Legislature(1995 - 1996)
02/14/1995 01:03 PM House CRA
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS
STANDING COMMITTEE
February 14, 1995
1:03 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Ivan Ivan, Co-Chair
Representative Alan Austerman, Co-Chair
Representative Jerry Mackie
Representative Kim Elton
Representative Irene Nicholia
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Al Vezey
Representative Pete Kott
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Presentation by the Local Boundary Commission
* HB 146: An Act relating to sled dog race classics."
PASSED OUT OF COMMITTEE
Confirmation hearing for Commissioner Designate Mike Irwin to the
Department of Community and Regional Affairs.
(* First public hearing)
WITNESS REGISTER
DARROLL HARGRAVES, Chairman
Local Boundary Commission
Department of Community and Regional Affairs
333 West Fourth Avenue, Suite 220
Anchorage, AK 99501
Telephone: (907) 269-4500
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave overview of the Local Boundary
Commission
DAN BOCKHORST
Local Boundary Commission
Department of Community and Regional Affairs
333 West Fourth Avenue, Suite 220
Anchorage, AK 99501
Telephone: (907) 269-4500
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions concerning the Local
Boundary Commission
BRYCE EDGMON, Legislative Aide
to Representative Richard Foster
Alaska State Legislature
State Capital Building, Room 412
Juneau, Alaska 99811
Telephone: (907) 465-3789
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave sponsor statement for HB 146
MATT DESALERNOS, Chair
Iditarod Trail Committee Board of Directors
P.O. Box 1630
Nome, AK 99762-1630
Telephone: (907) 443-5555
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 146
JOHN HANDELAND, Mayor
City of Nome
P.O. Box 1630
Nome, AK 99762-1630
Telephone: (907) 443-5555
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 146
STAN HOULEY, Executive Director
Iditarod Trail Committee
165 East Parks Highway, Suite 106
Wasilla, AK 99654-7035
Telephone: (907) 376-3704
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 146
JOANN POTTS, Director
Iditarod Race
165 East Parks Highway, Suite 106
Wasilla, AK 99654-7035
Telephone: (907) 376-3704
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 146
JEFF PRATHER, Acting Director
Charitable Gaming Division
Department of Revenue
P.O. Box 110440
Juneau, AK 99811-0440
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered questions on HB 146
MIKE IRWIN, Commissioner Designate
Department of Community and Regional Affairs
P.O. Box 112100
Juneau, AK 99811-2100
Telephone: (907) 465-4700
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave personal history and work background
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: HB 146
SHORT TITLE: SLED DOG RACE CLASSIC
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S) FOSTER, Phillips, Mulder, Navarre,
Brice Grussendorf, Toohey, Ivan
JRN-DATE JRN-PG ACTION
02/03/95 235 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRAL(S)
02/03/95 235 (H) CRA, L&C
02/13/95 343 (H) COSPONSOR(S): IVAN
02/14/95 (H) CRA AT 01:00 PM CAPITOL 124
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 95-2, SIDE A
Number 000
CO-CHAIR IVAN called the House Committee on Community and Regional
Affairs to order at 1:03 p.m. He went over the meeting agenda and
proceeded to introduce Darroll Hargraves, Chair of the Local
Boundary Commission.
Number 031
DARROLL HARGRAVES, Chair, Local Boundary Commission (LBC), noted
the attendance by other commission members from around the state
including Anchorage, Sitka, Nome, and Fairbanks. He then read the
handout, given to all the committee members concerning an overview
of the Local Boundary Commission beginning with the role and duties
of the commission. The Local Boundary Commission was established
under Alaska's Constitution to ensure that municipal boundary
proposals would be considered objectively and with a statewide
perspective. Of the 130 or so State boards and commissions, only
the Local Boundary Commission and four others have origins in
Alaska's Constitution. The duties of the commission include acting
on proposals for municipal incorporation, annexation, detachment,
dissolution, merger, consolidation, and reclassification of cities.
The LBC consists of five members, each appointed from Alaska's four
judicial districts and one appointed at-large. These members serve
overlapping five-year terms during which they are not compensated.
The Department of Community and Regional Affairs provides the staff
support to the commission.
