Legislature(2003 - 2004)
03/04/2003 01:42 PM House TRA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION STANDING COMMITTEE
March 4, 2003
1:42 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Jim Holm, Co-Chair
Representative Beverly Masek, Co-Chair
Representative Hugh Fate
Representative Cheryll Heinze
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Vic Kohring
Representative Mary Kapsner
Representative Albert Kookesh
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 124
"An Act relating to commercial motor vehicle drivers and their
employers and to railroad-highway grade crossings; and providing
for an effective date."
- MOVED HB 124 OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS ACTION
BILL: HB 124
SHORT TITLE: COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE DRIVERS/EMPLOYER
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S)HOLM
Jrn-Date Jrn-Page Action
02/24/03 0287 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME -
REFERRALS
02/24/03 0287 (H) TRA
03/04/03 (H) TRA AT 1:30 PM CAPITOL 17
WITNESS REGISTER
TODD LARKIN, Staff
to Representative Jim Holm
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented the sponsor statement for HB 124.
AVES D. THOMPSON, Director
Division of Measurement Standards
& Commercial Vehicle Enforcement
Department of Transportation & Public Facilities
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 124 and was
available to answer questions.
RALPH REYES, Lieutenant
Division of Operations
Alaska State Troopers
Department of Public Safety
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of HB 124.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 03-6, SIDE A
Number 0001
CO-CHAIR BEVERLY MASEK called the House Transportation Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:42 p.m. Members present at the
call to order were Representatives Masek, Holm, Fate, and
Heinze. Representatives Kookesh and Kohring were excused.
HB 124-COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE DRIVERS/EMPLOYER
CO-CHAIR MASEK announced that the first order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 124, "An Act relating to commercial motor
vehicle drivers and their employers and to railroad-highway
grade crossings; and providing for an effective date."
Number 0065
TODD LARKIN, Staff to Representative Jim Holm, Alaska State
Legislature, presented the sponsor statement for HB 124 on
behalf of Representative Holm, sponsor. He said the bill was
relatively straightforward. The administration had noticed an
oversight in state statute that would possibly result in the
loss of federal highway funding. He explained that basically an
employer of a commercial driver could be punished if there was
encouragement to break this new aspect of the law. Also, if a
driver was to break this new aspect of the law, that person's
license could be suspended for 60 days. He said this bill
addressed a simple correction that would bring the state into
compliance with the federal code. He stated that with those
changes, the state would match the existing federal code and
would remain qualified for federal highway funding. He said the
fiscal notes received from three departments were all zero. Mr.
Larkin said that stopping at railroad-highway grade crossings is
already taught to drivers of certain classifications of
vehicles. He said that according to federal code, it is illegal
to roll through those same grade crossings, but technically it
has not been illegal to do so according to Alaska statue; this
bill fixes that discrepancy.
REPRESENTATIVE HEINZE agreed that this bill was seemingly
straightforward.
Number 0272
CO-CHAIR HOLM, sponsor, referred to the fiscal note from the
Division of Measurement Standards and Commercial Vehicle
Enforcement, noting that the sanction would withhold 5 percent
of the state's annual federal surface transportation funding,
which is approximately $17.5 million a year. He said that, in
essence, this legislation conforms to the Federal Highway
Administration's Federal Motor Carrier Safety laws.
Number 0339
AVES D. THOMPSON, Director, Division of Measurement Standards &
Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, Department of Transportation &
Public Facilities (DOT&PF), said he was available to answer any
questions, and that DOT&PF is very supportive of this bill.
CO-CHAIR MASEK inquired as to whether there has been any trouble
with people stopping at railroad crossings. She said she has
noticed school buses, tour buses, and double-tanker commercial
trucks stopping at crossings, and asked who else might be
affected by this bill.
Number 0403
RALPH REYES, Lieutenant, Division of Operations, Alaska State
Troopers, Department of Public Safety, said he has been with the
troopers for 21 1/2 years, and has not personally cited anyone
for this violation. He said the Department of Public Safety
supports this bill 100 percent.
MR. LARKIN pointed out that driver training is such that drivers
in the state have already acquired the habit of stopping at
railroad-highway grade crossings. He said he doesn't think that
drivers or trucking associations would be against this bill
since drivers in the state do not violate this infraction on any
regular basis.
Number 0523
CO-CHAIR MASEK noted that Barbara Huff Tuckness, with
Legislative and Governmental Affairs for the Teamsters [Local
959], was in the audience and seemed to be in agreement with the
stated testimony. She confirmed that Ms. Huff Tuckness was
attending the meeting just to listen.
CO-CHAIR MASEK, after asking if anyone else wanted to testify,
closed public testimony.
The committee took a brief at-ease from 1:47 to 1:49 p.m.
Number 0585
CO-CHAIR HOLM moved to report HB 124 out of committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. There
being no objection, HB 124 was reported from the House
Transportation Standing Committee.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Transportation Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 1:50
p.m.
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