Legislature(2013 - 2014)BUTROVICH 205
03/27/2014 01:30 PM Senate TRANSPORTATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB197 | |
| SB94 | |
| HJR10 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 94 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 197 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HJR 10 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 197-NATURALLY OCCURRING ASBESTOS
1:38:01 PM
CHAIR EGAN announced SB 197 to be up for consideration.
1:38:12 PM
DAVID SCOTT, staff to Senator Donald Olson, sponsor of SB 197,
said this bill provides a one-year extension to the deadline for
the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF)
to adopt or prescribe a method of bulk testing for gravel or
other aggregate material containing naturally occurring asbestos
under AS 44.42.420(a). He explained that the underlying bill
(House Bill 258), which passed in the 27th legislature, required
DOTPF to put into place a system and requirements for this
testing, but DOTPF has been unable to quickly establish those
regulations.
Section 1 of SB 197 is the extension for interim project
authorization and Section 2 extends the immunity clause in the
underlying legislation.
1:40:24 PM
ROGER HEALY, Chief Engineer, Department of Transportation and
Public Facilities (DOTPF), Juneau, Alaska, introduced himself.
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH asked why the regulations are not written.
MR. HEALY answered that the program is unique within the nation
and state, and the department ran into hiring difficulties
originally, but someone has been hired and the draft regulations
were issued last week. The department is are on schedule to hold
the public hearings in the week of April 14 in Juneau,
Fairbanks, and Ambler.
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH stated that Representative Joule, who passed
the original legislation, was trying to make aggregate available
in his community, but it, unfortunately, contains asbestos. She
asked if DOTPF had done everything it could to protect the
health of the individuals as well as the state and the region
where the aggregate is being used.
MR. HEALY explained that the original bill provided a period for
implementation of interim regulations, which served the purpose
of identifying designated areas within the state where this
immunity would apply. Ambler is the one area that was
designated. Under those interim procedures, the department
received and approved a number of applications for projects from
the Housing Authority and a few smaller projects including
smaller DOTPF projects, namely the airport reconstruction. The
interim provision allowed those applications and that project to
go forward.
1:43:48 PM
Regarding the overall health of the community as a result of
these projects, the interim procedures and application approvals
identified the provisions within the bill requiring the final
product to have some type of coverage over the naturally
occurring asbestos material that is identified.
1:44:37 PM
POKE HAFFNER, Assistant Attorney General representing DOTPF,
Civil Division, Transportation Section, Department of Law (DOL),
Anchorage, Alaska, testified that under AS 01.10.100(a), the
authorizations DOTPF provided under its interim authority are
effective even though the interim authority expired at the end
of December. The point of having the extension of the interim
authority is in the event that there are additional requests for
approval of either naturally occurring asbestos areas or a site-
specific plan that comes in before the regulations can become
final.
SENATOR FRENCH commented that he wasn't a fan of this bill, but
wouldn't stop it from going forward.
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH moved to report SB 194, labeled 28-LS1513\A,
from committee with attached fiscal note(s) and individual
recommendations. There were no objections and SB 197 passed from
the Senate Transportation Standing Committee.
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