Last year was a busy year for the commission which met 16 times and
approve petitions for several communities including the
incorporation of the City of Egegik, annexation to the City of Sand
Point, and dissolutionment of the City of Atmautluak, City of
Kasigluk, City of Newtok, City of Tununak, and City of Tuluksak.
Incorporation of the City of Egegik remains subject to approval by
the local voters. The Egegik incorporation election will be
conducted at the end of next month and results are expected to be
certified by April 10. Dissolution of the five cities is subject
to review by the legislature. Formal recommendations for those
dissolution proposals were filed with the legislature by the
commission on January 25.
Under the law, the recommendations receive automatic approval from
the legislature unless the House and the Senate adopt concurrent
resolutions rejecting the recommendations. The resolutions must be
adopted by both houses within 45 days of the date the commission
filed the recommendations. If not rejected by the legislature, the
dissolutions will take effect upon the satisfaction of certain
conditions. The conditions are intended to ensure that the cities'
debts are paid, that their assets and liabilities are transferred
to local successors and that other appropriate transition measures
are carried out.
At the present moment, there are a number of actions that are
currently pending: reconsideration of the northwest boundary of the
Lake and Peninsula Borough; dissolution of the City of Akiak;
detachment of 5,400 square miles from the Fairbanks North Star
Borough; incorporation of the 10,000 square mile North Pole
Borough; and the reconsideration of the incorporation of the City
of Pilot Point. The commission is not allowed, under state law, to
discuss pending matter.
In the commission's annual report to the legislature, they
addressed several policy issues: Growing interest in borough
detachment; growing interesting in dissolution of cities; the lack
of limitation on the authority of municipalities to levy certain
taxes; and the lack of compensation for the commission.
In the first issue, the commission sees growing disenchantment with
the status quo. Interest in detachment from boroughs is promoted
in part by rising local taxes, due to some extent from declining
state aid; and perceptions of inequities in the current regional
government structure (organized boroughs vs. the unorganized
Boroughs.)
The interest in dissolving city governments is on the rise,
particularly among communities in the Lower Kuskokwim Region. This
appears to be the result of a desire to return to more traditional
ways of governance. This potential exists, however, for
communities in other parts of Alaska to seek dissolutionment of
their cities as well.
In many cases, there are few incentives to maintain municipal
status. Communities that detach from boroughs or dissolve their
city governments can enjoy a substantial level of services without
the burdens and responsibilities of municipal government.
Unincorporated communities may receive: State revenue sharing;
capitol project matching grants; state-funded education; and police
protection (Troopers or VPSO).
These remarks aren't judgments, but observations. However, it is
reasonable to expect the number of proposals for municipal
detachment and dissolution to increase in the future. The
commission offers two suggestions for legislation to enable the
state to deal more effectively with dissolution of cities.
The first is to permit tradition councils to hold title to real
property. As outlined in our annual report, such will eliminate a
major obstacle to the dissolution of cities in Native communities
that lack IRA Councils. The commission notes that the legislature
has previously enacted provisions to allow entities that lack
corporate status to hold land.
The second is to broaden the law concerning succession to assets,
liabilities and duties of a dissolved municipality. Currently, the
law provides that another municipality or the state will be the
successor. The commission urges the legislature to consider
expanding the law to permit a village council to succeed to a
municipalities assets, liabilities and duties.
Under the subject municipal authority to levy taxes, concerns
continue to be expressed over the lack of limits on the authority
of municipalities to levy sales taxes. Concerns were expressed
recently over the proposed incorporation of the City of Egegik.
Some municipalities, however, receive even higher per capita
revenues from taxes than would the prospective City of Egegik. The
commission offers no proposals to limit such authority, however, it
wishes to ensure that the legislature is aware of the concerns
being expressed.
The last subject that Mr. Hargraves brought up concerned
compensation for the members of the commission. He said that he
and the other members are appreciative of the efforts of others to
try to get compensation for the members of the commission. He
wanted to point out that the commission members volunteered their
time to respond to the duties of the commission often in remote
locations. He also gave an estimate per member/per day of
compensation stating it would not exceed $18,750 per year. He said
that without the compensation, it would be difficult to find
qualified Alaskans willing to stay on the commission. Mr.
Hargraves again reiterated the complexity of the commission's
schedule is based on the time-line posted at the back of the
overview.
Number 307
CO-CHAIR IVAN welcomed any comments or questions from the committee
members.
