04/12/2001 08:07 AM House CRA
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL AFFAIRS
STANDING COMMITTEE
April 12, 2001
8:07 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Kevin Meyer, Co-Chair
Representative Andrew Halcro
Representative Drew Scalzi
Representative Gretchen Guess
Representative Beth Kerttula
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Carl Morgan, Co-Chair
Representative Lisa Murkowski
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 36
"An Act relating to enterprise zones."
- MOVED CSHB 36(CRA) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: HB 36
SHORT TITLE:ENTERPRISE ZONES
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S)HAYES
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
01/08/01 0033 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/5/01
01/08/01 0033 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
01/08/01 0033 (H) EDT, CRA, FIN
02/09/01 0287 (H) COSPONSOR(S): GUESS
02/22/01 (H) EDT AT 5:00 PM CAPITOL 124
02/22/01 (H) Heard & Held
02/22/01 (H) MINUTE(EDT)
03/15/01 (H) EDT AT 4:00 PM CAPITOL 120
03/15/01 (H) Moved Out of Committee
03/15/01 (H) MINUTE(EDT)
03/16/01 0623 (H) EDT RPT 3DP 2NR
03/16/01 0624 (H) DP: CRAWFORD, GUESS, MCGUIRE;
03/16/01 0624 (H) NR: MORGAN, JAMES
03/16/01 0624 (H) FN1: (CED)
04/04/01 0846 (H) COSPONSOR(S): HALCRO
04/10/01 (H) CRA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 124
04/10/01 (H) Heard & Held
MINUTE(CRA)
04/12/01 0980 (H) CRA RPT CS(CRA) 4DP 1NR
04/12/01 0981 (H) DP: SCALZI, HALCRO, KERTTULA,
GUESS;
04/12/01 0981 (H) NR: MEYER
04/12/01 0981 (H) FN1: (CED)
04/12/01 0981 (H) REFERRED TO FINANCE
04/12/01 0995 (H) COSPONSOR(S): KERTTULA
04/12/01 (H) CRA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 124
WITNESS REGISTER
REPRESENTATIVE HAYES
Alaska State Legislature
Capitol Building, Room 422
Juneau, Alaska 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke as the sponsor of HB 36.
GINNY FAY, Deputy Director
Division of Community and Business Development
Department of Community & Economic Development
PO Box 110801
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0801
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed DCED's fiscal note for HB 36.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 01-20, SIDE A
Number 0001
CO-CHAIR KEVIN MEYER called the House Community and Regional
Affairs Standing Committee meeting to order at 8:07 a.m.
Representatives Meyer, Halcro, Scalzi, Guess, and Kerttula were
present at the call to order.
HB 36-ENTERPRISE ZONES
CO-CHAIR MEYER announced that the only order of business before
the committee would be HOUSE BILL NO. 36, "An Act relating to
enterprise zones."
Number 0050
REPRESENTATIVE HALCRO moved to adopt CSHB 36 [Version 22-
LS0294\C, Bannister, 4/10/01] as the working document before the
committee. There being no objection, Version C was before the
committee.
REPRESENTATIVE HAYES, Alaska State Legislature, spoke as the
sponsor of HB 36. Representative Hayes explained that the
committee made a conceptual amendment [at its last hearing on HB
36] and that is incorporated into Version C. The conceptual
amendment inserted language so that if legislative action was
necessary, the governor would propose legislation specifying
that oversight to either approve or disapprove something that is
under the purview of the legislature.
CO-CHAIR MEYER recalled that the conceptual amendment was
Representative Murkowski's. He asked if Representative Hayes
had spoken with Representative Murkowski.
REPRESENTATIVE HAYES replied no and noted that he had received
the CS only 20 minutes ago.
Number 0200
REPRESENTATIVE KERTTULA informed the committee that she talked
with Representative Murkowski about the conceptual amendment.
Representative Kerttula explained that the conceptual amendment
attempted to clarify how the legislation should come forward.
The [new] language is on page 3, lines 24-28, which reads as
follows:
(d) If legislative action is needed to enable a
particular incentive to be used in an enterprise zone,
the department shall recommend to the governor that
the governor introduce legislation to enable the
incentive to be used or shall recommend to the
legislature that the legislature take the necessary
legislative action to enable the incentive to be used.
