Legislature(2001 - 2002)
01/11/2001 01:38 PM House FIN
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE
January 11, 2001
1:38 PM
TAPE HFC 01 - 3, Side A
TAPE HFC 01 - 3, Side B
TAPE HFC 01 - 4, Side A
CALL TO ORDER
Co-Chair Mulder called the House Finance Committee meeting
to order at 1:38 PM.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Eldon Mulder, Co-Chair
Representative Bill Williams, Co-Chair
Representative Con Bunde, Vice-Chair
Representative Eric Croft
Representative John Davies
Representative Carl Moses
Representative Richard Foster
Representative John Harris
Representative Bill Hudson
Representative Ken Lancaster
Representative Jim Whitaker
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
ALSO PRESENT
Representative Gretchen Guess; Major General Phil Oats,
Commissioner, Military and Veterans Affairs; Michelle Brown,
Commissioner, Department of Environmental Conservation;
Deborah B. Sedwick, Commissioner, Department of Community
and Economic Development; Laddie Shaw, Special Assistant,
Office of Veterans Affairs, Department of Military and
Veterans Affairs; Barbara Frank, Director, Division of
Administrative Services, Department of Environmental
Conservation.
GENERAL SUBJECT(S):
Review of Departments Accomplishments:
Military and Veterans Affairs
Department of Community and Economic Development
Department of Environmental Conservation
The following overview was taken in log note format. Tapes
and handouts will be on file with the House Finance
Committee through the 22nd Legislative Session, contact 465-
2156. After the 22nd Legislative Session they will be
available through the Legislative Library at 465-3808.
LOG SPEAKER DISCUSSION
TAPE HFC 00 - 3
SIDE A
010 Introduced staff.
MAJOR GENERAL PHIL
OATS, COMMISSIONER,
MILITARY AND
VETERANS AFFAIRS
280 Major General Phil Thanked Committee for support. Stressed
Oats that there are new missions. Reviewed the
department's mission.
379 Major General Phil Reviewed mission of Office of
Oats Commissioner. All Divisions met
performance standards.
405 Major General Phil Currently 9 % is spent on administrative
Oats costs.
466 Major General Phil Average vendor payment is 19 days. There
Oats were no penalties for late payments.
548 Major General Phil A training and exercise program was
Oats approved as a result of the Y2k After
Action Plan.
569 Major General Phil Reviewed statewide communication plan. A
Oats first draft was completed during the
summer of 2000 and is being refined.
Several community response databases are
being updated.
624 Major General Phil Average time to close out disasters has
Oats been 5 years; Goal is 18 months.
Disasters can remain open for many
reasons. Currently, there are 18 open,
oldest is 9 years. The average is 3.8
years.
680 Major General Phil Number of those assisted: 4 million
Oats overall Specific disasters 92 thousand.
693 Major General Phil The number of lives saved or protected by
Oats the Division was 106,000.
745 Major General Phil Field guide completed, draft community
Oats relations plans completed.
843 Major General Phil Discussed deferred maintenance. The
Oats backlog is $20.7 million dollars. The
backlog was reduced by 6 percent in FY01.
Major General Phil No days were lost due to facility related
Oats accidents
900 Major General Phil The department is required to spend 2.5
Oats percent of their federal funds on energy
efficiency. There was a 10-30 percent
increase in overall utility costs due to
fuel costs. There was a 12 percent
reduction in kilowatt hours; increase in
fuel cost is challenge.
939 Major General Phil Discussed Alaska National Guard and the
Oats process of determining its mission. Unit
status report is used to assess.
Personnel, training and equipment are
reviewed. National Guard meets its
mission as determined by the Department
of Defense. It is meeting recruiting
goals.
1056 Major General Phil Discussed response time. Response time is
Oats about 1 hour and 45 minutes. High level
of professionalism due to conditions.
1146 Major General Phil National Guard directly or indirectly
Oats assists all 626,932 of the state's
residents; 117 lives were saved. The
Readiness Training program assisted
36,000 in FY00, through its readiness
training; 14,500 have been assisted in FY
01.
1176 Major General Phil The department was unable to quantify the
Oats amount and value of property protected.
