HB 273-PFD: DELAY PAYMENT FOR ALLOWABLE ABSENCES 12:46:43 PM CHAIR ROKEBERG announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 273, "An Act relating to the dividends of individuals claiming allowable absences; and providing for an effective date." [Before the committee is CSHB 273(FIN).] 12:46:52 PM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL moved to adopt CSHB 273, Version 24- LS0871\I, Cook, 3/10/06, as the working document. REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ objected, and mentioned that in the House Finance Committee two amendments that received a 4-3 vote were deemed not to have passed and thus not included in the House Finance Committee's substitute. However, it's clear, he opined, that only a majority of the quorum is all that's needed to adopt an amendment. 12:47:39 PM REPRESENTATIVE BRUCE WEYHRAUCH, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor, began by confirming that the House Finance Committee did deem two amendments that received a 4-3 vote as failed. He informed the committee that he requested this hearing because of the interest with regard to anything related to the permanent fund dividend (PFD) and to address any amendments in committee rather than on the House floor. He explained that once someone applies for an allowable absence, of which there are 11, the individual can continue to receive the PFD if the individual returns to the state to demonstrate his/her presence. The aforementioned situation is allowed for a period of 10 years. However, under HB 273 once an individual has been out of state for two years and the individual hasn't returned to the state, the PFD check would be held until the individual returns to the state. Once the individual returns to the state and establishes residency again, then all the held checks are given to the individual. Therefore, the legislation provides a large incentive to return to the state and provides a bonus because once residency is established, the individual would receive all the PFD checks that were held. Representative Weyhrauch related that he has learned, through the [Permanent Fund Division] and the Department of Law, that individuals who have been out of state for three years don't return to the state. In fact, the allowable absence category in which an individual who is a dependent of military personnel living outside of the state could receive a PFD without ever being in the state. He recalled that the amendments to which Representative Berkowitz spoke about were related to extending the period of time allowed for allowable absences. He concluded by informing the committee that before the committee is essentially the House State Affairs Standing Committee version of HB 273 because Version I doesn't include Representative Mike Kelly's amendment adopted in the House Finance Committee, which would've prohibited individuals who had been out of state for five years from receiving a PFD. 12:52:40 PM CHAIR ROKEBERG requested that Representative Weyhrauch explain the substance of the two amendments that were deemed to have failed in the House Finance Committee. REPRESENTATIVE WEYHRAUCH recalled that the amendments addressed extending the number of years in which a person could be out of state before collecting the PFD. REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ informed the committee that Representative Joule's amendment in the House Finance Committee would've allowed an exemption for students who were in the state for at least 90 days. REPRESENTATIVE WEYHRAUCH recalled that the other amendment addressed the notion that students are more in need of the PFD than other categories of excused absences. The concern was that the needs-based test for receiving the PFD couldn't withstand legal scrutiny and wouldn't be applied across the board. REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ specified that Representative Kerttula's amendment in the House Finance Committee would've extended by a year, the time period an individual would be able to collect a PFD under the delayed payment plan. 12:55:01 PM REPRESENTATIVE WEYHRAUCH reiterated that Version I is essentially the House State Affairs Standing Committee version, which included an amendment by Representative Gardner that would extend the period of time in which one could receive a PFD when out of state to two years. He highlighted that data relates that greater than 60 percent of those out of state longer than two years don't return yet still claim a PFD. 12:55:56 PM REPRESENTATIVE BERKOWITZ withdrew his objection. There being no further objection, Version I, was adopted. 12:56:33 PM REPRESENTATIVE HARRIS moved to report CSHB 273, Version 24- LS0871\I, Cook, 3/10/06, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHB 273(RLS) was reported from the House Rules Standing Committee.