HB 82-OFF HWY DRIVER'S LIC; REGISTRATION; INSURANCE  2:17:57 PM CHAIR STEDMAN announced the consideration of HB 82. 2:18:15 PM NOAH STAR, Staff, Representative Kreiss-Tomkins, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, provided the following overview of HB 82: HB 82 seeks to restore off-highway driver's license eligibility to the communities of Kake, Hoonah, Angoon, Seldovia, and Hyder. What is an off-highway driver's license? An off-highway license allows drivers to become legally licensed without taking a road test, exempting residents of small communities from traveling by ferry or plane to a far away DMV office. To obtain an off-highway driver's license an individual only has to complete a written test. As of last year, there were 1,120 off-highway driver's licenses in Alaska operating in 294 off-highway communities. In 2012, constituents from Angoon notified Representative Kreiss-Tomkins that residents of Angoon, Kake, and Hoonah had been denied off-highway driver's licenses. Despite a multi-decade history of applying for and using off-highway driver's licenses, these residents were no longer eligible for off- highway licenses. Suddenly, Angoon, Kake, and Hoonah residents were faced with uncomfortable decisions. Residents had to choose either pay hundreds of dollars to fly to Juneau to take a road test using an unfamiliar vehicle or stop driving legally. In the supporting letters that accompany today's presentation as well as the testimony, you will read how off- highway driver's license ineligibility affected these constituents. Why did Angoon, Kake, and Hoonah find themselves ineligible for the licenses that they had historically used? New regulation with inconsistent application. To be eligible in the status quo a community must not be "Connected to the land-connected state highway system with no access to a DMV office." Additionally, a community must have an average traffic count lower than 499 cars in order to be eligible for an off- highway driver's license, but these regulations are inconsistently applied; for example, Metlakatla and Sand Point have ferry access but are off-highway driver's license eligible. HB 82 realigns off-highway driver's license eligibility with a common sense and historical understanding of which communities need off-highway driver's licenses. HB 82 is simple, the bill asks: one, is an area off the road system, and two, does the area not have a DMV? A "yes" to both of those questions means a community should qualify for an off- highway driver's license, that's what our bill does. 2:21:17 PM MR. STAR referenced a sectional analysis for HB 82 as follows: Section 1  Amends AS.28.10.011, the vehicle registration exemption statute. It exempts non-commercial vehicles driven in off-road eligible areas by drivers with valid driver's licenses, including off-road system restricted noncommercial driver's license, from registration. The requirements for off-highway commercial driver's licenses remain unchanged to comply with federal law. Section 2  Amends section AS 28.10.011. Requires the department to publish a list of areas which don't have land- connected road access to a driver's test once a year. Drivers in communities on this list are eligible for off-highway licenses. Section 3  Amends AS 28.15.201(d) to use the word "area" instead of "community" in the statute on drivers required to use in-vehicle ignition interlock devices and updates the statutory citation that references off-highway areas. Section 4 Amends AS 28.15.201(g) to use the word "area" instead of "community" in the statute on court limitations of driver's licenses and updates the statutory citation that references off-highway areas. Section 5 Amends AS 28.22.011 to maintain that non-commercial vehicles driven in off-road areas (as dictated by updated list published by the department) are exempt from vehicle insurance. Section 6 Amends AS 28.35.030(t). Uses the word "areas" instead of "communities" to include off-road system eligible places in existing statutes on ignition interlock devices and updates the statutory citation for off- highway areas. Section 7 Amends 28.35.032(t). Uses the word "areas" instead of "communities" to include off-highway restricted eligible drivers in existing statutes on ignition interlock devices and updates the statutory citation for off-highway areas. Section 8 Repeals 28.22.011(b), which required the DMV to annually publish a list of communities exempt from registration and insurance under the old eligibility guidelines, since the new list is required to be published under AS 28.10.011(b). 2:23:27 PM SENATOR WILSON commented as follows: We are constantly reminded by our Juneau senator upon how a lot of the folks don't pay their fair share of the roadways. DOT&PF does maintain some of the roads or builds some of the new highway miles within some of these communities and so the fee is not being paid is a bit of a concern, but more of a concern is why not have motor vehicle insurance be required for some of the drivers of off-road access; that just seems that other motor vehicle lists for if they do get into an accident because they may not go through the same training or have a driver's road test so some may theorize that those folks may not be as safe as someone who would go through the DMV process, take the written test and the road test to be commercially licensed to not to have those individuals who drive motor vehicles which can be considered a deadly weapon for some to not be insured. I just don't understand the reason of why. MR. STAR replied that the current insurance exemption is untouched by the bill and detailed as follows: The policy question of whether off-highway communities should be exempt from registration or insurance is untouched by HB 82, that exemption is already on the books and was on the books for the period of time that I mentioned where the communities of Angoon, Kake, and Hoonah had off-highway eligibility. So, HB 82 only seeks to conform existing statute which affords an exemption to these communities to the new method that we suggest being used to determine if a community is off-highway. 