CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 84(FIN) "An Act relating to applying military education, training, and service credit to occupational licensing and certain postsecondary education and employment training requirements; providing for a temporary occupational license for qualified military service members; and providing for an effective date." 9:30:22 AM REPRESENTATIVE DAN SADDLER, gave a sponsor statement: According to the Department of Defense, the September 2012, jobless rate for post-9/11 veterans was 9.9% with young male Veterans (ages 18 to 24) experiencing an unemployment rate of 18.1 percent. Last year, Alaska had over 1200 service members separate from the military from our posts and bases. These are 1200 potential workers who could contribute to our state's economy. It is our responsibility to assist their transition into our work force swiftly and appropriately. Our nation's military is one of the most highly trained in the world. These men and women who undertake this challenge face unique challenges and sacrifice many things that the general population does not. We owe it to our men and women to ensure that their distinctive set of skills do not go to waste once they separate from the military. These highly trained individuals deserve to remain productive members of society and to be able to provide for their families. HB 84 requires the Division of Professional Licensing, University of Alaska and vocational educational facilities to examine the credentials of related military experience. Relevant military experience would be credited for licensing requirements and educational credit would be granted for appropriate training. In the last 10 years our military has seen record numbers of deployments. HB 84 is one way we can show our thanks and allow our service members the opportunity to create positive and productive futures. Representative Saddler shared that service members often experience delays and lost opportunities qualifying for licenses and academic credit even though they had highly qualified training and experience. The legislation would make it more likely that veterans in Alaska could get jobs and advance their civilian careers by accelerating the licensing process and the process of gaining educational credit. The state currently faced forced reductions and significant budget cuts, coupled by the sequestration, which could force more veterans to seek civilian jobs. He said that 19 states had enacted legislation similar to HB 84 as of July 2012, and 30 were considering similar legislation in 2013. He believed that the state had an obligation to find ways to give Alaska's veterans every opportunity to leverage their military experience into academic credit, job certification or vocational training credits. 9:32:40 AM MARK SAN SOUCI, REGIONAL LIAISON FOR MILITARY FAMILIES NORTHWEST, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, TACOMA, WASHINGTON (via teleconference), expressed the departments support and gratitude for the legislation. He noted that the training that members of the military received was paid for by federal tax dollars. Additionally, the department supported the 2014 effective date. 9:33:59 AM Senator Bishop spoke to Section 4 of the bill. He commented that the Department of Labor should reach out to organizations that already accepted military records on their military discharge papers for application to apprenticeship programs. 9:35:13 AM Co-Chair Meyer CLOSED public testimony. Co-Chair Kelly MOVED to REPORT CS HB 84(FIN) out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. Co-Chair Meyer OBJECTED for the purpose of discussion. 9:35:44 AM Vice-Chair Fairclough noted the multiple zero fiscal notes. 9:35:59 AM Representative Saddler noted that former Representative Bill Thomas had done much of the initial work on the legislation. Vice-Chair Fairclough queried fiscal notes. Co-Chair Meyer REMOVED his OBJECTION. There being NO further OBJECTION, it was so ordered. CS HB 84(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass" recommendation and with previously published zero fiscal notes: FN1 (EED), FN2 (LWF), FN3 (UA), and FN5 (CED). 9:37:35 AM AT EASE 9:38:31 AM RECONVENED