Number 045 HCR 8 DEFERRED MAINTENANCE TASK FORCE  CHAIRMAN GREEN brought HCR 8 before the committee as the next order of business. MIKE HEATWOLE , staff to Representative Gail Phillips, sponsor of HCR 8, which would create a deferred maintenance task force, read the following sponsor's statement into the record. "Deferred maintenance is the result of years of unmet maintenance on Alaska's public facilities. Meeting our maintenance needs is not about building a skywalk from the court to the capitol. It is a about a capitol building that leaks. It is about docks that are rotting and falling into harbors, and it is about an infrastructure that needs repair. Some cost estimates place Alaska's unmet maintenance needs at well over $1 billion, and some are even closer to $2 billion. HCR 8 will establish a legislative task force to make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature on how to address Alaska's unmet maintenance needs. The task force will be made up of five members from the House and five members from the Senate. The Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate will also serve as non-voting members of the task force. The task force will be specifically charged with: - reviewing and evaluating existing reports and publications about deferred maintenance recommendations previously made - identifying and evaluating all current and deferred maintenance needs - soliciting public comment about this topic - submitting a report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and Legislature by the convening of the regular session - forwarding recommendations about funding all deferred maintenance needs The task force will begin work as soon as members are appointed." Mr. Heatwole informed the committee that Representative Phillips has personally spoken with the Governor about this task force, and he agrees with the concept. He has personally pledged his support from his office and from his commissioners on the task force. Further, the formation of the task force has received support from the truckers, contractors, laborers and many concerned Alaskans. Number 095 JACK KREINHEDER , Senior Policy Analyst, Office of Management & Budget, voiced the Administration's support of HCR 8 because they believe the task force is something that is needed; deferred maintenance is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Mr. Kreinheder said the Administration would endorse expanding the scope of duties of the task force to address not only deferred maintenance but new facilities and other capital funding. It is their concern that while deferred maintenance is important, that if this task force only looks at that aspect of the problem, it would be overlooking some of the other needs of the state. He added that his impression is that Representative Phillips is amenable to that idea. Mr. Kreinheder related that in addition to broadening the scope of the task force to cover those issues, the Administration believes the task force should also address the issue of ongoing maintenance of state facilities. He said it doesn't help to come up with a funding solution or solutions to the backlog of deferred maintenance if we continue to add to our deferred maintenance each year by short-funding the necessary ongoing maintenance of state facilities. He added that it is something the Administration has also attempted to deal with, but found very difficult given the present budget constraints. Number 145 SENATOR WARD asked if the language in the resolution didn't already enable the task force to do what Mr. Kreinheder was suggesting without making any changes. MR. KREINHEDER acknowledged that it is not prohibited by the resolution, but he said he doesn't see anything in it that addresses anything other than deferred maintenance. He added that if the intent of the Legislature is clear and there's agreement among all parties that the scope of work is appropriate for the task force, then it is probably okay, but he thinks the Administration's preference would be to address it specifically. Number 170 SENATOR DUNCAN asked how the Administration comes up with these projects for which they request deferred maintenance dollars. MR. KREINHEDER explained there has been a prioritization process established for deferred maintenance that identifies the highest priorities needs. In general, the needs that affect health, life and safety are the ones that tend to rise to the top. SENATOR DUNCAN commented it is clear that identifying deferred maintenance is important, but it is not something that we haven't been doing in this state. However, he said the real issue is not identifying the needs because the agencies have already identified them, but identifying how they are going to be funded, and that's what the major emphasis of the task force should be instead of spending their time reinventing the wheel. MR. KREINHEDER agreed with his comments and said he would envision this task force spending a great deal of its time on how to finance these deferred maintenance and other capital needs. He also pointed out that in his six-year capital plan, the Governor has proposed using general fund bond issues to address the state's capital needs, and that's something they think would be appropriately addressed by this task force as well. Number 225 SENATOR DUNCAN asked Mr. Heatwole if he was satisfied that the language in the resolution really directs the task force towards the major task of identifying funding sources and ways to fund the deferred maintenance needs in this state. MR. HEATWOLE replied that it is their understanding that the reports relating to deferred maintenance needs do exist and they should be relatively quick to compile, and that the real work of the task force is to identify ways to address funding concerns. The speaker is satisfied with the language in the resolution, and they have already begun to compile a file to forward to the task force as soon as it is established. Number 250 SENATOR MACKIE said he has introduced SB 37 that deals not only with deferred maintenance of schools, but with new facilities as well, and he doesn't read anything in the resolution that would allow this task force to address those needs, other than deferred maintenance. He asked if Representative Phillips would have any objection to expanding this to deferred maintenance and new facility needs because there are a couple of significant proposals that are before the Legislature dealing with deferred maintenance as well as new construction. MR. HEATWOLE responded that question was something he would have to take back to Representative Phillips. Number 295 There being no further testimony on HCR 8, CHAIRMAN GREEN asked for the will of the committee. SENATOR WARD moved HCR 8 be passed out of committee with individual recommendations. Hearing no objection, it was so ordered.