HB 58-ELIGIBILITY FOR AK ENERGY EFFIC LOANS  11:49:06 AM CO-CHAIR VAZQUEZ announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 58, "An Act making an entity that is exempt from federal taxation under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) (Internal Revenue Code) and a federally recognized tribe eligible for a loan from the Alaska energy efficiency revolving loan fund; and relating to loans from the Alaska energy efficiency revolving loan fund." 11:49:30 AM REPRESENTATIVE TILTON moved to adopt the proposed committee substitute (CS) for HB 58, labeled 29-LS0254\G, Nauman, 3/4/15, as the working document. 11:50:04 AM JOSHUA WALTON, Staff, Representative Liz Vazquez, Alaska State Legislature, explained Version G has a title change and two significant changes from Version H. On page 1, lines 1-5 the new title read: An Act making an entity that is exempt from federal taxation under 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3), (4), (6), (12), or (19)(Internal Revenue Code) and a federally recognized tribe eligible for a loan from the Alaska energy efficiency revolving loan fund; relating to loans from the Alaska energy efficiency revolving loan fund; and relating to the annual report published by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. MR. WALTON explained the first change specifies which types of tax-exempt entities would be allowed to borrow from the fund. The second change to the title refers to a report further described in section 1. The first change to the language in the bill was new section 1 found on page 1, beginning on line 7 and continuing to page 2, line 11 which read: Section 1. AS 18.56.200(d) is amended to read: (d) The corporation shall include in its annual report under (b) of this section (1) a report of its activities under (A) AS 18.55.010 - 18.55.290 (Housing Project and Public Building Assistance Act); (B) AS 18.55.300 - 18.55.470 (programs of moderate income and rental housing); (C) AS 18.55.480 - 18.55.960 (Slum Clearance and Redevelopment Act); and (D) AS 18.56.855 (Alaska energy efficiency revolving loan fund); (2) a summary of its efforts to implement a program to extend the operation of the programs authorized under AS 18.55 and this chapter to rural communities; (3) an evaluation of the corporation's ability to fulfill the objectives of AS 18.56.010(b) - (e); and (4) the amount of interest rate, building, and other subsidies for each program of the corporation for which subsidies are given. MR. WALTON said section 1 amends existing statute to add Alaska energy efficiency revolving loan fund to the list of programs that are included in Alaska Housing Finance Corporation's annual report to the legislature. Sections 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 were renumbered. The second substantive change is the addition of new section 7 found on page 5, lines 10-16 which read: Sec. 7. AS 18.56.855 is amended by adding new subsections to read: (k) In considering applications and making loans from the Alaska energy efficiency revolving loan fund, the corporation shall give priority to energy efficiency improvements to buildings owned by a regional educational attendance area, the University of Alaska, a municipality, or the state over other applications and loans. (l) Notwithstanding any provision of this section, the recipient of a loan under this section may not be a for-profit business enterprise MR. WALTON said subsection (k) ensures that state and governmental facilities are given priority over tax-exempt entities and federally recognized tribes, and subsection (1) ensures that the recipient of a loan cannot be a for-profit business enterprise. All of changes are in response to concerns raised by the committee. 11:54:11 AM CO-CHAIR VAZQUEZ objected to the motion for discussion purposes. 11:54:34 AM REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS, Alaska State Legislature, one of the prime sponsors of HB 58, said the aforementioned changes came from House Special Committee on Energy deliberation during a previous hearing. He stated that the changes have improved the bill and urged that the bill move from committee. REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN confirmed that in new subsection [(k)] the described entities are the same and are not a larger class of groups than existed before. REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS said that is accurate, all of previous public entities that had access to the revolving loan fund now have first priority access. 11:56:31 AM CO-CHAIR VAZQUEZ removed her objection. [There being no further objection, Version G was before the committee.] 11:57:44 AM REPRESENTATIVE TILTON moved to report CSHB 58, Version 29- LS0254\G, Nauman, 3/4/15, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal note. There being no objection, CSHB 58(ENE) was reported out of the House Special Committee on Energy. 11:58:33 AM The committee took a brief at ease. REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS thanked the committee. 11:59:03 AM The committee took an at ease from 11:59 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.