Legislature(2019 - 2020)SENATE FINANCE 532
03/29/2019 09:00 AM Senate FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB43 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 43 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE
March 29, 2019
9:02 a.m.
9:02:48 AM
CALL TO ORDER
Co-Chair von Imhof called the Senate Finance Committee
meeting to order at 9:02 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Natasha von Imhof, Co-Chair
Senator Bert Stedman, Co-Chair
Senator Click Bishop
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Donny Olson
Senator Mike Shower
Senator Bill Wielechowski
Senator David Wilson
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
ALSO PRESENT
Kris Curtis, Legislative Auditor, Alaska Division of
Legislative Audit.
PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE
Sara Chambers, Director, Division of Corporations, Business
and Professional Licensing, Department of Commerce,
Community and Economic Development; Greg Francois, Chief
Investigator, Division of Corporations, Business, and
Professional Licensing; Henry Tiffany, Board President, Big
Game Commercial Services Board; Major Bernard Chastain,
Deputy Director, Alaska Wildlife Troopers; Robert Auth,
Attorney, Department of Law.
SUMMARY
SB 43 EXTEND BIG GAME COMMERCIAL SERVICES BOARD
SB 43 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
SENATE BILL NO. 43
"An Act extending the termination date of the Big Game
Commercial Services Board; and providing for an
effective date."
9:03:46 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof reviewed the history of the bill in
committee. She stated that it was not her intent to take
amendments or move the bill in the current meeting. There
were some concerns about the bill, so the meeting would be
a discussion about how the board would keep "bad actors"
out of the field. There would also be a focus on whether
the board needs more authority to suspend licenses when
needed or if changing the law would be useless due to
constitutional "due process" concerns and property rights;
and whether an interim report on the audit recommendations
would be better than another full audit in less than six
years. She reminded the committee that division staff,
board member, and legislators could not comment on any
issues currently being investigated or in an administrative
hearing process, including appeals. She listed those
available for questions. She wanted to understand how
property rights interplayed with the rules. She announced
that there were some preliminary questions.
9:07:12 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof asked Ms. Chambers to briefly recap the
investigation process, and when and how the board could
act.
9:07:34 AM
SARA CHAMBERS, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF CORPORATIONS, BUSINESS
AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSING, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE,
COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (via teleconference),
gave an overview of the investigation process. The process
is detailed in a letter from DCCED, dated March 10, 2019
(copy on file). She relayed that it was a wise use of state
resources to allow criminal investigators and authorities
to perform their work and once a criminal conviction had
occurred, bring it before the BGCSB. She said that the
board had a list of opportunities for someone to run afoul
of criminal law that triggered automatic responses from
the board. She said that licenses could be revoked. She
said the preference was that judges make the determination
in matters of law impacting a licensee's ability to
practice.
9:12:13 AM
Senator Wielechowski noted the recommendation made by the
division to make changes in AS 08.54.605.
9:12:35 AM
Ms. Chambers informed the committee that a question had
been asked of the division about whether there was an
opportunity to increase the boards authority, and the
division had made suggestions pertaining to the possible
will of the committee to augment the authority of the
board. She said that the board currently had the authority
to prevent the receiving or renewal of a license, but there
was nothing under the statute that automatically revoked a
license. The board could pursue an administrative process
to evaluate whether revocation was appropriate. She said
that adding the word hold to statute could give board
additional power but there could be constitutional
repercussions.
9:14:19 AM
GREG FRANCOIS, CHIEF INVESTIGATOR, DIVISION OF
CORPORATIONS, BUSINESS, AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSING (via
teleconference), stated that he did not have a comment on
the subject.
9:14:37 AM
Co-Chair Stedman requested further information on changes
in 08.54.610. He thought that the change looked
substantial. He wondered about the process used to target
the changes in numeric for the master guide license.
9:15:35 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof thanked the panel for the availability
in the meeting. She did not know the appropriate person to
address the question.
9:16:05 AM
Ms. Chambers shared that the division recognized that the
master guide title was honorary and was not notably
different from a registered guide-outfitter license. She
thought that the question could be better answered by the
board chair.
9:17:27 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof asked Mr. Tiffany to expound on the
difference between a master guide and guide-outfitter,
and how the master guide title could be given more teeth
by elevating the number of years of required services.
9:17:30 AM
HENRY TIFFANY, BOARD PRESIDENT, BIG GAME COMMERCIAL
SERVICES BOARD (via teleconference), replied that the title
for the license of mater guide was an honorarium and did
not entitle an individual to do more than a register guide
could do. The difference was that they could call
themselves a mater guide in advertising. He said that the
title was meant to indicate that the guide had been in the
field for a long period of time and had risen to the
highest levels of standards and professionalism as
possible. He believed that the numbers should be adjusted
in statute to raise the standard of the master guide
license.
9:21:28 AM
Senator Olson asked whether the board supported the
changes.
9:21:51 AM
Mr. Tiffany replied that the changes had yet to be
discussed and approved by the entire board. He believed
that the board would support the proposed changes.
9:22:55 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof noted that that board would meet in the
first week of April 2019, at which time the board would
discuss the changes.
9:23:03 AM
Mr. Tiffany agreed.
9:23:08 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof requested a written summary of the
boards findings based on the recommendations.
9:23:18 AM
Mr. Tiffany agreed to provide the information.
9:23:24 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof asked whether the information could be
provided in a timely manner.
