SB 153-OVERTIME PAY EXEMPTION  2:39:04 PM CHAIR BJORKMAN reconvened the meeting and announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 153 "An Act exempting certain employees from overtime pay requirements; and providing for an effective date." 2:39:45 PM JEREMY APPLEGATE, Chief Investigator, Wage and Hour, Labor Standards and Safety, Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD), Anchorage, Alaska, provided a recap of SB 153. He said SB 153, if passed, would amend the existing voluntary flexible work hour plan framework to allow businesses licensed under Alaska Statute 47.32.010 (b)(1), (4),(5),(6),(8), and/or (12) through (14), to enter into plans that allow for an exemption for overtime when the employees work up to 12 hours in a single day, not to exceed 40 hours in a single work week. The current Flex Plan statute allows for an exemption for up to 10 hours per day for all businesses with the plan approved by the Department. 2:40:32 PM MR. APPLEGATE said these plans are entered into voluntarily by employees. They are reviewed and approved by the Department, and serve the purpose of allowing flexibility in staffing, benefiting employees by giving them the option of trading the applicability of some overtime for the purpose of compressing work time into lesser days, allowing for extra days off. However, this exemption is limited in that any work performed outside the established plan is paid as overtime as well as any time worked over 40 hours in a work week. 2:41:21 PM SENATOR DUNBAR referred to a letter opposing SB 153 from the Alaska Nurses Association. He asked whether Mr. Applegate could comment on the issues raised in the letter. 2:41:47 PM MR. APPLEGATE said he would not want to speak directly against the letter. He said the letter appeared to address time worked over 12 hours in a day. Those hours would still be considered overtime and all employees could be required to work overtime. He said the passage of SB 153 would not eliminate the obligation of them to work overtime if asked by their employer. SB 153 simply allows the employee to compress their hours into shorter workdays for the purposes of hopefully gaining more time off for rest and family life balance. 2:43:00 PM CHAIR BJORKMAN opened public testimony on SB 153. 2:43:23 PM JOELLE HALL, President, Alaska AFL-CIO, Peters Creek, Alaska testified in opposition to SB 153. She noted that the Alaska Nurses Association, Local 341 are all members of the Alaska AFL- CIO and she highlighted the decades of advocacy to the legislature on behalf of the union by herself and Don Ethridge. She pointed out that no other industry repeatedly sought legislative exemptions for worker conditions like the nursing industry, apparently aiming to take money from nurses' pockets. She criticized the persistent attempts by a private industry, the nursing industry, to change overtime rules, citing past instances of mandatory overtime, overtime exemptions, and nurse compacting. Hall expressed frustration with the industry using the legislature to resolve HR issues, calling it a manipulative practice that has persisted for decades. She urged the committee to reject the bill, insisting that private sector hospitals, which she described as public, or private with a public mission, should comply with Alaska law like other industries. She said she hoped everybody on this committee would continue to serve in this body for a very long time and would have the opportunity to see industries that show up year over year over year asking to treat their workers differently than employees in other industries and be recognized for their intentions. She suggested that after they have been working in the legislature for a while, they would grow as tired of it as she was. She urged the committee to oppose SB 153. 2:46:18 PM SHANNON DAVENPORT, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, testified in opposition to SB 153. She introduced herself as a surgery center nurse, hospice nurse, and President of the Alaska Nursing Association and highlighted her current ability to work a 10-hour day, 4-day workweek, and the supportive work environment that allows for a good work-life balance. She explained the potential consequences of switching to a 12-hour overtime exemption, including the necessity to sign a contract for 12-hour shifts and the lack of job security if the contract is not signed. She pointed out the existing overtime 10-hour exemption law and questioned the need for an additional 12-hour exemption, which would reduce nurses' extra income. She described the challenges of meeting the 40-hour workweek requirement when surgery schedules do not align with the 12-hour shift, leading to the use of personal paid time off or unpaid time to fill the 40-hour commitment. MS. DAVENPORT emphasized the commitment of nurses to patients and families in hospice care, even when it means working beyond the 12-hour shift. She said they stay to care for that family or that patient, because that is an oath they took as nurses. MS. DAVENPORT said nurses were leaving surgery centers to work in hospital settings. She shared her experience transitioning from the hospital setting to a surgery center to achieve a better work-life balance, highlighting the importance of being able to spend time with family and enjoy holidays. MS. DAVENPORT urged the committee to oppose SB 153 for the sake of nurses and the community, noting that she represented the many nurses who cannot leave their patients to testify. 