SB 155-EXTENDING CERTAIN BOARDS & COMMISSIONS  2:05:22 PM CHAIR EGAN announced SB 155 [labeled 27-LS1006\B] to be up for consideration. 2:05:40 PM REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER said he is here today in his capacity as chairman of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee (LB&A), sponsor of SB 155. He explained that this is the official reauthorization of various boards and commissions whose terms of existence have expired in accordance with statute. He added that our boards and commissions are placed in statute on a temporal basis requiring they come back up before the legislature for review and reconsideration on a cyclical basis. The bill contains six boards and commissions. Four are familiar having rolled through the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee last year. They made it through legislative process and reached the governor's desk but he was uncomfortable with the provision that had been added in Senate Finance that was essentially a policy decision involving judicial matters that had not received a full vetting in front of a Judiciary Committee in the legislature. So he vetoed the bill knowing another year remained to reconsider it. REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER said the bill before them does not have any policy decisions other than the reauthorization of the various boards and commissions, specifically the Board of Barbers and Hairdressers through June 19, 2019; the Board of Dental Examiners through June 30, 2019; the Board of Nursing through June 30, 2019; and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board through June 30, 2015. They are seeing those for the second time as a result of the situation he just described. The two they have not seen yet are the Big game Commercial Services Board through June 30, 2016 and the Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission through June 30, 2016. The reauthorization dates are recommended by the Legislative Auditor. He noted that the fairly near-term date of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC) relates to the short leash it has been on because of numerous issues identified by the auditor. The board has responded to the concerns raised, but extending it to the 2014 date will put them back on course for a more normal reauthorization. REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER said they have a new state legislative auditor, because Pat Davidson who served in that capacity for over 30 years retired last December. The acting state legislative auditor is Kris Curtis, who also has a long history in the agency. 2:10:41 PM KRISTIN CURTIS, Division of Legislative Audit, Legislative Affairs Agency, Alaska State Legislature, said SB 155 extends the termination dates for six boards and commissions. They have performed sunset audits for all the entities. The Board of Barbers and Hairdressers, the Board of Dental Examiners and the Board of Nursing were completed before the end of 2010 and were discussed before this committee last year. She concluded they served a public purpose and should be extended and recommendations for extension are the same dates in SB 155. Their last full sunset audit of the ABC Board is dated July 2009. However, they followed up with the board last year and again this month regarding the status of implementing the audit recommendations. The audit in 2009 concluded that the board should be extended and did serve a public need. However, they made several recommendations to improve the board's effectiveness and efficiency. 2:11:33 PM She said they recommended a stronger internal control environment be implemented to include written policies and operational procedures as well as a strategic plan governing enforcement activities. Since that time many improvements have been made, and their prior recommendations have been substantially implemented, except one outstanding recommendation concerning licensing revenue. Their prior recommendation stated that licensing fee revenues recorded in the ABC board's data base did not agree with, nor was it reconciled with, the same revenue recorded in the state's accounting system. That deficiency continues to exist. They have contacted the Department of Public Safety's Division of Administrative Services to ask the status and they stated there has been turnover in their fiscal staff that has delayed resolving the finding. But they are currently working on addressing it. MS. CURTIS said the sunset review of the Big Game Commercial Services Board is dated September 2011; the purpose of the audit was to determine if the board should be extended and if it was serving in the public's interest. They recommended a termination date for the board be extended until June 30, 2016. The board has served a public interest by providing reasonable assurance that those individuals licensed to guide, outfit and transport were qualified to do so, and the board has successful developed and adopted regulatory changes to improve the big game commercial services industry. The four-year extension is based the board not fully implementing prior audit recommendations and the less than sufficient services by the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing in support of the board's operations. She said the sunset report contained one new recommendation and five repeats. The new recommendation address the poor security controls over electronic and paper versions of confidential hunt records. This information is maintained as confidential by statute. However, the division does not have staff with the technical capabilities to restrict access to the electronic records and does not have policies and procedures to ensure the physical files are adequately safeguarded. MS. CURTIS said the repeat recommendations cover a variety of issues including poor operational support by the division in both the administrative and investigative areas. Licensee fees continue to be insufficient to support the board's operations. At the end of FY11 there was a deficit of almost $375,000. They again recommended that first aid requirements be made consistent between the various licensee types. And finally, the board still wants to maintain a data base of hunt records and reports, and this takes a significant amount of administrative time. Given the fiscal condition of the board, they question whether it is a prudent use of resources, given the little value they have been able to demonstrate. 2:15:16 PM MS. CURTIS said the sunset audit of the Alaska Seismic Hazard Safety Commission is dated June 2011. The purpose of the review was again to determine if the termination date of the commission should be extended. They found that it is operating effectively and is serving a public purpose. Therefore, they recommended extending the commission until June 30, 2016. The report contained four recommendations: that the commission develop a strategic plan to guide its efforts to mitigate seismic hazard risks in Alaska; develop procedures to ensure public notices of meetings are published timely; follow its procedures regarding habitually absent members and the Office of the Governor should fill appointments to the commission in a timely manner. 