Legislature(1997 - 1998)

03/07/1997 01:30 PM Senate CRA

Audio Topic
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
txt
         SENATE COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE                         
                         March 7, 1997                                         
                           1:30 p.m.                                           
                                                                               
                                                                               
  MEMBERS PRESENT                                                              
                                                                               
 Senator Jerry Mackie, Chairman                                                
 Senator Gary Wilken, Vice Chairman                                            
 Senator Dave Donley                                                           
 Senator Randy Phillips                                                        
                                                                               
  MEMBERS ABSENT                                                               
                                                                               
 Senator Lyman Hoffman                                                         
                                                                               
  COMMITTEE CALENDAR                                                           
                                                                               
 SPONSOR SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILL NO. 37                                     
 "An Act relating to the Education Facilities Financing Authority;             
 and providing for an effective date."                                         
                                                                               
  -- MOVED SSSB 37 OUT OF COMMITTEE                                            
                                                                               
 SENATE BILL NO. 111                                                           
 "An Act making an appropriation to the education facilities fund;             
 making an appropriation from the constitutional budget reserve fund           
 under art. IX, sec. 17(c), Constitution of the State of Alaska; and           
 providing for an effective date."                                             
                                                                               
  -- MOVED SB 111 OUT OF COMMITTEE                                             
                                                                               
 HOUSE BILL NO. 35                                                             
 "An Act extending the termination date of the Alaska regional                 
 economic assistance program; and providing for an effective date."            
                                                                               
  -- MOVED HB 35 OUT OF COMMITTEE                                              
                                                                               
 SENATE BILL NO. 9                                                             
 "An Act relating to municipal capital project matching grants for             
 a municipality organized under federal law as an Indian reserve;              
 and providing for an effective date."                                         
                                                                               
  -- MOVED SB 9 OUT OF COMMITTEE                                               
                                                                               
 SENATE BILL NO. 50                                                            
 "An Act relating to administrative penalties for violation of                 
 public water supply system requirements; amending Alaska Rule of              
 Civil Procedure 82 regarding attorney's fees; and providing for an            
 effective date."                                                              
                                                                               
  -- HELD TO 3/7/97 MEETING                                                    
  PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION                                             
                                                                               
 SB  37 - See Community & Regional Affairs minutes dated 3/5/97.               
                                                                               
 SB 111 - See Community & Regional Affairs minutes dated 3/5/97.               
                                                                               
 HB  35 - No previous action to record.                                        
                                                                               
 SB   9 - No previous action to record.                                        
                                                                               
 SB  50 - Community & Regional Affairs minutes dated 2/5/97.                   
                                                                               
  WITNESS REGISTER                                                             
                                                                               
 Richard S. Cross, Deputy Commissioner                                         
 Department of Education                                                       
 801 W. 10th St., Suite 200                                                    
 Juneau, AK 99801                                                              
  POSITION STATEMENT:   Department recommends SSSB 37 use DOE's                
          capital construction & major maintenance list                        
                                                                               
 Representative Alan Austerman                                                 
 State Capitol                                                                 
 Juneau, AK 99802-1182                                                         
  POSITION STATEMENT:   Prime Sponsor of HB 35                                 
                                                                               
 Paul Fuhs                                                                     
 10652 Porter Lane                                                             
 Juneau, AK 99801                                                              
  POSITION STATEMENT:   Supports HB 35                                         
                                                                               
  ACTION NARRATIVE                                                             
  TAPE 97-9, SIDE A                                                            
 Number 001                                                                    
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN MACKIE  called the Senate Community & Regional Affairs              
 Committee meeting to order at 1:30 p.m., noting the presence of all           
 committee members with the exception of Senator Hoffman.  He then             
 stated  SB 50  (PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY VIOL: ADMIN PENALTIES) would be           
 held over to the Monday, March 10 meeting.                                    
                                                                               
       SSSB 37 EDUCATION FACILITIES FINANCING AUTHORITY                      
           SB 111 APPROP: EDUCATION FACILITIES FUND                          
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN MACKIE  brought SSSB 37 and SB 111 back before the                  
 committee.                                                                    
                                                                               
  RICK CROSS , Deputy Commissioner, Department of Education, expressed         
 the department's willingness to work on the difficult problem of              
 providing a steady source of funding for capital construction and             
 major maintenance needs.                                                      
                                                                               
 Mr. Cross noted the original version of the legislation used the              
 Department of Education's capital construction and major                      
 maintenance list as the list that would be funded.  However, the              
 sponsor substitute uses a modified list, and the the department               
 strongly recommends that SSSB 37 revert to using the department's             
 capital construction and major maintenance list.  He said the Bond            
 Reimbursement & Debt Review Committee has worked hard over the last           
 several years to improve the quality of that list and to have it              
 become a list that truly reflects the capital construction and                
 major maintenance needs throughout the entire state.  He added that           
 the process is not perfect, but the pledge is there is to continue            
 to improve it.                                                                
                                                                               
 Mr. Cross also pointed out that there is a statutory process for              
 ranking projects, which, he said, is fair to both urban and bush              
 Alaska and it is the one that should be used in determining the               
 order of rank.                                                                
                                                                               
 In conclusion, Mr. Cross said this is part of a solution to the               
 problem of providing a steady source of funding for all of the                
 educational needs, which not only includes capital construction and           
 major maintenance, but includes operation expenses as well.  He               
 also expressed the department's willingness to work with the                  
 leadership in ensuring that there is a steady source of funding for           
 the operation of the state's school programs that will improve                
 quality for all children.                                                     
                                                                               
