SENATE BILL NO. 10 "An Act establishing a grant program to provide to essential workers the tuition and fees to attend a state-supported postsecondary educational institution." 10:44:19 AM SENATOR TOM BEGICH, SPONSOR, discussed the legislation and introduced his support staff. The bill would provide for essential workers up to 4 years of free tuition at state institutions. 10:45:28 AM Co-Chair Bishop MOVED to ADOPT Amendment 1: Page 3, Line 4: Delete "$10,000,000" Insert "2,500,000" Co-Chair Stedman OBJECTED for discussion. Co-Chair Bishop spoke to Amendment 1. He noted that the amendment sought to fix an inconsistency between the intent of the bill and the language in the legislation. Co-Chair Stedman WITHDREW his OBJECTION. Amendment 1 was ADOPTED. Senator Wilson MOVED to WITHDRAWN Amendment 2. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Senator Wilson MOVED to ADOPT Amendment 3: Co-Chair Bishop OBJECTED for discussion. Senator Wilson spoke to Amendment 3. He relayed that the amendment would add a section to the bill recommending that at least 20 percent of the grants went to trade schools. He said that there was a shortage of skilled labor in the state and the amendment would insure the preparation for a skilled workforce in the state. Co-Chair Bishop asked for the Division of Legislative Legal to speak to the amendment. 10:47:40 AM Senator Wilson referenced a memo. NOAH KLEIN, COUNSEL, LEGAL SERVICES, LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS AGENCY (via teleconference), said that Article 1, section 7, of the Constitution of the State of Alaska prohibits the expenditure of public funds for the direct benefit of private educational institutions. He said that amendment 3 raised questions because it allowed for the potential of fund to be spent to the direct benefit of a private school. Senator Wilson noted that the Alaska Performance Scholarship provided funds for many vocation and skilled labor schooling. He said that previous Covid-19 funding had gone to Alaska Bible College and Alaska Christian College. He felt that the state had consistently funded private programs and if there was a constitutional issue with the amendment then the state should cease funding all of the programs he mentioned. Mr. Klein offered to get back to the committee on the issue. He pointed out Alaska Supreme Court precedent involved a postsecondary school, Sheldon Jackson College, and provided a three-part test to determine whether public funds were being provided to a private entity. 10:50:19 AM Senator Begich asserted that CARES Act funding had included a requirement to fund private schools. He was not opposed to the principal of the amendment, but he was concerned with the legal memo questioning the amendment's constitutionality. Senator Wilson asked whether there was someone online who could speak to the issue. 10:51:18 AM SANA EFIRD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALASKA COMMISSION ON POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT (via teleconference), stated that under AS 14.43.830, the state had institutional authorization to qualify certain postsecondary institutions based on specific eligibility criteria to be eligible to receive public funds. 10:52:16 AM AT EASE 10:53:35 AM RECONVENED Senator Wielechowski wondered whether the amendment would allow for funds to be expended to schools outside of the state. Senator Wilson stated the intent was for the provision to apply to schools within the state of Alaska. Co-Chair Bishop thought Amendment 3 needed more scrutiny. Co-Chair Bishop MAINTAINED his OBJECTION. Senator Wilson WITHDREW Amendment 3. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. 10:55:00 AM Senator Wilson MOVED to ADOPT Amendment 4. Co-Chair Bishop OBJECTED for discussion. Senator Wilson spoke to Amendment 4. He said that the intent was to replace the state supported postsecondary institution with a postsecondary institution approved by the Commission on Postsecondary Education, which would allow grants to be used for both state supported and private institutions. Senator Wielechowski asked for an opinion from a legislative attorney. He thought the amendment had the same problem as the previous amendment. Co-Chair Bishop agreed. 10:56:22 AM Mr. Klein thought the same constitutional question arose from Amendment 4 as had for the previous amendment. Senator Wilson believed that there were mechanisms in place in statute allowed for public dollars to be spent on private schools. He stressed that if the practice was not constitutional then the statutes should be changed. Co-Chair Bishop WITHDREW his OBJECTION. Senator Wielechowski OBJECTED. Senator Begich shared that he did not think the amendment met the intent of the bill. 10:58:35 AM Co-Chair Bishop asked how much, if any, money did the state approve for money going out-of-state for educational training. Ms. Efird stated that money that was appropriated as grants under the Alaska Performance Scholarship and the Alaska Education Grant did not go to students out of state. In statute, the funds were to provide scholarships for high school graduated, who are Alaska residents, for institutions within the State of Alaska. Co-Chair Bishop queried the wording needed to make the amendment more constitutionally palatable. Ms. Efird thought the amendment might need work to add that she was happy to work with the amendment sponsor to determine how the amendment could be best crafted. She reiterated that currently performance scholarship money and education grants did not go to out-of-state institutions. 11:00:27 AM Senator von Imhof thought perhaps if the amendment sponsor could refine the language to add a reference for Alaska- based schools only. She shared that she would feel comfortable waiting for a day to act on the bill. She asked the sponsor of the bill about the language surrounding "essential workers". Senator Begich stated that the bill was not intended to limit "essential workers" in the state to only Alaska residents. He added that he had received a loan in the past from the APEC to attend an out-of-state college. He clarified that the state approved student loans for students going to institutions outside of the state. 11:02:53 AM Senator Olson asked whether the bill would provide for a student attending a private facility or institution outside of the state. He noted that there was not a medical school or law school in the state. Senator Begich explained that the bill had been narrowly designed to take advantage of the current moment and to apply it to Alaskan institutions to avoid the anticipated constitutional challenges. The bill was to ensure that essential workers in the state would have the opportunity to pursue a four-year education within the limits of what is available within the state. 11:04:04 AM 11:04:05 AM AT EASE 11:04:57 AM RECONVENED Senator Wilson MOVED to WITHDRAW Amendment 4. Senator Begich clarified that Page 2, line 7, specified that the recipient must be a resident of the state for at least 12 months. SB 10 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further consideration. Co-Chair Bishop discussed housekeeping.