04/01/2008 01:00 PM House MILITARY & VETERANS' AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB214 | |
| HB405 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 214 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 405 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AND VETERANS' AFFAIRS
April 1, 2008
1:02 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Bob Roses, Chair
Representative Nancy Dahlstrom
Representative Gabrielle LeDoux
Representative Robert L. "Bob" Buch
Representative Scott Kawasaki
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Anna Fairclough
Representative Jay Ramras
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 214(FIN)
"An Act relating to hunting licenses and tags for nonresident
members of the military service or the United States Coast Guard
and their dependents; and providing for an effective date."
- MOVED HCS CSSB 214(MLV) OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE BILL NO. 405
"An Act relating to forgiveness of a percentage of student loans
for a member of the armed forces deployed since 2001."
- MOVED CSHB 405(MLV) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 214
SHORT TITLE: HUNTING BY MILITARY,COAST GD., DEPENDENTS
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) HUGGINS
01/16/08 (S) PREFILE RELEASED 1/4/08
01/16/08 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/16/08 (S) RES
02/27/08 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
02/27/08 (S) Heard & Held
02/27/08 (S) MINUTE(RES)
03/10/08 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
03/10/08 (S) Heard & Held
03/10/08 (S) MINUTE(RES)
03/17/08 (S) RES AT 3:30 PM BUTROVICH 205
03/17/08 (S) Moved CSSB 214(RES) Out of Committee
03/17/08 (S) MINUTE(RES)
03/18/08 (S) RES RPT CS 4DP 1NR NEW TITLE
03/18/08 (S) DP: HUGGINS, STEVENS, MCGUIRE, GREEN
03/18/08 (S) NR: WIELECHOWSKI
03/18/08 (S) FIN REFERRAL ADDED AFTER RES
03/24/08 (S) FIN RPT CS 5DP NEW TITLE
03/24/08 (S) DP: STEDMAN, ELTON, THOMAS, DYSON,
HUGGINS
03/24/08 (S) FIN AT 9:00 AM SENATE FINANCE 532
03/24/08 (S) Moved CSSB 214(FIN) Out of Committee
03/24/08 (S) MINUTE(FIN)
03/25/08 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
03/25/08 (S) VERSION: CSSB 214(FIN)
03/26/08 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/26/08 (H) MLV, FIN
04/01/08 (H) MLV AT 1:00 PM BARNES 124
BILL: HB 405
SHORT TITLE: STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR MILITARY
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) CRAWFORD
02/19/08 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/19/08 (H) MLV, HES, FIN
03/18/08 (H) MLV AT 1:00 PM BARNES 124
03/18/08 (H) -- MEETING CANCELED --
03/25/08 (H) MLV AT 1:00 PM BARNES 124
03/25/08 (H) Heard & Held
03/25/08 (H) MINUTE(MLV)
04/01/08 (H) MLV AT 1:00 PM BARNES 124
WITNESS REGISTER
JODY SIMPSON, Staff
to Senator Charlie Huggins
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced Committee Substitute for SB 214
on behalf of Senator Huggins, sponsor.
KRISTIN WRIGHT, Licensing Supervisor
Fish & Game Licensing
Division of Administrative Services
Department of Fish & Game
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered a question during the hearing on
SB 214.
CHRIS BIRDSALL, Staff
to Representative Harry Crawford
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced Committee Substitute for HB 405
on behalf of Representative Crawford, sponsor.
DIANE BARRANS, Executive Director
Postsecondary Education Commission
Department of Education and Early Development
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Answered a question during the hearing on
HB 405.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR BOB ROSES called the House Special Committee on Military
and Veterans' Affairs meeting to order at 1:02:54 PM.
Representatives Kawasaki, Dahlstrom, Buch, and Roses were
present at the call to order. Representative LeDoux arrived as
the meeting was in progress.
1:03:15 PM
SB 214-HUNTING BY MILITARY,COAST GD., DEPENDENTS
1:03:17 PM
CHAIR ROSES announced that the first order of business would be
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 214(FIN), "An Act relating to hunting
licenses and tags for nonresident members of the military
service or the United States Coast Guard and their dependents;
and providing for an effective date."
1:04:10 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved that the committee adopt House
Committee Substitute (HCS) for CSSB 214, Version 25-LS1261\O,
Kane, 3/27/08, as the working document. There being no
objection, Version O was before the committee.
1:04:20 PM
JODY SIMPSON, Staff to Senator Charlie Huggins, Alaska State
Legislature, explained that Version O of the bill meets the
sponsor's goal of providing a benefit to military members and
their dependents, as a token of gratitude for their service, by
allowing newly stationed personnel hunting and fishing
privileges immediately upon report date. The bill benefits
active duty military and U. S. Coast Guard members and their
dependents by waiving the 12 month residency requirement for
fish and game licenses.
