Legislature(2007 - 2008)
02/28/2007 03:39 PM House W&M
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB125 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
February 28, 2007
3:39 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Mike Hawker, Chair
Representative Anna Fairclough, Vice Chair
Representative Bob Roses
Representative Paul Seaton
Representative Peggy Wilson
Representative Sharon Cissna
Representative Max Gruenberg
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present.
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 125
"An Act relating to budget planning and a long-range fiscal plan
for the State of Alaska."
- MOVED CSHB 125(W&M) OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 125
SHORT TITLE: LONG-RANGE FISCAL PLAN
SPONSOR(s): WAYS & MEANS
02/08/07 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/08/07 (H) W&M, FIN
02/14/07 (H) W&M AT 3:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519
02/14/07 (H) Heard & Held
02/14/07 (H) MINUTE(W&M)
02/19/07 (H) W&M AT 3:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519
02/19/07 (H) Heard & Held
02/19/07 (H) MINUTE(W&M)
02/21/07 (H) W&M AT 3:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519
02/21/07 (H) Heard & Held
02/21/07 (H) MINUTE(W&M)
02/26/07 (H) W&M AT 3:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519
02/26/07 (H) -- MEETING CANCELED --
02/28/07 (H) W&M AT 3:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519
WITNESS REGISTER
NORMAN COHEN, Staff
to Representative Gruenberg
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Explained portions of the Executive Budget
Act as it may relate to HB 125.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR MIKE HAWKER called the House Special Committee on Ways and
Means meeting to order at 3:39:46 PM. Present at the call to
order were Representatives Hawker, Fairclough, Wilson, Cissna,
Gruenberg, Seaton, and Roses.
HB 125-LONG-RANGE FISCAL PLAN
3:41:06 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the only order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 125,"An Act relating to budget planning and a
long-range fiscal plan for the State of Alaska." [Before the
committee was proposed committee substitute (CS) for HB 125,
Version 25-LS0546\C, Cook, 2/8/07, which had been adopted as the
work draft on 2/14/07.]
3:43:36 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH moved to adopt the proposed CS for HB
125, Version 25-LS0546\E, Cook, 2/22/07. There being no
objection, Version E was before the committee.
3:44:45 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA moved to adopt Amendment 1, labeled 25-
LS0546\E.3, Cook, 2/28/07, which read [original punctuation
provided]:
Page 2, line 29, following "resources":
Insert ";
(5) may include a list of reports, plans, and
other materials relied on in the preparation of the fiscal
plan, together with a brief description of the relevance of
the materials and how to obtain paper or electronic copies
of the materials"
CHAIR HAWKER objected for discussion purposes.
3:45:35 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA explained that Amendment 1 is intended to
help preserve and reference background information on fiscal
plans for future legislatures.
CHAIR HAWKER said he appreciates the permissive structure of
Amendment 1, reminding the committee that he believes the record
of testimony for the bill indicated a desire not to overburden
the preparation of a fiscal plan with unnecessary mandates.
CHAIR HAWKER withdrew his objection to Amendment 1. There being
no further objection, Amendment 1 was adopted.
3:49:17 PM
CHAIR HAWKER said he recalled that at a prior meeting committee
members indicated a desire to amend the bill to include some
type of permissive legislative response to the fiscal plan. He
noted that Representative Gruenberg has provided him with a
conceptual amendment, but offered that he has an amendment to
suggest in lieu of Representative Gruenberg's proposed
conceptual changes.
CHAIR HAWKER moved to adopt Amendment 2, which read [original
punctuation provided]:
Page 6, line 16, following "* Sec. 5."
Insert "AS 37.07.070 is amended to read:
Sec. 37.07.070. Legislative review. The legislature shall
consider the governor's proposed comprehensive operating
and capital improvements programs and fiscal plan
[FINANCIAL PLANS], evaluate alternatives to the plans, make
program selections among the various alternatives and
determine, subject to available revenues, the level of
funding required to support authorized state services.
(1) The operating and capital budgets of each agency
shall be separately reviewed. During each regular session
of the legislature, legislative review of the governor's
supplemental appropriation bills and the governor's budget
amendments shall be governed by the following time limits:
(a) [(1)] requests by the governor for supplemental
appropriations for state agency operating and capital
budgets for the current fiscal year may be introduced by
the rules committee only through the 30th legislative day;
(b) [(2)] requests by the governor for budget
amendments to state agency budgets for the budget fiscal
year may be received and reviewed by the finance committees
only through the 45th legislative day.
(2) The presiding officers of each house may refer the fiscal
plan to one or more committees. The first committee of referral
shall hold at least one public hearing on the fiscal plan
CHAIR HAWKER objected for the purpose of discussion.
3:51:51 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG set forth a possible way to approach
the proposed legislative response to the fiscal plan. He
explained that he reviewed SB 25, which is also concerned with
state budget planning, when considering possible approaches for
the legislative response to the fiscal plan. He opined that
although his suggested changes may look daunting, most of them
are technical. He said it had been his thought that the
governor would present a budget for the current year and a
fiscal plan for the next nine years. The fiscal plan would be
amended or changed each year as the conditions warrant, he said.
He directed the committee's attention to his handout labeled
"CSHB 125 An Act relating to budget planning and a fiscal plan
for the State of Alaska," and explained that the legislative
response detailed on page one would be directed to the major
policy choices in the plan, and would result in a concurrent
resolution of both houses.
3:57:17 PM
CHAIR HAWKER related his understanding from the committee's
prior discussions that members wanted to avoid politicizing the
plan. He expressed concern that requiring a concurrent
resolution will polarize the issues in the plan and be too much
of a mandate for something as complex as a long-range fiscal
plan. Furthermore, the public has indicated, through the
November 2006 ballot initiative which shortens the legislative
session to 90 days, that it wants less government. He also
noted that a concurrent resolution will be difficult to obtain,
particularly if the fiscal plan puts forth policy
recommendations.
