HB 252 - OCC LICENSING: TERMS OF BD & CONT. EDUC Number 2644 CHAIR WEYHRAUCH announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 252, "An Act relating to the terms of members of boards and commissions that regulate businesses and professions and to the duties of the members of the State Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors." [Before the committee was CSHB 252(L&C)]. Number 2664 LAUREN WICKERSHAM, Staff to Representative Lesil McGuire, Alaska State Legislature, presented HB 252 on behalf of the sponsor, Representative McGuire. She said Representative McGuire introduced HB 252 at the request of the Alaska State Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors ("AELS Board"). The bill essentially does two things. One, it modifies the existing statutory language regarding board members who serve partial terms. Currently, if a board member serves any portion of a remaining term, that service constitutes a full four-year term. The change proposed by HB 252 will allow a board member filling a partial term of less than two years to also serve up to two more full terms, for eight more years. The CSHB 252(L&C) version clarifies that this change applies only to the AELS Board. MS. WICKERSHAM said that the second change proposed by HB 252 offers the AELS Board the statutory authority to adopt regulations concerning continuing education. An October 2000 audit conducted by the Legislative Audit Division recommended that the AELS Board be given the aforementioned authority in order to help implement and maintain high standards in the professions it oversees. The AELS Board would work closely with all relevant professional societies before developing any programs. Number 2765 SAM KITO III, Volunteer Lobbyist for Alaska Professional Design Council (APDC), noted that the APDC represents architects, engineers, land surveyors, landscape architects, and other design professionals in Alaska. He relayed that the APDC supports HB 252 and is working with the AELS Board to make sure that the bill passes. In response to a question, he explained that no current board members would be impacted by HB 252. Instead, the issue encompassed within HB 252 is one that the board has discussed over the years, that of having people on the board who have developed a certain amount experience but who have served only a small portion of an initial term and are therefore not able to continue their work into a second full term. The AELS Board desires consistency within the board process, and sees HB 252 as way to achieve that. CHAIR WEYHRAUCH noted that subsection 2 of Section 1 states that a person who serves for two years or more of a four-year term is considered to have served a full term. MR. KITO pointed out that currently, if a board member serves even just one month of four-year term, he/she is considered to have served for a full four years and is thus precluded from serving two more four-year terms. House Bill 252 is intended to allow someone who has served less than two years of a four-year term to be appointed for an additional two four-year terms. In response to a question, he confirmed that HB 252 adds a new subsection to the "AELS Board" statute - rather than to the entire occupational licensing statute - thus ensuring that the provision only applies to the AELS board. In conclusion, he said that the AELS Board supports such a change for it but has not wanted to affect all occupational licensing boards. REPRESENTATIVE SEATON suggested that what HB 252 is proposing makes sense and is not that unusual with regard to how partial terms are treated by other boards. TAPE 03-56, SIDE B  [There was brief discussion regarding a prior version of the bill, which some members mistakenly thought was before them.] The committee took an at-ease from 5:06 p.m. to 5:09 p.m. Number 2845 REPRESENTATIVE SEATON moved to report CSHB 252(L&C) out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal note. CHAIR WEYHRAUCH made a motion to adopt Conceptual Amendment 1, to remove "has" from page 1, line 10. There being no objection, Conceptual Amendment 1 was adopted. CHAIR WEYHRAUCH asked whether there were any objections to reporting CSHB 252(L&C), as amended, out of committee. There being no objection, CSHB 252(STA) was reported from the House State Affairs Standing Committee.