SENATE COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE February 4, 1993 9:00 a.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Randy Phillips, Chairman Senator Robin Taylor, Vice Chairman Senator Rick Halford Senator Al Adams Senator Fred Zharoff MEMBERS ABSENT None COMMITTEE CALENDAR -- PRESENTATION BY ALASKA LOCAL BOUNDARY COMMISSION SENATE BILL NO. 15 "An Act relating to the village public safety officers program." SENATE BILL NO. 26 "An Act relating to the location of the convening of the legislature in regular session; and providing for an effective date." PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION SB 15 - See Community & Regional Affairs minutes dated 1/26/93, 2/2/93. SB 26 - See Community & Regional Affairs minutes dated 1/28/93. WITNESS REGISTER Darroll Hargraves, Chairman AK Local Boundary Commission 333 W. 4th Ave., #220 Anchorage, AK Fran Hallgren, Member AK Local Boundary Commission 403 Lincoln St. Sitka, AK 99835 Lamar Cotten, Member AK Local Boundary Commission Box 103733 Anchorage, AK 99510 Shelley Dugan, Member AK Local Boundary Commission 4526 Wood River DR Fairbanks, AK 99709 Dan Bockhorst Department of Community & Regional Affairs 333 W. 4th Ave. #220 Anchorage, AK Wayne Ross Box 101522 Anchorage, AK 99510 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Mike Chryst P.O. Box 872488 Wasilla, AK 99687 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Susan Gorsky Eagle River, AK POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Roger Jenkins City of Nikolai, AK POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Beaver Bentley 41955 Spencer Drive Homer, AK 99603 POSITION STATEMENT: Has concerns with SB 26 Byron Bondurant HC1, Box 1258 Soldotna, AK 99669 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Myrna Maynard 2237 Forest Park Drive Anchorage, AK 99517 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Dick Bogard HC01, Box 228 Sterling AK 99672 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Veronica Slajer P.O. Box 101293 Anchorage, AK 99510 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed to SB 26 Larry Irving 1205 Smythe St. Fairbanks, AK 99701 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed to SB 26 Earl Westphal P.O. Box 288 Sterling AK 99672 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Dorothy Gilmore Chugiak, AK POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Bruce Marion, Chairman Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce Chugiak, AK POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Audrey Lee 3514 Vassar DR Anchorage, AK 99508 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Tonya Townsend 3514 Vassar DR Anchorage, AK 99508 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Carl Benson 1551 Farmer's Loop Fairbanks, AK 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed to SB 26 Mark Hodgins Box 372 Kenai, AK 99611 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Esther Wunnicke 1406 Sunrise Drive Anchorage, AK 99508 POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on SB 26 Dale Bondurant HC1, Box 1197 Soldotna, AK 99669 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Rhonda Marcy HC 33, Box 3169 Wasilla, AK 99654 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 26 Katie Hurley P.O. Box 870167 Wasilla, AK 99687 POSITION STATEMENT: Opposed to SB 26 ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 93-4, SIDE A Number 001 The Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee was called to order by Chairman Randy Phillips at 9:00 a.m. Chairman Randy Phillips introduced SB 15 VILLAGE PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS PROGRAM) as the first order of business. Senator Adams moved and asked unanimous consent that CSSB 15 (CRA) be adopted. Hearing no objection, the motion carried. Number 008 Senator Adams moved adoption of the following amendment to CSSB 15 (CRA): Page 1, lines 7 and 12: Delete "Native" Hearing no objection, the amendment was adopted. Number 017 Senator Adams moved that CSSB 15 (CRA), as amended, be passed out of committee with individual recommendations. Hearing no objection, it was so ordered. Number 030 The next order of business was a presentation by the Alaska Local Boundary Commission. Due to inclement weather conditions in Juneau, Commission members addressed the committee by teleconference from Sitka. DARROLL HARGRAVES, Chairman, Alaska Local Boundary Commission (LBC), noted that Commission members Shelley Dugan, Frances Hallgren, and Lamar Cotten, as well as Dan Bockhorst of the Department of Community & Regional Affairs, were also present in Sitka. Mr. Hargraves directed attention to the Local Boundary Commission report dated 1/20/93. He said the LBC received and considered a variety of types of proposals this past year including incorporations, annexations, detachments, dissolutions and consolidations. He pointed out that staff from the Department of Community and Regional Affairs provides a great deal of technical information and staff suppport in working with municipal governments in many different ways across the state. This past year the LBC made several decisions including an annexation petition from the City of Cordova, two annexation petitions from the City of Haines, an annexation petition from the City of Hoonah and an annexation