1257 Major General Phil Discussed youth academy. He noted that 68
Oats percent of the graduates received a GED
ore reentered high school. It was
identified as a star base program; will
provide service to schools.
1296 Major General Phil Out of 91 graduates from the Youth
Oats Academy, the average English
comprehension grade level was 3.0 and the
average math level was 2.2 (the national
average is 1.4)
1359 Major General Phil Of 110 enrolled, 91 or 82.7 percent
Oats graduated from the program. The goal is
90.9 percent.
1379 Major General Phil Discussed mission 4 for the Alaska
Oats National Guard Youth Corps. Approximately
90 percent are in school or working one
year after graduation.
1418 Major General Phil Discussed Veterans Affairs; 650 veterans
Oats have been visited since July 2000.
Major General Phil Since July 2000, 28 communities have been
Oats visited to assist rural veterans.
1454 Major General Phil Concluded that FY 02 is a year of
Oats opportunities. Second highest number of
veterans, but only one without a
veteran's home. Centralized home does not
meet the needs of Alaskan Veterans.
Chance to utilize pioneer homes for
veterans 125 dedicated beds and a
regional approach. Opening the door to
federal assistance.
1530 Representative Questioned if federal government has
Mulder committed to assistance.
1590 LADDIE SHAW, SPECIAL Federal government is working on assisted
ASSISTANT, OFFICE OF living project. Could offset cost of
VETERANS AFFAIRS, veterans in the home by 33 - 66 percent.
DEPARTMENT OF
MILITARY AND
VETERANS AFFAIRS
1658 Major General Phil Observed that veterans want to stay in
Oats their homes.
1713 Representative Proud of the dedication of staff and
Foster their loyalty. Thanked the Department for
their search and rescue efforts and rural
outreach. Department does a lot with very
little. Noted the amount of federal
dollars and the difficulty in reducing
state dollars. Felt that they are the
most efficient department. Expressed
support for adding the efforts for combat
readiness.
1844 Major General Phil Discussed BEARS airplanes into southeast
Oats Russia. Discussed readiness efforts.
1906 Representative Asked for the number of potential
Hudson applicants to look at potential clients.
1942 Co-Chair Williams Questioned how long funding would be
available for assistance at pioneer
homes. He thought federal funding would
be restricted to five years.
1971 Major General Phil Did not know that funding would be
Oats restricted. A pilot program would be for
the next 4 years. He emphasized that the
federal government is looking for a way
to meet the need.
2000 Vice-Chair Bunde Referred to the Star Base Program.
2010 Major General Phil The program will be available to assist
Oats in schools for intensive 2-week programs
at no cost to the school district. It is
a test program.
2039 Vice-Chair Bunde Questioned if there is a statutory
requirement for an emergency radio
network.
2059 Major General Phil Yes, federal law mandates emergency
Oats broadcast. It is difficult in rural
Alaska. Alaska was the first to test
radio service though the use of
commercial station tags to transmitter
for push to talk broadcast capability.
2123 Vice-Chair Bunde Referred to the drug intervention
program.
2131 Major General Phil Assisted in taking $30 million dollars in
Oats drugs out of the community. Provides
personnel and equipment assistance to
state and federal police.
2179 Co-Chair Mulder Noted that the program is 100 percent
federally funded
2190 Representative Mission defense system update
Harris
2199 Major General Phil Federal Administration has indicated that
Oats a National Missile Defense System. A
booster for the defensive rocket will
occur soon. If tests successful there
will probably a decisions to go ahead to
site. The Treaty could be broken once
concrete is poured. Preliminary site
preparation may occur.
2336 Representative John Asked how prepared the state is for
Davies missile defense.
2349 Major General Phil We are not prepared for biological
Oats attacks.
TAPE HFC 01 - 3,
Side B
024 Major General Phil Continued speaking about preparedness.
Oats
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
249 DEBORAH B. SEDWICK, Introduced her staff. There are 53
COMMISSIONER, measures for the department.
DEPARTMENT OF
COMMUNITY AND
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
329 Commissioner Sedwick There are 7 divisions, 6 independent
agencies and 16 boards and commissions.
