Legislature(1993 - 1994)
03/03/1994 04:10 PM Senate L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
JOINT SENATE/HOUSE LABOR AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE
March 3, 1994
4:10 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Steve Rieger, Vice-Chairman
Senator Judy Salo
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Tim Kelly, Chairman
Senator Bert Sharp
Senator Georgianna Lincoln
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SS FOR HOUSE SPECIAL CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 3
Disapproving Executive Order No. 89.
PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
SSHSCR 3 - NO PREVIOUS ACTION.
WITNESS REGISTER
Jack Slama, Secretary/Treasurer
Teamsters Local 595
P.O. Box 102092
Anchorage, Alaska 99510
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SSHSCR 3.
Helvi Sandvic, Deputy Commissioner
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
3132 Channel Drive
Juneau, Alaska 99801-7898
POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed SSHSCR 3.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 94-18(House), SIDE A
Number 410
CHAIRMAN BILL HUDSON adjourned the House Labor and Commerce
Committee meeting and reconvened the meeting as a Joint
House/Senate Labor and Commerce Committee meeting at 3:35 p.m.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON invited SENATOR STEVE RIEGER, Vice-Chairman
and SENATOR JUDY SALO, committee member, for the Senate Labor and
Commerce Committee, to the table.
CO-CHAIRMAN RIEGER thanked REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON and pointed out
that Senate Labor & Commerce has had a hearing on Executive Order
No. 89, but not the bill before the joint committee, but with some
of the same testimony. SENATOR RIEGER explained he had a prior
commitment and would be leaving before the end of the meeting.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON reintroduced SSHSCR 3 (DISAPPROVING EXECUTIVE
ORDER NO. 89) and the prime sponsor, REPRESENTATIVE GAIL PHILLIPS,
to the joint committee. He checked with some of those present from
the administration who might wish to testify.
JACK SLAMA, representing Teamsters Local 595, was asked to continue
his testimony.
MR. SLAMA reiterated his request that the State be an advocate for
the trucking industry, not an advisary, and suggested Executive
Order No. 89 would be a quick fix on a proposed change. He asked
the legislature not to transfer weights and measures into the
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, since he
thought the present setup was a good "check and balance" system.
MR. SLAMA also thought there needed to be a commitment from this
Administration to not only fund the system, but seek advice from
within the industry to participate in the process.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON thanked MR. SLAMA for his testimony, and
called on REPRESENTATIVE BILL WILLIAMS for his questions.
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS charged MR. SLAMA with making some strong
comments about their perceived treatment by the Administration, and
he said he hoped they don't treat him "like a dog." He wondered
why MR. SLAMA didn't want to be within the department dealing with
transportation.
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS also questioned MR. SLAMA'S charge that
COMMISSIONER BRUCE CAMPBELL of the Department Of Transportation and
Commissioner PAUL FUHS of Commerce and Economic Development were
both on the Alaska Railroad Board of Directors.
Number 465
MR. SLAMA didn't believe that anyone within the Administration
should sit on the Board of Directors of the Alaska Railroad, since
the railroad is a direct competitor with the trucking industry. He
explained that when the DOT commissioner has the ability to set
axle weights and length of common length vehicles, the commissioner
can extend them out or can compress them, and the trucking industry
cannot compete with the railroad. He declared this a conflict of
interest, because he assumes COMMISSIONER CAMPBELL is sitting on
the board looking out for the interests of the Alaska Railroad.
MR. SLAMA said the quote, being "treated like dogs," came from one
of the biggest trucking companies in the State, when the owner said
he was tired of being treated like a dog by the Administration. He
explained he was referring to the past when trucking industry's
complaints, requests for assistance, additional funding for
compliance, opening up longer hours in the scale houses, or for
more inspectors has fallen on deaf ears.
MR. SLAMA concluded by saying the trucking industry is not the most
polished, professional organization in the State.
REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMS agreed the railroad was competing with the
truckers, and he felt the government should not compete with
private enterprise.
REPRESENTATIVE HUDSON thanked MR. SLAMA for his testimony and
called on HELVI SANDVIC, Deputy Commissioner for the Department of
Transportation, to testify.
Number 495
MS. SANDVIC apologized for the absence of COMMISSIONER CAMPBELL,
but she explained he would be available at the Anchorage office
around 4:p.m. by phone if he was needed for specific questions.