petition from the City of Palmer. These petitions were submitted on January 20, 1993 to the legislature for final approval. In addition to the annexation petitions, the LBC also acted on local action annexations which included acreage in Palmer, Seldovia, Thorn Bay and Wasilla. The City of Whittier filed a petition that would have annexed the community of Portage, however, that was later withdrawn. Municipal incorporations considered and approved by the LBC were the City and Borough of Yakutat (the City of Yakutat was dissolved) and City of Pilot Point. Mr. Hargraves said the LBC started the Model Borough Boundaries Project approximately three years ago. During the past year the project has been completed and the LBC has adopted model boundaries for the entire unorganized borough. The Commission believes it has established model borough boundaries that best serve not the only the local area where that borough has been set, but also for the best interest of the state at large. He noted that the completion of the work and the setting of these boundaries does not at all determine that there will be a borough, but the work they finished up this year is simply intended to promote greater planning in the development of future borough incorporations and annexation petitions. He added that there is nothing in the project on the part of the Commission that intended to establish mandatory boroughs anywhere in the state. DAN BOCKHORST, Department of Community & Regional Affairs staff to the LBC, outlined the following suggested changes to Title 29: (1) allow direct incorporation of home rule cities and unified municipalities; (2) allow for some type of oversight on the part of the State of Alaska with respect to the reclassification of 2nd class cities located in the unorganized borough; (3) amend the statutes to allow direct incorporation of unified municipality; and (4) amend the statutes to clarify dissolution standards for city governments. Mr. Bockhorst directed attention to page 29 of the Commission's report which relates to Local Boundary Commission compensation. He said recognizing the role and function and increasing demands made on the Commission, the Commission questions whether it is practical to continue to rely on volunteer service. He noted the Commission held 32 meetings in 1992 with approximately one-third of them conducted by teleconference and the other two-thirds were in person in the various communities. It was further noted that limited travel funds in many cases allowed only three of the five members of the Commission to attend hearings. Mr. Bockhorst said another concern of the Commission is the lack of municipal tax limitations. The Commission has been criticized in one event for allowing the incorporation of a city government that subsequently levied fairly significant sales tax revenues. Current law no longer has any limitation on the amount of money that a city government can raise through sales taxes. The Commission has no recommendation with respect to this issue, but wanted to bring the issue directly to the attention of the committee. Concluding his comments, Mr. Bockhorst briefly summarized the following litigation cases resulting from LBC decisions: three cases are currently pending with respect to the City and Borough of Yakutat; one case involving the formation of the Lake and Peninsula Borough that has been before the courts for a number of years; a decision on the Denali Borough has been appealed to the Supreme Court; and a decision to incorporate the Pilot Point area as a second class city has been appealed to the Supreme Court. Number 375 DARROLL HARGRAVES outlined recommendations for the legislature's consideration and review petitions that have been submitted to the Commission which include the annexation of 7.25 square miles to the City of Hoonah; 2 petitions from the City of Haines, one for 4.75 square miles and the other petition is for an additional 7 square miles of adjacent tidelands; the annexation of 68.23 square miles to the City of Cordova; and annexation of 7.5 acres to the City of Palmer. Number 398 CHAIRMAN RANDY PHILLIPS requested that the LBC's suggested legislation be submitted in writing to the committee for review. Number 407 SENATOR ZHAROFF noted that he had received correspondence from the Hoonah Corporation asking for some adjustment in the boundaries with the city, and if they could not reach that, then they would be in opposition to the annexation. He also noted there was some question on the availability to select some of the lands in the Yakataga Management Plan. Number 460 CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS said the boundary commission annexation proposals would be back before the committee at the Tuesday meeting and that testimony would be taken over the teleconference network. Number 462 CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS introduced SB 26 (LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS TO BE HELD IN ANCHORAGE) as the next order of business, and stated testimony would be taken statewide on the teleconference network. Number 475 WAYNE ROSS, an attorney testifying from Anchorage, noted that former Representative Alyce Hanley had been at the Anchorage LIO to testify in support of SB 26, but had to leave because of a prior commitment. Mr. Ross stated he