03/11/2010 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB262 | |
| SB263 | |
| SB272 | |
| SB97 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 262 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 263 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 272 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| = | SB 97 | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE STANDING COMMITTEE
March 11, 2010
1:35 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Joe Paskvan, Chair
Senator Joe Thomas, Vice Chair
Senator Bettye Davis
Senator Kevin Meyer
Senator Con Bunde
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 262
"An Act extending the termination date of the Board of Social
Work Examiners; and providing for an effective date."
- MOVED SB 262 OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 263
"An Act extending the termination date of the Board of
Professional Counselors; and providing for an effective date."
- MOVED SB 263 OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 272
"An Act relating to charges for rented motor vehicles, including
cost recovery fees, and making a violation of the rented motor
vehicle charge provisions an unfair trade practice."
- MOVED SB 272 OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 97
"An Act relating to the licensing of crane operators; and
providing for an effective date."
- RESCINDED ACTION MOVING SB 97 OUT OF COMMITTEE
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 262
SHORT TITLE: EXTEND BOARD OF SOCIAL WORK EXAMINERS
SPONSOR(s): RULES BY REQUEST OF LEG BUDGET & AUDIT
02/08/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/08/10 (S) L&C, FIN
03/11/10 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
BILL: SB 263
SHORT TITLE: EXTEND BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS
SPONSOR(s): RULES BY REQUEST OF LEG BUDGET & AUDIT
02/08/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/08/10 (S) L&C, FIN
03/11/10 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
BILL: SB 272
SHORT TITLE: RENTAL CAR CHARGES
SPONSOR(s): HUGGINS
02/10/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/10/10 (S) TRA, L&C
02/23/10 (S) TRA AT 1:00 PM BUTROVICH 205
02/23/10 (S) Moved SB 272 Out of Committee
02/23/10 (S) MINUTE(TRA)
02/24/10 (S) TRA RPT 4DP
02/24/10 (S) DP: MENARD, MEYER, PASKVAN, DAVIS
03/11/10 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
BILL: SB 97
SHORT TITLE: CRANE OPERATOR LICENSES
SPONSOR(s): LABOR & COMMERCE
02/04/09 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/04/09 (S) L&C, FIN
03/19/09 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 211
03/19/09 (S) Heard & Held
03/19/09 (S) MINUTE(L&C)
01/26/10 (S) L&C AT 2:00 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
01/26/10 (S) Moved CSSB 97(L&C) Out of Committee
01/26/10 (S) MINUTE(L&C)
WITNESS REGISTER
JOSH APPLEBEE
Staff to Senator Meyer
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 262 and SB 263 for the
sponsor.
PAT DAVIDSON, Auditor
Division of Legislative Audit
Legislative Affairs Agency
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 262 and SB 263.
JENNIFER STRICKLER, Operations Manager
Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing
Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development
(DCCED)
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 262 and SB 263.
EMILY ZIMBRICH, Vice Chair
Board of Professional Counselors
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 263.
SENATOR HUGGINS
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of SB 272.
EDRA MORELEDGE
Staff to Senator Huggins
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on SB 272 for the sponsor.
DON FONTE, Director
Government Relations
Hertz Corporation
POSITION STATEMENT: Proposed amending SB 272.
ED SNIFFEN
Consumer Protection Unit
Alaska State Department of Law (DOL)
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Supported SB 272.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:35:37 PM
CHAIR JOE PASKVAN called the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Davis, Meyer, and Paskvan.
SB 262-EXTEND BOARD OF SOCIAL WORK EXAMINERS
1:37:00 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN announced SB 262 to be up for consideration.
1:37:04 PM
JOSH APPLEBEE, staff to Senator Meyer, sponsor of SB 262, said
this measure extends the Board of Social Work Examiners. He said
a licensed social worker applies social work principles and
methods as defined under AS 08.95.990. The Audit recommended
extending the board to 2018 and improving its administrative
support. He said that a lot of audits have that recommendation
and this issue is being worked out now.
1:38:52 PM
PAT DAVIDSON, Auditor, Division of Legislative Audit, said she
found that the Board of Social Work Examiners is operating in
the public interest by promoting competence and integrity in
those providing social services. The audit recommended extending
the board to June 30, 2018, and improving support from the
division in meeting its annual reporting goals and keeping its
financial records.
1:40:12 PM
JENNIFER STRICKLER, Operations Manager, Division of
Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, Department of
Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED), explained
that the fiscal note indicates the cost of running the board and
that it even has a credit. She said they had made progress on
improving the administrative support to the board.
1:41:43 PM
SENATOR BUNDE joined the committee.
1:41:50 PM
SENATOR MEYER moved to report SB 262 from committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). There
were no objections and it was so ordered.
1:42:17 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN announced an at ease from 1:42 p.m. to 1:43 p.m.
SB 263-EXTEND BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS
1:43:46 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN announced that SB 263 was up for consideration.
