HJR 20 - CONFERENCE OF THE STATES The final measure to come before the committee was HJR 20, sponsored by CHAIRMAN BARNES. She stated that this resolution authorizes the state of Alaska to send an official delegation to represent the people of Alaska at a Conference of the States, in 1996. This conference would be the first formal meeting of the 50 states since 1786. She noted that the conference will convene no later than 270 days after at least 26 legislatures adopt similar resolutions and that Alaska would be represented by five voting members consisting of the governor and four legislators, two from each body. The action plan to be voted on at this conference will be called a States' Petition. It will be presented to each state in the form of a resolution for ratification, then presented to Congress as the will of the states of the Union. Chairman Barnes said that since 1990 alone, the federal government has enacted over 40 major statutes imposing expensive regulations and requirements on state and local governments. This is first step toward reversing the trend and restoring the balanced system of government envisioned by the Tenth Amendment. Number 100 BRIAN WEBERG, Program Director, Legislative Management, National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL), supports the measure and added that three states, Kentucky, Utah, Virginia, as of January 27, 1995, had passed this resolution. In six other states, it has passed at least one house chamber and has been introduced in 19 other states. He said he anticipates more states becoming interested in this type of legislation. MR. WEBERG stated that many states have Tenth Amendments on their agendas and the bill is a way to bring the issues forward in a coordinated way. Number 142 CHAIRMAN BARNES added that she's pleased to see NCSL take a more active part in state's rights' issues. REPRESENTATIVE ELDON MULDER echoed Chairman Barnes remarks about the leadership role that NCSL has taken in regards to states' rights. Number 155 REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS asked what kind of feedback had NCSL received from Congress. MR. WEBERG reported that Congress was very receptive to this kind of initiative. He stated that a meeting would take place in March, in Washington, D.C. He said state legislators, with the new congressional leaders and Administration, will get a good notion of how they feel and, probably at that point, NCSL would know if this is going to go forward. MR. WEBERG also said that since no states' conference of this nature had taken place in over 200 years, both the press and public would be focused on this. If a unified opinion comes out of this, it's going to be heard. Number 188 MR. KREINHEDER, OMB, offered a statement of support from the Knowles Administration for HJR 20. The Administration believes some of the important areas would be welfare reform, education, environmental protection and health care. In many other cases, what works for some states will not work in some places. CHAIRMAN BARNES expressed to Mr. Kreinheder how appreciative she was of the Administration's support and asked him to convey her sentiments to the Administration. Number 214 REPRESENTATIVE MULDER voiced concern that the proposed convention through this legislation was a viable alternative to a Constitutional Convention. REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS made the motion to move HJR 20 out of committee. CHAIRMAN BARNES asked if there was an objection. Hearing none, it was so ordered.