Legislature(1993 - 1994)
03/10/1993 05:00 PM House ECO
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE ECONOMIC TASK FORCE
March 10, 1993
5:00 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Eileen MacLean, Chair
Representative Jeannette James, Vice Chair
Representative Bettye Davis
Representative Joe Green
Representative Bill Hudson
Representative Jerry Mackie
Representative Carl Moses
Representative Al Vezey
Representative Bill Williams
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Carl Moses
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Proposed committee legislation:
House Bill ?: "An Act relating to publications produced by
state agencies and to the procurement of property, property
interests, and services, including the services of
employees, by certain public entities."
House Concurrent Resolution ?: Relating to establishing the
coal policy of the state.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 93-0, SIDE A
Number 000
CHAIR MACLEAN called the meeting of the House Economic Task
Force to order on March 10, 1993, at 5:15 p.m. She reminded
the committee about the Economic Task Force Mini-Summit on
Saturday, March 13, stating that ads had been placed in the
newspaper and radio and her office had a large volume of
calls so she was expecting a huge turnout.
Number 020
CHAIR MACLEAN went through the members' packets, pointing
out the most recent batch of letters from state businesses
and the summary of the first two batches of letters, and
minutes from two previous meetings.
Number 060
CHAIR MACLEAN called the committee's attention to their
copies of current bills in their packets pertaining to oil
and gas, as well as fisheries and other subjects, and asked
that the committee review them to decide which ones to
endorse. (A list of those bills is provided at the end of
the minutes. This list is also the same as the list of
bills presented by the DCED.)
Number 100
CHAIR MACLEAN asked that the committee consider adopting a
House Concurrent Resolution relating to establishing the
coal policy of the state after having a chance to review the
work draft in their packets.
Number 128
REPRESENTATIVE JEANNETTE JAMES reviewed the previous week's
presentation on the Western Arctic Coal project.
Number 160
CHAIR MACLEAN read a shortened version of the coal policy
which incorporated recommendations by Mr. Bob Stiles,
President of the Alaska Coal Association:
"Be it resolved by the Alaska State Legislature that it
is the official policy of the state to foster the
responsible development and expansion of its domestic and
export coal industry; and be it further resolved that the
state shall exercise all prudent and expeditious means to
maintain and expand Alaska's current and future coal
production and export market share; and be it further
resolved that the Alaska State Legislature shall work
diligently with the Governor and the Governor's
administration to identify unwarranted impediments to the
growth of Alaska's coal industry, and shall develop
strategies to eliminate or mitigate the adverse effects of
these impediments; and be it further resolved that the
state, in recognition of the benefits of a vibrant coal
industry, shall endeavor to maintain stable royalty and coal
industry taxation policies; and be it further resolved that
the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests that the
Governor and the Governor's administration, particularly the
Department of Commerce and Economic Development, assist the
Legislature in taking a leadership role in the planning and
evaluation of existing infrastructure and the need for
development of new infrastructure, and in the review of
transportation modes and rates in an effort to maximize
efficient capacity utilization and reduce unit cost; and be
it further resolved that the Alaska State Legislature
respectfully requests the governor to assist the Legislature
in seeking a waiver to the Jones' Act for bulk commodities
of low unit value such as coal; and be it further resolved
that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the
governor and the administration to assist it in fostering
commercial demonstration of new coal technologies to meet
the state's energy needs and that can produce value-added
products from Alaska coal; and be it further resolved that
it is in the best interest of the state for the state to
maintain control over the coal regulatory program, to
adequately fund the management and enforcement of the
program, and to continue to review and update the coal
regulatory program to insure that state primacy in coal
regulation is maintained."
CHAIR MACLEAN asked for questions or comments.
Number 210
REPRESENTATIVE BILL HUDSON asked where this would go.
CHAIR MACLEAN replied it would go just to the Governor.
Number 220
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON suggested that it also go to Alaska's
federal delegation, Senators Stevens and Murkowski, and
Congressman Young, as well as Governor Hickel.
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES concurred.
Hearing no objections, CHAIR MACLEAN agreed to add the
names.
Number 235
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON moved to enter this House Concurrent
Resolution as a resolution of this committee.
Number 258
Hearing no objections, CHAIR MACLEAN agreed the resolution
would be introduced the next day.
CHAIR MACLEAN asked committee members to consider a bill
(HB 245) introduced last year which died in the Senate:
"An Act relating to publications produced by state
agencies and to the procurement of property,
property interests, and services, including the
services of employees, by certain public
entities."
Number 274
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said he worked on the bill last year
and thought it would be an excellent pro-business message
for this committee to be conveying, and recommended the
committee introduce it as a House bill.
Number 287
CHAIR MACLEAN reviewed the six key components of the bill.
Number 316
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS asked why the bill failed to pass
the Senate last year.
CHAIR MACLEAN replied it was due to adjournment, but it had
31 co-sponsors last year.
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS asked that item number six be
reviewed, and stated he was concerned about cost control.
CHAIR MACLEAN referred Representative Williams to the back-
up included with the bill.
Number 340
REPRESENTATIVE AL VEZEY stated that he saw points which
would bring up a lot of controversy before the committees
due to matters of procurement contracts.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON asked if it might be wise to address
these concerns before publishing the bill.
REPRESENTATIVE VEZEY replied that nobody wanted to open the
procurement "can of worms." For example, requiring
procurement officers to include administrative costs in
evaluating a bid. He stated that the U.S. Navy was
currently doing this with resulting complaints that the
process is not competitive because the agency can factor in
subjective values based on considerations other than price.
He said he would expect the bill to be delayed in committee.
Number 382
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said these were the kinds of concerns
which would get a good hearing in committee and would be
amended or eliminated through the committee process, but the
over-all purpose of the bill was what the committee wanted
to foster, which was buying and hiring in-state and
encouraging manufacturing in-state.