MS. SANDVIC explained she was going to focus on the reason for
Executive Order No. 89, but not to imply that weights and measures
was not being run properly by Commerce and Economic Development.
She said the perspective of the Department of Transportation was,
regardless of who is running it, improvements need to be made
because the issue is the deterioration of the highway system. She
said the State of Alaska is responsible for maintaining and
operating the highway, with direct responsibility to the Department
of Transportation.
MS. SANDVIC said, because of the responsibility, her department had
been working closely with Commerce and Economic Development as well
as the Department of Public Safety through the enforcement program,
which she said needed to be completed and approved by the Federal
Highways Administration. She explained their process, work, and
review with the program, and pronounced it in pretty good shape,
but she thought it was important to focus on the improvement of the
weights and measures program.
MS. SANDVIC said the issue is the matter of efficiency, and she
explained the program involved three agencies, each of which is
responsible for a particular element such as the permitting process
from the Department of Commerce for oversized vehicles. If there
was a bridge involved, she said DOT would have to be involved to
establish stipulations, the criteria under which the permit would
be issued. She thought the present method is cumbersome and could
be handled more efficiently in a single agency.
MS. SANDVIC referenced declining budgets as a problem for Commerce
and Economic Development in keeping the scale houses open in a time
frame within the available funding. She praised the efforts of the
Department of Commerce in working within these constraints, but she
stressed the need to catch and identify the number of vehicles that
are causing damage to the highways.
MS. SANDVIC then described the second part of the system which
involves the weight in motion system, for which the Department of
Transportation is responsible, and consists of imbedding equipment
into the pavement structure. When the vehicles drive over the
equipment, it calculates the weight, size, speed, and the time the
vehicle strikes the equipment. She explained data from the system
is used to correlate against the data being collected by the scale
houses in the Department of Commerce and Economic Development to
determine the effectiveness of the enforcement program.
MS. SANDVIC said preliminary results shown by the weigh in motion
system is that a number of oversized vehicles are not being
apprehended or identified at the fixed stations. She explained the
weigh in motion system was also used by the Department of
Transportation to collect data needed for pavement design and
construction and could not be turned over to another agency such as
Public Safety or Commerce and Economic Development.
Number 560
MS. SANDVIC described the use of the jump scales, the setting up of
portable scales to test on a random basis, and of a vehicle that is
potentially overloaded or beyond the length limits. Citations can
be issued on site. She said the program has not been as effective
as the collective agencies would like. Again, she stressed the
need to consolidate the program to comply with the Federal Highways
Administration with all of the functions in the Department of
Transportation.
MS. SANDVIC wasn't sure of the fears expressed by MR. SLAMA. She
defended the Department of Transportation as being the responsible
agency in terms of highway deterioration, and the need to focus on
those driving the overload vehicles.
MS. SANDVIC explained the zero fiscal note and the transfer of
employees from Department of Commerce and Economic Development as
a cost saving. She gave a short discussion on the possible
efficiencies in restructuring the program to improve all areas.
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN questioned the divergence of data from the
weigh in motion program and the weigh stations. He asked if it was
because the weigh stations were not opened.
Number 601
MS. SANDVIC said most of his reasoning was correct, and she
discussed the difference in the statistics from both the weigh in
motion program and the weigh station. She said the weigh station
was not catching all of those identified by the weigh in motion
procedure, and she gave several reasons for this.
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN wanted to know how the weigh in motion program
worked, and he drew from MS. SANDVIC, in a series of questions,
answers about the computerized system, measuring speed, determining
the distance between axles, and measuring the weight. He wanted to
know whether DOT would be supplementing with additional personnel
and if more money would be expended. MS. SANDVIC said it would
also include close coordination between the weigh in motion
personnel with those staffing the scale house to work on problem
areas and problem times.
Number 650
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN asked MS. SANDVIC to address the conflict of
interest as mentioned by MR. SLAMA. MS. SANDVIC said she was not
clear on his question of conflict of interest, but she did admit
that both COMMISSIONER CAMPBELL and COMMISSIONER FUHS sat on the
Board of Directors for the Alaska Railroad. She thought the focus
of COMMISSIONER CAMPBELL was very much directed to the condition of
the highways and his concern for the deterioration of the highways
in relation to oversized vehicles.
At this point SENATOR STEVE RIEGER left the meeting for another, as
did the records clerk. SENATOR SALO remained in the committee.
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