SENATOR MEYER joined the committee.
1:44:27 PM
JOSH APPLEBEE, staff to Senator Meyer, sponsor of SB 263, said
Legislative Audit recommended extending this board to 2018. Two
additional recommendations related to increasing administrative
support and addressing investigations in a timely manner. The
department is upgrading its systems now, he reported, and should
have them up and running within a month and that should help
address the recommendations.
1:45:45 PM
PAT DAVIDSON, Auditor, Division of Legislative Audit, said the
objective of the audit was to determine if the board is
operating in the public's interest and she found that was the
case and that the termination date should be extended to June
30, 2018. She said the report included four recommendations, two
of them were very common to the sunset reviews they will see
this year. One is that the board needed additional
administrative support and the second is that the Office of the
Governor needs to appoint board members in a timelier manner.
Two additional recommendations had to do with investigations.
The first one was that overall the system doesn't highlight
inactive cases. So, they sort of fall off of people's radar and
nothing happens. So, if you're going to be diligent at deciding
who you're going to license, you also need to be diligent in
making sure they are upholding their professional
responsibilities.
The second recommendation had to do with dropped communications
between the licensee, licensing examiner, the division
investigators, and the board. It had to do with a particular
complaint where the licensing examiner received some additional
information from the licensee that clearly should have been
passed along to the investigation section. This mistake was that
the examiner believed that the investigation section already had
the information; however, the board doesn't typically involve
itself with the paperwork surrounding license renewals and it
fell through the cracks. It shouldn't have. So, the
recommendation is to have the licensing examiners be
communicating with investigators even if they think the
information is redundant.
CHAIR PASKVAN asked if she was confident that they listened to
that message.
MS. DAVIDSON replied yes.
1:48:25 PM
JENNIFER STRICKLER, Operations Manager, Division of
Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, Department of
Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED), said she
supported SB 263. She reported that this board is also operating
with a credit. Administrative improvements have been made as
noted in the audit. Addressing recommendations two and three,
she said the division is in the process of working with a
contractor in securing a new case management system, so all
those points would be satisfied.
1:50:29 PM
EMILY ZIMBRICH, Vice Chair, Board of Professional Counselors,
said they currently have 442 licensed professional counselors
and the board is there for the safety of people who come in for
counseling and therapy, and to keep the profession current on
the different ethics laws, confidentiality, and other
miscellaneous issues. They are a very viable board.
1:51:29 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN closed public testimony.
SENATOR BUNDE said this is the third or fourth time Ms. Davidson
testified before the committee this year, and he wanted to take
this opportunity to thank her for the good job she had done
since she was appointed several years ago.
1:52:09 PM
SENATOR MEYER moved to report SB 263 from committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). There
were no objections and it was so ordered.
1:52:33 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN announced an at ease from 1:52 p.m. to 1:54 p.m.
SB 272-RENTAL CAR CHARGES
CHAIR PASKVAN announced SB 272 to be up for consideration.
1:54:41 PM
SENATOR HUGGINS, sponsor of SB 272, explained that this is a
consumer protection bill that will help people who rent cars
know what their charges will be. He said they had all traveled
places and got a quote for a $50-dollar vehicle and by the time
it was all done, it was a $75-dollar vehicle because of all the
things they didn't know about. He said SB 272 creates full
disclosure and if you violate that, it's an unfair trade
practice.
1:57:13 PM
EDRA MORELEDGE, staff to Senator Huggins, said SB 272 will allow
rental car companies to do in Alaska what they already do in 30
other states. Alaska law is currently silent on the issue of
separately listed charges on rental car statements for the
recovery of fees. This bill would require that those fees be
listed separately and be clearly identified on the agreement.
In addition to government taxes and surcharges, rental car
companies also assess additional cost recovery fees, she
explained, and consumers should be made aware of those and be
able to see the fees they are being charged on both the bill and
the online quote. SB 272 provides for full disclosure and
transparency of cost recovery fees that are included in rental
car agreements. In addition, it would make violating the
provisions of this bill an unfair trade practice.
SENATOR BUNDE said she used two different terms and he wanted to
make sure that when she said allow the credit card companies to
do this, she actually meant requires them to list those separate
fees.
MS. MORELEDGE responded that Alaska doesn't have any laws
currently on this issue, so she used the word allow to mean they
were putting a law on the books.
SENATOR HUGGINS added that SB 272 requires disclosure before and
after. Some car companies have an energy fee or tire fee, but
this doesn't allow that. It protects our Alaskan neighbors and
doesn't allow big international organizations to gouge them.
CHAIR PASKVAN asked if the intent of the bill is that the
ultimate charge has to be their advertised charge, and if there
are governmental mandated fees or airport facility fees in
addition to that, at least the core rental has to be disclosed.
SENATOR HUGGINS replied yes, and those fees have to be itemized;
otherwise it's an unfair trade practice violation.
