HB 187-STATE AGENCY PUBLICATIONS  3:40:38 PM CHAIR SHOWER announced the consideration of CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 187(STA) "An Act relating to the elimination or modification of state agency publications that are outdated, duplicative, or excessive or that could be improved or consolidated with other publications or exclusively delivered electronically; and providing for an effective date." 3:40:55 PM REPRESENTATIVE JAMES KAUFMAN, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of HB 187, introduced the legislation, paraphrasing the sponsor statement that read as follows: [Original punctuation provided.] HB 187 in its current form, is intended to conserve resources expended in the production, processing, transportation, distribution storage and disposal of excess state agency publications. The products affected by HB 187 are publications as defined in AS 44.99.240. As currently written in statute, AS 44.99.220 requires state agencies to compile and maintain a list of the publications that they produce each fiscal year. This bill would ensure that the state is receiving added value from work that is already being done, by using the list as opportunity to assess the actual need for each document and to determine if the people of Alaska will be best served by printing or by digital delivery. HB 187 also provides for the reduction in statutory requirements to produce publications, through changes made to AS 37.07.220. These changes will require that the governor submit a bill to eliminate or modify requirements for publications deemed to be outdated, duplicative or excessive, or could be consolidated with other publications, and which of those could be delivered in electronic form. Time, energy, space and materials can be all be conserved by the passage of HB 187. 3:43:12 PM SENATOR COSTELLO voiced support for the legislation. She asked if the purpose behind identifying outdated or duplicative documents is to later remove the requirement for those documents from statute. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN replied it's a feedback loop that will identify what needs to be changed in statute to effect the desired change. SENATOR COSTELLO asked whether the list would have hot links to facilitate the search for a particular report. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN replied there isn't that explicit requirement, "but that would be a good delivery mechanism." 3:45:19 PM SENATOR KAWASAKI asked whether the legislature would still have the option of receiving an agency publication that was identified and appeared on the list. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN answered correct. The idea is to use the legislative processes to eliminate or modify the requirement to produce the publication. SENATOR KAWASAKI referenced the document in the bill packet from Legislative Research Services that identifies the reports that state agencies are statutorily required to produce. He said some are very important and he wouldn't want somebody to decide it wasn't important for the legislature or public to see them. He asked whether there were any guarantees that the public would be able to speak for or against a bill that proposes to eliminate a particular report. He cited the example of the report from the [State Vaccine Assessment Council], which is charged by statute to produce an annual report. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN said any bill to eliminate publication of a report would first need to go through the full legislative process that includes public hearings. He also pointed out that the bill provides the option to consolidate certain reports and perhaps deliver it electronically. The idea is to use the two year review cycle to do a better job of managing the production of reports in hard copy. SENATOR KAWASAKI offered his belief that if the bill were to pass, a subsequent legislature likely would introduce an omnibus bill and members would decide on the disposition of the individual reports going forward. 3:48:04 PM CHAIR SHOWER asked the sponsor if he was comfortable with the changes that were made to the bill thus far and if it still accomplished the original intent. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN replied he was very satisfied and believes the changes made a better bill. SENATOR COSTELLO asked if the list that each of the 14 agencies prepare could be combined and submitted to the legislature as one list. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN replied the current requirement is for each agency to maintain a list of the publications it produces and HB 187 does not propose to change that construct. However, there is nothing to prevent those lists from being delivered to the legislature as a compilation. CHAIR SHOWER requested the sectional analysis for HB 187. 