SB 322-SALMON ENHANCEMENT TAX    CHAIR CON BUNDE called the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. Present were Senators Gary Stevens, Ralph Seekins, Hollis French and Chair Con Bunde. The first order of business to come before the committee was SB 322. SENATOR BEN STEVENS, sponsor, said he distributed the information that Senator French requested to the committee. CHAIR BUNDE said he understands SB 322 would allow people in various fisheries to tax themselves. SENATOR BEN STEVENS replied that is correct. SENATOR HOLLIS FRENCH thanked Senator Stevens for sending the price per pound numbers to the committee and said, "Those price per pound numbers were sobering to a non-commercial fisherman. It was amazing to see those values flat and even down over more than a decade." He asked if increasing the tax cap ten times was an idea he heard from the Joint Salmon Task Force. SENATOR STEVENS replied that the debate was initiated by the fact that cost recovery fish were being required to pay for the operations of hatcheries. He did not just cook up the super assessment idea. Independent hatcheries have actually taken substantial steps in the past and assessed themselves to accelerate their debt reduction program. However, not all hatcheries fall under that statute. SENATOR FRENCH said his concern is that the system appears to have worked for a long time to need such a radical adjustment. SENATOR STEVENS responded that is a valid point, but explained that the financial package for each association is different and there are 28 separate hatchery programs. Each of them has a loan portfolio with the Fisheries Enhancement Revolving Loan Fund and is managed differently. Some of the portfolios have a higher debt to capital ratio, for instance. "The important thing is this is an assessment that the harvesters choose to assess themselves to pay [down on their debt]. It's all voluntary." He emphasized that the rates had never been adjusted from the time the fund was created in 1976. SENATOR SEEKINS moved to pass SB 322 from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note. Senators Stevens, French, Seekins and Chair Bunde vote yea; and SB 322 moved from committee.