Legislature(2009 - 2010)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/25/2010 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SCR16 | |
| SB258 | |
| SB303 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 258 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SCR 16 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 303 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SCR 16-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING COMMISSION
1:35:26 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN announced SCR 16 to be up for consideration.
JEFF STEPP, staff to Senator Paskvan, said this resolution is an
opportunity to follow through on a recommendation mentioned in
an earlier committee overview of economic development in the
state of Alaska. He recalled that one thing that has been
universally identified among the states is that input from the
private sector is lacking. In collaborating with Representative
Austerman's office the Labor and Commerce Committee has
submitted SCR 16, the main goal of which is to facilitate input
from the private sector in the implementation of state economic
development policy. He said a committee substitute (CS) arrived
in their office just a few minutes before the meeting started.
But they would talk about the changes and have the CS and the
fiscal note for the committee next time.
1:38:06 PM
SENATOR JOE THOMAS joined the committee.
1:38:23 PM
ERIN HARRINGTON, staff to Representative Austerman, said she had
been working with Mr. Stepp on this initiative and explained
that SCR 16 creates an Economic Development Planning Commission
within the Legislature. It would be a 10-member task force that
would work to integrate the Legislature into some of the on-
going economic development initiatives in the state. In January
efforts were discussed such as Alaska Forward and the Governor's
Legacy Initiative. The idea is to make sure the Legislature has
the opportunity to participate in those and particularly to
participate in the implementation of any ideas that developed
through the processes. She said her presentation addresses the
expected CS.
1:40:08 PM
This commission would report suggested strategies and
legislation to the Governor, the Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee (LB&A), and to the Legislative Council. Their
activities would sunset at the end of fiscal year 2012. They do
not want to duplicate any long term economic development efforts
that might be created through Alaska Forward or others, but to
just create a very specific working group within the Legislature
so it can be engaged and implement them as the processes move
forward.
MS. HARRINGTON said SCR 16 allows the Legislature to monitor
ongoing initiatives and it creates a mechanism for it to
collaborate with the private sector on issues related to
economic development, and to identify where legislation is
necessary. Representative Austerman's work suggested that the
state isn't going to necessarily lead economic development but
in many cases it has the tools to support it. It also
demonstrates the Legislature's ongoing commitment to economic
development initiatives.
Finally, it responds to some identified shortcomings from
previous economic development efforts. She referenced a letter
from Senator Torgerson which included a copy of the Alaska
Forward Phase 1 Report noting that previous efforts sometimes
fell apart at the implementation stage either with the
administration or because legislative action was needed but
there hadn't been good communication about what that might be.
This tries to address that proactively.
MS. HARRINGTON said the current processes are Alaska Forward,
which has been organized with the Alaska Partnership for
Economic Development, and the Legacy Process which has been
running out of the Governor's Office. Alaska Forward was funded
with $500,000 from the Denali Commission to support their
efforts to do a statewide strategic plan related to economic
development. Phase 1 is done and they are in the fundraising and
kick off stage of phase 2. In phase 1 they spent only $350,000-
375,000, so they have some money left over; they'll be spending
roughly twice that on the next stage.
The Legacy Process that was established by the Executive Order
from the former governor has been continued in under Governor
Parnell's leadership. This process is morphing and is expected
to run parallel to the Alaska Forward process so that they are
mutually supportive. Other regional and industry specific
economic development efforts are going on in the state and are
mentioned in the report. Kinds of opportunities the commission
might identify are tax incentives, loan programs, and targeting
economic clusters that could benefit from additional support or
need an additional boost from state efforts.
She said the Commission would work to draft legislation in
advance of each of the two upcoming legislative sessions so
action could be taken if appropriate. This could include
restructuring of departments, tax incentive or loan programs.
