HB 319-REMOTE REC.CABIN SITE SALES/LOTTERY SALE Number 2934 CHAIR WEYHRAUCH announced that the next order of business was HOUSE BILL NO. 319, "An Act relating to the disposal of state land by lottery; and relating to the disposal, including sale or lease, of remote recreational cabin sites." Number 2970 JIM POUND, Staff to Representative Hugh Fate, Alaska State Legislature, testifying on behalf of Representative Fate, sponsor, noted that the committee is looking at [the original bill version]. He indicated that there would be an amendment entitled H.2. TAPE 04-14, SIDE B  Number 2987 The committee took an at-ease from 8:50 a.m. to 8:51 a.m. CHAIR WEYHRAUCH turned to an amendment in the committee packet labeled, 23-LS0477\H.1, Bullock, 1/30/04. He stated his understanding that there had been no objection to the first three lines of the amendment during a prior hearing on HB 319. [Although H.1 had been adopted in its entirety as Amendment 1 during the House State Affairs Standing Committee meeting on 2/3/04, the committee addresses it as if it had not been adopted at the prior hearing.] REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked if [the separate issues addressed in Amendment 1, H.1] could be divided into Amendment 1A, [1B, 1C, et cetera]. CHAIR WEYHRAUCH responded, "Yeah, I think so, except this is really going to confuse the record." He asked Mr. Pound if he had any suggestions on "how you want to deal with all this." Number 2931 MR. POUND, in response, pointed out that the part of H.1 and H.2 that addresses page 3, line 2, and page 3, line 5, is the same, while the text referring to page 3, lines 9-12 is "different, so that we define high mineral value." CHAIR WEYHRAUCH suggested that the committee define Amendment 1 as [including only] the first 7 lines of the amendment labeled H.1. Therefore, Amendment 1 read as follows: Page 3, line 2: Delete "12" Insert "24" Page 3, line 5, following "private sale": Insert "under (g) of this section" CHAIR WEYHRAUCH clarified that meant that lines 7 through 21 [numbered on the committee's copy of the amendment] were deleted. Number 2890 CHAIR WEYHRAUCH announced that Amendment 1 was adopted without objection. Number 2860 CHAIR WEYHRAUCH turned to the amendment in the committee packet labeled, 23-LS0477\H.2, Bullock, 2/6/04, which he called Amendment 2. [At the prior House State Affairs Standing Committee meeting, the committee had adopted a conceptual amendment offered by Mr. Pound, which they also called Amendment 2.] CHAIR WEYHRAUCH clarified that the new Amendment 2 would only include the language regarding page 3, lines 9-12, which read as follows: Page 3, lines 9 - 12: Delete all material and insert: "(1) prepare a schedule of land offerings under this section and identify the parcels for disposal each year; the land offerings may not include mineral land selected by the state or lands identified by the department as having a high mineral potential; the department's identification of land having a high mineral potential shall be based on standards adopted by the department in regulations and shall include consideration of a geophysical survey or geological evaluation, if any, that was conducted within 15 calendar years before the year for which the schedule is prepared; and" Number 2781 CHAIR WEYHRAUCH moved [the new] Amendment 2 "for discussion purposes." REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG objected for discussion purposes. Number 2745 MR. POUND explained that [the new] Amendment 2 would give the department the authority to come up with a definition for high mineral potential. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked if the department adopts regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). NANCY WELCH, Special Assistant, Office of the Commissioner, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), answered yes. Number 2685 REPRESENTATIVE SEATON said it seems that [the new Amendment 2] would change the nomination process to the department nominating parcels that will be available for disposal. He asked if he is interpreting that correctly and if that change is intended or not. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said it looks like it is simply a stylistic change, because the phrase "and identify the parcels for disposal each year" was at the end of the paragraph in H.1 [in its original form from the 2/3/04 hearing], whereas in [H.2 - the new Amendment 2] it appears near the beginning of the paragraph. Number 2604 CHAIR WEYHRAUCH remarked that the language [in the new Amendment 2] seems to contemplate the schedule being prepared every year. He said he is not certain that DNR needs to do that every year, and he asked if the language could reflect that the schedule could be prepared "from time to time." MR. POUND indicated that there would be an Amendment 3, and he said, "For the language that is being composed, if that were to be approved by the committee, they would ... ultimately be [on] a year to year basis anyway." Number 2572 MS. WELCH said [DNR] doesn't actually prepare a schedule of land offerings, but the brochures and public notices that it does produce as part of its annual land sales could be considered "such a document." REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said it seems to him that if the department decided not to offer any land one year, it could just say so. MR. POUND said that's correct. [HB 319 was heard and held.]