Legislature(1999 - 2000)
04/20/1999 01:37 PM Senate L&C
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SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE
April 20, 1999
1:37 P.M.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Jerry Mackie, Chairman
Senator Tim Kelly, Vice Chairman
Senator Dave Donley
Senator Loren Leman
Senator Lyman Hoffman
MEMBERS ABSENT
All Members Present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 123(L&C)
"An Act relating to the exemption from the requirement for payment
of minimum wage and overtime compensation for certain volunteers of
nonprofit organizations; exempting individuals who provide ski
patrol services on a voluntary basis from the requirement for
payment of minimum wage and overtime compensation; and providing
for an effective date."
-MOVED SCSHB 123(L&C) OUT OF COMMITTEE
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 83(JUD)(title am)
"An Act relating to certain securities occupations and investment
pools; relating, with regard to the Alaska Securities Act, to
federal covered securities, the registration of securities, the
general exemptions for securities and transactions, Internet offers
of securities and transactions, file confidentiality, petitions to
superior court by the administrator to reduce civil penalties to
judgment, time limits for bringing court actions for violations,
administrator-established fees and administrator-required
reimbursements, consent to service, title, sales, purchases, offers
to sell, and offers to purchase; exempting certain violations of
the Alaska Securities Act from criminal penalties; amending or
repealing certain current definitions in the Alaska Securities Act;
providing new Alaska Securities Act definitions for certain
securities occupations, for certain federal statutes, and for the
terms advisory client,' advisory fee,' advisory services,'
clients who are natural persons,' federal covered security,'
investment advisory business,' investment advisory contract,'
NASDAQ,' notice filing,' place of business,' principal place of
business,' securities business,' substantial portion of the
business,' and supervised person'; and providing for an effective
date."
MOVED CSHB 83(JUD)(title am) OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 141
"An Act relating to construction contracts and subcontractors;
relating to design- build construction contracts; and providing for
an effective date."
-MOVED CSSB 141(L&C) OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 21
Relating to workers and family members of workers exposed to
radiation during the Amchitka nuclear tests.
-MOVED SJR 21 OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
HB 123 - See Labor and Commerce committee minutes dated 4/13/99.
HB 83 - No previous action to consider.
SB 141 - No previous action to consider.
SJR 21 - No previous action to consider.
WITNESS REGISTER
Representative Rokeberg
State Capitol Bldg.
Juneau, AK 99811-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported CS to HB 123.
Mr. Paul Grossi, Director
Division of Workers' Compensation
Department of Labor
P.O. Box 15512
Juneau, AK 99802-5512
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 123
Mr. Chris Ross
National Ski Patrol
P.O. Box 92207
Anchorage, AK 99509
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on HB 123.
Mr. Terry Elder, Director
Division of Banking, Securities, and Corporations
P.O. Box 110807
Juneau, AK 99811-0907
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported HB 83.
Mr. Michael Kerr, UAS Intern
Senator Loren Leman
State Capitol Bldg.
Juneau, AK 99811-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 141 for Senator Leman, sponsor.
Mr. Mark O'Brien, Chief Contracts Officer
Department of Transportation
3132 Channel Dr.
Juneau, AK 99801-7898
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 141.
Mr. Michael Kenny
Teamsters Local 959
5203 E 34th Ave.
Anchorage, AK 99503
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SJR 21.
Ms. Pamela Miller, Program Director
Alaska Community Action Toxic
135 Christensen Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99501
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SJR 21.
Mr. Devin Dougherty, Attorney
Alaska Laborers Union
Anchorage, AK 99801
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SJR 21.
Ms. Bev Aleck
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SJR 21.
Mr. Bob Hadrick
Aleutian Pribiloff Island Association
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SJR 21.
Mr. Walt Parker
U.S. Arctic Research Commission
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SJR 21.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 99-15, SIDE A
Number 001
HB 123-MINIMUM WAGE & OVERTIME EXEMPTIONS
CHAIRMAN MACKIE called the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee
meeting to order at 1:37 p.m. and announced HB 123 to be up for
consideration. He said that Senator Leman had worked with the
sponsor on language regarding nonprofit activities.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to adopt the CS (Craemer4/20/99) to HB 123.
