HOUSE BILL NO. 84 "An Act relating to applying military education, training, and service credit to occupational licensing and certain postsecondary education and employment training requirements; providing for a temporary occupational license for qualified military service members; and providing for an effective date." 3:03:19 PM REPRESENTATIVE DAN SADDLER, SPONSOR, presented HB 84, which enabled separating service members to transition appropriately into the civilian workforce. He explained that HB 84 asked the Division of Professional Licensing, the University of Alaska and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to evaluate military training and education and to assign civilian credit where appropriate without compromising current licensing standards. The bill would improve the probability of veterans finding jobs by accelerating the licensing process and/or their educational credits. Representative Saddler noted that service members often experienced delays and lost opportunities in qualifying for licenses even with the applicable training and experience. As of July 12th, 19 states enacted similar legislation and more than 30 states were in the consideration process for 2013. Forced reductions, sequestration and budget cuts would soon mean that more veterans would be looking for work and he believed that they deserved every opportunity to leverage their military experience and training into academic credit, job qualification or vocational training credit. Co-Chair Stoltze commented on the Senate President's veteran's caucus. 3:05:45 PM MARK SANSOUCI, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, TACOMA (via teleconference), testified in support of the legislation. He informed the committee of the target to help young veterans who were separating and had received world-class education. He noted that 12 hundred veterans returned annually to Alaska creating approximately 1 million new veterans between 2011 and 2016. He echoed testimony from Representative Saddler regarding decisions made by other states to enact similar legislation. He mentioned that the Joint Service Transcript was unveiled in March 2013, which was meant to ease the burden of translating services into a generic method for transcript evaluation. 3:08:14 PM PATRICIA SENNER, ALASKA NURSES ASSOCIATION, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), supported most aspects of the bill. She spoke to some concerns related to the possibility that veterans could assume automatic eligibility for registered nursing licenses without furthering their education. Since the issue was a national one, the National Council of State Boards and Nursing was developing a document for use by the boards of nursing to make the determination. She explained that the roles and responsibilities of Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) were different from those of medics, core men and airmen. All RNs serving in the military were licensed as such before entering service. Medics trained by the military were certified as Emergency Medical Technicians. She mentioned programs that would facilitate the transfer of designation for medics or core men to LPNs. 3:11:20 PM Representative Wilson asked whether the board ever used Skype for board meetings. Ms. Senner was not on the board and could not answer the question. JEFF SELVEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALASKA WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT (via teleconference), was available for questions. Co-Chair Stoltze CLOSED public testimony. Co-Chair Stoltze expressed intent to confer with the sponsor on the issue related to nursing. He did not want to create a false impression that the bill would enable an automatic entry into the field. Representative Saddler noted that the nursing profession was a special case. He stated that it was up to various entities to judge whether the military credentials and experience met the requirements. He was pleased that nurses were evaluating the potential. 3:15:03 PM Representative Thompson asked the sponsor to look at the $137,000 fiscal note, requiring that 11 different boards meet in person. He believed the amount seemed excessive in light of the technology available. He thought teleconference meetings should be possible to save on travel costs. Co-Chair Stoltze suggested a delayed effective date to reduce the fiscal impact. He asked the Division of Occupational Licensing for input on the issue. Representative Gara looked at the 180-day period related to licensing. He wondered if the 180-day period was long enough to achieve the certificates or licenses needed. Representative Saddler replied that 180 days was determined to be a reasonable time unless unforeseen circumstances arose, in which case an option to extend a second 180 days existed. Co-Chair Stoltze asked if an opportunity for bar credentials might exist via the legislation. Representative Saddler replied that the board could best address that issue. Representative Guttenberg requested clarification related to the language on page 2, line 13 "held the current license." Representative Saddler stated that he would discuss the issue with the drafter. 3:18:25 PM Representative Munoz asked for an identification of the names of the boards, which were identified with acronyms in the fiscal note. Representative Saddler replied that he would provide the information to the committee in writing. Representative Munoz appreciated the information. HB 84 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further consideration.