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES expressed concern that a requirement for a
concurrent resolution is not in accord with theory behind the
fiscal plan, which is to make the plan very general. A
resolution will hamper that approach because legislators will
want to make the resolution specific, and that would defeat the
purpose of the plan, he opined.
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON stated he agrees with the aforementioned
point. He expressed concern that a resolution would require
legislators to effectively support policies without adequate
knowledge of the details. He said he would not be comfortable
signing on to something without sufficient information.
4:01:26 PM
CHAIR HAWKER explained, in response to a question, that the
dates referenced in Amendment 2 leave intact the current
statutory requirements for the submission of the governor's
budget and appropriation requests. He said these statutory
scheduling mandates will need to be addressed by the legislature
in recognition of the change to a 90-day session, and therefore
he does not recommend that this committee complicate that
process by making any date changes in the bill.
CHAIR HAWKER removed his objection. There being no further
objection, Amendment 2 was adopted.
4:02:50 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG put forth the possibility of making an
amendment to AS 37.07.060(b) to allow a new governor until the
45th legislative day after the convening of a session to present
a fiscal plan.
CHAIR HAWKER questioned whether the aforementioned change would
affect the entire schedule for the governor's budget address to
the legislature.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG opined that it would, and stated that
he is not wedded to the suggested 45 days.
CHAIR HAWKER said that in his opinion this is a universal issue
of timing related to the 90-day session initiative, which is
being considered by the House and Senate Rules Standing
Committees. Therefore, Chair Hawker said he does not think this
committee should take it up.
4:06:42 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON expressed his opinion that a new governor
will be busy with budget and organizational issues, and should
have an extra year to submit a plan.
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES agreed with Representative Seaton's point.
The committee took at ease from 4:08:27 PM to 4:09:35 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG stated he will not offer his suggestion
as an amendment and he supports Representative Seaton's point
that a new governor should have a year to submit a plan.
4:10:19 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON asked whether the committee considered
incorporating the fiscal plan with the "Revenue Sources Book"
prepared by the Department of Revenue (DOR).
CHAIR HAWKER replied that he has concerns about referencing
something like the "Revenue Sources Book," which may or may not
have a statutory basis. However, he opined it may be possible
to further explore this with the DOR.
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON suggested that one approach is to
informally indicate that the legislature's intention is that the
fiscal plan be incorporated with the revenue findings.
CHAIR HAWKER indicated that the aforementioned point may be
appropriate for floor discussions. Furthermore, if there is an
appropriate statutory reference, it could be included in future
versions of the bill.
The committee took a brief at ease from 4:15:16 PM to 4:16:48 PM
4:16:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON offered Conceptual Amendment 3 which read
[original punctuation provided]:
page 5, line 5 through [line] 10, delete all material
and insert:
"(b)The governor shall present the proposed
comprehensive operating and capital improvements
programs and fiscal plan [FINANCIAL PLANS] in a
message to a joint session of the legislature before
the fourth legislative day following the convening of
the legislature in regular session except that in the
first year of the first term of a governor, the fiscal
plan need not be addressed. The message must be
accompanied by an explanatory report that summarizes
recommended goals, plans, and appropriations.
The report must contain ...."
4:17:02 PM
CHAIR HAWKER objected for the purpose of discussion.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG suggested that "first term" be
clarified to mean "first term after elected," and reminded the
committee that former governor Wally Hickel was elected for a
second non-consecutive term as governor.
4:19:28 PM
CHAIR HAWKER moved to amend Conceptual Amendment 3 on line 6,
inserting the term "newly elected" after "first term of a ...."
There being no objection, the amendment to Conceptual Amendment
3 was adopted.
4:20:51 PM
[The committee treated Chair Hawker's former objection to
Conceptual Amendment 3 as withdrawn.]
CHAIR HAWKER stated that there being no further objection,
Conceptual Amendment 3, as amended, was adopted.
4:21:54 PM
CHAIR HAWKER offered Conceptual Amendment 4.
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON objected for the purpose of discussion.
CHAIR HAWKER explained that Conceptual Amendment 4 directs the
legislative drafters to: "where appropriate, replace 'financial
plan' with 'fiscal plan' wherever it appears in title 37.07."
4:22:32 PM
NORMAN COHEN, Staff to Representative Gruenberg, Alaska State
Legislature, explained that under the Executive Budget Act there
are references to "financial plan" that should not be changed to
"fiscal plan" to accommodate for statutory changes set forth in
HB 125.
CHAIR HAWKER agreed with the aforementioned point and stated he
trusts that the legislative drafting professionals will be able
to determine where to make the appropriate changes.
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON removed his objection to Conceptual
Amendment 4. There being no further objection, Conceptual
Amendment 4 was adopted.
4:25:56 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG referred to Amendment 2 and asked
whether there was committee support to require any further
legislative response.
CHAIR HAWKER replied that his office had discussed the terms of
Amendment 2 with the Legislative Legal and Research Services,
which recommended the approach contained in Amendment 2.
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON opined that the approach in Amendment 2,
which requires that the first committee of referral hold a
hearing on the governor's fiscal plan, places more of a
requirement on the legislature than a bill would be entitled to
since there is no requirement that bills be heard.
4:30:33 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH moved to report CSHB 125, Version 25-
LS0546\E, Cook, 2/28/07, as amended, out of committee with
individual recommendations and a pending fiscal note. There
being no objection, CSHB 125(W&M), was reported from the House
Special Committee on Ways and Means.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Ways and Means meeting was adjourned at
4:31:56 PM.
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