SB 59-BROADCASTING PROMOTING CHARITABLE GAMING  CHAIR ELLIS announced SB 59 to be up for consideration. STUART WHITE, KFMJ Radio, Ketchikan, supported SB 59 and said it will not allow more gambling in Alaska. It fixes problems with AS 05.15.640(a) that should have been fixed long ago by enabling over-the-air broadcasters to advertise activities that are already legal. Newspapers are not banned from this activity, but it may deny broadcasters equal protection under federal and state constitutions as well as just being confusing to the potential advertisers who are not aware of this discrepancy. 1:34:55 PM SENATOR HOFFMAN joined the committee. 1:36:30 PM SENATOR BUNDE stated that Mr. White said this bill would not expand gambling, but he also said advertising on the radio would increase the number of customers who know about a lottery by three or four times. Therefore, he reasoned, it may not increase new kinds of gambling, but it would encourage more people to be involved in gambling. MR. WHITE countered that non-profit organizations already have the legal right to present these games and, "The fact that they would either survive or go away is kind of the important crux of it there." He told them that increased ticket sales for groups that contribute to the community would be a positive result and that new types of gambling, like riverboats and Bali's, wouldn't happen here. 1:39:21 PM BOB KERN, President, TLP Communications, Ketchikan, said TLP owns and operates KFMJ Radio and publishes the local newspaper. He supported Mr. White's comments and expanded specifically on the huge confusion among broadcasters between what the state and federal governments allow. He thought this legislation would prevent station owners from being fined or having their licenses threatened by the actions of employees or others who are misunderstanding the conflicting regulations they have to deal with. What is legal to broadcast in 48 of the United States is not legal in Alaska. Another issue he clarified is that gaming spots could be allowed to be broadcast as free public service announcements (PSAs). In fact, though, most of the day air-time is sold out and any free PSAs get relegated to the midnight to 5 a.m. time period, which would do the non-profits very little good. Newspapers don't give away their space and he didn't think radio stations should have to either. MR. KERN also added that passing this legislation would clarify how to advertise self-conducted lotteries and that the definition of "broadcasting" should include the Internet. He said that just putting up a web page that anyone can click on is broadcasting and that audio is now getting streamed regularly. He suggested deleting the broadcasting definition section in SB 68 because he didn't know of anybody in television or radio who transmitted by 2,500 megahertz. He also didn't know of anybody who broadcasts on microwave video since it is a point to point communication system; and slow-scan television has not been used for years by anyone except maybe amateur operators. He suggested deleting "programming by way of satellite, cable teletype", which nobody uses anymore, and "or facsimile transmission and distribution methods". He suggested inserting "digital distribution methods", since so many stations are transmitting in the digital mode now, which is not exactly in the traditional definition of broadcasting. He also suggested that the state and federal regulations should be more aligned with each other. As an example, he related that a Ketchikan station was reported to the FCC for broadcasting lottery information and promoting it quite heavily last year. The FCC ruled: Although 18 USC 13.04 prohibits the broadcast of information concerning a lottery, 18 USC 13.07(a)(2)(a) states that the provision of 18 USC 13.04 shall not apply to an advertisement concerning a lottery that is authorized or otherwise not prohibited by the state in which it is conducted and which is conducted by a not-for-profit organization. The information before us indicates [the American Diabetes Association (ADA)] is a not-for-profit organization that has conducted the event and raffle as fund raisers and that the State of Alaska had given the ADA a charitable gaming permit for the period covered by the event. Thus, [the FCC says] it appears that the stations did not violate 18 USC 13.04 or the related commission rule in as much as their provisions specifically are not applicable to advertisements about events which are conducted by the American Diabetes Association. Therefore, we close this matter. 1:49:16 PM JULIE SLANAKER, Rainy Day Quilter Guild and Ketchikan Little League Baseball, said she has been a fund-raising officer for both of these non-profit organizations for the last three years and she has noticed it's more difficult than ever to raise funds for both groups' expenses. The Quilt Guild that has two raffles every year would do significantly better if she were able to advertise on the radio. She said that one thing parents and kids can still participate in is selling raffle tickets. In Ketchikan, every charitable organization has raffle tickets at different times of the year and the more people who know about a raffle, the more tickets can be sold. It costs a lot to advertise in the paper - a single ad for one day runs about $80 with a nonprofit rate. For that same $80 she could advertise with KFMJ and receive a week's worth of advertising that would promote one of her raffles in a much more efficient manner. 1:53:58 PM CHAIR ELLIS thanked her for her comments and closed the public hearing. He set SB 59 aside, but said he would take it up later in the meeting. SB 59-BROADCASTING PROMOTING CHARITABLE GAMING  CHAIR ELLIS announced SB 59 to be back before the committee and asked if there was any committee discussion. There was none. 2:24:32 PM SENATOR STEVENS moved to pass SB 59 with the attached fiscal and individual recommendations. There were no objections and SB 59 moved out of committee.