CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 53(FIN) "An Act reestablishing the Alaska Commission on the Status of Women; and relating to the purpose and powers of the Alaska Human Relations Commission." 10:22:16 AM Vice-chair Fairclough MOVED CSSB 53 27-LS0107\M before the committee. CELESTE HODGE, STAFF, SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS, explained that the legislation reestablished the Alaska Commission on the Status of Women, a nine member body that was devoted to improving the status of women in Alaska. She provided opening remarks: The Alaska Commission on the Status of Women was established in 1978, renewed, and renamed to the Alaska Women's Commission in 1983. In 1993 the Alaska Women's Commission and the Alaska Commission on Children and Youth were absorbed into the Alaska Human Relations Commission, which continues to exist in statute, but was never funded and declared inactive in 1996. Staggering statistics for women in Alaska show need to reestablish the Alaska Women's Commission. To focus on broad, diverse cross section issues effecting women. Alaska faces disproportionately high levels of poverty among women of all ages. Poverty rates for unmarried female householders with children are particularly high and have consistently been two or three times as high as overall male and female poverty rates since 1996. Survey data compiled by the American Community Survey shows that of 26,518 families in Alaska with a female head of household 22.6 percent live below the poverty level. The gender wage gap persists in Alaska and across a wide spectrum of occupations and industries. In 2009 according to the Alaska Department of Labor, Alaskan women on average earned only 66.6 percent of what men earned. Although more women than men in Alaska hold a bachelor's degree or higher, data shows that men's median annual earnings are higher in every educational level. Alaskan women, in particular women of color, experience health care disparities and women living in rural Alaska have worse than average disparities on access and utilization of services. Alaska continues to have the highest rates of sexual assault and domestic violence in the nation. Members of this committee, it's so unfortunate [that] Alaska has maintained these startling statistics for decades. It's past time for Alaska to reestablish the Alaska Women's Commission; an official state entity to begin focusing on improving the status of women and children in Alaska. Continued long-term improvement in the status of women in Alaska is not only of personal benefit to the health and well-being of individual women and children, but contributes to the general health and stability of our economy as well. Ms. Hodge was available for questions and thanked the committee for hearing the bill. 10:25:52 AM ARLISS STURGELEWSKI, SELF, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), spoke in strong support of the legislation. She had been very active with the original women's commission and had been sorry to see it go away. She was in favor of the bill's structure that called for hearings in both rural and urban areas of the state; it would allow for a forum where issues of concern could be expressed. She thanked the committee for hearing the legislation. 10:27:38 AM CECILIA ZAMORA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COMMISSION FOR WOMEN, CALIFORNIA (via teleconference), vocalized support for the bill and the reestablishment of the commission in Alaska. She discussed the importance of the legislation that would help the women and girls throughout Alaska. She stressed that state commissions played a vital role for the governor and legislature in advising on important issues; the funds spent on the commission would be money well spent. She assured the committee that the commission would be a help to the state. 10:29:52 AM Co-Chair Stoltze CLOSED the public testimony. Vice-chair Fairclough addressed the fiscal note from the Office of the Governor. The allocation was to the Alaska Women's Commission and added three full-time employees. The funding request included $515,400 for FY 13, $472,000 for FY 14, $481,300 for FY 15, $490,900 for FY 16, $580,000 for FY 17, and $508,500 for FY 18. Co-Chair Thomas asked about the second page of the fiscal note related to geographic representation that was not included in the bill. Co-Chair Stoltze believed the governor's office was using random locations to determine the fiscal note. Co-Chair Thomas asked whether three employees were needed to run the commission; he believed the number seemed high. He asked whether there had been three staff members in the past. Ms. Hodge replied that there had originally been three staff members on the commission. She emphasized that the staff had accomplished a significant amount of work apart from organizing several meetings a year. She furthered that in the former commission's later years it had gone to a volunteer organization; the annual report had gone from pages down to a paragraph due to the reduction in work accomplished. 10:32:50 AM Co-Chair Thomas thought a range 24 was high on the pay scale. He noted that the three positions were ranges 24, 18, and 15. He believed the numbers were excessive for work related to the planning of four or so meetings per year. Representative Wilson asked what the average number of staff was for a board with seven members. Ms. Hodge did not know. She added that the board would be comprised of seven members and two appointed members at the administrative level. Co-Chair Thomas restated his question related to the number of proposed staff for the commission. GUY BELL, ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, answered that the fiscal note had been modeled after the commission when it had existed in FY 90 and FY 91. There had been as many as four or five staff on the commission at the time with pay ranges similar to those proposed in the fiscal note. Co-Chair Thomas did not believe the fact that the positions had existed previously was justification to include them currently. Representative Neuman pointed to the duties of the commission (page 3 of the legislation); the duties were to improve the status of women by conducting research. He stated that the commission members were supposed to do a portion of the research; therefore, he believed one staff to help coordinate the research would be sufficient. 