04/12/2024 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB239 | |
| SB211 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 239 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 211 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE STANDING COMMITTEE
April 12, 2024
2:24 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Jesse Bjorkman, Chair
Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson
Senator Kelly Merrick
Senator Forrest Dunbar
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Click Bishop, Vice Chair
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 239
"An Act relating to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export
Authority; and relating to workforce housing development
projects."
- MOVED SB 239 OUT OF COMMITTEE
SENATE BILL NO. 211
"An Act relating to the powers of the board of agriculture and
conservation; relating to loans and limitations under the Alaska
Agricultural Loan Act; relating to federal crop insurance
contributions; relating to municipal and state procurement
preferences for agricultural products harvested in the state and
fisheries products harvested or processed in the state; and
providing for an effective date."
- HEARD & HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 239
SHORT TITLE: AIDEA WORKFORCE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) DUNBAR
02/19/24 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/19/24 (S) L&C, FIN
02/21/24 (S) FIN REFERRAL REMOVED
03/27/24 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/27/24 (S) Heard & Held
03/27/24 (S) MINUTE(L&C)
04/12/24 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
BILL: SB 211
SHORT TITLE: AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS/LOANS/SALES
SPONSOR(s): RULES BY REQUEST OF THE GOVERNOR
01/26/24 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/26/24 (S) L&C, FIN
03/01/24 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/01/24 (S) Heard & Held
03/01/24 (S) MINUTE(L&C)
04/12/24 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
WITNESS REGISTER
BRENT GOODRUM, Deputy Commissioner
Department of Natural Resources
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Gave a recap of SB 211.
SCOTT DAHLMAN, Director
State Government Affairs - Western Region, Crop Life America,
Priest River, Idaho.
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of the intent of SB
211.
RENA MILLER, Special Assistant
Commissioner's Office
Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided the summary of changes for SB 211.
ACTION NARRATIVE
2:24:19 PM
CHAIR JESSE BJORKMAN called the Senate Labor and Commerce
Standing Committee meeting to order at 2:24 p.m. Present at the
call to order were Senators Gray-Jackson, Merrick, Dunbar, and
Chair Bjorkman.
SB 239-AIDEA WORKFORCE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
2:25:11 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO.
239 "An Act relating to the Alaska Industrial Development and
Export Authority; and relating to workforce housing development
projects."
2:25:34 PM
SENATOR DUNBAR, sponsor of SB 239, provided a brief recap of the
bill. He said SB 239 would change the specified tasks for Alaska
Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) to include
workforce housing development. He noted that a scheduled
testifier, an economist from the University of Alaska, was
called away just prior to this meeting, but would be submitting
written testimony that would accompany this bill.
SENATOR DUNBAR said the bill was developed with a number of
organizations, including AIDEA and Alaska Housing Finance
Corporation (AHFC). He said SB 239 is relatively narrow and
targeted at five [housing] units and above with a definition of
workforce housing based on income.
2:27:08 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN opened public testimony on SB 239; finding none,
he closed public testimony.
2:27:42 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN solicited the will of the committee.
2:27:45 PM
SENATOR GRAY-JACKSON moved to report SB 239, work order 33-
LS1072\A, from committee with individual recommendations and
attached fiscal note(s).
2:28:01 PM
At ease
2:28:39 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN reconvened the meeting and requested that the
motion be restated.
2:28:49 PM
SENATOR GRAY-JACKSON moved to report SB 239, work order 33-
LS1072\B, from committee with individual recommendations and
attached fiscal note(s).
2:29:12 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN found no objection and SB 239 was reported from
the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.
2:29:29 PM
At ease
SB 211-AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS/LOANS/SALES
2:31:08 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN reconvened the meeting and announced the
consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 211 "An Act relating to the
powers of the board of agriculture and conservation; relating to
loans and limitations under the Alaska Agricultural Loan Act;
relating to federal crop insurance contributions; relating to
municipal and state procurement preferences for agricultural
products harvested in the state and fisheries products harvested
or processed in the state; and providing for an effective date."
2:31:44 PM
BRENT GOODRUM, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Natural
Resources, Anchorage, Alaska, gave a brief recap of SB 211. He
said SB 211 was a series of immediate steps boosting state
policies already in statute. These steps are working on short,
medium and long-term recommendations and actions with regard to
food security with the overall goal of reaching food security
within the State of Alaska and to expand and grow Alaska's
agriculture sector. He said there are essentially four
components within the bill. First would change the quorum for
the Board of Agriculture from five members to four, statutorily.
Second, it would expand various types of activities the
agricultural revolving loan fund could issue loans for as well
as replace some statutory loan caps which would be set by
regulation by the board. [Third], He said it institutes a state
contribution towards farmers' federal crop insurance premiums
and would allow the Division of Agriculture to write regulations
for contributions to that program. Lastly, he said it would put
forth a reporting provision to allow gathering data with regard
to the state's institutional buying power for agricultural and
fish products.
2:33:50 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN opened public testimony on SB 211.
2:34:17 PM
SCOTT DAHLMAN, Director, State Government Affairs, Crop Life
America - Western Region, Priest River, Idaho, said Crop Life
America is a national association representing the manufacturers
and distributors of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals.
He offered support for SB 211 and was enthusiastic about the
Governor's transmittal letter to the senate stating the intent
of the bill: to grow and support Alaska's agricultural sector
and to strengthen overall food security in the state. He said
Crop Life America is supportive of growing agriculture industry
within Alaska and a key thing to remember as Alaska grows its
agriculture economy is for growers to have a stable regulatory
environment. He noted existing language in HB 113 currently
under consideration in Alaska's house of representatives which
he advocated adopting for SB 211 to provide regulatory stability
for growers seeking to expand their operations.