Number 310
MR. HARGRAVES invited Mr. Dan Bockhorst to come forward to help
answer any questions.
Number 315
CO-CHAIR ALAN AUSTERMAN asked about the compensation the commission
had requested. He wanted to know whether the commission was
receiving per diem, at the present moment, for travel.
Number 319
MR. HARGRAVES confirmed that the commission received actual
expenses based on receipts.
Number 321
CO-CHAIR AUSTERMAN asked about the $150 per day and whether it
would be in addition to the money given based on the receipts. He
wondered how the compensated money would be projected.
Number 324
DAN BOCKHORST, Local Boundary Commission, Department of Community
and Regional Affairs, answered that the money would be given on the
basis of board meetings in that the $150/day was per day of
meetings.
Number 327
MR. HARGRAVES said he was surprised to find out that other boards
and commissions around the state receive compensation. He said he
was unsure about how to support the commission's desire for
compensation until he realized others around the state are
compensated.
Number 333
REPRESENTATIVE JERRY MACKIE asked to confirm the comment made by
Co-Chair Austerman about the $150 per day. He wanted to clarify
that this money would actually be compensation for food and lodging
and not just another type of per diem.
Number 339
REPRESENTATIVE KIM ELTON commented on the commission's desire for
compensation in that if the legislature decided to award this board
with the $18,750 requested, wouldn't another board put forth a good
argument requesting compensation? He felt that if the money was
given to this commission then the committee might feel compelled to
answer to the demands of others as well.
Number 350
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE said that having chaired this committee
before, this isn't the first time the compensation request has been
brought before the committee.
Number 364
MR. HARGRAVES also confirmed the fact that this issue has been
around for a number of years. He has noticed that the commission's
work load has increased significantly, in recent years. and it
would be difficult to keep professional people on the job due to
the lack of compensation.
Number 376
CO-CHAIR AUSTERMAN asked about the reasons for dissolving some of
the communities. He wanted to know what the commission had in mind
in terms of how to look in the opposite direction and help the
dissolutioned community keep from becoming insolvent or encourage
them not to dissolve their corporations, rather than just looking
at what to do with the assets derived from dissolutionment.
Number 391
MR. HARGRAVES stated that he felt encouragement and motivation
provided for a community would help them to stay organized. He's
personally concerned with the community's ability to dissolve a
local government. In some instances that he's witnessed, he's seen
communities that haven't had an election in several years or have
tried to keep their local government council running, so the
commission is unsure as to how to motivate these communities to
stay as a government. He also said that these communities witness
the success of other non-government organized communities under the
guidance of non-profit corporations receiving funds for their
communities.
Number 407
CO-CHAIR IVAN commented on his own community of Akiak which has
been considering dissolutionment. He felt that improvement of
communication and services between the communities and the state
government could possibly prevent these communities from
dissolving.
Number 426
CO-CHAIR AUSTERMAN asked if this high number of dissolving
communities was normal.
Number 429
DARROLL HARGRAVES said that the commission hadn't seen this much
dissolutionment before and he passed the comment on to be answered
by Dan Bockhorst.
Number 433
MR. BOCKHORST also agreed to this and said that it had become the
responsibility of the state of Alaska to dissolve these local
governments. This was due to the fact that the residents of these
communities had just abandoned their city governments which they've
been for the past six to eight years. The commission recommended
to the legislature that the city governments in those communities
be dissolved. He feels that it is an unusual amount of activity
but he feels the commission foresees the interest in
dissolutionment in other communities.
Number 443
MR. HARGRAVES commented on the communities and their feelings
concerning whether to form a government or to dissolve and their
struggle to support their community's best interests.
Number 449
CO-CHAIR AUSTERMAN wanted to know whether the representative from
the Department of Community and Regional Affairs would be bringing
anything before the legislature to help solve the problem of
community government dissolutionment.
Number 457
MR. BOCKHORST pointed out two issues that DCRA viewed as being
important; one, the option to allow a village council to be a
successor to a city government, rather than making it the
responsibility of the state of Alaska; two, and allow a traditional
council to receive conveyances of land. Dan felt that these would
eliminate significant obstacles in the way the commission has been
dealing with dissolutionment.
Number 464
CO-CHAIR AUSTERMAN noted that this still didn't help the community
stay whole but only supported the dissolutionment of a community.
