HB 297-POSTSECONDARY SCHOLARSHIPS  9:38:04 AM CHAIR SEATON announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 297, "An Act establishing the governor's performance scholarship program and relating to the program; establishing the governor's performance scholarship fund and relating to the fund; relating to student records; making conforming amendments; and providing for an effective date." 9:38:18 AM REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON moved CSHB 297, 26-GH2771\R, Mischel, 3/4/10. There being no objection, Version R was before the committee. 9:40:12 AM CHAIR SEATON asked Legislative Legal and Research Services, Legislative Affairs Agency, for comments on Version R. 9:40:31 AM JEAN MISCHEL, Attorney, Legislative Legal and Research Services, Legislative Affairs Agency, said that legal services had reviewed the changes to the governor's bill to ensure consistency with the drafting rules established by legislative counsel. To maintain that consistency, new sections have been added to HB 297. She advised that although the Postsecondary Education Commission, Department of Education and Early Development, may find the section pertaining to them unnecessary, the other changes are consistent with drafting rules. As an example of minor changes, she directed attention to page 1, lines 10-11, to indicate the language change from "a student's permanent record" to "the student's permanent record." Also in that section was a change from "any errors" to "an error." More significantly, a new paragraph (18) was added on page 4, line 5. Version R also added a new section to Sec. 4 on page 5, line 16. 9:43:26 AM MS. MISCHEL explained the new section was not reflective of any amendment, but was a means to include the governor's performance scholarship in a cross-reference found on page 7, line 5. The new language on page 7, line 5, added the range of authorities for the corporations to enter into agreements with the Postsecondary Education Commission to include the governor's performance scholarship. This authority may or may not be necessary for the agreements, but it was deemed appropriate to include it in the section. 9:44:45 AM REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON asked for clarification on the referenced corporation. 9:45:27 AM MS. MISCHEL responded that the referenced corporation was the student loan corporation. In further response to Representative Peggy Wilson, she explained that legal services added a cross- reference to the existing student loan corporation authority, "to incorporate the governor's scholarship program, so the only change to existing law ... was add to the range of authorities for entering into agreements between the student loan corporation and the postsecondary [education] commission." 9:46:14 AM CHAIR SEATON interjected that the statutes for inclusion in HB 297 are being expanded from AS 14.43.091-14.43.750 to continue through 14.43.890, effectively including the governor's performance scholarship into duties that the student loan corporation administers. MS. MISCHEL concurred. She then said, "All we are doing is including the new governor's scholarship program within existing student loan corporation authority." 9:47:27 AM REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON asked whether there were substantive changes in Version R. 9:47:45 AM MS. MISCHEL explained that Version R incorporated the seven amendments adopted by the committee in previous hearings, and made technical changes to comply with drafting rules. The only technical change made by her office which could be construed as substantive, was the insertion into Sec. 4, which did not exist in Version A of the bill. 9:50:36 AM CHAIR SEATON observed the addition to Sec. 4 was necessary as the bill was originally drafted by the Department of Law, and not by Legislative Legal and Research. 9:51:13 AM MS. MISCHEL stated her comments at this time were limited to technical changes, and indicated that beginning on page 8, a series of grammatical changes were made. On page 18, Sec. 8 provides a necessary cross-reference to AS 36.30.850(b) that allows an exception to the state procurement code for the scholarships. Furthermore, technical changes were made to the existing law that would eliminate non-applicable paragraphs. 9:55:08 AM REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER offered conceptual Amendment 1 to Version R, effectively repealing Amendment 9 to the original bill, adopted on 2/26/10, and included in Version R. She advised that this action was in response to written testimony from Diane Barrans, Executive Director, Postsecondary Education Commission, dated 3/3/10 [available in the committee packet]. She further explained that the cost of the unintended consequence from Amendment 9 would be greater than the value; specifically, if a student received an "over award" scholarship they would not qualify for other aid. 9:57:12 AM CHAIR SEATON objected for the purpose of discussion. 9:57:26 AM REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON asked where Amendment 9 appeared in Version R. 9:57:44 AM MS. MISCHEL directed attention to page 16, lines 14-16, and the language to be deleted by adopting conceptual Amendment 1 which read: "less any scholarship award payments previously expended if the error, in the award of the scholarship was not due to any fault of the student." 9:58:25 AM CHAIR SEATON removed his objection. There being no further objection, conceptual Amendment 1 to HB 297, Version R, was adopted. 9:59:17 AM CHAIR SEATON requested that the committee finish its review of the bill, and stated his intention to pass the bill out of committee by the end of the week. Written questions were solicited from the committee to be submitted to EED for comments. 10:01:23 AM CHAIR SEATON announced that HB 297 was held for further review.