CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS introduced SB 26 (LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS TO BE HELD IN ANCHORAGE) as the next order of business, and stated testimony would be taken statewide on the teleconference network. Number 475 WAYNE ROSS, an attorney testifying from Anchorage, noted that former Representative Alyce Hanley had been at the Anchorage LIO to testify in support of SB 26, but had to leave because of a prior commitment. Mr. Ross stated he had voted against moving the capital when the issue came up several years ago, but he also believes that people should have the opportunity to see the legislature in action. Further, it would allow more candidates to consider running for the legislature. Mr. Ross spoke to the expense of moving to Juneau and the disruption of families if they accompany the legislator to Juneau; the greater accessibility of the Anchorage area to the rest of the state; and the opportunity his children and other children would have to visit the legislature. Concluding, Mr. Ross urged passage of SB 26. Number 500 MIKE CHRYST of Wasilla testifying from the Mat-Su LIO, stated he agreed with the previous speaker's comments. He said the legislature would be more accessible in Anchorage to a greater number of people. It would be doing the citizens and the legislature a great service to hold the sessions in Anchorage. Number 519 SUSAN GORSKY of Eagle River stated her support for SB 26, saying she believes the legislature is too isolated. If it were moved to Anchorage, the entire railbelt will have very necessary road access. She also believes the increased access will demystify the legislative process for everyone. Number 528 ROGER JENKINS, City Administrator for the City of Nikolai, voiced his support for SB 26. He said Anchorage or South Central is where the people, transportation and community center of the state iare. He said the legislation would help foster better candidates for the legislature, not only better prepared to do business with the legislature, but better prepared to actually run a campaign. Concluding, Mr. Jenkins said the fiscal note of less than $3 million is a lot less than $2.9 billion for moving the capital and is reasonable. Number 560 BEAVER BENTLEY of Homer said while is in favor of moving the legislature from Juneau to make better access for the people, he has some concerns with the legislation. He questioned if the wording in the bill meant that the legislature was going to find a new location in Anchorage every year, which he said would be disruptive. He suggested the legislature would need a permanent location in Anchorage. He further suggested there would need to be a permanent hook-up with Juneau so that legislators could research their bills with archives. CHAIRMAN RANDY PHILLIPS clarified that the Legislative Council would be the mechanism to set up the logistics for moving the legislature from Juneau to Anchorage. Anchorage has agreed to do everything they can to float a revenue bond for a place for the legislature to meet, which he thought would be a long- term lease agreement with the Municipality of Anchorage. TAPE 93-4, SIDE B Number 010 BYRON BONDURANT of Soldotna stated he supports SB 26 because he thinks it is very necessary that the legislature not be so isolated and insulated from the people that they represent. He suggested to speed up the process, the legislature should pass a bill which would eliminate the possibility of any expansion or renovation of any facilities in Juneau. Number 030 MYRNA MAYNARD of Anchorage testified in support of SB 26. She said there is great deal of movement each year as the legislators move back and forth between Anchorage and Juneau. She said moving the legislature would bring it closer to the greater student body, and she believes it is important for children to be able to go and see the legislature in action. Number 050 DICK BOGARD of Sterling spoke in favor of moving the legislature to a central location some place in the state near the people. Access to the people and access to the legislative body and the legislative body to the people is desirable. He spoke to the expense of legislators getting to Juneau and for anyone other than the paid lobbyists to get down there to them. Number 100 VERONICA SLAJER of Anchorage testified against SB 26. She said although she recognizes the positive side of bringing the legislature closer to the majority of the people, she believes that in the coming years there are going to be other issues that will be of a much more higher priority than moving the legislature. She questioned if the fiscal note for approximately $3 million includes any penalties that may occur from breaking leases and moving people around in Juneau and the cost for commissioners and agency people to travel to Anchorage to participate in the legislative process. She added there should be more exact figures before considering moving the legislature. CHAIRMAN RANDY PHILLIPS interjected that the fiscal notes on the bill would be presented to the committee on the following Tuesday for its consideration. Number 125 LARRY IRVING testified from Fairbanks in opposition to the concept of moving the legislature to Anchorage. He said he believes there are other issues of much greater importance to take care of at this time. He said the concept that the capital must be in the largest city in the state has not been pursued by many of Alaska's neighbor states where the capitals are somewhere away from the largest city. He pointed out there are people in Fairbanks, there are people in