Is Community and Regional Affairs (CRA) looking at the opposite end
of this issue and instead of figuring out how to dissolve the
community governments but how to keep them together.
Number 470
MR. BOCKHORST expressed the concern of the department, but he noted
that when a community abandoned its city government, they gave up
substantial revenues. The communities reasons for abandoning their
governments could be because they want to return to more
traditional ways of governance. Mr. Bockhorst stated that the
department is interested in options other than dissolutionment, but
the department didn't know how to compel a community to upkeep
their state political subdivision if they don't want to operate it.
He also noted that the department had supported and offered
assistance to those communities and offered greater funding and
revenue sharing and is willing to look at other options.
Number 484
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON asked what happened to the match funds
available to municipalities when the city government was
inoperative. He wanted clarified the fact that when municipalities
gave up their governments they also gave up their share of
government funding.
Number 491
MR. BOCKHORST agreed to this and stated that this was the worst
position for these communities to be in because these
municipalities don't qualify for state revenue sharing or municipal
assistance. Upon their dissolutionment, these communities could at
least receive a smaller level of revenue sharing and be eligible
for capitol matching project grants. At the present moment, with
their city governments not functioning, the state isn't giving out
any money for programs outlined by Community and Regional Affairs.
Number 499
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE commented on the Local Boundary Commission.
He's had both good and bad experiences working with the commission,
and felt that the commission served a very important function in
the state. He brought up a personal incident concerning his
district that served to vary his opinion of the value of the Local
Boundary Commission. This involved the annexation of the Green's
Creek Mine into the City and Borough of Juneau. This mine was
located in Representative Mackie's district, and the case
concerning it stated that since Juneau people worked at the mine,
it should be annexed for tax purposes. Representative Mackie
stated how opposed he was to this decision, because during this
same time, this revenue generating area was undergoing a survey to
determine whether it could become a potential borough. He stated
that if an area wished to become a borough they would have to have
the financial means to do this successfully. In what he's seen, he
felt that the big boroughs and municipalities, in drawing in these
potential financial areas, have served to diminish the incentive of
these rural boroughs in running their own local governments. He
felt it was wrong of these big boroughs to try to take areas that
would financially benefit them, and he hoped that the new and old
commission members would look toward the future and keep in mind
these small municipalities.
Number 557
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON felt that the comments were important and that
CRA should be in the position to encourage the formation of local
governments. He also said that the removal of a substantial tax
base from a rural area gets in the way of this formation. His only
disagreement with this wasn't the fact that the city of Juneau
approached the small community, but that the small rural area came
to the big borough and asked to be taken.
Number 567
CO-CHAIR IVAN thanked the commission for coming before the
committee and presenting their overview.
Number 573
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE moved that the committee ask the co-chairmen
to evaluate the recommendations put forth by the Local Boundary
Commission and work directly with them to offer a piece of
legislation that CRA could sponsor in dealing with the
recommendations as well as with the compensation requests. He felt
it was the duty of the committee to try to help this commission.
Number 580
CO-CHAIR IVAN heard no objections, it was so ordered. He again
thanked the Local Boundary Commission for attending.
HCRA - 02/14/95
HB 146 - SLED DOG RACE CLASSIC
CO-CHAIR IVAN then asked the person attending on behalf of
Representative Richard Foster to come forward and introduce HB 146,
pertaining to sled dog race classics. He also recognized those
waiting on teleconference from Nome and Mat-Su to give testimony
regarding this bill.
Number 593
BRYCE EDGMON, Legislative Aide to Representative Richard Foster,
sponsor of the measure, introduced HB 146 which would help the
Trail Committee raise money. He gave some estimates in terms of
the money loss faced this year and next; $390,000; and $175,000.
This loss is due at large from the withdrawal of corporate
sponsorships. He paralleled the race itself to the race to keep
the Iditarod financially afloat. The only alternative to this
would be that there wouldn't be an Iditarod Race in the future.
The purpose of HB 146 would allow the Trail Committee to conduct a
statewide raffle to guess the arrival time of mushers at various
checkpoints. Mr. Edgmon stated that the bill wouldn't authorize
the individual wagers on any particular musher.
