SB 150-MILITARY TRAINING CREDIT  1:34:49 PM CHAIR EGAN announced SB 150 to be up for consideration. He said that they would take up CSSB 150(STA) [labeled 27-LS1117\T]. 1:34:54 PM At ease from 1:34:54 to 1:36:22 p.m. 1:36:22 PM SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI, sponsor of SB 150, explained that separating service members leave the military with documented training, experience and education that often prepares them for civilian employment. However, this documentation is not always used by state entities to qualify them for licenses required for their occupation or to provide them with academic credit. According to data prepared by the Department of Defense (DOD), as of June 2011, 1 million veterans were unemployed and the jobless rate for post 9/11 veterans was 13.3 percent with young male veterans experiencing an unemployment rate of around 22 percent. He said a number of states are considering or have passed similar legislation to this. This bill requires the Department of Commerce and applicable boards to accept military education, training and services as equivalent to some or all of the qualifications required while applying for a license or certificate. It authorizes the issuance of a temporary license or certificate for active duty service members who had an equivalent license or certificate issued by another state, and it requires the president of the University of Alaska, the Alaska Commission on Post-Secondary Education and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development to implement a policy and procedure for the acceptance of military education, training and service credit as academic credit toward a degree or a technical program offered at the University. He noted that the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED) worked with them so that the cost could be lowered so the fiscal note is zero. Other states have implemented this bill with a zero fiscal note. He said this is the top priority for the US Department of Defense. 1:39:28 PM MICHAEL O'HARE, Deputy Director, Homeland Security/Emergency Management, Department of Military & Veterans Affairs (DMVA), Ft. Richardson, Alaska, said he was available to answer questions on SB 150. 1:39:56 PM MARK SAN SOUCI, Department of Defense Regional Liaison for Military Families for the Northwest, working for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Family & Community Policy, said the department supported SB 150. He said as Senator Wielechowski mentioned last year, with over 1 million veterans unemployed and a post 9/11 unemployment rate of 13.3 percent and an unemployment rate for 18 to 24 year old veterans at 21.9 percent, the Department of Defense began supporting efforts in the states to give separating service members credit so they may not be held back from finding employment or finishing a degree. They are asking states to establish policies that ensure separating service members do not have to repeat requirements they may have already completed during a military career to obtain academic credit or an occupational license. He said last year four states enacted new laws to help grant veterans credit towards licensing in academics. So far, in the 2012 session, 15 other states have had 27 bills resembling the one before them today. They are not asking for direct licensure if it's not equivalent in cases where the regulatory agency or board determines partial credit; they are only seeking credit where credit is due. MR. SAN SOUCI said they should consider that a veteran's training with the DOD has already been paid for just by paying federal taxes. Also, the more credit given to a veteran towards licensing or a degree or certification, the more school slots can be made available to civilians especially in Alaskan programs that may have waiting lists. He said the DOD is working feverishly with the US Department of Labor to link service transcripts of military occupations with private sector licensing requirements while also asking state regulatory authorities in pilot states of Washington, Illinois and Maryland to review select military occupations to determine whether the training and experience is sufficient to be rendered useful in determining licensing credit in given occupations. The DOD is also working with the military services to simplify the processing of academic transcripts to help with the evaluation of academics with the higher institutions of learning. MR. SAN SOUCI said Alaska is home to thousands of veterans and is a desired location for separating and retired military members when choosing where to live after leaving the military. A 2010 study by the Defense Manpower Data Center showed Alaska had 1,286 military people separate to become veterans or retire from the military and move back to Alaska and call it home. So, Alaska can expect many highly qualified ex-military people to continue to enjoy its quality of life, and many will continue to choose Alaska when they want to transition into civilian life and careers. He said Washington State has two bills, one for medical occupations and one for non-medical occupations and they went into law last July. They are considered best practices legislation and the bill in front of them is very much modeled after them. He asked that Alaska join the 15 other states considering passing policy to help veterans along with the other four that did last year. 1:44:52 PM SENATOR MENARD asked if the argument has been made that many people need the same popular classes and if military people get credit for IT, for instance, other people could have those classroom slots. Often classes are closed because too many people need them for their degree. SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said that was a great point and theoretically it would open up more space for people to take classes, but the main thing they are trying to do is to avoid duplication. 1:47:18 PM RIC DAVIDGE, Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 904, Anchorage, Alaska, said they support SB 150. He said he also serves as National Director of Government Affairs for the Vietnam Veterans of America. He said they are interested in shortening the time between separation and employment. If existing and already recognized skills and training could be recognized in the professional community, that shortens that time up. The University is making great efforts to accommodate veterans in this respect and their Veterans Service officers on the Fairbanks Campus report this issue is going extremely well. 1:49:09 PM CHRIS CHRISTENSEN, Associate Vice President, State Relations, University of Alaska, said he was here to talk about section 2 in SB 150, which directs the University's president to adopt policies and procedures to award credit for military training, service and education. He began by noting that the University is committed to offering quality educational experiences to active military veterans and their dependents. GI Jobs, a magazine