HB 479 - RECOGNITION FOR EMPLOYERS OF ALASKANS Number 0108 CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG called the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee back to order and announced the committee's next order of business was HB 479, "An Act relating to recognition of employers who hire Alaskans." He noted it was previously heard [April 6, 1998]. Number 0111 RANDY LORENZ, Student Intern to Representative Norman Rokeberg, came forward to testify on HB 479. He said the requested changes have been incorporated into another proposed committee substitute. MR. LORENZ explained the new committee substitute requires the employer to pay a $30 fee for certification which could be adjusted by the Department of Labor (DOL) to cover costs - the fee will go into the general fund. He stated, "The program will encourage Alaskan hire by requiring a minimum of 80 percent of Alaskans to be employed. The employee is considered a resident if he or she is both in the recent permanent fund file and the wage file and the Department of Labor shall design the seal. According to what they had requested I believe we have covered those proposed changes in the CS [committee substitute]." CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG directed the committee's attention to "we hire Alaska 1998" graphics. REPRESENTATIVE BRICE asked, do we hire Alaska or Alaskan? MR. LORENZ said they're here for your review. He noted DOL provided a number of possibilities for the seal, noting the committee could accept one of those now. Number 0125 REPRESENTATIVE BILL HUDSON made a motion to adopt the proposed committee substitute Version H, LS1719\H, Cramer, 4/14/98. There being no objections, Version H was adopted. REPRESENTATIVE RYAN asked if there was an amendment. CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG replied no, it has been amended by Version H. Number 0131 ED FLANAGAN, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Labor, came forward to testify on HB 479. He said the proposed committee substitute addresses virtually all of the concerns that the department raised earlier. Mr. Flanagan indicated additional calculations were made and of 16,000 employing units that are on the department's UI [Unemployment Insurance] wage files, 71 percent of the employers that they report on (indisc.--coughing) report card have 80 percent or more and DOL would go down to anybody with one employee. He noted the 16,000 employing unit number would sometimes include multiple locations of one employer, giving the example of Fred Meyer, Incorporated. He stated, "When I spoke earlier, we talked about our current employer report card that is 20 or more employees, we would take that all the way down to anybody that employed anybody. The "Made in Alaska" person was very concerned about that - that we shouldn't exclude the very small employers, and that wasn't our purpose in suggesting 20, we were just trying to keep it to what we already have in hand." He indicated it wasn't extremely difficult for the department to produce that report to this level. MR. FLANAGAN said he believes Mrs. Armstrong [Legislative Assistant to Representative Rokeberg] had told Mr. Perkins that the department should "take a pencil" to its fiscal note. He noted the department did not have a formal revised fiscal note for the committee. He indicated it was not the department's intention to delay the bill's progress and if the bill reached the House Finance Standing Committee, the department could pare it down to something like $12,000 if the department received straight general funds, and no fee would have to be charged. He indicated it would probably cost the department $20,000 instead of $12,000 if they had to go the program receipts route, noting it costs money anytime money had to be collected. This is a rough estimate that was done about 30 minutes ago. Mr. Flanagan said, "If we just had $12,000 straight GF, we wouldn't even have to charge a fee for the thing, but I understand ... straight GF [general fund] is always an issue." He said he guessed the department would have to set the fee in the first year and the fee could probably be reduced from the current $30 because it had been simplified, reminding the committee the initial fiscal note had been based on the many different criteria per industry, et cetera. He said the department could make this work but would like to do a little more work on the fiscal note to make this a doable thing. Number 0159 CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG asked what does the posted fiscal note say. MR. FLANAGAN replied, this one says $12,000. CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG said it was duly noted and indicated it would be addressed in the House Finance Standing Committee. Number 0162 REPRESENTATIVE RYAN asked if the chairman wanted a motion. CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG replied no, he indicated he had one more question. He stated, "Regarding the discussion about where the design was going to come from, the bill provides that your internal department graphically would do it, but what would the costs or the implications of having, like, the Arts Council [Alaska State Council on the Arts] or having a contest to award prizes." MR. FLANAGAN said the cost had not been considered in the original fiscal note and the Alaska State Council on the Arts had not been contacted for an estimate. He stated the DOL's suggestion to the chairman's staff was that the department has a very good graphic artist who, although near retirement, had given the department enough designs to last a few years. Mr. Flanagan said the department did not want to deny the Alaska State Council on the Arts the opportunity to have something, indicating the DOL's suggestion had been for reasons of simplicity and speed. CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG said he would like DOL to consider the contest only as a means of publicizing the program and noted that would be taken up later. MR. FLANAGAN indicated he understood the chairman's comments. Number 0173 REPRESENTATIVE RYAN made a motion to move Version H, the proposed committee substitute for HB 479, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying $12,000 fiscal note. REPRESENTATIVE GENE KUBINA asked if there was another committee of referral. Number 0176 CHAIRMAN ROKEBERG replied, the House Finance Standing Committee. He said he believes it needs to be "picked up." Chairman Rokeberg asked if there were any objections to the motion. There being none, CSHB 479(L&C) was moved out of the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.