SENATE BILL NO. 171 "An Act relating to the permanent fund dividend of an otherwise qualified individual who dies during the qualifying year; and providing for an effective date." CHRISTINE MARASIGAN, STAFF, SENATOR KEVIN MEYER, presented the overview of the bill. The bill provides for an issuance of a permanent fund dividend (PFD) check to a personal representative of an estate or successor claiming the personal property of the deceased, should an otherwise eligible individual die during the qualifying year. Co-Chair Stoltze added that the bill includes modifications to "Pick, Click and Give". He inquired if Ms. Marasigan agreed with those additions to the bill. She said she did. 1:44:48 PM Vice-Chair Thomas MOVED to adopt Amendment 1: Page 4, following line 31: Insert a new bill section to read: "*Sec.6 AS 43.23.062(f) is amended to read: (f) The department may charge [ESTABLISH] an application fee of $250 [NOT TO EXCEED $50] for each educational organization, community foundation, or charitable organization that files an application under (d) of this section. The application fees shall be separately accounted for under AS 37.05.142. The annual estimated balance in the account maintained under AS 37.05.142 for application fees collected under this subsection may be appropriated for costs of administering this section." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 5, line 16: Delete "Sections 1 - 7" Insert "Sections 1 - 8" Co-Chair Stoltze OBJECTED for discussion. Vice-Chair Thomas explained that the amendment would charge an application fee of $250 for each educational organization, community foundation, or charitable organization that files an application under the "Pick, Click, and Give" program. He reported that there has been $815,000 committed to the program at this time. This is a 46 percent increase over last year. The amendment will raise roughly $62,750. Co-Chair Stoltze concluded that the fee would not be a barrier for the organizations. Vice-Chair Thomas agreed. 1:47:26 PM Representative Fairclough asked about uncollected remaining costs of providing the service. She wondered if the $250 charge covered all costs of the program. Vice-Chair Thomas noted the attempt to match 50 percent of the required fiscal note. Representative Fairclough inquired if 50 percent was unmatched. Vice-Chair Thomas responded that $65,000 is the unmatched amount. Representative Fairclough wondered why the amount of $500 is not being requested. Vice-Chair Thomas said it was because non-profits were paying for it. Representative Fairclough noted she was sensitive to non- profits, but she was also sensitive to the state's position. She suggested that it seemed reasonable to reach for 100 percent coverage. Representative Foster asked if it was an annual or one-time fee. Vice-Chair Thomas said it was an annual fee. 1:49:43 PM Representative Austerman inquired if it was the only fee. DEBORAH BITNEY, DIRECTOR, PERMANENT FUND DIVIDEND, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, stated that it was the only fee charged to the non-profits choosing to participate. Representative Foster asked if there were many organizations that don't receive $250 in contributions. Ms. Bitney responded that there were 378 total non-profits receiving pledges, and 61 received $250 or less in contributions. 1:51:16 PM Representative Doogan questioned the fiscal note of $86,700 a year. He wondered if it was the only fiscal note attached to the bill. Co-Chair Stoltze thought there should be an updated fiscal note. Representative Foster requested more statistics related to how much non-profits received. Ms. Bitney related that 43 organizations received between $275 and $500 in pledges. That leaves 274 organizations that received $500 or more. It is anticipated that there will be about $68,500 from application fees. 1:53:12 PM Representative Fairclough did not wish to advocate for the $500 fee this year due to the newness of "Pick, Click, and Give". She spoke of other organizations which benefit by the elimination of the middle man. She pointed out that it creates technical challenges and additional paperwork for the Department of Revenue. She agreed that $250 was the right number for this year, but in the future it might be revised. Co-Chair Stoltze gave his opinion about another "check off". He thought there ought to be a cut-off point for organizations that don't profit by this avenue. He expected to revisit the issue again. 1:56:24 PM AT EASE 2:08:52 PM RECONVENED Vice-Chair Thomas WITHDREW Amendment 1. Vice-Chair Thomas MOVED to ADOPT HCS for CSSB 171(FIN), labeled 26-LS0804\C, Cook, 2/5/10, as the working document before the committee. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Vice-Chair Thomas MOVED to ADOPT Amendment 2: Page 4, following line 31: Insert a new bill section to read: "*Sec.6 AS 43.23.062(f) is amended to read: (f) The department shall charge [ESTABLISH] an application fee of $250 [NOT TO EXCEED $50] for each educational organization, community foundation, or charitable organization that files an application under (d) of this section. The application fees shall be separately accounted for under AS 37.05.142. The annual estimated balance in the account maintained under AS 37.05.142 for application fees collected under this subsection may be appropriated for costs of administering this section." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 5, line 16: Delete "Sections 1 - 7" Insert "Sections 1 - 8" Co-Chair Stoltze OBJECTED. 2:10:15 PM Representative Austerman commented on the number of organizations on the list that would not profit if the fee were to be $500. The concept behind "Pick, Click, and Give" is to enable the organizations to raise money. He was opposed to having the higher fee. Ms. Bitney noted there were 274 organizations that receive more than $500 in pledges. Representative Fairclough spoke of a time when community members selected charities to support. She shared the history of a United Way campaign in Anchorage. She maintained that individual Alaskans show value for each organization with their donation. Increasing the cost does not disenfranchising charities. She shared a personal experience with donations and concluded that the program does not make it harder for charities, but increases the load for the departments. She thought that the list should contain a threshold. She spoke in support of the amendment. 2:15:14 PM Representative Kelly pointed out that the cost of fundraising for organizations was pretty high and $250 was a bargain. He thought it was a great program and would be self-selecting. Representative Fairclough related that the advantage is that it appears donations have gone up substantially. Representative Foster believed that the seven-page of list of organizations was comprehensive. 2:17:17 PM A roll call vote was taken on the motion. IN FAVOR: Doogan, Fairclough, Foster, Joule, Kelly, Thomas, Stoltz, Gara OPPOSED: Austerman The MOTION PASSED (8-1) BEN MULLIGAN, STAFF, CO-CHAIR STOLTZE, pointed out that in the fund source section of the fiscal note the program receipts total should be $68,500, not $18,800. This will bring the total to $64,000, which will reduce the fiscal impact by half. Vice-Chair Thomas MOVED to report HCS CSSB 171(FIN) out of Committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. HCS CS SB 171(FIN) was REPORTED out of Committee with a "do pass" recommendation and with a new fiscal note from Department of Revenue and previously published fiscal note: FN2 (REV) 2:20:25 PM