474 Commissioner Sedwick The department is working on improved
customer service through e-commerce and
on-line service. Purchase and renewal of
Alaska Business Licenses are on-line;
2,300 businesses used on-line systems in
the first 3 months. The department is
working on interactive forms for
regulatory requirements.
638 Commissioner Sedwick Discussed banking securities,
corporations mission, and consumer
complaints. Noted that 75 percent of the
applications received by the department
are incomplete. Currently, applications
are sent by mail. If applications were
submitted on-line the system would refuse
incomplete applications.
785 Commissioner Sedwick Spoke to the ASMI program. The numbers
for tourism are not as good as the State
would like to see.
881 Co-Chair Mulder Asked what the Department was doing to
help boost tourism.
897 Commissioner Sedwick Commented on the cut to that budget last
year. Tourism planning has been
drastically cut in the past couple years.
The Department is precluded from
marketing. Education is a large part of
that marketing endeavor. There needs to
be better interagency work coordination.
1002 Representative Asked about increasing the # of Alaskans
Hudson employed.
1034 Commissioner Sedwick Stated that the department believed that
the measure could be met. She asked what
information needs to be considered.
There needs to be a clear handle on some
measurement tools when working on the
budget.
1088 Representative Stated that he would be the Subcommittee
Lancaster Chair. He asked about the tracking.
1118 Commissioner Sedwick Reiterated that the measurement is
critical. She noted that she strongly
believed in the program.
1145 Co-Chair Mulder Agreed that a well-established benchmark
is essential to the program.
1164 Commissioner Sedwick Stated that a year round piece is
essential to the program. Everything is
matched out in the summer time. Winter
needs to be more of a focus. The state
needs better exposure.
1205 Commissioner Sedwick Spoke to the rate of expected growth.
Spoke to the Division of Trade and
Development. Trade Shows and promotion.
Happenings in China. What is important
is the quality of the trade lead.
1374 Representative Croft Asked if there were a better measure for
that component.
1386 Commissioner Sedwick Stated that the Department is struggling
with that piece. As top trading
partners, there needs to be some type of
state control. The Department
contributes a great deal and is always
open to recommendations. This is
important part of business for Alaska as
it brings a lot of money into the state.
She asked for an expansion of the
mission.
1475 Commissioner Sedwick Referenced the new key measurement. In
1999 the value dollar of export increased
33%.
1518 Representative Asked what made that happen.
Hudson
1528 Commissioner Sedwick Replied that we suffered through the
"Asian flu". Emphasized that the state
can show the slow steady growth and
create a new benchmark.
1561 Commissioner Sedwick The Department believes strongly that
those destinations are our top trading
partners and that will not change. Asian
partners pride themselves on loyalty.
She maintained that the state must remain
very focused in the East.
1612 Representative Croft Commented that the trade numbers have
increased with the price of oil.
1660 Co-Chair Mulder Suggested that these are big issues
affecting the world.
1674 Representative Croft Spoke of the trade needs and what is
appropriate for the Department.
1686 Commissioner Sedwick Increase the performance production for
ASMI. ASMI sells millions of pounds of
seafoods throughout the country. She
recommended increasing the consumption of
Alaska seafood by increasing the volume
of product sold through ASMI promotions
by 10% in FY01.
1780 Commissioner Sedwick Continued, the target of 45 million
pounds for FY01.
1816 Commissioner Sedwick Addressed community assistance. Reviewed
the number of communities successfully
managing new sewer and water systems.
This operates in only 43 communities.
There is a lack of people to run the
systems. There is not a lot of stability
with management with these systems.
1875 Representative Commented that the success rate may be
Davies increasing.
1917 Commissioner Sedwick Noted that the department is comfortable
with working with the Committee in
clarifying the terminology.
1941 Commissioner Sedwick Spoke to community assistance. Reviewed
the number of CDQ-related jobs in Western
Alaska.
1974 Commissioner Sedwick Addressed the major difference from last
year and the new divisions. The
Community and Business Development and
the International Trade and Market
Development were newly created. The
director of that agency is working on a
survey.
2066 Representative Noted that this is a difficult department
Hudson to determine measures on. He recommended
creating a vision in how to market
Alaska. He asked if there has been an
assessment done by the Governor's office
for expansion.