There were no objections and it was so ordered.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG concurred with the definition of nonprofit
activities in the CS.
MR. PAUL GROSSI, Direction, Division of Workmens' Compensation,
said that Section (a) of AS 23.32.30 excludes a number of
categories of workers from Workmens' Compensation and this is
usually what the Board goes by for coverage. If they are not
specifically excluded, the Board assumes they are covered.
SENATOR KELLY asked if most ski patrols in Alaska were covered now
under Workmens' Compensation.
MR. GROSSI answered that he didn't know about all of them, but
Alyeska and Eaglecrest are covered. He explained that the
employer/employee relationship test is different for the feds and
other various statutes. The Workmens' Compensation Board has its
own test.
MR. CHRIS ROSS, National Ski Patrol, said that he understands all
patrollers and operators in Alaska are covered. They don't see
that this bill would change that relationship. They do not intend
to change to status quo with Workmens' Compensation.
Number 100
SENATOR LEMAN moved to pass SDSHB 123(L&C) from committee. There
were no objections and it was so ordered.
HB 83-ALASKA SECURITIES ACT
CHAIRMAN MACKIE announced HB 83 to be up for consideration.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said this bill has received a lot of work
in the other body. He said this is a modernization and update of
our security law.
SENATOR MACKIE asked if there was any opposition to the bill as it
is currently written.
REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG answered that there was none and he had
contacted all people in the securities industry.
CHAIRMAN MACKIE asked Mr. Elder, Division of Banking, to give the
committee an overview of why they are losing federal funds.
MR. TERRY ELDER, Director, Division of Banking, Securities, and
Corporations, explained if we did not pass this bill bringing us
into compliance with federal law, we would lose the ability to
require federal public securities, mostly mutual funds, to file
notices and pay notice fees. Those are currently in the range of
$4 - $5 million and have been growing at a 14 percent annual rate
over the last several years. It would be a significant impact on
the general fund if this were not passed before October 1999 which
is when our authority to require that filing expires. He noted how
both the House and Senate have been working very hard this session
to find $40 million to cut in the budget and this bill represents
10 percent of that.
Number 180
The other major impact is on the investment advisory industry,
because it changes the way investment advisors are regulated. In
the past, they registered with the SEC and with states. Now, only
large investment advisors register with SEC; smaller investors only
register with the state. If we don't have effective language in
our Securities Act to regulate investment advisors, especially
those that are registered only out-of-state, they would essentially
be unregulated.
In our state, we have about 310 large investment advisors and about
40 smaller investment advisors registered. We have over 300
investment advisor representatives that are registered, also.
Without this legislation, we would no longer be able to register
them.
In addition, it's necessary for us to come into compliance with
federal laws. Also, since we are doing a fairly major upgrade to
the Securities Act, other changes are being made which would
benefit small businesses and their access to capital. One example
of that is a new exemption for entrepreneurs who are seeking
capital from accredited investors which are defined by federal law
as being institutions and wealthy individuals. This would give
them an exemption and the ability to use the Internet for
advertising. If this bill passes, Alaska entrepreneurs will be able
to utilize the small business administration case net, an
electronic matching service. Right now they cannot use that.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to pass HB 83 from committee with individual
recommendations. There were no objections and it was so ordered.
SB 141-PROCUREMENT: CONTRACTS/SUBCONTRACTS
MR. JEREMY KERR, UAS Intern for Senator Leman, said SB 141 was
introduced at the request of DOTPF to give the Department greater
flexibility in contracts known as "design build", where the owner
(in this case, the state) chooses a contractor that will build as
well as design a project. Two examples of this are the M/V
Kennicott and the Whittier Tunnel. Usually, the owner picks a
design and then has the contractor build it.