had voted against moving the capital when the issue came up several years ago, but he also believes that people should have the opportunity to see the legislature in action. Further, it would allow more candidates to consider running for the legislature. Mr. Ross spoke to the expense of moving to Juneau and the disruption of families if they accompany the legislator to Juneau; the greater accessibility of the Anchorage area to the rest of the state; and the opportunity his children and other children would have to visit the legislature. Concluding, Mr. Ross urged passage of SB 26. Number 500 MIKE CHRYST of Wasilla testifying from the Mat-Su LIO, stated he agreed with the previous speaker's comments. He said the legislature would be more accessible in Anchorage to a greater number of people. It would be doing the citizens and the legislature a great service to hold the sessions in Anchorage. Number 519 SUSAN GORSKY of Eagle River stated her support for SB 26, saying she believes the legislature is too isolated. If it were moved to Anchorage, the entire railbelt will have very necessary road access. She also believes the increased access will demystify the legislative process for everyone. Number 528 ROGER JENKINS, City Administrator for the City of Nikolai, voiced his support for SB 26. He said Anchorage or South Central is where the people, transportation and community center of the state iare. He said the legislation would help foster better candidates for the legislature, not only better prepared to do business with the legislature, but better prepared to actually run a campaign. Concluding, Mr. Jenkins said the fiscal note of less than $3 million is a lot less than $2.9 billion for moving the capital and is reasonable. Number 560 BEAVER BENTLEY of Homer said while is in favor of moving the legislature from Juneau to make better access for the people, he has some concerns with the legislation. He questioned if the wording in the bill meant that the legislature was going to find a new location in Anchorage every year, which he said would be disruptive. He suggested the legislature would need a permanent location in Anchorage. He further suggested there would need to be a permanent hook-up with Juneau so that legislators could research their bills with archives. CHAIRMAN RANDY PHILLIPS clarified that the Legislative Council would be the mechanism to set up the logistics for moving the legislature from Juneau to Anchorage. Anchorage has agreed to do everything they can to float a revenue bond for a place for the legislature to meet, which he thought would be a long- term lease agreement with the Municipality of Anchorage. TAPE 93-4, SIDE B Number 010 BYRON BONDURANT of Soldotna stated he supports SB 26 because he thinks it is very necessary that the legislature not be so isolated and insulated from the people that they represent. He suggested to speed up the process, the legislature should pass a bill which would eliminate the possibility of any expansion or renovation of any facilities in Juneau. Number 030 MYRNA MAYNARD of Anchorage testified in support of SB 26. She said there is great deal of movement each year as the legislators move back and forth between Anchorage and Juneau. She said moving the legislature would bring it closer to the greater student body, and she believes it is important for children to be able to go and see the legislature in action. Number 050 DICK BOGARD of Sterling spoke in favor of moving the legislature to a central location some place in the state near the people. Access to the people and access to the legislative body and the legislative body to the people is desirable. He spoke to the expense of legislators getting to Juneau and for anyone other than the paid lobbyists to get down there to them. Number 100 VERONICA SLAJER of Anchorage testified against SB 26. She said although she recognizes the positive side of bringing the legislature closer to the majority of the people, she believes that in the coming years there are going to be other issues that will be of a much more higher priority than moving the legislature. She questioned if the fiscal note for approximately $3 million includes any penalties that may occur from breaking leases and moving people around in Juneau and the cost for commissioners and agency people to travel to Anchorage to participate in the legislative process. She added there should be more exact figures before considering moving the legislature. CHAIRMAN RANDY PHILLIPS interjected that the fiscal notes on the bill would be presented to the committee on the following Tuesday for its consideration. Number 125 LARRY IRVING testified from Fairbanks in opposition to the concept of moving the legislature to Anchorage. He said he believes there are other issues of much greater importance to take care of at this time. He said the concept that the capital must be in the largest city in the state has not been pursued by many of Alaska's neighbor states where the capitals are somewhere away from the largest city. He pointed out there are people in Fairbanks, there are people in Juneau, and there are people in Barrow, so he wondered which people did they want to bring it closer to. Number 150 EARL WESTPHAL of Sterling stated his strong support for SB 26, just like he supported the capital move a few years