2127 Commissioner Sedwick Replied that the Department has many
ideas. She suggested working with the
private sector in addressing these ideas
and gave examples.
2189 Representative Stressed the need for a vision of what is
Hudson being sold. What is the major marketing
opportunity and commodity that can be
promoted.
2249 Representative John Questioned where ATIA resides.
Davies
2292 JEFF BUSH, DEPUTY Clarified that the function is privatized
COMMISSIONER, and that the state only administers the
DEPARTMENT OF contract. The contract is administered
COMMUNITY AND under the Commissioner's Office.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
2354 Representative Clarified that ATIA's budget is $4.485
Hudson million dollars; the state pays 30
percent
2379 Vice-Chair Bunde 1 Questioned the cost of PCE.
TAPE HFC 01 - 4,
Side A
10 Commissioner Sedwick Did not know the exact number.
034 Commissioner Sedwick Asked members to help the department by
taking Alaskan goodies to conferences and
discussed the use of trade walls.
164 Representative Thanked the Commissioner for traveling to
Foster rural areas.
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
281 Michelle Brown, The Department of Environmental
Commissioner, Conservation promotes healthy people,
Department of healthy communities and a healthy
Environmental environment. Everyone in DEC works in
Conservation some capacity for clean air, clean water,
clean land, safe food, safe handling of
oil and chemicals, safe public facilities
and businesses and pollution prevention.
477 Commissioner Brown Reviewed accomplishments and noted that
the department strives to deliver
services, build partnerships, and provide
guidance that strengthens the overall
economy and maintains good jobs for
Alaskans by sustainable management of
air, water and natural resources. The
department is looking at systematically
implementing a new and improved Alaska
water permitting p> program
571 Commissioner Brown Although Alaska has the best laws in the
country to prevent oil spills from
carriers transporting oil as cargo, there
have not been requirements for the
railroad for large vessels carrying up to
a million gallons of oil for their own
use. Alaska needs to mend this hole in
its law relating to large tank vessels
and the railroad that carries oil for
their own use.
Vice-Chair Bunde Clarified that vessels can carry as much
as 1 million gallons.
622 Commissioner Brown The department worked with the Alaska Oil
and Gas Association and EPA to conduct an
air permitting benchmark study to examine
the permitting programs in other states
to learn how to improve Alaska's air
permitting services. The department
reduced its permit delivery time by 42%
for construction permits
694 Commissioner Brown The department gained improved
environmental performance commitments in
the BP and ARCO merger agreement.
745 Commissioner Brown The department was in federal court
challenging the Environmental Protection
Agency's decision to reject a state
approved air quality permit for the Red
Dog Mine outside Kotzebue.
847 Representative Croft Questioned the status of the permit. The
EPA order is in effect.
859 Commissioner Brown Reviewed the finding by the EPA. The case
will be heard in the Ninth Circuit next
month.
892 Commissioner Brown Noted that there was concern that the
minimally regulated cruise ships were
dumping large amounts of sewage and
emitting serious air pollution. Studies
showed that 34 out of 240 opacity
readings violated state standards, but
these violations decreased over the
summer.
964 Commissioner Brown Only one of 80 blackwater samples -
toilet water - from the vessel's
treatment system met water quality
standards.
Graywater - or water from sinks and
laundry - is more like sewage than the
industry anticipated, with some samples
50,000 times the standard.
There was no evidence of mixing any
hazardous wastes with wastewater
discharges.
1018 Commissioner Brown The department is working with industry
for better waste management practices,
better on-board treatment technologies,
and for an ongoing state oversight and
monitoring program, including a
scientific review of possible impacts on
our waters and wildlife from the
wastewater discharges.
1029 Commissioner Brown The cruise industry has indicated that
Alaska is setting the world standard.
1046 Co-Chair Williams Questioned if the state found the raw
sewage before or after the industry said
they would test.
1083 Commissioner Brown Stated that the testing was done with the
Coast Guard and industry was cooperative.
Tests occurred during the summer. Treated
sewage still exceed standards.
1148 Representative Croft Questioned the effective date of federal
requirements in the legislation by
Senator Murkowski. Commissioner Brown
clarified that it would be effective in
the next summer. It prohibits the
discharge of raw sewage. EPA will develop
standards for other discharge.