Number 624
CO-CHAIR IVAN welcomed any comments. He also commented on how
important the Iditarod was to the state's economy and that he
supported it. He then welcomed the testimony from Mr. DeSalernos
in Nome.
Number 630
MATT DESALERNOS, Chair, Iditarod Trail Committee Board of
Directors, testified via teleconference from Nome. He strongly
supports HB 146. He felt that this would help develop a sound
financial future for the race. He also added that it gave Alaska
tremendous exposure both nationwide and worldwide and was good for
the marketing program for the tourist industry. He felt that HB
146 would serve its purpose of getting money for the race without
the committee having to come to the state government asking for the
money. It would give a firmer standing for the Iditarod Committee
which would be a benefit for all Alaskans.
Number 655
JOHN HANDELAND, Mayor, City of Nome, testified via teleconference.
He stated that his council recently passed a unanimous resolution
in support of HB 146. He said that over the last several years,
he's been a volunteer for the Iditarod, and he's met with people
from all over the world that follow the Iditarod on a regular
basis. He felt that the Iditarod was a very important race, not
just for the local community, but for the state of Alaska as a
whole. The great tourism potential and outside funding was
something Mayor Handeland felt couldn't be overlooked. HB 146
would provide another vital tool to base the Iditarod as self-
sufficient.
Number 681
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE asked Mayor Handeland about the amount of
money that could be raised from this classic based on estimates
from other classics.
Number 684
MAYOR HANDELAND replied that there are other authorized classics,
and he hadn't looked through those estimates. He felt that this
classic would bring in a substantial amount of money if marketed
properly. He hoped that the raffle tickets would be available
statewide to maximize the benefits from the program. Over the last
year, funding has come from local communities throughout the state,
and corporate sponsors but it's not expected for them to continue
funding to the extent that they have recently.
Number 700
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE wanted to make a suggestion saying he was all
for HB 146 and he wanted all of the funding to be from the state of
Alaska. His suggestion concerned his desire for members of the
committee to do a quick analysis for future hearings of this bill
to come up with an estimate based on other classics. By coming up
with an actual dollar amount, it would show others the substantial
amount of money that could be raised by Alaskans.
Number 712
MAYOR HANDELAND agreed with this suggestion, and he followed up by
saying that he hoped there would be substantial interest raised on
the national level by those visiting Alaska and who purchase a
ticket and who actually follow the race.
TAPE 95-2, SIDE B
Number 000
CO-CHAIR IVAN welcomed the comments from Stan Houley, in Mat-Su,
testifying in support of HB 146.
Number 006
STAN HOULEY, Executive Director, Iditarod Trail Committee, felt
that this bill would allow a diversity in the funding base. He
estimated a monetary amount from the sale of the classics which he
felt could be close to a million dollars. This was generated on
the basis of looking at the amount raised for the Nenana Classic
which ranged around $200,000. This classic is more regionalized
than the iditarod, and he believes that the million dollar figure
is achievable. He urged the committee to consider the benefit of
giving the trail committee a tool with which to make itself more
successful.
Number 077
CO-CHAIR IVAN introduce Joann Potts testifying from Mat-Su.
Number 080
JOANN POTTS, Director, Iditarod Race, said she's been involved with
the race for the past twenty years and she felt that it was
important for the race to be able to continue. She strongly
endorsed the proposed bill.
Number 094
CO-CHAIR IVAN welcomed comments and questions at this point.
Number 095
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON asked for clarification in determining the
difference between a sled dog race classic and a dog mushers
contest.
Number 099
MR. EDGMON called upon Jeff Prather to answer the question.
Number 105
JEFF PRATHER, Acting Director, Charitable Gaming Division,
Department of Revenue, stated that he didn't think there was a
difference between the two. This bill would prevent any other
charitable organization from conducting a dog mushers contest.
Number 120
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON followed up with a comment stating that HB 146
would prevent the occurrence of other organizations reaping the
benefits of such a raffle and would give exclusive right to the
trail committee.
Number 125
CO-CHAIR IVAN expressed his appreciation for all the testimony
supporting the bill.
Number 129
MR. EDGMON added that SB 66 was a companion bill that had passed
out of the Senate Finance Committee that morning and was headed
toward the Senate Resources Committee. He also stated his
appreciation at the willingness of the committee to hear HB 146.