CHAIR MACLEAN asked for the wish of the committee.
Number 398
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON reminded the Chair that he had made a
motion to file this House bill as a committee bill.
(Chair MacLean noted the arrival of Representative Mackie.)
REPRESENTATIVE JOE GREEN asked if there would be an
advantage to allowing time for the committee to review the
bill before recommending it.
CHAIR MACLEAN asked for a time certain, cautioning that any
delay could cause the bill to die due to adjournment.
Number 428
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE said he was familiar with this bill
from last session and most of the controversial aspects were
taken care of already, and committee substitutes could take
care of new objections.
Number 448
CHAIR MACLEAN asked if their were any objections to the
motion to file this bill. There were none.
CHAIR MACLEAN noted the Department of Commerce and Economic
Development (DCED) recommended list of legislation already
introduced and asked the committee to study these bills.
(a copy of this list is on file)
Number 469
REPRESENTATIVE BETTYE DAVIS spoke about the BIDCO (Business
and Industrial Development Corporation) program, referring
to last year's BIDCO Act aimed at helping small companies
start new businesses through low-interest loans and
management assistance. Last year there were no funds
allocated except $2 million to set up the corporations; but
this year there was a request to capitalize the BIDCOs and
set them up. She announced that Alaska Industrial
Development Authority (AIDA) was interested in helping fund
BIDCOs. Currently, the needed funds were being requested
through Science and Technology, but additional funds were
needed from the legislature.
Number 508
CHAIR MACLEAN asked for the amount of money requested.
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS replied that the amount in the bill she
had filed (HB 14) was $10 million from Science and
Technology. She said she had received a reply saying
Science and Technology was very supportive of the program
but did not want to give more than the $2.5 million already
specified.
Number 522
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said he believed the Science and
Technology corpus was currently over $100 million, with $15
million in interest available for allocation, and suggested
getting this information.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON noted that he had reviewed all of the
House and Senate bills currently in the system and picked
out ones which might improve economic opportunities for
small business or stimulate business development. He passed
around his list for members to review and explained some of
the bills he had picked. (a copy of this list is on file)
Number 578
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS returned to the BIDCO bill (HB 14) and
asked members to support it.
CHAIR MACLEAN said she would like to first get the total
dollar amount available from Science and Technology.
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS said the committee could support the
bill without knowing this amount, adding that several banks
were interested in lending support.
Number 606
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE said the committee needed to get the
bill into the process, and the funding source or amount
could be changed in committees. He moved that the Task
Force endorse the BIDCO bill and add it to Chair's list of
fast-track legislation.
Number 615
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON said he would like to see several
bills reviewed and their concept, if not exact content,
endorsed now as well.
Number 655
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE withdrew his motion in lieu of
reviewing the entire DCED list of bills for Task Force
endorsement. Then he reported on his concept of regional
divisions: Southeast, Central, Northern, Western and
Interior Alaska, with Task Force Representatives working
during the interim with businesses in their region and
assessing regional needs and having an entire package ready
to present next session.
Number 675
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN asked if the Task Force would meet
during the interim.
Number 680
CHAIR MACLEAN said that the Task Force would have interim
meetings throughout the year to continue follow-up on
legislation and have it already "in the hopper."
REPRESENTATIVE MACKIE suggested that each Representative be
directly responsible for bringing forth ideas from his or
her own region.
TAPE 93-0, SIDE B
Number 000
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN brought up the Disney concept of brain-
storming, pooling each Representative's ideas without
initially discarding any idea but letting them flow freely,
saying this could be successful during the interim when
there was more time to come up with a really good product.
REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said she had been trying to implement a
cooperative effort with the environmentalists, and had even
gotten a packet of economic development ideas from them.
She stated she would like to see the same cooperation
develop between the urban and rural people as well as the
major landowners in Alaska, which are the state and the
Native corporations. She remarked that focus needed to be
placed on finding a common ground as to what, how, and when
to develop Alaska, working together.
Number 065
ADJOURNMENT
CHAIR MACLEAN adjourned the meeting at 6:05 p.m.
LIST OF BILLS IN MEMBERS' PACKETS AND ON DCED LIST:
HB 14 APPROP: BIDCO FUND
OIL AND GAS
HB 199 OIL & GAS EXPLORATION LICENSES/LEASES
SB 150 OIL & GAS EXPLORATION LICENSES/LEASES
HB 200 OIL & GAS EXPLORATION INCENTIVE CREDITS
SB 151 OIL & GAS EXPLORATION INCENTIVE CREDITS
HJR 12 ENDORSING ANWR LEASING W/O ROYALTY CHANGE
SJR 15 ENDORSING ANWR LEASING W/O ROYALTY CHANGE
FISHERIES
HB 123 LOANS FOR IFQ'S
SB 132 LOANS FOR IFQ'S
HJR 17 MAGNUSON FISHERY CONSRV & MGT ACT
SJR 17 MAGNUSON FISHERY CONSRV & MGT ACT
HB 198 REGIONAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE GRANTS
SB 142 REGIONAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE GRANTS
SB 154 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GRANT FUND
SB 46 AUTHORIZE MOOSE FARMING
SB 124 ALASKA ENERGY AUTH POWERS & FINANCES
SB 125 APPROP: ENERGY AUTHORITY REVOLVING FUND
HB 50 AUTHORIZING POWER TRANSMISSION INTERTIES
SB 106 AUTHORIZING POWER TRANSMISSION INTERTIES
SB 126 APPROP: POWER TRANSMISSION INTERTIES
MINERALS/COAL
HB 132 EXTEND RESOURCE EXTRACTION PERMIT/LEASE
HB 60 FY 94 CAPITAL BUDGET
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