1205 Representative John Observed that neither of the discharges
Davies referred to would have been under the
federal mandate. Commissioner Brown
clarified that the state would still have
to address treatment of gray water. She
emphasized that industry was not happy
with the results and are looking at
alternatives
1288 Representative John Questioned if technology is insufficient
Davies of if ships are not being operated
correctly.
1309 Commissioner Brown Stated that both are factors and gave
examples.
1359 Representative Questioned if ultraviolet treatment has
Lancaster been considered. Commissioner Brown did
not know.
1390 Vice-Chair Bunde Questioned how fecal coliform is getting
into the gray water. Commissioner Brown
stated that animal matter can contain
fecal coliform. The ferry system is also
being addressed.
1459 Representative Croft Noted that cruise ships were violating
the law.
1477 Commissioner Brown Observed that the law required treatment
equipment and assumed that the devise
would meet the standards. The standard is
technology based.
1505 Representative Noted that there are equipment inspection
Hudson requirements.
1565 Commissioner Brown Discussed healthy, safe communities. She
noted that there is a food born illness
in Homer.
1587 Commissioner Brown Referred to performance measures. She
noted that they have been actively
collecting data. She provided members
with a handout on performance measures
(copy on file).
1668 Commissioner Brown Reviewed measures for the Commissioner's
Office and noted that all divisions are
tracking performance measures.
1689 Commissioner Brown An arbitrator overturned only one
grievance in the last two years. There
were no penalties on audit or payrolls.
1732 Vice-Chair Bunde Questioned why one gallon was chosen.
Commissioner Brown noted that one gallon
of oil in a sensitive area can cause
trouble.
1777 Commissioner Brown Discussed contaminated sites. There were
756 high-risk sites.
1801 Commissioner Brown Observed that 124 underground storage
tanks that received no further action
required.
1849 Commissioner Brown Air and water quality permits cost an
average of $9,000 dollars. Anchorage has
met the health standard benchmark for air
quality. Fairbanks is not meeting
standards.
1876 Commissioner Brown It takes an average of 278 days to issue
a permit. There is no data on the time it
takes to reach resolution on complaints.
1903 Commissioner Brown All risk based inspection facilities were
completed.
1910 Commissioner Brown Fast track permits will be available.
1919 Commissioner Brown Discussed measures for Environmental
Health. Most of the program is funded by
60 percent general funds and 40 percent
program receipts.
1949 Commissioner Brown There were fewer boil water notices.
1959 Commissioner Brown Tracking for deficiencies in sanitary
surveys began in April 2000. Since then,
16 percent had significant deficiencies.
Commissioner Brown The percentage of Land fills scoring 80
or higher has increased.
2043 Commissioner Brown Food services facilities are not being
inspected as much as targeted. Critical
violations are going up.
2054 Representative Croft Critical violations occur when an
operator is not in compliance with state
food rules in a manner that can result in
a food borne illness.
2079 Commissioner Brown Clarified that the trend was going down
and is now going back up.
2106 Representative Croft Noted that it is hard to tell if it is a
good indicator that there are more
critical violations.
2123 Commissioner Brown Noted that they are inspecting less and
finding more.
2132 BARBARA FRANK, Clarified that since facilities are not
DIRECTOR, DIVISION being inspected as often that when they
OF ADMINISTRATIVE are inspected there are more serious
SERVICES, DEPARTMENT violations. More frequent inspections
OF ENVIRONMENTAL allow problems to be addressed before
CONSERVATION they become a critical violation.
2187 Commissioner Brown Discussed Facility Construction and
Operation measures. No data on the cost
per household served. 69 percent of rural
households will have safe water and
sanitation by the end of calendar year
2000.
2236 Commissioner Brown Statewide public Service no data of cost
on individual facilities. Material
exchange has saved $1.5 million dollars.
2267 Commissioner Brown Suggested the deletion of measure 2.
There is a 70 percent compliance rate.
The department offers training programs
to help communities do environmental
planning. She noted that 80 percent of
the communities served continue on to
complete programs. The department has a
99 percent customer satisfaction.
2318 Commissioner Brown Noted that the issue is: How do you value
prevention? Observed it is a challenge to
quantify.
2340 ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|