2:50:19 PM CHAIR BJORKMAN asked whether the hospital she left to work in the surgery center had an exemption such as the one proposed by SB 153. 2:50:39 PM MS. DAVENPORT affirmed that it did. 2:50:43 PM SENATOR DUNBAR noted that nursing is a large and complicated industry. He noted that CRNAs were able to have flexible schedules and asked whether that was because they're billed in a different way, or are on a salary, or that pay varies by location. 2:51:29 PM MS. DAVENPORT said all of those [various pay scenarios] applied. She said CRNAs have certain schedules depending on their location and the contract that funds their work. She said their contracts are different from nurses because they are advanced practice nurses under different guidelines than operating room nurses or recovery room nurses. She said it would also depend on whether they were privately sponsored certified CRNAs, or if they were part of a company. 2:52:11 PM SENATOR DUNBAR sought to confirm his impression that three twelve-hour days were usually more desirable than the four ten- hour days or the five eight-hour days. He conjectured that personnel on contracts were essentially salaried at the hospital, and so it wouldn't significantly impact their pay, whereas, for nurses in positions similar to Ms. Davenport's, it would impact pay. He asked whether that was accurate. 2:52:42 PM MS. DAVENPORT affirmed his assessment and provided a clarifying comparative example. She said nurses with 12-hour schedules are still paid for their full shift even if cases are canceled or completed early, unlike nurses in settings like hers who essentially face pay cuts. 2:53:40 PM PAM VENTGEN, Executive Director, Alaska State Medical Association, Anchorage, Alaska, testified in support of SB 153. She spoke on behalf of physicians who own or interact with surgery centers in Alaska. She said the surgery centers have difficulty hiring nurses who want to move from the hospital setting to the surgery center setting, because the nurses want to work 12-hour shifts, and they can't do that easily at the surgery center. She said SB 153 would allow nurses to work 12- hour shifts if they wanted to, but it does not in any way require them or force them into a 12-hour shift. She said nurses are accustomed to working 12-hour shifts which allow them to work three days a week, giving them greater flexibility with home life, and it can greatly reduce childcare costs. She said SB 153 would allow nurses the flexibility that they have asked for and she encouraged the committee to support SB 153 on that account. 2:55:15 PM SENATOR DUNBAR observed again that the nursing industry was complicated. He asked whether surgery centers were currently prohibited from offering 12-hour shifts for nurses; and if they did provide for 12-hour shifts, he asked if they would be required to pay overtime. 2:55:40 PM MS. VENTGEN affirmed that if the nurses work more than 10 hours a day, the surgery center would have to pay overtime, but they can't cut the pay. She said SB 153 was introduced at the request of surgery center employees and nurses who wanted to work at surgery centers and were unable to get the 12-hour shifts they wanted. 2:56:15 PM SENATOR DUNBAR suggested that surgery centers having difficulty recruiting nurses away from hospitals because of the 12-hour shift issue could offer overtime as an incentive, along with 12- hour shifts. He asked whether there was something legally preventing them from doing that, or if it was basically an economic issue. 2:56:47 PM MS. VENTGEN said she did not know [whether it was a legal or economic issue]. She said she had been told by multiple physicians SB 153 was introduced to support the nurses who wanted to move from the hospital setting to the surgery center setting. 2:57:20 PM DONNA PHILLIPS, Labor Council Chair, Alaska Nurses Association, Girdwood, Alaska, testified in opposition to SB 153. She clarified that Alaska state law allows hospitals to avoid paying overtime for 12-hour shifts by defaulting to federal law. But she said it was industry standard in Alaska that nurses receive overtime pay, largely due to collective bargaining. She said recruitment issues are not related to shift length but rather to the flexibility and work-life balance offered by surgery centers which offer schedules without night, weekend, or holiday work, a significant attraction for nurses. She said surgery centers could pay overtime and that some already do when shifts extend beyond what is scheduled. She reiterated her opposition and said SB 153 would erode current systems and agreements in place. 2:59:45 PM CHAIR BJORKMAN closed public testimony on SB 153. 2:59:59 PM At ease 3:00:24 PM CHAIR BJORKMAN reconvened the meeting and held SB 153 in the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.