HB 165-BIG GAME GUIDES AND TRANSPORTERS    4:23:39 PM CHAIR HUGGINS announced HB 165 to be up for consideration. REPRESENTATIVE GABRIELLE LEDOUX, sponsor of HB 165, said that it rights an inadvertent wrong and promotes economic development in rural areas. It is an act related to providing field accommodations for big game hunters. She explained in 1996, much needed legislation was enacted to define who is a big game hunter, outfitter, or transporter and to provide regulations for licensing and other considerations. However, there was no provision for the person who merely wants to rent his or her cabin to people who may or may not be hunting. Many people in rural Alaska have extra cabins or whose cabins are empty for part of the year. REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX reminded them that it is very difficult to generate economic development in rural areas and this bill will enable those people to provide a service and make little bit of additional money. She said that members of the Big Game Commercial Services Board have worked with her office in order to craft a bill that will protect their interests while allowing others to do business. SUZANNE HANCOCK, staff to Representative LeDoux, said she was available to answer questions. 4:26:03 PM BOBBY FITHIAN, Executive Director, Alaska Professional Hunters Association, supported HB 165, which fills a void in statutory language that relates to legitimate use of privately owned lodges, houses or cabins. 4:27:05 PM CHAIR HUGGINS asked how professional hunters have operated in the last couple of years without this bill. MR. FITHIAN replied that the people who asked Representative LeDoux to address this issue have had a real serious challenge in dealing with the Division of Public Safety, the Big Game Commercial Services Board, and with agencies that own land around their private properties in trying to get the right to rent their privately-owned cabins to big game hunters in the field. He explained that defining the laws, regulations and statutes pertaining to who can supply or provide what kind of services to big game hunters in the field has been complex and challenging and a loophole was found that didn't address these cabins. CHAIR HUGGINS asked who is doing the challenging. MR. FITHIAN replied that mainly the Department of Public Safety has been trying to figure out how to address private property holders, because current regulations and statutes forbid renting of privately-owned cabins to big game hunters. This bill address only cabins on private land, not on public land. 4:31:16 PM SENATOR MCGUIRE said she was concerned about over-regulation and unintended consequences. She asked if this covered cases where an individual owns a private cabin on public land. REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX replied that those situations are not accommodated in this bill, which is only about private property. She noted that this bill has a further Judiciary referral. CHAIR HUGGINS thanked everyone for their testimony and said HB 165 would be held in committee.