1:05:13 PM
MS. SIMPSON continued to say that 45 states offer resident
license rates for active military members without regard to
actual residency status. Eight of those states, including
Alaska, require personnel to be stationed in the state for a
specific length of time. Alaska's period for residency is 12
months and is by far the longest residency requirement to
qualify for hunting licenses and tags. Senate Bill 214 waives
that residency requirement. The bill will also allow military
members stationed in Alaska to apply for special licenses at the
residential rate for small game hunting and sport fishing;
however, this provision does not extend to big game licenses and
tags. Currently, military members are required to purchase big
game licenses at the non-resident rate and tags at one-half of
the non-resident rate. The bill will allow military members to
purchase big game licenses and tags, at the resident rate,
without removing the guiding component that requires a newly
arrived hunter to be accompanied by a guide when hunting brown
bear, sheep, and mountain goat. The tags are required to allow
enforcement of this regulation. Ms. Simpson informed the
committee that the Alaska Department of Fish & Game is in
support of the bill, although the fiscal impact to the ADF&G is
$40,000. Furthermore, the proposed changes do not affect
eligibility for Permanent Fund Dividend checks, jury pools, or
subsistence opportunities. She noted that the Version O
addressed the objections of the Alaska Professional Hunters
Association to the original bill.
1:09:39 PM
CHAIR ROSES closed public testimony.
1:09:55 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX referred to page 1, line 7, and asked for
the meaning of "permanently stationed."
MS. SIMPSON explained that, members of the military have a
permanent change of station, even though they temporarily move
around.
1:10:48 PM
CHAIR ROSES added that permanent change of station (PCS) is a
military term of art as opposed to temporary term of duty (TDY).
1:11:05 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX observed that members of the Coast Guard
are stationed for three years in a home place of duty.
1:11:27 PM
MS. SIMPSON expressed her understanding that military members
have a home of record, but may be permanently stationed in
Alaska for the term of their duty.
1:11:54 PM
KRISTIN WRIGHT, Licensing Supervisor, Fish & Game Licensing,
Division of Administrative Services, Department of Fish & Game,
explained that the military are usually permanently stationed in
Alaska for three years.
1:12:25 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to report HCS CSSB 214, Version
25-LS1261\O, Kane, 3/27/08, out of committee with individual
recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being
no objection, HCS CSSB 214(MLV) was reported out of the House
Special Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs.
1:13:20 PM
HB 405-STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR MILITARY
1:13:42 PM
CHAIR ROSES announced that the final order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 405, "An Act relating to forgiveness of a
percentage of student loans for a member of the armed forces
deployed since 2001."
1:13:43 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved that the committee adopt
Committee Substitute (CS) for HB 405, Version 25-LS1483\M,
Mischel, 3/29/08, as the working document. There being no
objection, Version M was before the committee.
1:14:15 PM
CHRIS BIRDSALL, Staff to Representative Harry Crawford, Alaska
State Legislature, introduced the committee substitute for HB
405. He indicated that the first change was to replace all of
the terms "forgiveness", "forgive", or "forgiven" with the terms
"repayment", "repayment benefit", or "repaid." Also, on page 1,
line 9, the deployment criteria was changed from "Afghanistan or
Iraq" to "provide direct or indirect support for the global war
on terrorism." He noted that deployment status can be verified
by the applicant's orders. Further, there were additions on
page 1, line 11, of "if discharged from the armed forces, was
discharged in honorable status" and, on line 13, "is in good
standing for the repayment of the loan and in full compliance
with the terms and conditions of the loan." The next change was
on page 2, line 1, that changed the amount to be repaid by the
state from "50 percent of the total loan amount, plus interest"
to "50 percent of the total unpaid balance of the loan, plus
interest." Mr. Birdsall explained that the purpose of this
change was to prevent the applicant from receiving a benefit in
excess of the remaining balance of the loan. A further
addition, on page 2, line 5, was authorization for the
Postsecondary Education Commission to adopt the regulations
needed to administer the program. The last addition, on page 2,
line 7, adds the United States Coast Guard to the named armed
forces.
1:16:31 PM
CHAIR ROSES asked whether these changes would affect the fiscal
note attached to the bill.
1:16:45 PM
DIANE BARRANS, Executive Director, Postsecondary Education
Commission, Department of Education and Early Development,
stated that the method used by the Postsecondary Education
Commission to identify the qualifying aggregate balance was
broad; therefore, she opined that there would not be a
substantial change to the fiscal note that was attached to the
original bill.
1:17:22 PM
CHAIR ROSES observed that the CS satisfied all of the
committee's concerns about the original bill.
1:17:34 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to report CSHB 405, Version 25-
LS1483\M, Mischel, 3/29/08, out of committee with individual
recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note. There being
no objection, CSHB 405(MLV) was reported out of the House
Special Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs.
1:17:57 PM
CHAIR ROSES asked Mr. Birdsall to provide committee substitutes
as early as possible. He then expressed his appreciation for
the committee's work during this session.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Military and Veterans' Affairs meeting was
adjourned at 1:18 p.m.
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