Legislature(2003 - 2004)
05/02/2003 04:05 PM House L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE LABOR AND COMMERCE STANDING COMMITTEE
May 2, 2003
4:05 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Tom Anderson, Chair
Representative Bob Lynn, Vice Chair
Representative Nancy Dahlstrom
Representative Norman Rokeberg
Representative David Guttenberg
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Carl Gatto
Representative Harry Crawford
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 95
"An Act relating to strikes by employees of a municipal school
district, a regional educational attendance area, or a state
boarding school, and requiring notice of at least 72 hours of a
strike by those employees."
- MOVED SB 95 OUT OF COMMITTEE
CONFIRMATION HEARINGS
Workers Compensation Board
John Abshire - Wasilla
Richard Behrends - Juneau
Andrew Piekarski - Eagle River
Marc Stemp - Bethel
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
Board of Dental Examiners
Dr. Kevin L. Gottlieb - Anchorage
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
Board of Nursing
Rosalie A. Acoba - Kodiak
Catherine A. Giessel - Anchorage
Sally Harvey - Noorvik
James E. Jurrens - Juneau
Cathleen Ringstad Winfree - Fairbanks
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
Board of Pharmacy
Michael Pauley - Eagle River
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
HOUSE BILL NO. 252
"An Act relating to the terms of members of boards and
commissions that regulate businesses and professions and to the
duties of the members of the State Board of Registration for
Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors."
- MOVED CSHB 252(L&C) OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE BILL NO. 268
"An Act relating to an exemption for specialty contractors under
the laws regulating architects, engineers, land surveyors, and
landscape architects."
- HEARD AND HELD
HOUSE BILL NO. 277
"An Act relating to the powers of the Regulatory Commission of
Alaska in regard to intrastate pipeline transportation services
and pipeline facilities, to the rate of interest for funds to be
paid by pipeline shippers or carriers at the end of a suspension
of tariff filing, and to the prospective application of
increased standards on regulated pipeline utilities; allowing
the commission to accept rates set in conformity with a
settlement agreement between the state and one or more pipeline
carriers and to enforce the terms of a settlement agreement in
regard to intrastate rates; and providing for an effective
date."
- SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: SB 95
SHORT TITLE:72-HOUR NOTICE OF TEACHER STRIKE
SPONSOR(S): SENATOR(S) GREEN
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
03/03/03 0317 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
03/03/03 0317 (S) HES, L&C
03/17/03 (S) HES AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
03/17/03 (S) Heard & Held
03/17/03 (S) MINUTE(HES)
03/24/03 (S) HES AT 5:00 PM FAHRENKAMP 203
03/24/03 (S) Moved Out of Committee --
Time and Location Change --
03/24/03 (S) MINUTE(HES)
03/26/03 0590 (S) HES RPT 3DP 2NR
03/26/03 0590 (S) NR: DYSON, WILKEN;
03/26/03 0590 (S) DP: GUESS, GREEN, DAVIS
03/26/03 0590 (S) FN1: ZERO(LWF)
04/03/03 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 211
04/03/03 (S) Heard & Held
04/03/03 (S) MINUTE(L&C)
04/08/03 (S) L&C AT 2:00 PM BELTZ 211
04/08/03 (S) Moved Out of Committee --
Time Change --
04/08/03 (S) MINUTE(L&C)
04/09/03 0762 (S) L&C RPT 4DP 1NR
04/09/03 0762 (S) DP: BUNDE, FRENCH, SEEKINS,
STEVENS G;
04/09/03 0762 (S) NR: DAVIS
04/09/03 0762 (S) FN1: ZERO(LWF)
04/15/03 0860 (S) RULES TO CALENDAR 4/15/2003
04/15/03 0860 (S) READ THE SECOND TIME
04/15/03 0860 (S) ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
4/16 CALENDAR
04/16/03 0877 (S) READ THE THIRD TIME SB 95
04/16/03 0877 (S) PASSED Y17 N2 E1
04/16/03 0877 (S) ELLIS NOTICE OF
RECONSIDERATION
04/17/03 0895 (S) RECONSIDERATION NOT TAKEN UP
04/17/03 0895 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
04/17/03 0895 (S) VERSION: SB 95
04/22/03 1045 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
04/22/03 1045 (H) EDU, L&C
04/22/03 1059 (H) CROSS SPONSOR(S): GATTO
04/28/03 (H) EDU AT 5:15 PM CAPITOL 124
04/28/03 (H) Moved Out of Committee --
Time Change --
04/28/03 (H) MINUTE(EDU)
04/29/03 1179 (H) EDU RPT 5DP 1NR
04/29/03 1179 (H) DP: WILSON, WOLF, OGG,
SEATON, GATTO;
04/29/03 1179 (H) NR: GARA
04/29/03 1179 (H) FN1: ZERO(LWF)
05/02/03 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM CAPITOL 17
BILL: HB 252
SHORT TITLE:OCC LICENSING: TERMS OF BD & CONT. EDUC
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S)MCGUIRE
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
04/08/03 0842 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
04/08/03 0842 (H) L&C, STA
05/02/03 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM CAPITOL 17
BILL: HB 268
SHORT TITLE:LICENSING SPECIALTY CONTRACTORS
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S)MCGUIRE
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
04/15/03 0985 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
04/15/03 0985 (H) L&C
05/02/03 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM CAPITOL 17
WITNESS REGISTER
SENATOR LYDA GREEN, Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke as the sponsor of SB 95.
