HR 8-POVERTY AND OPPORTUNITY TASK FORCE  9:35:19 AM CO-CHAIR HANNAN announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 8, Creating the House Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity. 9:36:13 AM REPRESENTATIVE GERAN TARR, Alaska State Legislator, as prime sponsor, presented HR 8. She shared that she grew up poor, in a single-parent household, so she knows personally how difficult it can be for families to get ahead. She was the first in her family to get a college degree and has witnessed what opportunities that has brought to her life. She said she represents one of the three poorest districts in Alaska. She said there continue to be barriers to opportunity and success. The proposed resolution states that 10 percent of Alaskans live in poverty. Material from the Center for Economic Development shows that 45 percent of the children in her district live in poverty, and that is not the only place in the state that that is the case. She said the task force proposed under HR 8 would comprise Alaskans "with lived experience to contribute to the conversation" and identify what can be done to understand the root causes of poverty and eliminate it from Alaska by providing more economic opportunity to all Alaskans. 9:39:40 AM PATRICK M. ANDERSON, CEO, Rural Alaska Community Action Program, Inc. ("RurAL CAP"), testified in support of HR 8. He said he thinks the proposed resolution, if passed, will start "a long- overdue and necessary conversation about the root causes of poverty in Alaska" and "potential policy measures that can help us overcome poverty." He said there is a high rate of poverty in Alaska and those without resources may end up living on the streets. MR. ANDERSON shared that in the mid-'60s, in Seattle, Washington, he and his four sisters were taken away from their mother, because she did not have enough money to support them. With inadequate foster homes, he and his siblings were housed at the Seattle Youth Detention Center. He said he was about eight at the time and "fresh out of Alaska into a huge city," and the experience was traumatic. He said he and his siblings were rescued by the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program in West Seattle. MR. ANDERSON said AFDC was replaced by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), "with severely reduced funding and scope." He said low-income individuals in Alaska and nationwide are vilified by politicians, called "Welfare Queens," lazy, shiftless, and unwilling to work. He said the Social Security Act, which was vilified in the 1940s, "lifts about 40 percent of our senior citizens out of poverty," including his mother, who would have had no other means of independent support. MR. ANDERSON said RurAL CAP hopes the task force proposed under HR 8 will provide the opportunity to hear the stories of individuals that have lived with poverty and "to see a complex analysis of poverty completed." He explained there are stratified pockets of low-income individuals: "deep" poverty, "regular" poverty, and those who, without the aid of social programs, would be put into poverty. 9:44:21 AM MR. ANDERSON said the American Rescue Act contains a policy change that has the potential to lift up to 45 percent of children out of poverty. He said in their book, $2.00 a Day; Living on Almost Nothing in America, authors Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Schaefer note that as many as 3 million children live on less than $2 per day. Mr. Anderson said he believes this conversation is appropriate today. He said there are lots of benefits to Alaska in addressing poverty, one of which is that the American Rescue Act would bring in a lot of funds to rural and urban Alaska to help "address these issues." 9:46:16 AM KIRK ROSE, CEO, Anchorage Community Land Trust, testified in support of HR 8. He said Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT) is a 503(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in low-income neighborhoods in Anchorage in the areas of real estate, neighborhood improvements, programming, and community organization. He said he was raised in a low-income, single parent home and is a first-generation college student in his family. He stated that his mission and passion is that "low income doesn't equate to low opportunity." He said the cost of poverty is lost potential, not only to individuals but to communities, and it also equates with lost dollars in the economy. He said ACLT works "to fight concentrated poverty with concentrated investment." MR. ROSE said in the Mountainview neighborhood in Anchorage, the community did not have a financial institution, so residents "banked" at the local pawn shop, paying exorbitant amounts in interest. Then Credit Union 1 located a branch in Mountainview, which benefitted the neighborhood. He talked about initiating a program called, "Set Up Shop," which works with neighborhood entrepreneurs that are typically low-income, setting them up with micro loans and assistance to make their dreams realities. He expressed appreciation that HR 8 focuses not only on poverty but also on opportunity. He said he thinks the duties of the task force are sensible and the lived experience of taskforce members would be valuable. Further, he offered his understanding that there would be no cost associated with the proposed resolution. 9:51:17 AM REPRESENTATIVE PATKOTAK directed attention to page 4, lines 12- 13, of HR 8, which states that 4 of the 23 members of the task force appointed by the Speaker of the House would be members from tribal governments, Native corporations, or nonprofits affiliated with a recognized tribe. He said he thinks that is an important aspect of the roles played in economics, especially in rural Alaska. He suggested perhaps two of the four could be from tribes and the other two of the four from Alaska Native corporations (ANCs). He explained that those are two different aspect of what village economy looks like. He then pointed to language on lines 19-22, which read: (9) two members who work in municipal government for a municipality with fewer than 15,000 residents; (10) two members who work in municipal government for a municipality with more than 15,000 residents; and REPRESENTATIVE PATKOTAK requested the sponsor consider making that language specify that the each of the two members in the municipality with fewer than 15,000 be from two different communities, and likewise with the two members from communities greater than 15,000. He explained that he suggested these changes so that "we don't end up in a vacuum of what ... some of the solutions might be." 9:53:31 AM REPRESENTATIVE TARR responded that she was receptive to those suggestions and happy to work with Representative Patkotak on them. 9:54:06 AM REPRESENTATIVE TARR noted that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) produces a living wage calculator, which shows that a living wage in Alaska for a single adult with no children would be $15.48; currently the minimum wage is just over $10.00/hour. This means that "people are earning about $10,000 too little to just have a living wage." She said that means there are "the working poor" - those working fulltime but not able to support themselves or their families. That means there are government programs, which cost money to run. She said she thinks there are policy solutions that can be considered to increase the efficiency in "the way we spend our dollars" thus resulting in better outcomes. She praised the "Set Up Shop" program. In terms of supporting families, she talked about the importance of flexibility. She said she thinks there is a good opportunity for bringing people together and asking them to help figure out a solution. 9:57:03 AM CO-CHAIR HANNAN announced that HR 8 was held over.