2:16:24 PM ROD COMBELLICK, Deputy Director, Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Fairbanks, said he was available to answer questions on SB 155. MICHAEL O'HARE, Deputy Director, Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Department of Military & Veterans Affairs (DMVA), said they supported section 6 for the Seismic Hazards Safety Commission and offered to answer questions on SB 155. 2:17:32 PM SHIRLEY GIFFORD, Director, Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, said she supported SB 155. She said she has been director for the past three years; prior to that she was an ABC board member and has a fairly good understanding of its importance in controlling the manufacturing, selling, bartering and possessing of alcoholic beverages in the state. She asked that the board be extended. They are currently in a wind-down year and don't have a sunset. They have done a lot of work in the past three years in trying to respond to the audit's recommendations. If the board is not extended they would take giant steps backwards in controlling alcoholic beverages in the state. She said they had made many positive changes within the agency and have several new employees, "a kind of transfusion," and things are working very well. The employees are proficient, professional and courteous. MS. GIFFORD said they had received some feedback from the industry about dissatisfaction with the board, aside from the legislative audit and she wanted to respond to them, as well as the auditor's recommendations. She developed a survey and sent 1,439 of them to industry members and after about three months got 257 returned, an 18 percent return. She understood that was fairly decent for a mail-in survey. MS. GIFFORD said she was very pleased with the results of that survey. In all rated categories from very poor to superior the licensing staff of the ABC Board scored above average to superior. In all rated categories from strongly disagree to strongly agree in areas such as the investigator demonstrated respect, the investigator explained the purpose of the visit, the investigator was knowledgeable, the investigator was professional and appropriate. The enforcement staff scored agree to strongly agree and in one category rated from very poor to superior - i.e. if the contact was in response to the licensee's request and the process of getting the licensee's issue resolved - the enforcement staff rated above average. She said she was using the surveys as a tool to enhance the abilities within the agency and has scheduled some service excellence training; the first one is in Fairbanks in the first week of February; the next one is in Anchorage and then one in Juneau. 2:21:30 PM MS. GIFFORD said that she is currently responding to one of the questions where 65.4 percent of the respondents indicated that no improvement was needed. But further down, some small percentages indicated issues had to be explained several times, the employee didn't know the answers to their questions or the employee had to ask others. So she has instituted a reading of Title 4 into staff meetings and discussion about what it means and how it should be applied. It's a complicated title about which they get frequent calls from attorneys asking for advice on how to interpret. She reported that they attained their goals of percentages in all eight designated regions around the state and this is the first time that has happened. It meant from FY2010 to FY2011 that they completed 104 additional compliance checks on licensed establishments, and the compliance went up from 85 to 88 percent. They have a 95 percent compliance rate goal when sending their underage buyers in to try to purchase alcohol that the licensee or their employee doesn't make that sale. Fairbanks and Juneau are at 93 percent and the MatSu Valley is at 92 percent. MS. GIFFORD said they are doing some educational efforts, sending packets to all licensees with "born on" stickers and calendars and a CHARR brochure. They answer questions daily by phone and email to licenses so they can do what they are supposed to do - not to sell to underage persons, which is their biggest goal. CHAIR EGAN said there was a lot of discussion last year about sending folks out for compliance checks who are under 21 years old and there were concerns that sending under-age people was breaking the law. MS. GIFFORD responded that the law allows for them to employ under-age persons if they are under the supervision of a law enforcement officer. 2:25:40 PM THOR STACEY, lobbyist, Alaska Professional Hunters Association, Juneau, affirmed their support of SB 155, specifically the reauthorization of the Big Game and Commercial Services Board. 2:26:54 PM BOB SWENSON, State Geologist and Director, State Geological and Geophysical Surveys, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), testified that the State Seismic Hazards Commission is an important part of the process of seismic safety in the state. The State Geologic Survey provides administrative support for this organization, and it also identifies hazards from the geologic perspective. The Homeland Security group for the state looks at mitigation from the public safety standpoint and the Seismic Safety Commission provides information for building safety and legislative policy advice for improving the safety of buildings and infrastructure within the state. 2:27:52 PM SENATOR PASKVAN asked the status of recommendation number four, filling the appointments. MR. SWENSON replied all the audit recommendations have been addressed except for the first one, their strategic plan. SENATOR MENARD asked a general question on best practices for boards and commissions when members are causing a problem by being habitually absent. Does he put out a message to all staff in the building to find out who is interested in serving on a board? Is it acceptable practice to bring forward a name that wasn't accepted but was well thought of in the industry that could serve as a good person to be on a board? 2:30:07 PM MR. SWENSON replied that he is not the one to answer that, but it's often difficult to find qualified people with the necessary background to serve on the Seismic Hazards Commission. 2:31:09 PM SENATOR PASKVAN said recommendation two for the Board of Barbers and Hairdressers seems to be somewhat critical and asked the status. It says the current public board member should either surrender her license or be removed from the public board member position. It seems to be a pretty stark assessment of a particular person on that board. 2:31:38 PM DON HABEGER, Director, Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED), replied that license was surrendered and a replacement was sought, but he wasn't familiar with the timing. SENATOR MENARD asked if that meant the position had been filled. MR. HABEGAR replied that he believed so, but would get back to the committee about it. SENATOR GIESSEL thanked the committee for hearing this issue so expeditiously on behalf of the licensees of the four boards that were not renewed last year and are facing sunset. SENATOR GIESSEL moved to report SB 155, version B, from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). There were no objections and it was so ordered. At ease from 2:33:54 to 2:35:32 p.m.