design cost on top of that. She said DMV will have a representative working with ASCA on designing the plate, and they will also have the design artist from 3M Corporation who makes their sheeting who will work with them to make sure that the plates are readable. REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON asked how many different speciality plates does the state currently issue. MS. HENSLEY responded that the state has 46 different license plates they issue, which include passenger plates, personalized plates, veterans plates, motorcycle plates, et cetera. REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON clarified that he wanted to know how many specialty plates the state issues that designate the payment of them to a specific purpose. MS. HENSLEY said she did not know, but that they have multiple plates such as university plates, veterans plates, dealer plates, et cetera. She said DMV does not have any objection to any of these plates as long as they're funded. She noted that a bill passed two years which was for the sport of dog mushing and that they never ordered those plates because the fiscal note was not funded, which was zeroed out in conference committee. She pointed out that DMV never received the funds in order to design and make those plates. Number 0763 REPRESENTATIVE JOHN COWDERY asked about the design of the plates. He said, as he understands it, ASCA deals with the design and asked if all 900 of the plates would be of the same design. He asked, "Is there intent of distinguish in one form of art from another?" MS. HENSLEY replied that there would only be one design which would cost approximately $20,000. REPRESENTATIVE COWDERY clarified that he wants to know if there would be license plates with performing arts type of designs. MR. JOHNSEN interjected and said this would be a blanket arts council license plate, which supports all of the arts. REPRESENTATIVE KIM ELTON noted that the design would be done by ASCA for $5,000, according to the fiscal note. He also noted that there is also a separate $10,000 in the fiscal note for the set-up cost for the new sheeting. He asked if the $5,000 would go to ASCA. MR. JOHNSEN said the $5,000 is for the 3M Corporation for implementing the design. He said ASCA would be responsible for coming up with the design, and he believes that it's their intention to hold some sort of a contest. REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said the projected revenue is $135,000 as noted in the fiscal note and asked if that is a one-time revenue. He asked if the annual registration fee for specialty plates costs more than the normal license tags. Number 0918 MS. HENSLEY replied that the cost of the plate itself, and the $135,000 in revenue that is projected in the fiscal note is if they sell "x" number of set of plates. She said if DMV sells all 900 sets of plates at $150 a set, it will generate a lot of revenue for the general fund to be reappropriated back to the arts. REPRESENTATIVE ELTON said that's a one-time revenue for the plates and asked if there is an enhanced cost for the annual tags so that that plate continues to generate revenue for ASCA. MS. HENSLEY responded yes, that it is included in the cost of the registration fee; however, this is a one-time cost of $150. Therefore, the registration tag is just a normal operating cost for DMV, which would not go back to ASCE. REPRESENTATIVE ELTON commented he thinks this is a good bill and that he will probably vote to move it. He said the problem though is that this is a one-time shot that doesn't continue to provide ongoing benefits to ASCA. He said, from his recollection, the appropriation last year was between $400-500,000 for ASCA and he hopes that down the road the legislature doesn't say that they don't need to appropriate as much money for ASCA. MS. HENSLEY told the committee if DMV sold 50 plates this year then that would generate that money for this year, if they sold 50 plates next year, then that money would be generated for next year. She said DMV has no way of projecting the number of plates they are going to sell each year. She said that the fiscal note should have shown asterisks across the row after the first year, unfortunately she can't project the actual amount of revenue that would be generated. But DMV would be able to identify that amount so that could be identified to the legislature to reappropriate the funds to the arts. REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON asked, "You're saying that the $135,000 estimated revenues could conceivably come in over four years, or something like that?" MS. HENSLEY replied it could conceivable be $135,000 a year, or it may be more. She said she doesn't have any way of projecting that amount. It depends on how many individuals purchase the plates on a yearly basis. Number 1127 REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON moved and asked unanimous consent to move SB 153 out of committee with individual recommendations and with the attached fiscal note. There being no objection, SB 153 moved out of the House Transportation Standing Committee.
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