RICHARD BEHRENDS, Appointee
to the Workers Compensation Board
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as an appointee to the Workers
Compensation Board.
MARC STEMP, Appointee
to the Workers Compensation Board
Bethel, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as an appointee to the Workers
Compensation Board.
HEATH HILYARD, Staff
to Representative Lesil McGuire
Alaska State Legislature
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented HB 252 and HB 268 on behalf of
the sponsor, Representative McGuire.
SAM KITO, III
Alaska Professional Design Council
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Noted APDC's appreciation of Representative
McGuire's effort on HB 252 and answered questions on HB 268.
PATRICK KALEN, Member
AELS Board
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Thanked the committee for its action on HB
252 and urged the committee to pass HB 268.
COLIN MAYNARD, Principle
BPF Engineers (ph);
Alaska Professional Design Council
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Urged the committee to pass HB 268.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 03-46, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIR TOM ANDERSON called the House Labor and Commerce Standing
Committee meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. Representatives
Anderson, Lynn, Rokeberg, and Guttenberg were present at the
call to order. Representative Dahlstrom arrived as the meeting
was in progress.
SB 95-72-HOUR NOTICE OF TEACHER STRIKE
CHAIR ANDERSON announced that the first order of business would
be SENATE BILL NO. 95, "An Act relating to strikes by employees
of a municipal school district, a regional educational
attendance area, or a state boarding school, and requiring
notice of at least 72 hours of a strike by those employees."
Number 0115
SENATOR LYDA GREEN, Alaska State Legislature, spoke as the
sponsor of SB 95. She explained that SB 95 would require school
employees of a school district to provide written notice of an
impending strike at least 72 hours prior to any labor action.
The primary focus of SB 95 is to protect students and to advise
parents of any changes that may occur in the schedule,
specifically related to canceled buses. She turned to Section
1, which seems to delete a lot of statutory language regarding
employees and the bargaining unit. However, she pointed out
that the language being deleted under Section 1(d) is inserted,
in whole, on page 2, lines 12-25. The new language [to be
inserted in the statutes] is on page 2, lines 26-31.
SENATOR GREEN informed the committee that she introduced SB 95
upon the request of folks in her school district. These folks
are concerned that in the Mat-Su Valley area there are a lot of
commuters that leave early, and therefore may be on the way to
Anchorage or in Anchorage when they learn that there is a strike
and their children are unattended.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN inquired as to how large of this problem is.
SENATOR GREEN pointed out that the committee packet includes an
[article from the January 16, 1999, Anchorage Daily News] which
discusses an unnoticed strike that occurred in Anchorage in
1999.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN questioned why anyone would be opposed to
72-hour notice of a strike.
Number 0396
SENATOR GREEN said that there has been little [problem with
this]. She related that only 12 states allow for strikes, and
of those states [there is a range of notice requirements] before
a strike occurs.
REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG inquired as to how many of the states
that don't allow for strikes have binding arbitration.
SENATOR GREEN said that wasn't researched.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG inquired as to why the 72-hour notice
was chosen.
