SENATE BILL NO. 6 "An Act exempting the state from daylight saving time; and providing for an effective date." 9:01:46 AM Vice-Chair Micciche MOVED to ADOPT the proposed committee substitute for SB 6, Work Draft 29-LS0111\N (Shutts, 3/2/15). Senator Dunleavy OBJECTED for discussion. ERIN SHINE, STAFF, SENATOR ANNA MACKINNON, stated there were two new sections in the committee substitute. She looked at page 1, line 12, which added a requirement that the governor petition the U.S. Department of Transportation 21 days after the effective date of that section. She looked at page 2, line 11, which provided the immediate effective date for Section 2 for the petition. The effective date for Section 1, which was the elimination of daylight saving time remained January 1, 2017. Senator Dunleavy wondered if the bill was intended to start a process for the U.S. Department of Transportation to examine the issue. The department could deny the change if they felt that it did not have a positive impact on commerce. Ms. Shine replied in the affirmative. She explained that the petition would not trigger the time zone change in Alaska. Senator Dunleavy asserted that the department must find that the change had a positive impact on commerce. Ms. Shine responded in the affirmative. Co-Chair MacKinnon queried the requirements that the department used to consider a time zone change. Ms. Shine referred to a document "Procedure for Moving and Area from One Time Zone to Another" (copy on file). The overarching substantial requirement would be to decide whether the change to a time zone was convenient for commerce. Senator Dunleavy WITHDREW his OBJECTION. There being NO further OBJECTION, Work Draft 29-LS0111\N was ADOPTED. MIKE STEDMAN, OWNER, ALASKA SEAPLANES, JUNEAU, testified against the legislation. He felt that the bill was did not benefit commerce. He stated that his company had several flights that operated late into the evenings, so losing an hour of daylight would affect those operations substantially. He stated that the five hour time difference from the east coast would be difficult for acquiring parts. He shared that he was also personally against the legislation, because it would affect evening recreation. 9:07:09 AM Senator Olson wondered if there were conversations with the other extreme of the time zone in Alaska. Mr. Stedman replied that the other operators had similar concerns. Senator Olson asked if those businesses were aligned with Mr. Stedman's perspective. Mr. Stedman replied in the affirmative. Co-Chair MacKinnon shared that she had received a letter from a float plane operating company that was in support of the legislation, because they dealt with issues of fog in the early morning. Senator Bishop asked for a timeframe of the most impacted evening flying. Mr. Stedman replied that the bill would negatively affect evening flying beginning in mid-July to mid-September. CRAIG DAHL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JUNEAU CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, JUNEAU, spoke against the legislation. He shared that there was a survey conducted among the Chamber members, and over 25 percent of the members answered the survey. He stated that 74 percent of those responding were against SB 6. He furthered that 20 percent were in favor and 6 percent had no opinion. The comments fell into two groups: 1) the loss of one hour of daylight affecting tour operations; and 2) the differential in time change with the Alaska's adjacent market areas. Co-Chair MacKinnon wondered if the members were informed about the other issues of why the bill was proposed. Mr. Dahl replied that the members were presented a straight- forward yes or no answer option. The members were also provided a link to the Senate Finance Committee survey. 9:12:23 AM DAN CORSON, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, WINGS AIRWAYS, JUNEAU, spoke against the legislation. He echoed Mr. Stedman's comments. He shared that the bill would cause a 15 percent loss of business. Senator Olson wondered if there was a concern from federal officials as to whether the bill would have enforcement action against pilots or the air taxi. Mr. Corson replied that he had not heard from the federal government about enforcement action. Senator Olson stressed that he was concerned with flight standards of the federal government. He wondered if federal agencies had voiced an opinion on the bill. Mr. Corson replied that he had not heard from any federal agencies. JIM PARISE, DIRECTOR FIXED INCOME, ALASKA PERMANENT FUND, JUNEAU, commented against the legislation. He stressed that they often recruited employees, based on a nice quality of life in Juneau. He remarked that pushing the beginning of the day to 4am, would cause many employees to get to bed around 7pm. Vice-Chair Micciche wondered if Mr. Parise would be in support of two time zones in the state, as long as Juneau was only four hours from New York City. Mr. Parise was only commenting on the original bill. Co-Chair MacKinnon explained that the current bill stated that there would be an elimination of daylight savings, so half of the year would be a four hour difference and half of the year would be a five hour difference from New York City. The bill would petition the federal government to advance Alaska to Pacific Time. Mr. Parise felt that the Pacific Time would be less troublesome, but there would still be some confusion as to what time to conduct business with New York. 9:17:19 AM Vice-Chair Micciche surmised that a new time zone would see an improvement from four hours to three hours. Mr. Parise agree. Co-Chair MacKinnon wondered if Mr. Parise was in opposition. Mr. Parise stated that he was entering comments. LYNN WILLIS, SELF, EAGLE RIVER (via teleconference), testified in support of the legislation. He felt that the arguments supporting daylight saving time were not sufficient in forcing 700,000 Alaskans to observe the archaic law twice a year. He felt that the intent of the federal law authorizing daylight saving time was to save energy, and he felt that there was no testimony indicating a reduction of energy costs by observing daylight saving time. Co-Chair MacKinnon apologized for not hearing Mr. Willis's testimony at the bills previous hearing. TOM LAURENT, SELF, PETERSBURG (via teleconference), spoke against the original version of SB 6. He shared that moving Southeast Alaska to the Alaska Standard Time lost an hour of daylight during the summers. He was did not want to lose another hour of evening daylight. 