HOUSE BILL NO. 121 "An Act relating to occupational safety and health enforcement penalties; and providing for an effective date." 10:28:29 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon reported that the bill had been heard on April 11, 2018. She asked Vice-Chair Bishop to review the fiscal note. Vice-Chair Bishop discussed the fiscal note from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DLWD), OMB Component Number 970. The note reflected a change in revenue of $230,200 in FY 19 and $460,400 in FY 20 through FY 24. He read from the second and third paragraphs in the analysis on page 2: The regulations resulting from this legislation will initially adjust maximum and minimum civil penalties for inflation going back to 1990, and then adjust penalties yearly according to changes in the U.S. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). It is anticipated that these changes will result in an additional $460.4 in revenue to the general fund each year. Given the length of time it takes to implement regulations changes, it is anticipated that the revenue increase will occur about halfway into FY 2019. Therefore, the FY 2019 revenue increase will only be half of this amount. 10:30:29 AM Co-Chair MacKinnon asked the bill sponsor and staff to provide a brief bill overview. REPRESENTATIVE SAM KITO, SPONSOR, shared that the bill had been requested by DLWD, which would bring Alaska up to federal standards for the Alaska Office of Safety and Health. The bill would allow the department to change fees with regulation to keep up with a consumer price index (CPI) increase expected from the federal government on an annual basis and would avoid the need to return to the legislature annually to adjust the fees. The bill would theoretically increase some revenue, but there was also significant flexibility, so it was not as though penalties would just increase. He elaborated that if employers were complying there was a negotiated process by which the fees could be waived or decreased in order to focus on the goal of improving worker safety in Alaska. It was not a matter of being punitive, but of trying to keep up with the federal requirements; if the state did not keep up with federal requirements it stood to lose some federal funding and potentially the ability to implement its own occupational safety and health office. 10:32:08 AM Vice-Chair Bishop MOVED to REPORT HB 121 from committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. HB 121 was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass" recommendation and with one previously published fiscal impact note: FN2 (LWF). 10:32:46 AM AT EASE 10:35:11 AM RECONVENED Co-Chair MacKinnon handed the gavel to Vice-Chair Bishop.