in "Web Portal" that exists specifically to serve people who are transitioning from the military back into civilian life, has designated both UAA and UAF as GI Jobs military friendly schools. The significance of this is that only 15 percent of all the colleges, universities and vocational schools in the country were able to receive that rating from that entity. He said that is a "pretty sad commentary" on the military friendliness of schools down in the Lower 48 and that's probably why the DOD feels it's necessary to push this in the various states. He said WebPortalGuidetoOn-LineSchools.com, a very comprehensive authority on distance education and on-line learning, just released its 2012 rankings of military friendly on-line schools. And out of the multitude of schools that offer on-line and distance education, UAA was rated number five. As the entity that made that rating possible by its funding decisions and other support the legislature should be proud of the part it played. While trying to learn the University system over the last few months, the single issue Mr. Christensen said he has heard most about is transfer of credit. It's a contentious issue where everyone has a story or an opinion; military transfer credit is just a piece of this bigger issue. The Board of Regents has a written policy that the campuses must accept in transfers as much credit as is appropriate to a student's new degree in graduation requirements. All three campuses have established transfer credit policies designed to give maximum credit for courses and training taken elsewhere, specifically including the military. He reminded them that a degree from an institution is a representation to potential employers and to others that the holder has actually learned what the degree stands for and can do the things it says they can do. MR. CHRISTENSEN said their credit transfer policies have evolved over time for streamlining while still protecting the integrity of the degree. It is a work in progress and the policies are continually tweaked to make them more student-friendly. 1:52:54 PM They believe awarding appropriate credit for military training is one of their basic responsibilities. But there are actually a lot of misconceptions in the building about what UA does with respect to accepting military credits. All three campuses transfer credit based on recommendations made by the American Council of Education (ACE) that has been in existence since the end of World War II. It has had an agreement with DOD for the last 65 years to review military training and experience for the award of equivalent college credit - essentially recommendations on what military service is the equivalent of civilian college credit - that is currently being used by thousands of universities and colleges around the country. MR. CHRISTENSEN said each of the University's three campuses has a written agreement with the DOD to use the ACE recommendations. The three campuses are also members of the Service Members Opportunity Colleges (SOC), a consortium of 1900 colleges and universities that enroll active military, veterans and their dependents in special degree programs. The purpose of the consortium is to let military folks actually get degrees rather than just accumulate credits as they moved from base to base around the country and around the world. In order to be members of this consortium the campuses had to sign written agreements easing the transferability of credit between the member institutions. They even had to agree to limit the number of credits required of military students at the campuses to get one of their degrees. For example, at UAA a military student getting a SOC Associates Degree (AA) is only required to take 3 UAA credits on campus; all the other credits in the SOC consortium will be accepted. He said the schools do not have a limitation on the number of military transfer credits that they will accept, but they used to. UAA did away with that as recently as last year as part of its continual process to review how things are done and to make it more student friendly. Right now, UAF is in the process of developing a minor degree based on typical military credits, the kind that most servicemen would just automatically have, which can be used to satisfy up to 18 credits towards any bachelor's degree. MR. CHRISTENSEN said he could go on and on, but bottom line last year UAA alone awarded over 15,000 credits to service members for training, education and even for time spent in the service. Approximately 99.5 percent of the military students who requested transfer credit were given that credit. He concluded saying that Alaska is widely known to service members as a state that welcomes and appreciates the military. SENATOR MENARD asked if he agreed that Alaska is superior in military friendliness, because we have every single service branch here. We are in the top 15 percent of most friendly to military states in the nation. 1:57:27 PM MR. CHRISTENSEN said he agreed, and added that the military know they are appreciated here. SENATOR GIESSEL thanked him and said the University had sent her a four-page letter enumerating all the proactive steps the University had taken on this issue, and she thanked them. MR. CHRISTENSEN responded that he participated in the writing of that letter and actually in the interests of brevity the list was cut way down to four pages. 1:58:58 PM SENATOR PASKVAN said it's wonderful that Alaska is in the top 15 percent, but he said the University has a system in place and he didn't want this to interfere with it. His belief is that it doesn't, but he wanted assurance. He noted specifically on page 1, line 9, it says "shall accept" and the applicant has to provide "satisfactory evidence of successful completion", and on page 4, lines 17 and 18, it says those transfers have to "meet the requirements of the accrediting body of the institution or the commission." MR. CHRISTIANSON responded, "I think you are accurate." He said the bill has been drafted to instruct the university to adopt procedures for the acceptance of relevant credit and they have signed agreements with the DOD to use the ACE system for members of the SOC. He is assuming they will continue to do things much the way they have done with the ever-present eye to seeing if they can do things better, and just the review of this bill has done that. SENATOR PASKVAN remarked that this bill reflects the policy of the State of Alaska, not only the University, and moved to report CSSB 150 (L&C), version T, from committee with individual recommendations and attached zero fiscal note. SENATOR GIESSEL said the fiscal note is zero for the University, but the DCCED has one of $207.8, because regulations need to be written by the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED). SENATOR PASKVAN amended the motion to "attached multiple fiscal notes." There were no objections and CSSB 150 (L&C) moved from Senate Labor and Commerce Standing Committee.