HB 311-STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS; REGULATIONS  9:17:00 AM CHAIR SEATON announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 311, "An Act providing the Alaska State Council on the Arts the authority to adopt regulations relating to its statutory powers and duties; and providing for an effective date." 9:17:22 AM REPRESENTATIVE KYLE JOHANSEN, Alaska State Legislature, testified that HB 311 provided the Alaska State Council on the Arts the authority to adopt regulations relating to its statutory powers and duties. He reported that, as the Council was working to streamline its policies, the Department of Law (DOL) had informed the Council that there was not a statutory authority for its actions. He noted that the Council on the Arts had been an ongoing program since 1966. The DOL had suggested that the legislature codify the process, hence HB 311. He pointed out that the Council had distributed more than $42 million in grants to more than 4000 recipients. REPRESENTATIVE JOHANSEN shared a list of the statewide beneficiaries for advancement of the arts from the last few years to include: Anchor Point, Anchorage, Chugiak, Cordova, Douglas, Elam, Fairbanks, Girdwood, and Gustavus. He directed attention to the economic benefit this provided to the communities. 9:22:10 AM REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked if the intervening regulations that were enacted over the prior 40 years would need to be voided. REPRESENTATIVE JOHANSEN replied that the Council would process the regulations through the Administrative Procedure Act. 9:23:08 AM REPRESENTATIVE BUCH asked if there would be testimony from the DOL. 9:24:10 AM SONYA CHRISTIANSEN, Staff to Representative Kyle Johansen, Alaska State Legislature, replied that the DOL was available to testify, and that she was not aware of any resistance to the bill. 9:24:52 AM BEN BROWN, Chairman, Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA), explained that the ASCA had a modest re-grant program. He reviewed the history of the Council and explained the grants program, including the federal matching funds. He declared it to be a vital cornerstone for the arts in many communities. He reflected that the council had decided that the grant program was in need of an update, as it was not efficient to ask recipients for annual updates versus biannual or triennial reports. Upon investigation, it was determined that the council had no regulatory authority, so the DOL had suggested the legislature amend the enabling statute to now provide explicit regulatory authority. 9:31:27 AM REBECCA HATTAN, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law (DOL), in response to Chair Seaton, said that the bill language appeared to be in order and that DOL saw no problem with it, as long as the Council went back through the Administrative Procedure Act to readopt all the existing regulations. 9:32:50 AM REPRESENTATIVE BUCH asked if it was a major undertaking to reconcile the past 40 years. MS. HATTAN replied that it did not appear to be an excessive time commitment. She explained that there would be waiting periods involved, for public input, but that it would not be a demanding process which should move fairly quickly. 9:34:22 AM REPRESENTATIVE MUNOZ asked if the current ASCA regulations all pertained to the re-grants program. MR. BROWN confirmed that not all of the regulations would need to be re adopted. He clarified that HB 311 would primarily affect the re-grant program regulations and that any future regulations would be under this new regulatory authority. 9:35:43 AM CHAIR SEATON pointed out that the House Education Standing Committee was the only committee of referral, so the bill would be held in order to allow for public comment. 9:36:40 AM REPRESENTATIVE BUCH asked if this would allow the DOL enough time. MS. HATTAN replied that the time line was adequate for the DOL to approve the legislation. [HB 311 was held over.]