SENATOR GREEN answered that the 72-hour notice was enough time
to get through a weekend or a holiday weekend. With the 72-hour
notice there would be enough time for several news casts,
newspaper announcements, and telephone calls. In further
response to Representative Rokeberg's understanding that the
language in subsection (g)(2) would require at least one full
day of school, Senator Green specified that it's just 72 hours
from the time the notice is given.
REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG inquired as to the process/timeframe
required for striking.
SENATOR GREEN said that currently there is no notice
requirement.
REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG related his notion that this issue
could be entirely eliminated by forcing the employees into
binding arbitration. He asked if the aforementioned was
considered.
SENATOR GREEN replied no.
Number 0705
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG turned attention to the sectional
analysis included in the committee packet. He highlighted that
the sectional analysis under Section 2, item 3, specifies, "The
72-hour notice must include at least one in-session school day."
Therefore, the legislation requires a two-tier test of 72-hour
notice and at least one full day of school. He noted his
agreement with that two-tier test.
CHAIR ANDERSON noted that the Alaska Council of School
Administrators (ACSA) supports SB 95, [as evidenced by the
letter from ACSA in the committee packet]. He expressed
interest in hearing testimony today because, although the
legislation has been around for three months, he hasn't heard
from any labor representative regarding this issue. Upon
determining there were no other questions, Chair Anderson turned
to public testimony.
Number 0766
JOHN ALCANTRA, Government Relations Director, National Education
Association - Alaska (NEA-Alaska), informed the committee that
the 12,000 members of NEA-Alaska are compromised of parents and
grandparents of school-aged children, and NEA-Alaska agrees that
SB 95 will provide stability for children and their parents.
The bottom line is that members of NEA-Alaska are members of the
communities in which they work [and reside] and any legislation
that attempts to improve community and student safety meets with
the approval of the NEA-Alaska membership.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN surmised that NEA-Alaska and ACSA agree on
this matter.
MR. ALCANTRA responded as long as the issues of fairness exist,
he didn't see any real problems with SB 95.
Number 0906
DON ETHERIDGE, Alaska AFL-CIO, related that the Alaska AFL-CIO
isn't present to oppose SB 95 because a child's safety is of
utmost importance. However, he posed a situation in which the
72-hour notice was given, but an agreement was made [before the
official beginning of the strike]. In such a situation, could
the employees return to work, he asked.
SENATOR GREEN related her intention that at any point there
could be a change in direction such that an agreement [could be
reached and employees could return to work].
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked if, in the situation posed by Mr.
Etheridge, there is typically a right of recession. He asked if
Mr. Etheridge was aware of any other contracts which include a
notice provision and a recession provision.
MR. ETHERIDGE answered that he wasn't aware of any [contract]
requiring notice of a strike. This would be new ground.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG remarked that the legislative intent
would be the use of common sense [such that an agreement could
mean that employees return to work before a strike officially
begins].
REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG inquired as to the number of employees
this [legislation would impact] and asked whether it would
include employees other than NEA members and teachers.
MR. ETHERIDGE clarified that [SB 95 refers to employees of] NEA,
Local 71, noncovered employees. He related his interpretation
that this legislation speaks to any employee of the school
district.
REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG surmised that this would include the
maintenance staff as well.
MR. ETHERIDGE indicated agreement.
Number 1128
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to report SB 95 out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal
notes. There being no objection, SB 95 was reported from the
House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.
^CONFIRMATION HEARINGS
CHAIR ANDERSON announced that the next order of business would
be the confirmation hearings for the appointees to the Board of
Dental Examiners, the Board of Nursing, the Board of Pharmacy,
and the Workers Compensation Board. He noted that two of the
appointees to the Workers' Compensation Board, Richard Behrends
and Marc Stemp, are present for questions. If there are no
questions, Chair Anderson recommended approval of the
appointments and signing of the report.
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM asked if everyone was provided the
opportunity to be able to call in and be available for
questioning.
CHAIR ANDERSON replied yes.
^Workers Compensation Board
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG expressed interest in allowing the two
appointees from the Workers Compensation Board to make a
statement indicating the auspices under which the individual has
been appointed. Representative Rokeberg related his
understanding that with the appointment of boards there is
supposed to be an even balance between labor and [business].
