04/03/1996 03:55 PM Senate RES

                                                                               
            HB 357 FISH & GAME:LICENSES & RESIDENCY                           
                                                                              
  CHAIRMAN LEMAN  called the Senate Resources Committee meeting to             
 order at 3:55 p.m. and announced  HB 357  to be up for consideration.         
                                                                               
 LINDA DAHL, Staff to Representative Scott Ogan, said HB 357                   
 simplifies the enforcement of residency requirements for hunting,             
 trapping, and non-commercial fishing licenses.  It will reduce the            
 number of non-residents who use loopholes in current State                    
 residency laws to hunt trap and fish Alaska's resources.                      
                                                                               
 MS. DAHL said this bill addresses the concerns of ADF&G, Department           
 of Law, and Department of Public Safety.  The definition of                   
 residency was separated into two separate subsections for                     
 clarification purposes.                                                       
                                                                               
 Passage of HB 357 could increase revenue annually by thousands of             
 dollars in relationship to current statistics of non-residents in             
 terms of licenses, game tags, and hunting fees for guides.                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR LEMAN noted the problem they have is on page 2, lines 12 -            
 16 with the definition of who is a member of the military being               
 consistent within State statutes.  MS. DAHL said they would work at           
 making it consistent.                                                         
                                                                               
 SENATOR LEMAN asked her to work on it until next week and bring it            
 back to the committee as a CS.                                                
                                                                               
 SENATOR TAYLOR asked what was the purpose for the extensive                   
 residency and domicile redefinitions within the bill.  MS. DAHL               
 explained that the phrase "permanent place of abode" has been                 
 deleted and replaced with "a person's domicile."  The two main                
 reasons for this are requiring a permanent place of abode is unduly           
 restrictive and unnecessary to prevent non-residents from obtaining           
 resident privileges in the State.  If a person is forced to move              
 from one location to another around the State due to their work               
 commitment they may not satisfy the residency requirement because             
 they have not maintained a permanent place of abode.                          
                                                                               
 The second reason for this change is because the term "abode" is              
 not defined in statute.  The lack of strict legal definition                  
 creates enforcement problems.  Black's Law Dictionary says that a             
 person may have two places of residence as in the city and the                
 country, but only one domicile.  Residence means living in a                  
 particular locality, but domicile means living in that locality               
 with intent to make it a fixed permanent home.  They think that               
 replacing "a permanent place of abode" with "domicile" makes it               
 clearer that the legislature intended only those who are domiciled            
 in the State are entitle to residency and licensing.                          
                                                                               
 SENATOR TAYLOR asked about the young people who had left the State            
 and are attending college.  MS. DAHL replied she thought they would           
 be considered residents.  SENATOR LEMAN thought the same.                     
                                                                               
 CAPTAIN RICHARD GRAHAM, Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection,             
 said the guidelines under regulation say that people can travel to            
 and from the State and still maintain their fish and game                     
 residency.  They look at when they are out of State and what they             
 do to maintain their residency in the State during that time frame.           
 The Board's regulations allows them to look at licenses, voter                
 registration, maintaining property, household goods, where the                
 family is physically located; and it allows them to look at whether           
 or not the person has established residency or is receiving                   
 residency privileges in another state, which is the one they look             
 at most closely.                                                              
 SENATOR LEMAN said that was consistent with their intent.                     
                                                                               
 CAPTAIN GRAHAM said they support the bill and he noted that they              
 added the U.S. Coast Guard to the list of military organizations to           
 which they extend certain residency and license privileges.                   
                                                                               
 SENATOR TAYLOR commented that he thought that requiring people to             
 register to vote to then receive the benefit of a residency                   
 classification might be violating their rights.  He asked him to              
 work with Representative Ogan regarding his concerns with                     
 university children, people who may be off on some mission or                 
 volunteer work in Vista or the Peace Corps, and congressional                 
 staff.                                                                        
                                                                               
 CAPTAIN GRAHAM asked if he wanted to expand certain job categories            
 to allow people residency privileges in another state or country as           
 well as keep their Alaska residency.  SENATOR TAYLOR said he didn't           
 intend that at all.  He didn't want to confuse the residency                  
 definition.                                                                   
                                                                               
 SENATOR LEMAN asked if anyone else wanted to testify on HB 357.  No           
 one responded and he said they would work on it and bring it up on            
 April 10.