3:49:39 PM MATTHEW HARVEY, Staff, Representative James Kaufman, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, presented the sectional analysis for HB 187. It read as follows: [Original punctuation provided.] Section 1:  Amends AS 37.07.020 to add a requirement for the governor to submit legislation to remove or amend statutory requirements for publications deemed to be outdated, duplicative or excessive, or that could be consolidated with other publications, and which of those could be delivered in electronic form as directed in Section 2. Section 2:  Repeals and reenacts AS 44.99.220 requiring state agencies to use a list of publications, which is already statutorily required to be developed, to identify and highlight publications deemed to be outdated, duplicative or excessive, or that could be consolidated with other publications, or which could be delivered in electronic form. This list of publications, including highlighted publications, is required to be electronically submitted to the governor and both bodies of the legislature. Section 3: Provides for an immediate effective date. CHAIR SHOWER asked for a summary of the fiscal note. MR. HARVEY stated that the fiscal note is zero. The Office of Management and Budget stated that it would be able to accommodate the additional work with existing resources. 3:51:40 PM SENATOR KAWASAKI observed that the immediate effective date means the current governor would start the process and whomever is governor after the election would have to comply on December 15 when the budget is released. MR. HARVEY agreed. The bill repeals and reenacts the existing statute such that each state agency will compile a list of publications it is responsible for, highlighting certain ones. The expectation is that those reports, including the highlighted ones would be submitted to the governor for the budget process. He noted that a change in House State Affairs made the review biannual so a bill could carry through to the next year of the legislature. 3:52:50 PM REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN added that the bill intentionally uses a light touch. The rewritten statute leverages the requirement that agencies maintain their list of publications, which creates a feedback loop. SENATOR REINBOLD offered her understanding that the legislature would make the decision about whether a particular publication was needed and in what form. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN answered that's correct; the idea is to keep the legislature engaged in the assessment of whether the reductions are valid or an overreach. It is not an opportunity for the executive branch to stop doing work that is needed. SENATOR REINBOLD asked whether the publications that one legislature deleted would still appear on the list for a subsequent legislature to see. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN clarified that a report that is required by statute would need legislative action to change the requirement to produce that report. SENATOR COSTELLO referred to the phrase "the governor shall" and questioned why it wasn't permissive because the compulsory language assumes there are publications to be eliminated. She mentioned balance of power and questioned tasking the executive branch with highlighting publications for potential consolidation or elimination when it is the legislature that writes bills that ask for reports. She asked if there might be a way for the legislative branch to take the lead. 3:57:34 PM REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN replied the idea is to get input from the people who are close to or doing the work. They will have ideas about how to do things more efficiently and can send their recommendations up through the line. The safeguard is that the legislature conducts a review. He offered his belief that there are a number of reports that have been required over time that likely aren't necessary or could be delivered electronically. Over time the biannual report will have a smaller document base. 3:59:44 PM SENATOR KAWASAKI suggested that the report from Legislative Research Services that identified 189 statutorily required agency reports provides one way for the legislature to review the reports and direct the executive branch instead of relying on the administration to make a determination. 4:00:34 PM MR. HARVEY says the intention is for the governor to submit a bill that is based on the highlighted list. If nothing is highlighted, the bill would be unnecessary. There is also the requirement for the list to be submitted to the legislature and public. He suggested that could give the legislature the information it needs to make its own decision about the need for certain reports. CHAIR SHOWER encouraged the committee members to work with the sponsor if they wanted any changes. SENATOR REINBOLD agreed with Senator Kawasaki and Senator Costello that this is a legislature matter. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN said it's important to recognize that this gives voice to the agency people who prepare the reports and may have ideas about a better way to deliver the same or similar content. The proposed process creates that feedback opportunity. He opined that the opportunity for overreach is only worrisome if the legislature doesn't do its due diligence. SENATOR KAWASAKI said he wanted to make sure that the people other than just the legislature who use the reports are taken into consideration and know what is happening. He described it as an issue of transparency. 4:05:46 PM REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN said this is less about cutting reports and more about optimizing the information and delivering it in a different format. CHAIR SHOWER said he always appreciates efficiencies. REPRESENTATIVE KAUFMAN thanked the committee for hearing the bill. 4:07:14 PM CHAIR SHOWER held HB 187 in committee for future consideration.