Number 1224
RICHARD BEHRENDS, Appointee to the Workers Compensation Board,
specified that he was appointed under the management portion of
the board.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG inquired as to Mr. Behrends background
and why he would be interested in filling this position.
MR. BEHRENDS informed the committee that he is a mechanical
contractor who owns his own business. He noted that he was
appointed under the last administration and served two years.
He related that he enjoys doing this as part of his civic
responsibility. In further response to Representative Rokeberg,
Mr. Behrends related his belief that the proceedings of the
"committee," the hearing officers, and opinion review remain
fair. He confirmed that he has been on the board since the
adjustment of the compensation levels.
Number 1297
MARC STEMP, Appointee to the Workers Compensation Board,
informed the committee that he has served on the board since
about 1991 and then took a brief recess during which time he
became the president and CEO of the Bethel Native Corporation.
He noted that he is the rural representative on the Workers
Compensation Board. He also noted that he has enjoyed his time
on the board.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG noted that in the past he sponsored
legislation that made adjustments to the workers compensation
levels as well as other adjustments. He asked whether the
legislature made progress with that legislation, and did that
legislation impact the board.
MR. STEMP related his belief that the legislation created a
major impact. Significant progress has been made with the
hearing officers and their deliberations. He also related his
belief that it's a fair and balanced proceeding now that is
working well.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG highlighted that Mr. Behrends is a
recipient of the Silver Beaver award from the Boy Scouts of
America.
^Board of Dental Examiners
^Board of Nursing
^Board of Pharmacy
Number 1438
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to advance the confirmation of
the following names to the following boards: Board of Dental
Examiners - Dr. Kevin L. Gottlieb; Board of Nursing - Rosalie A.
Acoba, Catherine A. Giessel, Sally Harvey, James E. Jurrens,
Cathleen Ringstad Winfree; Board of Pharmacy - Michael Pauley;
Workers Compensation Board - John Abshire, Richard Behrends,
Andrew Piekarski, and Marc Stemp.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG objected, and pointed out that Mr.
Pauley is a former staffer. He noted that he has played hockey
with Andrew Piekarski, who he believes will do a fine job
representing labor on the Workers Compensation Board.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN related that Catherine Giessel is a person
of high moral character who is very involved.
CHAIR ANDERSON, upon determining there were no objections,
announced that the names of the appointees would be forward to
the full body for consideration. He noted that today's action
doesn't reflect any member's intent to vote for or against any
of the appointees.
HB 252-OCC LICENSING: TERMS OF BD & CONT. EDUC
CHAIR ANDERSON announced that the next order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 252, "An Act relating to the terms of members
of boards and commissions that regulate businesses and
professions and to the duties of the members of the State Board
of Registration for Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors."
Number 1549
HEATH HILYARD, Staff to Representative Lesil McGuire, Alaska
State Legislature, presented HB 252 on behalf of the sponsor,
Representative McGuire. Mr. Hilyard paraphrased the sponsor
statement, which read as follows:
I have introduced HB 252 by request of the State Board
of Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land
Surveyors (AELS Board), the regulatory board
responsible for adopting regulations to ensure minimum
competency of design professionals and to ensure the
public health, safety, and welfare is met. The AELS
Board is also responsible for overseeing the scope of
work practices of those professionals. Board members
can serve a minimum of two full terms, and the bill
would allow board members to serve a minimum of six
full years; and would enhance public health, safety,
and welfare by allowing the AELS Board to require a
mandatory continuing education program for continued
professional competency. HB 252 would accomplish two
things:
First, HB 252 modifies the existing term limit statute
so that serving a partial term of less than two years
would not represent a full term on the State Board of
Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land
Surveyors defined under AS 08.48.021, but serving a
partial term of two or more years would count as a
full 4-year term. The AELS Board has, in the past,
experienced problems with this statutory provision
when a vacancy occurs but is not filled for some time.
When an individual fills a partial term, it counts as
a full term, no matter how short the partial term may
be. This change would allow a Board member filling a
partial term of less than two years, to serve the
partial term, plus a full 8 years (two 4-year terms).