 Number 104                                                                    
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN MACKIE  commented that the DOE list doesn't, in a lot of            
 peoples' minds, take care of needs that are in the urban areas as             
 well as the rural areas.  So he has made the decision to look to              
 some of the urban school districts and those members that represent           
 those areas to be more involved in a plan that's going to have fair           
 distribution throughout the state.  He added that's the only chance           
 that anything like this would even have of being approved.   MR.              
 CROSS  said he understands what the chairman is saying, but some of           
 the projects in the bill are not approvable under the statute.  He            
 also said that when Alaska has had boom years, urban Alaska has               
 been well represented on the list.                                            
                                                                               
 Number 140                                                                    
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN MACKIE  stated the issue is a huge policy question, and it          
 is something that is going to be decided by the leadership and the            
 Finance Committee if and when anything like this were to be                   
 considered.  He thinks it is important to have this issue move over           
 to the Health, Education & Social Services Committee where it can             
 be considered along with other education issues.                              
                                                                               
 Number 155                                                                    
                                                                               
  SENATOR DONLEY  stated he thinks the Department of Education has             
 been very biased against urban school districts and that he                   
 completely disagrees with the testimony from the department.  He              
 said the department has been very difficult to work with over the             
 past four to six years and has been insensitive to the urban areas.           
 It's so bad that for many years the Anchorage School District                 
 hasn't even bothered to put in capital requests.  He concluded that           
 maybe the fact the department has less contested requests is                  
 because some of the urban districts have given up even trying.                
                                                                               
  SENATOR WILKEN  moved SSSB 37 and SB 111 and the attached fiscal             
 notes be passed out of committee with individual recommendations.             
  SENATOR PHILLIPS  objected.  The roll was taken with the following           
 result:  Senators Donley, Wilken and Mackie voted "Yea" and Senator           
 Phillips voted "Nay."  The Chairman stated SSSB 37 and SB 111 would           
 move to the next committee of referral with individual                        
 recommendations.                                                              
                                                                               
                                                                               
           HB 35 EXTEND REG. ECONOMIC ASST PROGRAM                           
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN MACKIE  brought HB 35 before the committee as the next              
 order of business.                                                            
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE ALAN AUSTERMAN , prime sponsor of HB 35, explained            
 the legislation extends the sunset date for the Alaska Regional               
 Development Organizations program (ARDOR), a program that has been            
 in existence since approximately 1988, to the year 2000.   There's            
 currently 11 ARDOR's in the state, and these are private, nonprofit           
 corporations that are working on economic development throughout              
 the state.                                                                    
                                                                               
 Representative Austerman directed attention to an annual report               
 which shows the program received approximately $605,000 from the              
 state in FY 96, and the total budget of the program amounted to               
 approximately $6,500,000.  He also pointed out that the                       
 participants in the program pay a fee to be part of the program               
 which amounted to over $3,000,000 in FY 96.  He said the investment           
 on the state part is well worth the effort.                                   
                                                                               
 Number 227                                                                    
                                                                               
  PAUL FUHS  of Juneau testifying in support of HB 35, emphasized that         
 the ARDOR's are public, private partnerships.  He said at least               
 half of these boards are private sector members that really keep              
 their feet on the ground for a practical program.                             
 Mr. Fuhs also pointed out that these ARDOR's were formed when state           
 funds started to go down.  The communities used to fight and                  
 compete against each other for all the state money, and now that              
 there isn't any, they've really changed their thinking to how they            
 are going to make money and how they are going to build an economy            
 in their region.                                                              
                                                                               
 Number 242                                                                    
                                                                               
 There being no further testimony on HB 35,  CHAIRMAN MACKIE  asked            
 for the will of the committee.                                                
                                                                               
  SENATOR WILKEN  moved that HB 35 and the attached fiscal note be             
 passed out of committee with individual recommendations.  Hearing             
 no objection, it was so ordered.                                              
                                                                               
                                                                               
        SB 9 CAP PROJ MATCHING GRANT FOR INDIAN RESERV                       
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN MACKIE  stated he sponsored the same legislation last year,         
 and it passed the House but failed to come up for a vote in the               
 Senate during the final days of the session.                                  
                                                                               
 Chairman Mackie explained that when the capital matching program              
 was put into place, it had vague language about the Metlakatla                
 Indian Community.  The community participated in the program for a            
 number of years, but two years ago when Senator Halford was                   
 chairing the Finance Committee, he discovered that the statute                
 definition was not written specific enough to include the                     
 Metlakatla Indian Community, so he suggested that it be fixed.  SB
 9 rectifies the problem by specifically removing Metlakatla from              
 the Unincorporated Capital Matching Grant Program and specifically            
 includes Metlakatla in the statute provisions for the Municipal               
 Capital Matching Grant Program.                                               
                                                                               
 Chairman Mackie pointed out that language in Section 1 provides               
 that Metlakatla is the only entity in the state that now, or in the           
 future, could qualify under the statute definition.                           
                                                                               
 Number 275                                                                    
                                                                               
  SENATOR PHILLIPS  asked if the people of the Metlakatla community            
 have to vote on how the grant money is   expended.   CHAIRMAN MACKIE          
 confirmed that they do.  The money goes to the Metlakatla Indian              
 Community Council and they determine how the money will be spent.             
                                                                               
 There being no further testimony on SB 9,  CHAIRMAN MACKIE  asked for         
 the pleasure of the committee.                                                
                                                                               
  SENATOR WILKEN  moved that SB 9 and the accompanying fiscal notes be         
 passed out of committee with individual recommendations.  Hearing             
 no objection, it was so ordered.                                              
                                                                               
 There being no further business to come before the committee, the             
 meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m.                                                
                                                                               

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