9:21:51 AM PAULA RAK, SELF, WRANGELL (via teleconference), testified against the original version legislation. She did not want to lose an hour of daylight in the evenings. She felt that an hour of daylight at 2am did not provide for a better quality of life. STUART COHEN, OWNER, INVISIBLE WORLD, JUNEAU, spoke against the legislation. He stated that the legislation would impact his business in a number of ways. He shared that the evening tourist business after dinner was approximately 10 percent of the sales for the year. He felt that removing the light may force cruise ship passengers to remain on the boat. 9:26:17 AM TOM WILLIAMS, FINANCIAL OFFICER, WARD AIR, JUNEAU, testified against the legislation. He felt that the legislation would adversely impact his business and personal life. He felt that the initial drivers of the legislation included health and safety issues; and also the time zone issue. He felt that the original bill would have an adverse effect on the Southeast Alaska economy. DAVID BERG, VIKING TRAVEL, PETERSBURG (via teleconference), spoke against the legislation. He felt that the health issues that some likened to daylight savings time would still occur at various times of the year. He felt that the visitors to Alaska would be confused by the different time zones. 9:32:18 AM MARINA LINDSEY, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke against the legislation. She felt that eliminating daylight saving time would only further separate Alaska from the contiguous United States. She worked in an office that was based in Maryland, and hoped that she would not need to arrive to work earlier, should the legislation pass. RICK CURRIER, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke in opposition to the legislation. He shared that he and his wife were each teachers, and saw a disruption in students. Even though he had experienced a negative disruption, he was against the legislation. He felt that Juneau was already in the wrong time zone. DOROTHY WILSON, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), felt that Southeast Alaska should not be a different time zone than the rest of the state. She shared that she conducted business throughout the state, and felt that splitting time zones in the state would have an adverse effect on her business and personal life. 9:38:59 AM PATTI MACKEY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, KETCHIKAN VISITORS BUREAU, KETCHIKAN (via teleconference), spoke against the legislation. She relayed that some of the tourism businesses in Ketchikan would be negatively impacted by the loss of evening daylight. She remarked that some of the maritime vessel operations would also be negatively impacted. She focused her comments on the impact on the cruise ship industry. POSIE BOGGS, SELF, ANCHORAGE (via teleconference), spoke against SB 6. She shared that there were 23 national health centers that were reflected in Alaska's health non-profits. She shared that she was a volunteer for literacy non- profits, and her colleagues were online late at night from the eastern part of the U.S. She felt that it would disrupt the health work, because it often took weeks to take phone meetings with researchers. MARY DESMET, SELF, JUNEAU (via teleconference), spoke against the legislation. She stated that she had experienced all of the time zone changes in Alaska. She stressed that Alaska was a large state, so most of the impacts were related to Southeast Alaska. She felt that issue was extremely complicated. She urged the committee to examine the issue further, and she felt that the statistics in the polls did not reflect accurate data. She urged the committee to focus on other issues. 9:46:12 AM BRETT CARLSON, SELF, COLDFOOT (via teleconference), testified against the legislation. He appreciated the efforts of the committee. He stressed that it started to get darker in the Arctic region beginning in August. He stated that it was important that there be sunlight for the flight seeing industry. He remarked that time zone change would eliminate the ability to operate the tours in the last quarter of the season. Senator Olson stressed that safety was the paramount concern in the air travel industry. He wondered how the legislation would impact Mr. Carlson's safety operations. Mr. Carson replied that he also operated an air taxi service. He stated that Alaskans tended to fly later in the evening. He stressed that the adjustment to early evening departure times in the late summer was in order to avoid the darkness. He remarked that many rural aircrafts did not have sophisticated lighting and navigation systems. Co-Chair MacKinnon CLOSED public testimony. Co-Chair MacKinnon remarked that there was a zero fiscal note. She wondered if the committee substitute would require a change in the fiscal note. 9:53:22 AM TOM MAYOR, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF GENERAL SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION, JUNEAU (via teleconference), responded that the department did not anticipate a change to the fiscal note. Vice-Chair Micciche MOVED to REPORT CS SB 6 (FIN) out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Senator Hoffman commented that he understood the impacts of the legislation on Southeast Alaska. He was a strong supporter of keeping the capital in Juneau. He shared that he represented western Alaska, and remarked that Dutch Harbor was closer to Tokyo than it was to Washington D.C. He stressed that there were many parts of the state that would see a great benefit to the legislation. He stated that every portion of the state of Alaska supported the legislation in the survey that was provided by the committee. Co-Chair MacKinnon explained that there was a survey that Alaskans could take on the Senate Finance Committee website. CSSB 6 (FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass" recommendation and with one previously published zero fiscal note: FN1 (ADM). 9:57:37 AM AT EASE 10:04:22 AM RECONVENED