Juneau, and there are people in Barrow, so he wondered which people did they want to bring it closer to. Number 150 EARL WESTPHAL of Sterling stated his strong support for SB 26, just like he supported the capital move a few years ago. It makes sense to have state business taking place where there is the greatest number of citizens that are affected by the legislation. He suggested that if there was a problem with finding adequate space to house the legislature in Anchorage, there was an empty shopping mall in Kenai that would welcome the legislature. Number 182 DOROTHY GILMORE, a resident of Chugiak, stated her support for a capital move to the Willow area, saying she believes that with all the important issues before us, we can't afford not to move the government to the people. Legislators need to be closer to the majority of the people to get their ideas on the issues. CHAIRMAN RANDY PHILLIPS reiterated that the bill only addresses moving the legislature and not the capital. Number 191 BRUCE MARION, President of the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce, voiced his support for SB 26 given that half of the population of the state lives in close proximity to Anchorage. Additionally, Anchorage has more school students than Juneau has in total population. SB 26 offers the opportunity to many constituents to hold their legislator accountable, and it would also the allow the people to offer their testimony in person regarding issues that are close to them instead of paid lobbyists dictating which direction the legislators should take. Number 200 AUDREY LEE stated her strong support for SB 26. Although the final fiscal note has not been completed, she believes that in the long run moving the legislature will save money because of the large number of legislators that are from the area. She suggested that eliminating the per diem for those legislators who are residents of the city in which the legislature convenes could be another way to save money. Number 220 CARL BENSON of Fairbanks said the basic idea of a capital move has been voted on a number of times and failed three out of four times. He said it was a poor idea to move the capital and it is a worse idea to split the capital. He suggested as a better alternative to work on forms of effective telecommunications, especially for the rural areas. He stated his strong opposition to SB 26. Number 245 TONYA TOWNSEND of Anchorage voiced her support for SB 26 and said her main concern is accessibility to the legislature. She said she believes the legislature would act more efficiently if it were under the scrutiny of the majority of the population. Number 275 MARK HODGINS of Kenai stated his full support for moving the sessions to an area more accessible to the majority of the population. He said that's representative government. He said the expense of getting to Juneau in time and money keeps a tremendous amount of people from appearing before the legislature. He also spoke to his frustrations in trying to get to Juneau when the weather conditions are bad. He further addressed the expense to municipal governments in getting their people to Juneau. Concluding his comments, Mr. Hodgins said he has had a lot of people talk to him about moving the sessions from Juneau and he would be glad to form a grass roots organization on the Kenai to get some petitions going. Number 310 ESTHER WUNNICKE of Anchorage implored the committee to be careful in the passage of SB 26, saying it is a matter of so much importance that it should go before the people of the state for a vote. Speaking from her own experience as Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources for four years, she said she learned the importance of the commissioners and the members of the executive branch being in the same place as the legislative branch. She cautioned that moving the legislature will mean moving many members of the executive branch and many people out of the Governor's Office, etc. Number 350 DALE BONDURANT of Soldotna stated his support for SB 26. He said Alaska has the hardest access to their legislature of any state in the United States, and he estimated that presently five percent of the people have the ability to get there. Number 365 RHONDA MARCY of Wasilla voiced her strong support for SB 26, saying she thinks that Alaska has the only legislature in the United States that a citizen does not have direct access to. She believes it would be much more effective if constituents could meet with their legislators in person rather than having to talk over the teleconference network. Number 400 KATIE HURLEY of Wasilla, a former legislator as well a former employee of the legislature in many capacities, said the legislation will not make the legislature more effective to the public. She said there are many ways right now to make the legislature more accessible. It would also be a costly maneuver to have the legislative branch so far removed from administrative offices and the administration would be traveling constantly. She suggested that the way to improve the legislature is to have meaningful campaign reform so that more individuals can afford to run for public office. Concluding her comments, Ms. Hurley said she believes the bill is just another attempt at moving the capital and there are more important issues that should be addressed. Number 430 There being no further witnesses wishing to testify, CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS closed the hearing on SB 26, stating it would be back before the committee on Tuesday. He adjourned the meeting at 10:32 a.m.