SB 28 - UNINCORP. COMMUNITY MATCHING GRANTS CHAIRMAN MACKIE called the Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee meeting to order at 1:35 p.m., and noted the presence of Senators Phillips, Hoffman, Donley and Mackie. CHAIRMAN MACKIE announced SB 28 would be taken up as the first order of business. He noted there was a draft committee substitute which is substantially different than the original bill and is the result of his working with Senator Torgerson on several issues. SENATOR JOHN TORGERSON, prime sponsor of SB 28, speaking to the committee substitute, said the thrust behind the bill was to let unincorporated communities that are in organized boroughs also participate in the unincorporated community matching grant program. Currently, that grant money is only available if the community is outside of a borough. Senator Torgerson outlined the following revisions to the Unincorporated Community Capital Project Matching Grant Program: . The legislation provides that the unincorporated communities in an organized area must come up with a 30 percent match in money similar to the way boroughs do for their Capital Matching Grant Program. This does not change the existing unincorporated communities outside the boroughs from the current required match of 5 percent; . It changes the program so that a community must have a project in order to be granted the money. Currently, a grant is given regardless if there is a project on the books or not; . It revises the fund distribution so projects can be based on health and safety considerations subject to a ranking system put together by the department. It is anticipated that the ranking system would be something similar to the Department of Environmental Conservation's ranking process for water projects, as well as other ranking criteria that's used across the board in other departments; . It requires the governor to include projects in his capital projects which would then come to the Legislature for final appropriation; and . It changes the lapse time of the program from five years to four years. If a community has a project approved, it can accumulate money for up to four years for a same project since the maximum that be granted in one fiscal year is $25,000. Senator Torgerson directed attention to backup information containing a list of incorporated areas by Senate district, the communities that are currently in the program by Senate district, and the communities that would be added to the program. He noted that it roughly doubles the number of entities that could be eligible for this program. Number 090 CHAIRMAN MACKIE asked Senator Torgerson what happens if the projects that are submitted to the Legislature by the governor and agencies are funded below the amount requested for the $25,000 grants to these communities. SENATOR TORGERSON responded that is where they anticipate the ranking system would kick in and projects would be ranked by the departments based on health and safety considerations. He also noted that unincorporated areas inside of boroughs must have borough assembly approval for projects and the borough assemblies must recognize a nonprofit entity that's going to represent that area. Number 115 SENATOR HOFFMAN said the legislation seems to treat all of the unincorporated communities much more fairly, but he expressed concern that Section 2 changes the amount of the grant from a minimum of $25,000 to a maximum of $25,000, so a community can accumulate up to $100,000 over a four-year period, but in many rural areas of the state it is conceivable that $100,000 wouldn't even cover a forty by sixty building. SENATOR TORGERSON responded that there are other processes to go through to receive grant money, and this was never intended to be everything for an unincorporated community to pick projects without having some kind of fiscal restraint on it. He said this levels the playing field, and by going to the maximum, probably more communities can be squeezed in if they have smaller requests to begin with. Number 180 SENATOR PHILLIPS directed attention to page 2, line 2 and the phrase "social unit," which he thought should be defined in the legislation. SENATOR TORGERSON replied that it was a good point, and that he would check with the drafter to see if it should be further defined. Number 200 Responding to an inquiry by Chairman Mackie, SENATOR TORGERSON explained that the original legislation included recognized nonprofits within the state of Alaska, but it was taken out in a sponsor substitute, and he has no intention of expanding the legislation. He added that some entities aren't communities as defined by unincorporated community and filed under the state as a recognized unincorporated community, and that might be why "social unit" was included in the legislation. Number 256 KIM METCALFE-HELMAR, Special Assistant, Department of Community & Regional Affairs, said the department had not had a chance to look over the new committee substitute, but she thought the establishment of a ranking system would change program administration significantly. There being no further testimony on SB 28, CHAIRMAN MACKIE requested a motion to adopt the committee substitute and to move the bill out of committee. SENATOR PHILLIPS moved the adoption of CSSB 28(CRA) and to move CSSB 28(CRA) out of committee with individual recommendations. Hearing no objection, it was so ordered.