2:25:19 PM SENATOR WILSON asked if the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) was included. He inquired if the off-road communities commute through AMHS to another off-road community can continue to be exempt. MR. STAR answered as follows: My understanding is that if someone with an off- highway driver's license were to drive onto a ferry, take the ferry to another off-highway community, they would be able to drive with their off-highway driver's license. If they were to take the ferry from an off- highway community to Juneau, they would need someone with a normal license to accompany in a vehicle similar to how a provisional license might work if you were driving in Anchorage or Juneau. SENATOR MACKINNON commented as follows: What's great about surveying the people of Alaska is understanding individual needs in other communities. I appreciate that these are existing policies, but the interlock seems to be a new policy. Can you speak to me about the new policy on interlock, first? MR. STAR answered as follows: The interlock conforming changes in the bill is not a new policy, in fact, it is actually just a conforming change so the same list that was used to determine off-highway communities was used to exclude communities from being required from purchasing an interlock ignition device, the reason for that being based on our conversations with folks is that it can be prohibitively difficult to acquire an interlock ignition device in these same communities which is why the same list is used. 2:27:09 PM SENATOR MACKINNON inquired as follows: Is that because transmitting electronically information or do you know historically why that hasn't been done? Again, it's an opportunity to learn about a community. Why has Alaska chosen that in the past? MR. STAR stated that he will get back to the committee with historical data. He reiterated that off-highway constituents have said interlock ignition devices are prohibitively difficult to install. SENATOR MACKINNON asked if there is a distinction between a regular driver's license and an off-highway driver's license. MR. STAR answered that the two licenses look different. SENATOR MACKINNON shared her concerns as follows: It concerns me that we are creating a different group of folks that don't have to have insurance and that could be unsafe in their community based on not having equitable distribution of regulations or laws, but I will withhold judgement until I hear more because I do know that individual communities struggle with different things. I lived on Dutch Harbor before there was a bridge so it's isolated, it's very small, about two miles wide, and so it would have been difficult without a boat to get over to Unalaska to find groceries. So, I know that depending on where you live the challenges are different, so I will refrain judgement until I hear a little bit more. 2:30:02 PM SENATOR BISHOP remarked that the change occurred when somebody interpreted AMHS as counting as access. MR. STAR answered correct. He detailed that in 2014 a traffic- count component was also added. He opined that traffic count was problematic because the count was not always kept up in rural communities. CHAIR STEDMAN asked Mr. Star to get back to the committee on the AMHS reference because the AMHS is considered a highway and why should it be excluded. SENATOR MACKINNON concurred as follows: I appreciate you acknowledging the Marine Highway is a highway because we have those arguments where I've been known to challenge the fee structure of the Marine Highway and so now the Marine Highway isn't a highway and that's inconsistent also. I appreciate you raising that issue because depending on where you live in Alaska these are different issues. If you live in Juneau or any other community and you benefit from the Marine Highway System, you fight for that and the subsequent dollars that the state invests on those communities on behalf to run that system and if you are on the highway system you are burdened from some perspective with insurance and interlock systems and other state regulation that now is being treated different because of the Marine Highway. So, I'm not going to get controversial about it, but I would concur that we are asking for a different treatment when you are connected to the Marine Highway System under this particular scenario. CHAIR STEDMAN remarked that AMHS is a highway, a scenic byway. 2:32:51 PM MARLA THOMPSON, Director, Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Alaska Department of Administration, Anchorage, Alaska, explained that off-highway licenses are marked as a restriction. She added that the off-highway license has been redesigned to clearly show that the license is off-highway. CHAIR STEDMAN noted that there was an earlier concern on an interpretation change dealing with some of the remote communities that are attached to AMHS. He asked if Ms. Thompson had any comments on the AMHS issue. MS. THOMPSON replied as follows: The only thing that I would comment on is that because the DOT&PF only does the traffic counts on a schedule that they've got, it's not always accurate and things can change. From the DMV's point of view, if it changes it becomes more confusing for the people who live there because one day, they might have an off- highway license and then the next day because now it's 498, the traffic, then we have to take that away from them and frankly that's an expense and it is very confusing for folks. SENATOR WILSON asked Ms. Thompson to address his previous comment on "fees not paid" as well as where the normal DMV registration fees go for communities that are not off-road. MR. THOMPSON replied that DMV is strictly responsible for collecting fees. She added that there would not be a registration fee from those communities any longer. CHAIR STEDMAN asked David Epstein from DOT&PF if AMHS is considered a highway. 2:35:56 PM DAVID EPSTEIN, South Coast Region Traffic and Safety Engineer, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Juneau, Alaska, replied that he has not done much with AMHS and noted that the department does not do traffic counts on the ships. He said the closest association he has with AMHS is signing and striping in the parking lots. SENATOR MACKINNON commented as follows: I believe we are provided AMHS counts on a regular basis, so I just wanted to make sure the record reflects that we might have a different analysis of that. CHAIR STEDMAN said the Legislature receives an accurate count of the car-deck and ridership on AMHS from point-to-point. 2:37:51 PM GEORGINA DAVIS-GASTELUM, representing self, Kake, Alaska, testified in support of HB 82. She said the bill addresses the financial and geographical difficulties that rural residents face when having to travel to take road tests at DMV offices. She requested including Kake, Angoon, and Hoonah as locations authorized for off-highway driver's licenses. SENATOR EGAN emphasized that AMHS is on the federal aid to highway systems. CHAIR STEDMAN concurred that AMHS is a highway. He emphasized that there was no confusion with the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee that AHMS is a highway. 2:41:07 PM CHAIR STEDMAN closed public testimony. SENATOR WILSON commented as follows: I guess that clarification if AMHS is a federal highway it thus would be illegal to drive on to that federal highway with the off-road license, so you would be stuck on your current location if you have an off-road vehicle. I just wanted to get that legal clarification. CHAIR STEDMAN noted that the committee has asked the bill sponsor to comeback with a clarification on the issue that Senator Wilson addressed. 2:42:07 PM CHAIR STEDMAN held HB 82 in committee.