SENATE BILL NO. 101 "An Act amending the definition of 'disaster.'" This was the third hearing for this bill. Co-Chair John Torgerson brought the committee's attention to a proposed committee substitute, Version "I", noting that it added language to page 3 lines 19-21. Senator Randy Phillips moved for adoption of CS SB 101 Version "I". Without objection, it was adopted. Co-Chair John Torgerson said it was his intention to hear testimony on the new version of the bill and then address the proposed amendments. GENERAL PHIL OATES, Commissioner, Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, testified via teleconference from Fort Richardson. He stated that the proposed legislation relating to disasters and the disaster relief fund would impact two of the most fundamental responsibilities of government. First, was the requirement to provide rapid response and assistance to disasters and secondly, to do so in a fiscally responsible manner. His testimony was given to help the committee establish the proper balance between the two. General Oats went through the bill by section. He noted he was operating off of the version adopted the prior week (Version "H"). He began with Section 2 saying that the proposed legislation indicated that the Governor must submit finance plans for disaster declarations in which he or she intended to expend general funds. He had no objection to that change noting that it was an administrative requirement that the department could meet. Also under Section 2, existing legislation dictated that a special session be convened within five days unless the presiding officers of both the House of Representatives and the Senate advised the Governor in writing that a special session should not be convened. The proposed legislation would not only direct the Governor to convene a special session within five days it also deleted the Governor's authority to act if the session was not convened. General Oats had objections to that provision. First, he noted the high costs to convene a special session. Normally, the Legislature was not is session when disasters occurred. He had reviewed the Division of Emergency Services records and concluded that an average of three special sessions per year would be required under this provision. He also had objection to the elimination of the Governor's ability to act by legislative inaction. He felt that was not a good policy. He thought the current law gave the Legislature more flexibility and would still allow them to come together when necessary. In fact, he noted it was the responsibility of the Executive Branch to ensure that the Legislature had prompt and continuing access to information to determine whether a special session was necessary or whether a disaster declaration should continue. Section 3 in the proposed legislation limited the Governor's authority to expend more than $1 million nonspecific or $5 million for specific instances. He defined nonspecific funds as those present in the disaster relief fund. Specific instances he defined as those contained in the list of disasters provided for in the legislation after a presidential declaration. He felt those amounts were too restrictive. Normally, the division would be unable to obtain a presidential declaration for the $5 million. He stressed that the presidential declaration may happen overnight, it usually took days or sometimes months to get. He also opposed to the provision limiting flood relief to once per community. He shared that nearly every community in Alaska had flooded at least once. This would also penalize communities that could not obtain flood insurance. It could possibly eliminate federal participation in future flooding events without the Governor's ability to match federal funds. He added that the Division of Emergency Services was currently requiring flood insurance through the regulatory process. Section 4 in existing legislation was sufficiently broad enough to allow the Governor to declare and respond to disasters caused by natural and manmade events, according to General Oats. The proposed legislation would limit the types of disasters to specific events identified in the bill. He stressed that it was easy to define a disaster, but difficult to make a list that delineated all the events that would create a possible disaster. He gave examples not included in the bill as drought, erosion, ice storms, shipwrecks, aircraft crashes, train wrecks, prolonged severe cold, water or solid contamination, human error, Y2K failures and many others. He suggested following FEMA's description of disasters and list "including" events of certain types. He felt that would be more prudent than limiting the disasters to specific events. Co-Chair John Torgerson noted a proposed amendment that changed the special session requirements. It would change the provision to require a polling of the Legislature to determine whether a special session would be convened for each instance. He noted another proposed conceptual amendment addressing floods that would allow a one-time $5 million coverage and another $1 million coverage be provided without Legislative approval. Senator Al Adams made another suggestion relating to the declaration of disasters on page 4 line 11 to insert "weather" between the words, "severe storms". This could take into account some of events not yet covered. Senator Lyda Green asked if the commissioner had a definition for "emergency". General Oates suggested following FEMA's definition for emergencies and disasters. FEMA defined emergency as, "any occasion or instance for which in the determination of the president, federal assistance is needed to implement state and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and protect property and public health and safety or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States." It also when on to define major disaster and used the word "including", which he felt was important because it was not limiting language. JOHN ALCANTRA, Emergency Management Coordinator, Kenai Peninsula Borough, testified via teleconference from Kenai. Prior to this position, he served as chief of staff on previous two federal disaster declarations in Alaska: the 1995 SouthCentral Flood Disaster, and the 1996 Millers Reach Fire. He shared General Oats' concerns with the bill including the restriction of the one-time flood. He proposed consulting with the State Emergency Response Commission that would be meeting in Anchorage on April 14. There was also a Local Emergency Planning Committee that would be meeting the day before. He suggested the Legislature work with the members of these organizations who dealt with emergency management. He noted there were paid staff and volunteers in many of the municipalities throughout the state. He requested a member of the Senate address the commission. John Alcantra continued that he felt there was room for improvement with the better administration of funds and local government participation in the process. He said issues of communities receiving flood assistance too often could be addressed with regulatory changes easier than in statutes. He agreed with General Oates on Section 4 that the definitions of disasters should be left open to allow unforeseen events such as severe cold and Y2K failures. Co-Chair John Torgerson announced that the committee would try to address all the issues involved with this bill before moving it from the committee. He stated that the bill would not be held pending the aforementioned meetings. He recommended the organizations submit recommendations to the committee in writing. BOB STEWART, Emergency Management Coordinator, Municipality of Anchorage testified via teleconference from Anchorage. He concurred with General Oats' comments as well. He focused on Sections 3 and 4. He felt that by limiting the funding for events related to floods, the wording itself could be punitive to those communities that had floods or would have floods under this provision unless funding for mitigation was built in. He also wanted to know the definition of "community". It was unclear to him since it could refer to a portion of the municipality's jurisdiction, or also refer to types of floods. He warned that without clarification, the legislation would penalize local governments for the twenty-five percent match that they would ordinarily obtain from the state when there was a federally declared disaster. He next addressed Section 4 and echoed General Oats' comments that when the events were listed in law, invariably some events would be disregarded since all could not be listed. However in the interest of moving the legislation forward, he suggested adding "shelters" to the language. In a Y2K environment, there could be shelter problems that would require the declaration of a disaster emergency. He also recommended that if the bill was going to list qualified disasters, it include Y2K and aviation disasters. Co-Chair John Torgerson requested the testimony be submitted to the committee in writing that day. Co-Chair John Torgerson ordered the bill held in committee.