SB 233-TEACHERS/HEALTH CARE PROFESS HOUSING LOAN    CHAIR DAVIS announced SB 233 to be up for consideration. 2:13:29 PM DAN FAUSKE, CEO, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC), Anchorage AK, said the current bill is due to sunset in June. There's new language in the current bill to include additional people into a successful program that offers a zero down payment or a hundred percent loan to create housing for licensed or certified teachers and health care professionals. One of the concerns expressed in the past is that it is available to too many people and they also have that concern to some degree. His office supports the bill. SENATOR ELTON said the difficulty is the expanding program. It's offering doctors a benefit he's not sure they need. MR. FAUSKE said that is a concern that was raised. He doesn't think there'll be a rush on the program from doctors. He said there's a concurrent teacher health care/public safety grant program that is geared toward rural applicants and said that most applicants to this program are urban. A doctor could apply but it's not anticipated that there will be many. 2:20:28 PM SENATOR ELTON asked if there was some kind of requirement to stay in Alaska for a year or two or a penalty. Getting people here is important. Keeping them here is also. MR. FAUSKE said that has been discussed as well and it's been difficult to track. CHAIR DAVIS asked if the committee needs more information and if they would like to know who has been served for the past year tenure of the program. BRIAN BUTCHER, Director, Governmental Relations and Public Affairs, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, Anchorage, AK, said there's a list in the committee member packets of all the communities involved over the five-year period. If there's an 'E' on the list, those were teacher loans. An 'H' indicates nurse loans. The difficulty in recruitment and retention of these professions is what got it going. Because of its zero down payment provision, AHFC would have to provide 30 percent mortgage insurance instead of 20 percent. 2:22:59 PM MR. BUTCHER said it makes no financial sense for a doctor who wants to buy a million-dollar house to use this program. But a doctor just out of medical school who had a large debt might want to take advantage of it. 2:24:17 PM SENATOR THOMAS asked MR. FAUSKE about an income limit. MR. FAUSKE replied that they would use tax exempt first-time home buyer guidelines that are already supplied in federal law. The limit would be 115 percent of median income. 2:26:31 PM MELISSA STONE, Director of Behavioral Health, Department of Health & Social Services, said the proposed legislation adds health care professionals to the program and would specifically benefit the behavioral health provider system. Work force shortage is a problem. UAA conducted a study and found 29 percent vacancy in behavioral health, which was more than any other occupational group. Behavioral health clinicians had an 11.8 percent vacancy rate. The vacancy rate was 9.3 percent in urban areas and 22.9 percent in rural areas. SENATOR ELTON said he's in sympathy, but sees one of the major reasons for the vacancy rates is because people are not paid what they're worth. He also asks why it is being done for this profession when there's a difficulty recruiting fisheries biologists, for example. 2:30:32 PM MS. STONE said that in the behavioral health system, employees aren't part of the state, but generally part of a non-profit group. 2:31:24 PM NANCY DAVIS, RN, Coordinator, Recruitment and Retention of Nurses Project, Division of Public Health, Department of Health and Social Services (DHSSAnchorage, AK, said that since the inception of the AHFC teacher and nurse housing loan, her organization has used it as an incentive in recruiting and retaining nurses all over the state. The field is very competitive and it makes Alaska more attractive. CHAIR DAVIS asked members to contact her office about changes so a CS could be created. 2:36:09 PM SENATOR COWDERY said he would like to sign off on the bills heard today. CHAIR DAVIS said she understands that, but he can't do that because he's not present. She announced that she would hold SB 233 in committee and seeing no further business, she adjourned the meeting at 2:37:06 PM.