ago. It makes sense to have state business taking place where there is the greatest number of citizens that are affected by the legislation. He suggested that if there was a problem with finding adequate space to house the legislature in Anchorage, there was an empty shopping mall in Kenai that would welcome the legislature. Number 182 DOROTHY GILMORE, a resident of Chugiak, stated her support for a capital move to the Willow area, saying she believes that with all the important issues before us, we can't afford not to move the government to the people. Legislators need to be closer to the majority of the people to get their ideas on the issues. CHAIRMAN RANDY PHILLIPS reiterated that the bill only addresses moving the legislature and not the capital. Number 191 BRUCE MARION, President of the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce, voiced his support for SB 26 given that half of the population of the state lives in close proximity to Anchorage. Additionally, Anchorage has more school students than Juneau has in total population. SB 26 offers the opportunity to many constituents to hold their legislator accountable, and it would also the allow the people to offer their testimony in person regarding issues that are close to them instead of paid lobbyists dictating which direction the legislators should take. Number 200 AUDREY LEE stated her strong support for SB 26. Although the final fiscal note has not been completed, she believes that in the long run moving the legislature will save money because of the large number of legislators that are from the area. She suggested that eliminating the per diem for those legislators who are residents of the city in which the legislature convenes could be another way to save money. Number 220 CARL BENSON of Fairbanks said the basic idea of a capital move has been voted on a number of times and failed three out of four times. He said it was a poor idea to move the capital and it is a worse idea to split the capital. He suggested as a better alternative to work on forms of effective telecommunications, especially for the rural areas. He stated his strong opposition to SB 26. Number 245 TONYA TOWNSEND of Anchorage voiced her support for SB 26 and said her main concern is accessibility to the legislature. She said she believes the legislature would act more efficiently if it were under the scrutiny of the majority of the population. Number 275 MARK HODGINS of Kenai stated his full support for moving the sessions to an area more accessible to the majority of the population. He said that's representative government. He said the expense of getting to Juneau in time and money keeps a tremendous amount of people from appearing before the legislature. He also spoke to his frustrations in trying to get to Juneau when the weather conditions are bad. He further addressed the expense to municipal governments in getting their people to Juneau. Concluding his comments, Mr. Hodgins said he has had a lot of people talk to him about moving the sessions from Juneau and he would be glad to form a grass roots organization on the Kenai to get some petitions going. Number 310 ESTHER WUNNICKE of Anchorage implored the committee to be careful in the passage of SB 26, saying it is a matter of so much importance that it should go before the people of the state for a vote. Speaking from her own experience as Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources for four years, she said she learned the importance of the commissioners and the members of the executive branch being in the same place as the legislative branch. She cautioned that moving the legislature will mean moving many members of the executive branch and many people out of the Governor's Office, etc. Number 350 DALE BONDURANT of Soldotna stated his support for SB 26. He said Alaska has the hardest access to their legislature of any state in the United States, and he estimated that presently five percent of the people have the ability to get there. Number 365 RHONDA MARCY of Wasilla voiced her strong support for SB 26, saying she thinks that Alaska has the only legislature in the United States that a citizen does not have direct access to. She believes it would be much more effective if constituents could meet with their legislators in person rather than having to talk over the teleconference network. Number 400 KATIE HURLEY of Wasilla, a former legislator as well a former employee of the legislature in many capacities, said the legislation will not make the legislature more effective to the public. She said there are many ways right now to make the legislature more accessible. It would also be a costly maneuver to have the legislative branch so far removed from administrative offices and the administration would be traveling constantly. She suggested that the way to improve the legislature is to have meaningful campaign reform so that more individuals can afford to run for public office. Concluding her comments, Ms. Hurley said she believes the bill is just another attempt at moving the capital and there are more important issues that should be addressed. Number 430 There being no further witnesses wishing to testify, CHAIRMAN PHILLIPS closed the hearing on SB 26, stating it would be back before the committee on Tuesday. He adjourned the meeting at 10:32 a.m.