2:36:15 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN closed public testimony on SB 211.
2:36:42 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN solicited a motion.
2:36:51 PM
SENATOR GRAY-JACKSON moved to adopt the committee substitute
(CS) for SB 211 work order 33-GS 2386\B, as the working
document.
2:37:04 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN objected for purposes of explanation.
2:37:20 PM
RENA MILLER, Special Assistant, Commissioner's Office,
Department of Natural Resources (DNR), explained the changes to
SB 211. She said overall this version B was identical to the
version that passed out from the House Resources Committee. She
said DNR supported the changes made and appreciated
consideration by Senate Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.
She said version B adopts revisions recommended by legislative
legal services to conform the bill with their drafting standards
as is typical when the administration first drafts a bill.
Significantly, the CS removes 13 sections that deal with the
expanded procurement preference for in-state agricultural
products and fisheries products. Originally a five-year pilot
was proposed to expand that preference. She said the response
from that had been that legislators would like to see rationale
and data to make that expanded procurement preference, so those
sections have been removed, but the recording requirement
remains so that the Department of Administration and the
Department of Community and Economic Development will prepare a
report for the legislature at the beginning of next session
reviewing the procurement preference that is in statute today
and making recommendations on how that might be adapted to
better serve the needs of growing the agricultural sector and
increasing food security. She said DNR would stand by to assist
those departments as they prepare that report.
2:38:57 PM
MS. MILLER referred to SB 211, version B, page 2, lines 9, 10
and lines 23,24, and noted that, added to the activities that
Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund (ARLF) can loan for is: in-
state manufacturing of food or production of animal feed. She
said this was included in specific support of increasing food
security of the state and should enable people that are looking
to manufacture and add value to things grown in the state and
turn them into an additional product, to be eligible for ARLF
loans for that activity. She said the other significant changes
were on page 3. The original version suggested removing the $1
million cap on the maximum ARLF loans that can go out to any one
buyer at a time and letting the Board of Agriculture set that
limit in regulation going forward. The House version and SB 211,
Version B increase that $1 million to a $3 million limit for any
one borrower and then also adds an adjustment so that amount
will increase annually based on inflation. She said DNR is
pleased with that revision and noted that it brings it up to
current standards and allows for continued growth as needed.
2:40:20 PM
MS. MILLER said the original version of SB 211 advocated
requiring a first priority security for ARLF loans. She said
there had been feedback and discussion that the requirement
could conflict with other agricultural lenders' needs and could
also be an additional hurdle for some of the borrowers.
Therefore, the provision was removed.
[Original punctuation included.]
Summary of Changes
From SB211 \A to CS for SB211(L&C) \B
The Senate Labor & Commerce Committee changes as
reflected in version \B are:
Overall:
Adopts revisions recommended by Legislative Legal
Services to conform the bill with legislative
drafting standards; additional conforming changes
accommodate substantive CS changes.
Removed:
Removes a significant bill component expanding
the procurement preference for in-state
agricultural and fisheries products bought by
state agencies and by school districts and
municipalities that receive state funding. This
change removes 13 sections as the original bill
expanded the preference for 5 years, reverting to
current statute at the end of that period.
New:
Section 2, page 2, lines 9-10 and 23-24: Includes
in-state manufacturing of food or animal feed to
the activities eligible for Agriculture Revolving
Loan Fund loans.
Section 3, page 3, lines 15-19: Instead of
eliminating the statutory maximum in loans to one
person and having the Board of Agriculture and
Conservation set a limit in regulation, increases
the statutory cap from $1 million to $3 million
and enables annual inflation adjustments to the
cap. Removes a requirement for a first priority
security for certain loans, reverting to current
statute requiring first priority security only
for certain loans.
2:41:34 PM
At ease.
2:41:50 PM
CHAIR BJORKMAN reconvened the meeting; He removed his objection;
found no further objection and CSSB 211 was adopted as the
working document.
2:42:07 PM
[CHAIR BJORKMAN held SB 211 in committee.]
2:42:33 PM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Bjorkman adjourned the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing
Committee meeting at 2:42 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB211 ver A.pdf |
SL&C 3/1/2024 1:30:00 PM SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 211 |
| SB 211 Transmittal Letter 01.24.24.pdf |
SL&C 3/1/2024 1:30:00 PM SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 211 |
| SB211 Draft Proposed CS ver B.pdf |
SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 211 |
| SB211 Summary of Changes ver B 04.12.24.pdf |
SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 211 |
| SB211 Sectional Analysis ver B 04.12.24.pdf |
SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 211 |
| SB211 Fiscal Note-DNR-AGR 04.08.24.pdf |
SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 211 |
| SB239 Public Testimony-Letter-AML 04.12.24.pdf |
SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 239 |
| SB239 ver B.pdf |
SL&C 3/27/2024 1:30:00 PM SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 239 |
| SB239 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SL&C 3/27/2024 1:30:00 PM SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 239 |
| SB239 Sectional Analysis.pdf |
SL&C 3/27/2024 1:30:00 PM SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 239 |
| SB239 Fiscal Note-DCCED-AIDEA 03.22.24.pdf |
SL&C 3/27/2024 1:30:00 PM SL&C 4/12/2024 1:30:00 PM |
SB 239 |