02/02/2005 08:30 AM House FISHERIES

House FSH 02/02/2005 08:34

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Audio	Topic
08:34:32 AM	Start
08:35:19 AM	HJR6
08:41:10 AM	Adjourn

* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled

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*+	HJR 6	LABELING OF FISH PRODUCTS	TELECONFERENCED
		Moved CSHJR 6(FSH) Out of Committee

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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES February 2, 2005 8:34 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Gabrielle LeDoux, Co-Chair Representative Bill Thomas, Co-Chair Representative Jim Elkins Representative Woodie Salmon Representative John Harris Representative Peggy Wilson MEMBERS ABSENT Representative Mary Kapsner COMMITTEE CALENDAR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 6 Relating to the labeling of fish products and processed food items containing fish to identify the country of origin and to distinguish between wild and farmed fish and fish products. - MOVED CSHJR 6(FSH) OUT OF COMMITTEE PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION BILL: HJR 6 SHORT TITLE: LABELING OF FISH PRODUCTS SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S) KERTTULA 01/19/05 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS

01/19/05 (H) FSH, RES

01/26/05 (H) FSH AT 8:30 AM CAPITOL 124

01/26/05 (H) -- Meeting Canceled --

01/26/05 (H) RES AT 3:00 PM CAPITOL 124

01/26/05 (H) Scheduled But Not Heard

01/31/05 (H) RES AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 124

01/31/05 (H) -- Meeting Canceled -- WITNESS REGISTER AURORA HAUKE, Staff to Representative Beth Kerttula Alaska State Legislature Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Provided comments and responded to questions during discussion of the proposed committee substitute (CS) for HJR 6. ACTION NARRATIVE CO-CHAIR BILL THOMAS called the House Special Committee on Fisheries meeting to order at 8:34:32 AM. Representatives Thomas, LeDoux, Elkins, Harris, and Salmon were present at the call to order. Representative Wilson arrived as the meeting was in progress. HJR 6 - LABELING OF FISH PRODUCTS CO-CHAIR THOMAS announced that the only order of business would be HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 6, "Relating to the labeling of fish products and processed food items containing fish to identify the country of origin and to distinguish between wild and farmed fish and fish products." CO-CHAIR LEDOUX moved to adopt the proposed committee substitute (CS) for HJR 6, Version 24-LS0383\F, Utermohle, 1/25/05, as the working document. There being no objection, Version F was before the committee. 8:35:19 AM AURORA HAUKE, Staff to Representative Beth Kerttula, Alaska State Legislature, testified on behalf of Representative Kerttula, cosponsor of Version F for HJR 6. She mentioned a letter of written comment from the Alaska State Legislature to the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding the proposed federal regulations for Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling of Fish and Shellfish, 7 CFR Part 60. She then explained that Version F reiterates Alaska's support for country of origin labeling and requests that Alaska fish and shellfish that have been canned, smoked, pouched, or cooked be included under country of origin labeling. 8:36:56 AM MS. HAUKE, in response to Representative Harris, clarified that Version F adds shellfish to the resolution because it is also included in the federal regulations. She noted that Version F also removes one sentence that was redundant [HJR 6, page 1, line 7] and strengthens the language on page 2, lines 3-4 of HJR 6. 8:38:10 AM REPRESENTATIVE HARRIS commented that "processed food items containing fish" and "products" have been removed from the title in Version F. He asked for an explanation. MS. HAUKE replied, "Basically we're not as concerned about truly processed items as with items that have simply been smoked, cured, canned; we wanted to make that distinction." She referred to processed items as those that have combined several [types of] fish from several different places. 8:39:04 AM REPRESENTATIVE HARRIS asked if Version F recommends that fish sold at Costco be required to carry a label stating where the fish came from and whether it is wild or not. MS. HAUKE answered affirmatively. 8:40:22 AM CO-CHAIR THOMAS asked if there were any more people who wished to testify. He noted that there were about six pages of written testimony. 8:40:43 AM CO-CHAIR LEDOUX moved to report [CSHJR 6, Version 24-LS0383\F, Utermohle, 1/25/05, from committee with individual recommendations and the attached zero fiscal notes]. There being no objection, CSHJR 6(FSH) was reported from the House Special Committee on Fisheries. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the committee, the House Special Committee on Fisheries meeting was adjourned at 8:41:10 AM.

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