CO-CHAIR MEYER surmised then that Representative Kerttula was
indicating that Representative Murkowski would be comfortable
with [the CS].
REPRESENTATIVE KERTTULA pointed out that the [new language]
doesn't require the governor to do anything or for the
legislature to pass anything. However, the language does
require that if "we" feel that it's the right policy move, then
something should be recommended.
REPRESENTATIVE HAYES announced that he didn't have any
objections to the amendment. In fact, he felt that the
conceptual amendment made the legislation stronger. He noted
that Representative Whitaker also had legislative oversight
concerns, which the CS should address.
CO-CHAIR MEYER directed the discussion to the fiscal note for HB
36.
Number 0500
GINNY FAY, Deputy Director, Division of Community and Business
Development, Department of Community & Economic Development
(DCED), began by saying that DCED fully supports HB 36, which
offers some effective tools for Alaskan communities. Ms. Fay
turned to the fiscal note and announced that her answer would be
framed in the context of DCED's situation. She informed the
committee that she works in a division that used to be six
divisions that were in two departments [both of which] have
faced budget cuts for 14 years. From a state perspective, Ms.
Fay said that Alaska's economic development efforts are, at
best, minimal. Furthermore, [the division] has the staff
necessary for a state the tenth of Alaska's size. Alaska's
business development staff is probably smaller than that for the
state of New Hampshire. Furthermore, the [division] faces
potential budget cuts in the amount of $300,000 that would
result in the elimination of development specialists in Bethel
and Nome, which now only have one each. She pointed out that
[these potential cuts] include matching grants for the
Department Commerce [and] the Economic Development
Administration. Those federal dollars have allowed for the
development of economic information that would enable
communities to take advantage of this enterprise zone. Ms. Fay
said, "I guess I'm ... giving you a long story of why I don't
think state government ever was fat enough, at least in terms of
economic development and diversification, to absorb budget cuts
or absorb new programs."
MR. FAY emphasized that much thought has been given to this
fiscal note because of the knowledge that putting a fiscal note
on a bill could likely kill the bill. However, the reality is
that if this bill passes, Ms. Fay will have to take a person to
develop this information and regulations, and implement a
program, which would take some time. Therefore, she didn't
believe it would be fair to the communities in Alaska or to this
program to say that this could be implemented at no cost, when
the [department] already does triage for economic development
and diversification in this state. Ms. Fay said:
I can't, in good conscious, say that it would ... cost
nothing to do something because we left that behind at
least a decade ago. Something else would have to not
be done and there's a lot of something else that is
already not done. ... I think it's unfair to think
that we can make fish and bread from water.
Number 0810
CO-CHAIR MEYER said that he didn't think the House Community and
Regional Affairs Standing Committee should get too involved with
the financial portion of this legislation because that is the
responsibility of the House Finance Committee. Co-Chair Meyer
pointed out that the first hearing of HB 36 followed a hearing
of a bill that was going to review 1,200 applications for the
[renters' rebate] program and there was no fiscal note on that.
Therefore, the fiscal note for HB 36 seemed inconsistent.
MS. FAY said that she thinks that does raise a flag. However,
she pointed out the enterprise zones will require a much higher
level of analysis than [the renters' rebate program]. This
legislation will require a development specialist who has a
background in economic development. The [renters' rebate
program] would require a clerk processing some checks, which for
the most part has been automated. She emphasized that these are
two completely different tasks.
MS. FAY explained that in general, if it is a very marginal,
incremental addition such as less than a quarter of a person's
time, then [that would be absorbed]. She pointed out that [the
renters' rebate program] would be done as part of the State
Assessor's Office, which hasn't received budget cuts to the
extent of the Division of Community and Business Development.
These are two very different tasks.
REPRESENTATIVE HAYES said that he hopes the committee sees the
need for this and forwards it from committee. He said, "We
create this myth that we're open for business, but as we go
through the process I think we find out more and more that we
are far less open for business than ... any of us imagined. I
think that the state is in a lot of trouble in a lot of
different areas."
Number 1097
REPRESENTATIVE HALCRO moved to report CSHB 36, Version C, out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
fiscal note. There being no objection, CSHB 36(CRA) was
reported from the House Community and Regional Affairs Standing
Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Community and Regional Affairs Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 8:22 a.m.
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