HB 530 - REQUIRED REPORTS OF STATE AGENCIES Number 449 CHAIRMAN VEZEY opened HB 530, sponsored by the Office of the Governor, for discussion. Number 452 LINDA REXWINKEL, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET (OMB), addressed HB 530. She stated HB 530 is the culmination of a study by the OMB working with departments to identify annual reports which were either duplicative, unnecessary, or could be amended to biennial. She noted HB 530 reflects those reports the Governor is forwarding to the legislature for consideration of reporting requirement amendment or repeal. She noted the sectional analysis. HB 530 is an efficiency measure. Zero fiscal notes were provided by the departments. MS. REXWINKEL noted AS 43.56.018, subsection (c), a Department of Revenue report similar to those mentioned in Sections 16, 17, and 18, was inadvertently omitted from HB 530 in the drafting process. Number 466 CHAIRMAN VEZEY questioned what was omitted. Number 467 MS. REXWINKEL answered Section 16, 17, and 18, refer to reports by Department of Revenue which deal with education tax credits for the various taxes the department collects. Inadvertently, AS 43.56.018(c) amending the gas property tax, was omitted from HB 530. A letter from Department of Revenue should be in the packet requesting that section be included in the bill. Number 476 CHAIRMAN VEZEY stated he did not understand how oil and gas related to Sections 16, 17, and 18. Section 16, he commented, dealt with colleges and universities. Number 478 MS. REXWINKEL answered Sections 16, 17, and 18, repeal the annual reporting requirement by Department of Revenue to Legislative Budget & Audit on the income tax education credits taken under the Alaska Net Income Tax. She referred to page 2. The gas property tax was inadvertently omitted from the variety of income tax education credits which are reported by Department of Revenue. MS. REXWINKEL noticed the committee did not have the Department of Revenue letter and stated she would follow up on it. Number 502 CHAIRMAN VEZEY reiterated the intent of HB 530 and inquired if it would apply to mining operations. Number 506 MS. REXWINKEL replied Section 18, AS 43.65.018(c), is the statute citation which deals with mining. Number 509 CHAIRMAN VEZEY asked what Section 16 applied to. MS. REXWINKEL replied Section 16 applies to Alaska Net Income Tax Act. Other sections deal with the Alaska Oil & Gas Properties Production Taxes, Mining License Tax and Fisheries Tax, all of which have a reporting requirement to Legislative Budget & Audit from Department of Revenue on the education credit associated with those taxes. Number 516 CHAIRMAN VEZEY asked what the Alaska Net Income Tax Act (ANITA) was. MS. REXWINKEL responded she was unable to answer that question. She stated there are various taxes and filings required by businesses and ANITA was probably the corporate income tax. Number 524 CHAIRMAN VEZEY asked where on the sectional analysis was the section that had the inadvertent deletion. MS. REXWINKEL answered the section was not on the sectional analysis because the sectional analysis follows the bill. Another section should be included. Number 534 CHAIRMAN VEZEY stated the sectional analysis had just been received that morning; therefore, HB 530 would be held in committee for review until next week. CHAIRMAN VEZEY asked how much of HB 530 was house cleaning and how much was relaxing reporting requirements. (REPRESENTATIVE ULMER left the meeting at 10:14 a.m.) Number 543 MS. REXWINKEL answered HB 530 was meant to be house keeping measures. The reports were placed into statute prior to current budgetary provisions and/or under different organizational structures. Therefore, either the committees or commissions are not functioning, and/or the information is duplicative. HB 530 is not intended to relax reporting requirements. The Governor thought the information was fully available. Number 552 CHAIRMAN VEZEY questioned the opinion of the Legislative Budget & Audit. MS. REXWINKEL stated she was not aware of it. Number 563 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT clarified the costs in the right column of the sectional analysis were savings. Number 564 MS. REXWINKEL affirmed REPRESENTATIVE KOTT. She stated those costs are what the departments current project is the cost of producing those reports, and the amount of money they would save if the reports were not done. She noted the zero fiscal notes and stated most of the dollars are very nominal, therefore the departments would not have produced a fiscal note in the first place to receive additional moneys to produce those reports. It is not anticipated the departments budgets will be reduced by the nominal figures. Number 572 CHAIRMAN VEZEY commented he had seen nothing but zero fiscal notes. MS. REXWINKEL stated some of the fiscal notes may include in the analysis section a detailed list of the nominal amounts. Number 577 REPRESENTATIVE KOTT clarified he was referring to the sectional analysis. MS. REXWINKEL stated HB 530 is meant to be noncontroversial. The Governor's Office worked very hard to pick innocuous reports to eliminate controversy. Number 587 CHAIRMAN VEZEY asked the committee to review the sectional analysis before the meeting on Thursday; action on HB 530 might be possible. ADJOURNMENT CHAIRMAN VEZEY adjourned the meeting at 10:19 a.m.