9:23:29 AM
Mr. Tiffany replied in the affirmative.
9:23:37 AM
Senator Wielechowski asked about investigation timelines
mentioned in Recommendation 2 of the legislative audit of
the board (copy on file). He mentioned the governors
Administrative Order 306, which consolidated investigators,
and asked how the divisions ability to conduct
investigations would be impacted.
9:24:10 AM
Ms. Chambers replied that the process had only just begun
for refining how the order would implement. She assured the
committee that the division was looking into opportunities
to streamline resources. Ultimately, the details of how the
order would impact investigations was unknown.
9:25:07 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof noted that the consolidation of
investigations would affect all state boards. She wondered
whether a mini audit could be conducted on the
investigations portion of the board, 3 years into the 6-
year sunset. She furthered that perhaps an investigations
audit could be done for all state boards to determine how
the order affected their ability to investigate claims.
9:26:22 AM
Senator Wielechowski expressed concern about the
administrative order and supported the idea of an
investigations audit.
9:27:02 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof understood that licenses could be
suspended if there was a clear and immediate danger to
public health and safety. She wondered whether hunting out-
of-season, or outside of a permitted hunting area, was
considered an immediate danger.
9:27:24 AM
MAJOR BERNARD CHASTAIN, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, ALASKA WILDLIFE
TROOPERS (via teleconference), replied that those
infractions would not be considered for the immediate
revocation or suspension of a license.
9:27:54 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof understood that those examples did not
pose enough of a public safety issue to warrant further
review.
9:28:08 AM
Mr. Chastain replied that he worked on the criminal side of
things and did not de3al with license suspension or
revocation. He said that once the criminal investigation
was complete it was forwarded to the board for discussion.
He said that typically a hunting violation of that nature
would not constitute an immediate suspension.
9:28:40 AM
Senator Olson asked whether there had been incidence of
immediate revocation or suspension in the past.
9:29:02 AM
Mr. Chastain responded that the licensing authority did not
fall within his department.
9:29:20 AM
Senator Olson argued that the Alaska Wildlife Troopers
played a significant role in whether a person had a license
revoked or suspended.
9:29:29 AM
Mr. Chastain clarified that the troopers were involved as
the criminal case worked through the court system. He said
that once the criminal case was concluded, the report was
given to the investigator for the board. Troopers would
give information about the seriousness of the violation and
any judges recommendations. He related that the decision to
revoke or suspend a license fell to the board and the
division.
9:30:54 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof reiterated her question and wondered
whether the issue warranted further discussion by the
committee.
9:31:36 AM
Mr. Francois did not believe that hunting outside of a
designated hunting area, or outside of a game management
unit, was a public safety concern. He felt it was a
boundary violation and would be charged appropriately under
statute.
9:32:08 AM
KRIS CURTIS, LEGISLATIVE AUDITOR, ALASKA DIVISION OF
LEGISLATIVE AUDIT, spoke on the idea of an audit on the
investigative process for state board violations. She
recommended making sure that the was ample time after
implementation to determine any positive returns.
9:33:20 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof understood that legislative audit would
need the process to exist for enough time that there would
be data to analyze.
9:33:30 AM
Ms. Curtis replied in the affirmative.
9:33:38 AM
Co-Chair Stedman wondered whether it would be feasible to
shorten the extension for 6-years to 5-years.
9:33:50 AM
Ms. Curtis relayed that if the question was whether the
consolidation of the investigative staff should impact the
extension of the board was a policy call. She said that the
issue the division had with the boards investigations was
that there was no documentation to use to determine any
efficiency of practice. She said that there were long spans
of time where nothing had been happening. She did not
encourage making a change in the sunset date based on the
consolidation. She noted that the board faced challenges
that made investigations take longer; how the consolidation
impacted all occupational boards was a different question
and could be a topic for a special audit.
9:35:18 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof thought the issue should be discussed at
the next Legislative Budget and Audit Committee meeting.
She asked about whether a permit registered to a guide was
considered a piece of property that could be revoked.
9:37:07 AM
ROBERT AUTH, ATTORNEY, DEPARTMENT OF LAW (via
teleconference), replied that it was found that all
licenses were considered property of the holder of the
license and could not be taken away without due process. He
said that circumstances were limited under which a license
could be taken or suspended, prior to providing notice and
a hearing. He said that a license could be immediately
suspended if the owner represented a clear danger to public
health and safety; statute required a hearing within 7 days
of the suspension.
9:38:46 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof asked whether Mr. Auth had reviewed the
proposed changes and if he found them permissible under due
process.
9:39:05 AM
Mr. Auth replied in the affirmative. He thought that it
would depend on when in the process the revocation or
suspension took place; immediately, without notice of a
hearing, or after a hearing had been noticed.
9:40:26 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof thought that it would be helpful for the
committee to know whether the proposed changes were legal.
She asked whether Mr. Auth thought it would be appropriate
for his department to review the suggested changes and
provide an opinion.
9:40:40 AM
Mr. Auth replied in the affirmative. He stated that he
would be meeting with the board to discuss the issue and
other matters.
Co-Chair von Imhof discussed housekeeping.
SB 43 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.
ADJOURNMENT
9:41:47 AM
The meeting was adjourned at 9:41 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 43 DCCED CBPL SB43 response to Sen von Imhof 3-23-19.pdf |
SFIN 3/29/2019 9:00:00 AM SFIN 4/9/2019 9:00:00 AM |
SB 43 |