10:36:29 AM Co-Chair Stoltze asked Representative Joule how many members made up the Arctic Policy Commission. He believed the commission had an employee who was paid at a range 19 or 20. Representative Joule replied that the fiscal note included one staff position that had been changed to a range 19 from a range 24 by the Senate Finance Committee. The commission was comprised of 19 members. He discussed that one of his employees had staffed the Northern Waters Task Force and had been busy for the duration of the task force. He noted that committee members did engage primarily at the meetings when information was brought to them by staff. Co-Chair Stoltze remarked that the information was illustrative related to the current bill. Representative Wilson could not vote for the bill if it included three staff positions. She had heard opposition from constituents related to the $0.5 million price tag. She believed the fiscal note should be dropped to one position at a range 19; the commission could come back to the legislature in the future if it needed additional staff. Co-Chair Stoltze was mixed on the bill, but was currently leaning towards a "do not pass." Representative Edgmon was also concerned about the fiscal note. He believed an approval of the fiscal note went against the committee's actions throughout the session. He looked at page 3 of the bill and discussed that any research conducted at the outset would be secondary. He surmised that perhaps the need for more staff would develop over time; however, the bill currently included $3 million through FY 18 and the committee had not included funding in that amount for any of the other commissions. He supported the bill, but not the hefty fiscal note. 10:41:06 AM AT EASE 10:45:53 AM RECONVENED Representative Doogan MOVED to AMEND the fiscal note to reduce the staff to two; one at a range 20 and one at a range 17. Co-Chair Stoltze clarified that the positions would include an executive director and a support staff. Representative Neuman commented that the Arctic Policy Council was a large council with a significant amount of work and only had one employee at a range 19. He did not believe two positions made sense for a seven member commission. He proposed one position at a range 20. Representative Edgmon asked if the commission would be located in the governor's office. Ms. Hodge replied in the affirmative. Representative Edgmon asked whether phone calls would be directed through the governor's office central line. Co-Chair Stoltze did not believe that would be the case. He believed there was an overall committee consensus to include funding for two positions. He acknowledged Representative Neuman's expression that the positions should be reduced to one. Representative Neuman MOVED to reduce the fiscal note to include one position at a range 20. He referenced the large amount of work done by legislative staff who dealt with a significant number of constituents. He reiterated that one position should be sufficient to staff the commission. 10:49:45 AM Vice-chair Fairclough declared a conflict of interest due to the gender specific nature of the legislation. She discussed that there were disadvantaged women and children throughout the state. She had been a strong supporter of equity, respect, and for children of Alaska who had been harmed. The bill provided an opportunity for groups to come together to address some of the disparaging things that occurred in Alaska, such as suicide prevention, wage disparities, and other. She understood that other commissions only had one staff member; however, it would require a significant amount of work for the commission to catch up. She pointed out that the legislature could always reduce the number further in the future if needed. She understood that the fiscal note was a point of contention. She discussed that the sponsor would still like to see three positions. She asked for the committee to consider keeping the positions at two and to review the commission the following year to ensure that it held value for the people in Alaska. She stressed the importance of creating equity in the conversation about how women were on the victim side of perpetration in the state. Representative Gara asked whether the governor's office could report to the legislature the following year to relay whether the two positions were sufficient or necessary. Mr. Bell responded in the affirmative. He detailed that the commission would be an independent organization that was administratively under the Office of the Governor; the office would track how the commission evolved and would come to the legislature with any funding suggestions going forward. Co-Chair Stoltze acknowledged Representative Neuman's desire to reduce the staff. Representative Doogan had not made the recommendation to include two positions lightly. He could easily see why the positions would be needed to do the job. He pointed out that legislators had two or more staff during legislative sessions and had no problem employing them year-round. He did not believe that the committee should arbitrarily change the entire arrangement in the absence of any compelling information. The goal was to have people in the state's employ concentrating on the issues. 10:55:19 AM Representative Neuman understood the issue. He noted that his concern was related to future years when government would need to be reduced. He opined that it was easier to create public employee positions than it was to eliminate them. He discussed a personal story. He WITHDREW his OBJECTION. Co-Chair Stoltze noted the concern. Co-Chair Thomas pointed out that there had been significant savings by reducing the fiscal note to two positions. Representative Joule told a related personal story. Representative Edgmon asked whether ranges 22 and 15 would be a better spread in terms of attracting qualified applicants for the executive director position. He wondered whether an administrative services director position was a range 22. Mr. Bell replied that an administrative services director position was a range 27. Representative Edgmon surmised that a range 22 would be more attractive to an executive director compared to a range 20. Representative Gara agreed that the director was a high level person and the support staff would assist with meetings. He believed ranges 22 and 15 would better serve the commission than ranges 20 and 17. Representative Guttenberg stressed that the position was not only a logistics position. He believed that the commission would be made up of dynamic members who would provide direction to the staff. He believed the director position deserved a higher range. Representative Edgmon MOVED to change the two positions to a range 22 and range 15. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. 11:01:00 AM Vice-chair Fairclough MOVED to report CSSB 53(FIN) out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. CSSB 53(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass" recommendation and with one previously published amended fiscal impact note: FN3 (GOV). SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS, SPONSOR, appreciated the work of the committee. She pointed out that there were many possibilities for work to be done voluntarily and potential grants to obtain. She believed that in the long-term the commission would save the state money and that the legislature would be proud that a statewide commission for women had been reestablished. She thanked the committee for its support. 11:01:51 AM AT EASE 11:02:22 AM RECONVENED