Number 138
REPRESENTATIVE ELTON moved to pass HB 146 out of the House
Community and Regional Affairs Committee with individual
recommendations.
Number 144
CO-CHAIR IVAN requested the committee to take a short break before
the confirmation hearing of Commissioner Mike Irwin.
Number 154
CO-CHAIR IVAN brought the committee back to order at 2:00 p.m. and
invited Commissioner Designate Mike Irwin to come forward before
the committee and give a brief history of his life.
Number 158
COMMISSIONER MIKE IRWIN started with an introduction. He was born
on the upper Kayakuk River, his mother's hometown. At the age of
six, his family moved to Nenana where his father was a heavy
equipment operator and his mother helped around the home as well as
subsistence fished and hunted. He went through high school at
Nenana and then went to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks for
three semesters, after which he transferred to the Pacific Lutheran
University. He got his undergraduate degree there and shortly
thereafter got married and started his family. In 1982, he got his
masters in public administration. Since then, he began his career
working for several entities in the Native communities and with
government. He worked for two of the state's largest regional non-
profit Native corporations: Tanana Chiefs, and Tlinget and Haida
Central Council. He also worked at two of the largest regional
Native corporations: Doyon; and Sealaska. He worked various
positions including vice-president at Doyon Limited for about four
years. During the Cooper Administration, he worked for about 2 1/2
years as a special assistant on rural Native affairs. Before being
appointed as Commissioner, he was executive director of the Alaska
Natives Commission which was a joint federal/state commission
funded by the two governments. He was instructed to look at the
social and economic condition of Alaska Natives following the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and bring forth
recommendations on policy approaches and potential legislation that
affect Alaska Natives both socially and economically. He ended by
saying he had four sons.
Number 213
CO-CHAIR IVAN again welcomed any comments from the committee.
Number 216
CO-CHAIR AUSTERMAN asked Commissioner Irwin about the commission he
was recently on and whether the report on it was finalized.
Number 221
COMMISSIONER IRWIN said that the report was finished and that it
was published in May of 1994, and it's a three volume set. He
helped to construct it along with a staff of five and about six
contract writers. He said the commission had 13 members, 7
appointed by Governor Hickel and the remaining by President George
Bush.
Number 233
CO-CHAIR IVAN commented on the number of issues that need to be
attended to in rural Alaska. He stated that it would be a
challenge for Commissioner Irwin, and he's interested to hear, in
the future, of any remarks from Mr. Irwin on how he'd address the
slowing down of the rural communities' dissolutionments.
Number 245
COMMISSIONER IRWIN pointed out that 13 years ago, his college
thesis covered the push/pull between municipal governments and more
traditional governments in rural Alaska. His conclusion was that
both equal tools for local people and that they should be
encouraged to use them to the best of their advantage. In this
regard, he felt that municipal governments do hold out the promise
of being an important facet for communities throughout the state.
He said one of the incentives of doing this would be to figure out
how it is a viable tool that could be used. He felt it was
incumbent upon CRA to answer this question for the rural
communities while not forgetting that there are differences in
lifestyle and geography. He also gave some figures concerning the
amount of money given to the Alaska Natives by the federal
government and he figured it was upwards of 1/3 of a billion
dollars. For every dollar that the state poured into state
programs, the federal government matched it with a dollar to help
provide extra services toward Alaska Natives.
Number 279
CO-CHAIR AUSTERMAN stated his pleasure at having Commissioner Irwin
before the committee and also at being able to work with him over
the next two years. He's pleased with the Governor's appointment
of Mr. Irwin as someone with a varied background to head this
department.
Number 288
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE commented on the long standing friendship
between himself and Commissioner Irwin and he too, felt that Mr.
Irwin's capabilities are wide and varied and he's also very pleased
with the Governor's appointment. He moved that the committee
forward to the joint session for consideration, Mike Irwin's name
as the next commissioner.
Number 300
REPRESENTATIVE IRENE NICHOLIA also supported the comments said by
Representative Mackie. She noted that she'd known Commissioner
Irwin for the past 20 years, and she felt he was a great individual
to take on this job.
Number 303
CO-CHAIR IVAN stated it was so ordered. He listed the agenda for
next Thursday's meeting and closed the committee.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the House Standing
Committee on Community and Regional Affairs, CO-CHAIR IVAN
adjourned the meeting at 2:10 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|