This bill is in the best interest of the State and will only affect
state contracts. Current law states that construction contractors
must list the subcontractors they plan on using within five days of
the award of the contract. Because of the nature of design build
contracts, it is not always possible for the contractor to identify
the needed subcontractors. This provides flexibility to DOTPF to
allow contractors to provide that information at a later date.
This bill also changes a request to change contractors to be in
writing.
MR. KERR said there is no opposition from either the design or
construction community that they know of.
CHAIRMAN MACKIE asked what was the fiscal impact of this bill.
MR. KERR said there were zero fiscal impacts.
Number 320
MR. MARK O'BRIEN, Chief Contracts Officer, DOTPF, said that the two
issues they are trying to address are design/build construction
contracts where they cannot list subcontractors within five days.,
because in a lot of cases, they don't know whether it's going to be
a piling contractor or a concrete contractor for the design of the
foundation of a building, for instance. The second thing this does
is allow them to substitute or add subcontractors when it's in the
state's best interest. An example of this would be discovering
that you need an asbestos or lead abatement contractor after
starting the project.
SENATOR LEMAN asked how often the Department uses the design/build
approach versus the more conventional approach.
MR. O'BRIEN answered rarely. He is aware of only two last year and
about five in the last three years. A number of them have been
sand storage buildings.
SENATOR LEMAN said the CS has a new Section 3 which rewords
language to give comfort to the design community about what
conditions in AS 36.30.115 may still apply. It doesn't change any
of the substance.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to adopt the Banister CS to SB 141. There were
no objections and it was so ordered.
SENATOR LEMAN moved to pass CSSB 141 from committee with individual
recommendations with the zero fiscal note. There were no
objections and it was so ordered.
SJR 21-AMCHITKA ISL NUCLEAR TEST SITE WORKERS
CHAIRMAN MACKIE announced SJR 21 to be up for consideration.
MR. MICHAEL KENNY, Teamsters Local 959, said they had members
working on Amchitka during nuclear testing and have noticed quite
a few health problems amongst those members and support this
resolution.
MS. PAM MILLER, Alaska Community Action Toxic, strongly supported
SJR 21 and said she is a biologist. As a member of the Amchitka
Technical Advisory Group, she is familiar with the great
difficulties workers and their families have had in finding the
truth about radiation at Amchitka during the years following the
nuclear attack. There are numerous reports of cancers and other
health problems after employment on the island. She has reviewed
20,000 documents and has found documentation of radioactive sources
and leakage that workers were likely exposed to. The Department of
Energy still withholds classified documents that would provide
additional and much needed information for assessing environmental
human health practices. The Worker's Medical Surveillance Program
will provide workers and their families information that is
essential to understanding the health impacts of nuclear tests in
Amchitka. She asked the members of the Legislature to work
diligently to resolve worker compensation claims in litigation
relating to Amchitka workers and their families.
MR. KEVIN DOUGHERTY, Alaska Laborers Union, supported SJR 21.
There is a need to have a just solution to the workers health
issues that come out of Amchitka. He observed that they are asking
for equal treatment for Alaskans who were in the private sector who
worked on Amchitka with those who worked in the federal sector.
They did not get the monitoring or Workmen's Compensation that the
federal workers got.
Also, the other nuclear test sites in the lower 48 have had medical
monitoring surveillance done and Alaskans should have equal
treatment.
Number 424
MS. BEV ALECK supported SJR 21. She said the work that Congressman
Young and Senator Stevens and Senator Murkowski are doing would be
well enhanced with this resolution.
MR. BOB HADRICK, Aleutian Pribiloff Island Association, supported
SJR 21.
MR. WALTER PARKER, Commissioner, U.S. Arctic Research Commission,
supported SJR 21, said he was the Commission's representative on
the Amchitka Advisory Group since it was formed to examine the
allegations that continue to come up on Amchitka.
Number 451
SENATOR LEMAN moved to pass SJR 21 from committee with individual
recommendations. There were no objections and it was so ordered.
CHAIRMAN MACKIE adjourned the meeting at 2:12 p.m.
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