SENATOR THOMAS asked if anything in the bill requires the print
to be any larger in the rental agreements.
SENATOR HUGGINS quipped back that they are working on a
magnifying glass provision for the older guys.
2:00:58 PM
DON FONTE, Director, Government Relations, Hertz Corporation,
said Hertz supports the concept of this legislation as it
relates to full disclosure to the consumer of any taxes and
other charges in a vehicle rental agreement. But Hertz's concern
is with the provision that limits the permissible charges that
may be included in a rental agreement, he said, and he
respectfully urged them to consider amending the bill to allow
additional separately itemized charges in the rental agreement
aside from those listed in the bill provided so that all such
charges are fully disclosed to the consumer at the time of
reservation and rental.
He said disclosure of those charges is common practice within
the car rental industry. He added that all of Hertz's
distribution channels, whether it's on their company website,
through their 800-number, or even third-party booking sites like
Travelocity. The consumer is provided a total estimated price
and has available all the component parts of that price.
MR. FONTE said that he had forwarded an amendment to the
committee that would make those changes and make SB 272
consistent with similar statutes that were adopted in a number
of states over the last couple of years. The relevant language
in those statutes was agreed to by all of the major car rental
companies within the industry. Currently two states have bills
pending with their proposed amendment. He said it would simply
bring Alaska into alignment with those states. He said that
Hertz completely agrees with Senator Huggins' concept of fully
disclosing to the consumer what their charges are including the
base rate and the total estimated price.
2:03:58 PM
SENATOR BUNDE asked why not roll all the costs into the bottom
line instead of separating them.
MR. FONTE responded that it comes down to the fact that many of
the fees are governmentally imposed, and they felt that
itemizing the charges is appropriate. It also makes transparent
to the consumer what the component parts of the total are.
SENATOR HUGGINS said he had made an interesting point, but the
amendment Mr. Fonte was representing would essentially "gut this
bill," because it would be open-ended and they could list any
charges they wanted to. He agreed with Senator Bunde - if Hertz
wants to include some things outside of this bill, just add it
to the overall price of the car. "This is about Alaska...There
are 30 states that are doing what we're describing here, and he
talked about two states."
CHAIR PASKVAN asked if he felt that SB 272 as currently written
is the best protection for Alaska consumers.
SENATOR HUGGINS replied, "It's as good as it gets consumer
protection wise in rental cars in Alaska."
2:07:15 PM
ED SNIFFEN, Consumer Protection Unit, Department of Law (DOL),
agreed with Senator Huggins. He said SB 272 provides good
consumer protection and the department supports it. He stated
that some terms of art were being used by the Hertz
representative. There is a base price and a total price. What
you see when you go online and rent your car is the base price -
$19.95, for instance. Then three pages deep into the process you
might see cleaning and inspection fees and fuel surcharges added
that bring that price up to $69.95. It's that kind of conduct
that this bill would prohibit. This bill isolates only those
charges that are actually paid out to a government entity -
things like the airport fees, the governmental taxes, and the
vehicle licensing fee which is paid to DMV. Itemizing those
charges at the end of the transaction is appropriate, because
consumers expect those to be added on just like they would
expect a hotel to add on the hotel tax that is paid to the
municipality.
He added that some companies add on a host of "other creative
fees" to a bill; consumers are sometimes misled by them because
they may think they are required by state law. And while those
can be disclosed like the Hertz representative said, when you
get off the plane, you're tired and you don't really read the
fine print when you sign the contract. You want to get in your
car and get to the hotel. Making those full disclosures in a
meaningful comprehensive way is tricky.
2:09:57 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN closed public testimony on SB 272.
SENATOR THOMAS moved to report SB 272 from committee with
individual recommendations and zero fiscal note.
SENATOR BUNDE objected so he could thank Mr. Sniffen for his
good counsel; then he removed his objection. Therefore, SB 272
moved from committee.
2:11:26 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN announced an at ease from 2:11 p.m.
SB 97-CRANE OPERATOR LICENSES
2:13:14 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN called the meeting back to order at 2:13 p.m. and
announced that SB 97 was before the committee. He explained that
he had decided not to advance SB 97 until additional work had
been done by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development
(DOLWD), the stakeholders and this committee.
SENATOR THOMAS moved to rescind their motion on January 26,
2010, to move SB 97 from committee. There were no objections and
it was so ordered.
CHAIR PASKVAN said he had heard Senator Bunde's intention to
retire at the end of this year and wanted to take this
opportunity to formally thank him for his good participation in
all the meetings he has had with him and for all the years of
his commitment to the State of Alaska - "A job well done."
2:15:17 PM
Finding no further business to come before the committee, Chair
Paskvan adjourned the meeting at 2:15 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 272 Bill Packet.pdf |
SL&C 3/11/2010 1:30:00 PM |
SB 272 |