Legislature(1995 - 1996)
03/18/1996 03:35 PM Senate RES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 215 OMNIBUS STATE AGENCY OPERATONS & PROGRAM
CHAIRMAN LEMAN brought SB 215 before the committee as the next
order of business. He stated the committee would be dealing with
only Sections 1 - 4 and Sections 9 and 10 of the bill.
GERON BRUCE , Legislative Liaison, Department of Fish and Game,
addressing Section 1 - 4, said there are basically two provisions
in those sections that this legislation accomplishes. Section one
provides the Department of Fish and Game with authority to award
grants for protecting, maintaining, improving, or extending fish,
game, or aquatic plant resources of the state.
TAPE 96-31, SIDE B
Number 001
Sections 2, 3 and 4 deal with the streamlining of vendor
compensation for the sale of recreational hunting and fishing
licenses and crew member licenses. The vendors receive some
compensation which is intended to defray the costs of the service
they provide. Right now, the vendors receive the compensation in
a two-stage process: (1) they get to retain five percent up front;
and (2) they receive payment for additional compensation later. He
said the legislation will allow the vendors to retain the total
value of the compensation at the same time rather than it being a
two-step process.
Number 015
CHAIRMAN LEMAN asked if the $50 per year threshold was to entice
vendors to offer the service. MR. BRUCE answered that it has been
there for a long time, and he doesn't recollect the original cause
for setting it there, but he thought it was intended to provide at
least a minimum level of compensation for people that were doing
this as a service.
Number 030
SENATOR PEARCE , in referring to Section 1, said she thought the
legislation was giving extremely broad authority, and she asked
what can't the department do now that they want to be able to do
through this legislation. MR. BRUCE explained that the department
would like to be able to participate in partnerships with private
land owners, particularly along the Kenai River where they are
interested in improving the river front edge of their property in
a manner that is habitat friendly for fish. The department cannot
currently, other than through a competitive bid process, get money
to a private land owner. They have been going through a federal
agency, which has that authority, and they have been passing the
money through to a local property owner based on a set of criteria
that the property owner must meet in order to receive the money.
It is a 50/50 match with 50 percent of the funding coming from the
state and the land owner providing the other 50 percent. The
funding the department is currently using to do these kinds of
projects comes from two sources: (1) criminal settlement monies
relating to the Exxon Valdez disaster; and (2) money from the
National Marine Fisheries Service. The department has allocated a
portion of those monies to go toward these kind of projects.
SENATOR PEARCE said as she recalls, the legislature already gave
the department specific authority to pass those monies to local
governments and it could then be granted to private citizens. MR.
BRUCE agreed that a portion of the money did go to the Kenai
Peninsula Borough for some work there, but the remaining funds did
not go to them. They did not get a mechanism within the department
to work with private land owners. He added that the projects in
the program have been very popular and very successful.
Number 120
SENATOR TAYLOR expressed his continuing concern about habitat
enhancement on the Kenai River, particularly at flood time when the
river changes its course drastically. He questioned if there was
a rationale here and an overall plan. MR. BRUCE replied the
department is looking at the long range, recognizing that the river
does flood, and they are trying to develop ways of protecting
private property and maintaining the fish productivity of the river
for the long term. He said the Kenai has attracted so much
attention because if a very well known, highly regarded, highly
visited river that has some spectacular fishing opportunities, but
that doesn't mean to say that it is the only river in the state
that should get attention.
Number 200
MR. BRUCE discussed various methods being used for stream
stabilization, such as revegatation, constructing structures that
prevent erosion, floating docks instead of fixed docks, etc. He
also informed the members that he would provide them with an
evaluation sheet of all the different projects that private land
owners applied for this year.
Number 255
SENATOR TAYLOR asked what part of natural erosion and geology does
the Department of Fish and Game not understand. MR. BRUCE
acknowledged that there are natural forces that will overwhelm even
the best human efforts, but he said he thinks there a lot of other
less extreme conditions that we can influence and we can mitigate.
CHAIRMAN LEMAN noted he has looked at different habitat enhancement
projects in other states that have been quite successful and at a
fairly low cost. He suggested those are the types of projects the
department should be looking at. MR. BRUCE said what they are
doing right now is just one option, but this is an area that has a
lot of potential for fine tuning for particular circumstances both
for the habitat and the financial resources available. He added
that right now they have to go through another agency to award
these grants, which means overhead, and they believe it would be
more efficient to be able to do it within the Department of Fish &
Game. CHAIRMAN LEMAN said he'd like to see the department do
innovative things with these projects that will maximize the use of
the dollars, such as using volunteers, or using prison inmates,
etc.
Number 400
KEVIN BROOKS , Director, Division of Administrative Services,
Department of Fish and Game, speaking to Section 10, said the first
two repealers in that section apply to Fish and Game. The cites of
Title 16 are repealers for the fish and game licensing statutes as
they currently read for vendor compensation.
CHAIRMAN LEMAN asked how many vendors would be affected if the $50
per year compensation in Section 2 were deleted or reduced. MR.
BROOKS replied it could be in the area of a couple hundred vendors;
there are 1,400 vendors statewide. He said he agreed with the
Chairman's earlier comment that it serves as an enticement,
especially in the more remote areas.
Number 505
NICO BUS , Acting Director, Division of Support Services, Department
of Natural Resources, speaking to Section 9, explained the
repealers (AS 46.15.190 - AS 46.15.240) repeal the Water Resource
Board, which has not been funded or held meetings for three years.
SENATOR TAYLOR expressed his concern that it is his understanding
that there are 4,000 permit applications awaiting action on water
rights. MR. BUS acknowledged there is a backlog, but he wasn't
sure the 4,000 figure was correct. He said the Division of Mining
and Water Management handles those applications and they are
working hard to process the applications in order to get rid of the
backlog. He noted the Water Resource Board is strictly an advisory
board and they do not handle those applications. He also pointed
out that a lot of the applications are renewals, and one of the
things the department is looking at is changing it from a yearly
renewal requirement to renewing every five or ten years.
Number 550
CHAIRMAN LEMAN asked if there are some overlapping responsibilities
with the Soil and Water Conservation Board and the Water Resource
Board. MR. BUS said the Soil and Water Conservation Board is
basically advising the commissioner and the governor on local area
districts, and he thought expanding their role could be looked at.
There being no further testimony on SB 215 CHAIRMAN LEMAN asked for
the pleasure of the committee.
SENATOR PEARCE moved that Section 1 be deleted from SB 215.
CHAIRMEN LEMAN objected. A hand vote was taken with the following
result: Senators Halford, Taylor and Pearce voted "Yea" and
Chairman Leman voted "Nay." The Chairman stated the motion
carried.
SENATOR HALFORD moved that CSSB 215(RES) and the accompanying
fiscal notes be passed out of committee with individual
recommendations. Hearing no objection, it was so ordered.
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