Second, the AELS Board requires statutory authority in
order to adopt regulations concerning continuing
education. The first recommendation cited in the
Legislative Audit #08-2001-00 dated October 20, 2000,
specified this ability be legislated to the AELS Board
in order to help implement and maintain high standards
in the professions they oversee. HB 252 would provide
the AELS Board statutory authority under AS
08.48.101(a) to develop mandatory continuing education
programs for the professions it serves. It is
important to the Board that the statute not
specifically mandate the Board to require a mandatory
continuing education as a condition of licensure
renewal, because in some instances professionals are
already complying with continuing education
requirements required by their processional societies.
The AELS Board would work with the professional
societies before developing any programs.
Number 1632
SAM KITO, III, Alaska Professional Design Council (APDC), began
by noting that APDC appreciates Representative McGuire's effort
on HB 252.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked if the landscape architects are
included in the term of architect.
MR. KITO explained that landscape architects are part of the
AELS Board, although the board's name hasn't changed.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked if the continuing education
requirement is a request of the board.
MR. KITO replied yes, and noted that in the past the continuing
education requirement has been a priority of the legislature.
He recalled Representative Kott's interest in ensuring that
architects, engineers, and land surveyors had some provisions
for continuing education. The task was placed on the AELS Board
to identify how best to do that. This legislation creates the
regulatory authority for the board to adopt regulations in the
method the AELS Board chose to utilize.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked if there was a legal opinion that
the AELS Board didn't have regulatory authority to [develop the
regulations].
MR. KITO said that he wasn't completely sure, but the statute
doesn't say that the AELS Board can adopt regulations for
continuing education.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG remarked that usually the regulatory
authority for boards is fairly broad. Therefore, he asked if
[this is being done] in order to provide comfort.
MR. KITO related that [the AELS Board] was informed that this
was a required change in order for them to move forward with
continuing education regulations.
Number 1755
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN moved to report CSHB 252, Version 23-
LS0945\D, Lauterbach, 4/15/03, out of committee with individual
recommendations and [the accompanying fiscal notes]. There
being no objection, CSHB 252(L&C) was reported from the House
Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.
HB 268-LICENSING SPECIALTY CONTRACTORS
CHAIR ANDERSON announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 268, "An Act relating to an exemption for
specialty contractors under the laws regulating architects,
engineers, land surveyors, and landscape architects."
HEATH HILYARD, Staff to Representative Lesil McGuire, Alaska
State Legislature, presented HB 268 on behalf of the sponsor,
Representative McGuire. Mr. Hilyard paraphrased the sponsor
statement, which read as follows:
I have introduced HB 268 by request of the state Board
of Registration for Architects, Engineers and Land
Surveyors (AELS Board), the regulatory board
responsible to ensure minimum competency of design
professionals it regulates and to ensure that the
public health, safety, and welfare is met. The AELS
Board is also responsible for overseeing the scope of
work practices of those professionals.
There currently exists an exemption for specialty
contractors in AS 08.48.331 that reads: "... (7) a
specialty contractor licensed under AS 08.18 while
engaged in the business of construction contracting or
designing systems for work within the specialty to be
performed or supervised by the specialty contractor,
or a contractor preparing shop or field drawings for
work that the specialty contractor has contracted to
perform;".
The AELS Board is concerned, and its investigators
have indicated, that specialty contractors are using
this statutory exemption to go beyond specialty
contracting and actually perform the design work
without licensed professionals on nonresidential
projects. The work could encompass nonresidential
facilities such as commercial, civic, and educational
uses, and should be designed by registered architects
and engineers. The AELS Board believes the statutory
exemption has created a loophole that allows specialty
contractors to perform work beyond their expertise and
believe there may be serious public health and/or
safety concerns when a building used by the general
public is designed without the expertise of registered
Alaskan architects and engineers.
The Board's investigators indicated that there have
been numerous incidents of construction of
nonresidential projects that did not have an engineer
or an architect involved in the design process. The
AELS Board wants specialty contractors to be able to
perform specialty contractor residential work and to
be able to produce shop drawings for nonresidential
work based upon designs created by professional
architects, engineers, or landscape architects.
Number 1890
PATRICK KALEN, Member, AELS Board, thanked the committee for its
action on HB 252. Mr. Kalen confirmed that AELS Board's
investigator highlighted that there were cases that he wanted to
bring forward, but couldn't because the specialty contractors
are using the earlier mentioned statutory exemption. He urged
the committee to pass HB 268.