1:45:40 PM
ROB ERAL, staff to Representative Herron, remarked that slide 7
showed the various appointment authorities for the Commission;
the Finance co-chairs have a large roll. The last two
commissioners are automatically ex officio members. All members
would serve until the sunset date. They just received the Alaska
Forward Phase 1 report that stated the commission could start
work April 30 at the earliest. The first reporting deadline
would at the beginning of the 2011 session. Phase 2 of Alaska
Forward will be a summit in the spring or fall. A second
reporting deadline is before the 2012 session. Then it would
sunset June 30, 2012.
He said that all agencies found a lack of cohesive thinking on
economic development in Alaska and think the commission could be
a filter and a bridge to take that information from diverse
sources and present it to the Legislature. Legislators on the
commission could have access to Legislative Legal to draft
legislation and could recommend policy changes to the governor.
MR. EARL said the forthcoming fiscal note will be about $130,000
- most of it for commission staff at range 21, step C, with a
little bit of travel per diem.
1:48:29 PM
SENATOR BUNDE asked if it wouldn't be more efficient to bring
the report straight to the Labor and Commerce chairs.
MS. HARRINGTON responded that Legislative Legal suggested that
LB&A interact with administration on issues related to the
budget and agencies, and the Legislative Council, being the
policy body for the Legislature, could perhaps provide a broader
reach. It is open to discussion.
SENATOR BUNDE said the creation of this commission seems to
anticipate proposing some legislation, and they should remove
filters rather than adding additional ones. If the Legislature
is not in session, perhaps Legislative Council might be the
right route. He didn't understand LB&A's role in this.
CHAIR PASKVAN said they are looking for the comments of private
enterprise and he thought that Labor and Commerce was
appropriately involved in that.
1:50:22 PM
SENATOR BUNDE said he hears from business and enterprise people
all the time and asked why these business people can't talk to
their elected representatives. Wouldn't that be a lot cheaper?
MS. HARRINGTON agreed, but the concern this resolution is
attempting to address is the one that has been vocalized that at
times it doesn't seem that the three stakeholders in these kinds
of processes are equally engaged. Sometimes in the past the
administration and public have been engaged they have been told,
but the Legislature hasn't been. Or the Legislature and public
have been engaged but the administration hasn't. This resolution
seeks to address that concern by assuring that the Legislature
has a direct route of engagement in implementation of these
processes.
SENATOR BUNDE said you're battling the inherent three branches
of government.
SENATOR MEYER said Anchorage has the Economic Development
Association that has legislators as ex officio members as well
as the Anchorage Assembly.
CHAIR PASKVAN said Fairbanks has an Economic Development
Authority, as well.
SENATOR MEYER said the Valley does, too; so the bulk of the
population is already covered by some economic group. He shared
Senator Bunde's concern about having so many commissions. What
did she think about using local economic development
organizations?
MS. HARRINGTON answered that was an excellent point. The Alaska
Partnership for Economic Development (APED) has been the lead
organization on the Alaska Forward planning process and is
actually an umbrella organization of these regional Alaska
Regional Development Organizations (ARDORS). The lack of
integration on statewide concepts was identified and that is
what led them to the development of the APED organization and
the Alaska Forward move. The president of AEDC is on the APED
Board, Marty Mativa from the Mat-Su RDC is actually the
president of APED right now. This commission is not intended to
replace the leadership of that organization and their statewide
vision; it is intended to make sure they, the private sector and
the groups that are going to be involved in Alaska's long term
economic development and have a direct line of contact with the
Legislature and, moreover, have some of the tools and support
that would be needed in actually creating legislation where it
would be appropriate.
1:55:05 PM
SENATOR THOMAS said he has heard concerns that there hasn't been
as much activity as one would expect when you have a Department
of Economic Development. Making sure services aren't duplicated
would be helpful as well as figuring out why the state isn't
moving forward as fast as it should be.
1:57:54 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN recognized Commissioner Curtis Thayer, Department
of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED), sitting
in the audience. He said SCR 16 would be held for further work.
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