Number 1934
COLIN MAYNARD, Principle, BPF Engineers (ph); Alaska
Professional Design Council (APDC), related that it has been
brought to [APDC's] attention that some mechanical, electrical,
and specialty contractors are designing projects without the
benefit of training required to be a licensed engineer. The
aforementioned can create a hazard for life and safety, and
therefore he urged the committee to pass HB 268.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG remarked that this is an extraordinarily
controversial provision in the law and thus care must be taken.
He turned attention to page 2, line 26, and inquired as to the
meaning of "field drawings for work." He also inquired as to
whether any specialty contractor couldn't use field drawings or
prepared shop drawings for work in the field.
MR. MAYNARD explained that the design for whatever system is
designed by an engineer in conjunction with the other trades and
the architect for the project in order to develop a cohesive set
of documents. Those documents are turned over to the contractor
who prepares shop drawings, which specify each part and how the
parts fit together. The shop drawings are the drawings that are
used in the field to put the project together. The shop
drawings can be prepared by the specialty contractor while the
base drawings should be designed by the licensed engineer.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG surmised that the intention of the
statute is that the specialty contractor could prepare the shop
or field drawings based on the design drawings developed by the
professional.
MR. MAYNARD said that would be correct. However, he noted that
residential construction is different because, in theory, anyone
can design for residential construction. In further response to
Representative Rokeberg, Mr. Maynard specified that this
residential exemption is found on page 2, line 12-16.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked if this is a recommendation of the
[AELS] Board.
MR. MAYNARD replied yes, through the request of the [AELS
Board's] investigator.
MR. KALEN confirmed the above. In response to Representative
Rokeberg, Mr. Kalen said that he hadn't spoken with all the
specialty contractors in the state, although he is one himself.
Mr. Kalen said that he didn't know whether the specialty
contractors will have a problem with being allowed to design.
However, great care was taken to allow the specialty contractors
to prepare shop and field drawings.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked if it was common for mechanical
contractors to do their own shop drawings. He asked if having a
mechanical engineer do the drawings is necessary when a
mechanical contractor is doing modifications to an off-the-shelf
system.
MR. MAYNARD answered that he believes that if a mechanical
contractor does design-build work, the mechanical contractor is
usually owned or operated by a mechanical engineer or have
mechanical engineers on staff. If a mechanical contractor is
going to design a system completely from scratch without any
engineer drawings, someone who is licensed would need to create
shop drawings from a set of [base] drawings and [the mechanical
contractor] wouldn't need to have a license.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG surmised that the enactment of this law
would mean that someone with 30 years of experience wouldn't be
able to prepare shop drawings.
MR. MAYNARD replied no, the individual would be able to prepare
shop drawings but wouldn't be able to do the original design.
Number 2270
SAM KITO, III, Alaska Professional Design Council (APDC),
related his understanding that Representative Rokeberg is
concerned that a mechanical contractor wouldn't be able to
prepare shop drawings. The exemption in the licensure statute
is to allow mechanical administrators and contractors to prepare
shop drawings, but those shop drawings would be completed by a
registered professional engineer.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG remarked that he believes HB 268 is
going to cause a lot of people problems, and therefore there
should be serious review of it. He expressed the need to craft
this legislation such that it doesn't harm commerce and business
in the state. Furthermore, Representative Rokeberg pointed out
that HB 268 has only one committee of referral. He mentioned
the need to inform the parties which would be impacted by this
legislation.
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM inquired as to how long this
legislation has been noticed.
CHAIR ANDERSON replied that it has been noticed for a week.
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM noted that she wonders whether anyone
has any concerns if no one has expressed concern over the week
the legislation has been noticed.
MR. KITO said that he has spoken with the homebuilders
representative who said that HB 268 doesn't propose to impact
anything the homebuilders are working on. He noted that he
has had brief conversations with the Associated General
Contractors, who haven't had an opportunity to fully review the
legislation but aren't concerned at this point.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG stated that this legislation impacts the
specialty contractors. The legislation requires that there be
an architectural or engineering stamp.
TAPE 03-46, SIDE B
CHAIR ANDERSON announced that HB 268 would be held over.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Labor and Commerce Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at
4:55 p.m.
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