MINUTES SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE March 17, 1999 9:04 AM TAPES SFC-99 # 57, Side A CALL TO ORDER Co-Chair John Torgerson convened the meeting at approximately 9:04 AM. PRESENT Senator John Torgerson, Senator Loren Leman, Senator Gary Wilken, Senator Al Adams, Senator Lyda Green and Senator Dave Donley were present when the meeting convened. Senator Randy Phillips arrived shortly thereafter. Also Attending: CATHERINE REARDON, Director, Division of Occupational Licensing, Department of Commerce and Economic Development; GEORGE BUHITE, Administrator, Youth Corrections, Division of Family and Youth Services, Department of Health and Social Services; JOHN CRY, President, National Education Association - Alaska (NEA-AK). SUMMARY INFORMATION SB 27-ACCESS TO DRIVING/SCHOOL RECORDS OF CHILD Amendment #1 was withdrawn. Amendment #2 was amended technically and adopted without objection. The committee heard testimony from the National Education Association and the Division of Family and Youth Services. The bill moved from committee. SB 51-LICENSING OF COSMETOLOGISTS The committee took testimony from the sponsor and the Division of Occupational Licensing. Amendment #1 was adopted without objection. The bill was held in committee. HB 77-JOINT ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE SB 55-JOINT ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE The committee took testimony from the sponsor of the House bill and the sponsor of the Senate companion bill. HB 77 moved out of committee. CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 27(HES) "An Act relating to school records and driver license records of certain children." This was the second hearing for this bill. Co-Chair John Torgerson explained that a motion was on the table to adopt Amendment #1, offered by Senator Gary Wilken. No objection had been spoken. Senator Gary Wilken moved to remove Amendment #1 and to adopt Amendment #2. Co-Chair John Torgerson explained that Amendment #2 was the same language that addressed a different section of statute. Amendment #1 would have amended the section within the Division of Family and Youth Services and would have required the division to release the records as opposed to the school districts. Amendment school districts. Senator Al Adams requested a member of the Department of Education to come forward to address the amendment. There was no one present representing the department. JOHN CYR, President, NEA Alaska testified in favor of Amendment #2. He said it filled a gap that had been mission for a long time. Particularly in urban areas of the state, there were students who transferred from one school district to another after getting in trouble in the first school. Currently, there was no way to track those students with serious records. He said the NEA was in favor of both the bill and the amendment. He had a question on Section 1, page 1 line 5 referring to the parent or guardian. He wanted clarification whether that parent meant the custodial parent. If it didn't he said problems could arise because of some parents who were prohibited from interaction with their children. Schools needed to be careful not to allow these parents access to the children. Senator Loren Leman responded that he had spoke in the previous meeting about AS 25.20.130. It contained a provision ruling that a parent who did not have custody had the same rights to access of the medical, dental, school and other records of the child, as set out in the law. This bill did not propose to change that. GEORGE BUHITE, Youth Corrections Administrator, Division of Family and Youth Services, Department of Health and Social Services, testified in favor of Amendment #2. He said it addressed the division's concerns with school safety. [Remainder of comments inaudible.] Senator Gary Wilken moved to amend Amendment #2 to replace the word, "bull" with the word, "bill" on line 17. This was a technical amendment. There was no objection and the amendment to Amendment #2 was adopted. Senator Loren Leman noted the title might be adequate as it was but noted that with the adoption of Amendment #2, a title change might be needed. He proposed a conceptual technical amendment for a title change if it were deemed necessary. Co-Chair John Torgerson said the amendment had been drafted by the Legal Services Division. He made a friendly amendment to Amendment #2 to allow the bill drafters to incorporate a title change if necessary. Amendment #2 as amended was adopted without objection. Senator Loren Leman offered a motion to move CS SB 27 (HSS) as amended from committee. There was no objection, and it was so ordered. CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 51(L&C) "An Act relating to barbers, hairdressers, manicurists, and cosmetologists; providing that the only qualification necessary for licensure as a manicurist, other than payment of fees, is completion of a class that is 12 hours in duration, addresses relevant health, safety, and hygiene concerns, and is offered through a school approved by the Board of Barbers and Hairdressers; and providing for an effective date." DOUG SALICK, committee aide for the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee and staff to Senator Tim Kelly, testified to the bill. The bill would change the word "cosmetology" to "esthetics" to comply with other states and apply to a broader range of services. Additionally, it would create a new license for manicurists and dictate the training they must undergo. It also created a new instructor's license that would cover practitioners as well as instructors, thus allowing an instructor to practice as well as teach simultaneously. It set new guidelines for those who practice in other states and wished to practice temporarily in Alaska. Finally, it also removed the shaving requirement from the statutes since it was no longer taught. He noted that a Board of Cosmetology member was planning to testify via teleconference from Anchorage, but was not yet at the LIO. Senator Randy Phillips asked about the Department of Environmental Conservation fiscal note for $3800 to cover publications and wanted to know if the funds would come from the licensees or from the general fund. CATHERINE REARDON, Director, Division of Occupational Licensing, Department of Commerce and Economic Development, came to the table to address the fiscal note question. She believed that the fiscal note would not be covered by license fees and would need to be covered with general funds. Department of Environmental Conservation currently had responsibility to do health inspections for other licensed professions and was not covered by license fees. Co-Chair John Torgerson asked if it was normal practice in regulations for the costs to be passed on to the licensees. Katherine Reardon replied that by statute, all the costs of the regulation of the profession must be covered by license fees. However, those costs were generally thought to be those incurred by the Department of Commerce and Economic Development to run the licensing program. She suggested that the funds could be RSA'ed to the Department of Environmental Conservation to cover inspection costs. Currently, funds were RSA'ed to the Department of Labor for enforcement of contractor's licenses. Co-Chair John Torgerson clarified that to do so, the committee would increase the Department of Commerce and Economic Development fiscal note from 16.4 to include the 3.8. Catherine Reardon answered that was correct and continued that an indication would be made on the fiscal note stating the intention that the funds be RSA'ed to the Department of Environmental Conservation. Senator Randy Phillips commented that he wished a representative of the Department of Environmental Conservation were present to answer questions. Senator Randy Phillips moved to amend the fiscal notes to incorporate the $3800 amount from the Department of Environmental Conservation into the Department of Commerce and Economic Development fiscal note as interagency receipts with the possibility to RSA the funds to the Department of Environmental Conservation. Co-Chair John Torgerson clarified that there would still be a need for a 3.8 Department of Environmental Conservation fiscal note. It would just be shown as interagency receipts. Senator Lyda Green referred to the fiscal note comments on the number of manicurists and wondered about the "thousands of businesses." Catherine Reardon doubted there would be thousands. Senator Lyda Green felt that number was high and should be adjusted downward. Co-Chair John Torgerson named the fiscal note motion Amendment #1 and it was adopted without objection. Senator Loren Leman had a question on inspections. He referred to testimony from Catherine Reardon in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee that the bill would require the Department of Environmental Conservation to inspect the business when it first opened, but upon transfer, no inspection was required. He wanted to know if that was what actually was taking place. Catherine Reardon answered that it was and that current statute dictated the amount of times the Department of Environmental Conservation was to perform inspections. She added that in situations where the Department of Environmental Conservation had limited resources they were to reduce the number of inspections and only respond if they received a complaint. Senator Loren Leman pointed out that the title of the bill used the term "esthetics" but the first line of the bill used "cosmetologist". If it was the intent to change the term, he felt it needed to be consistent throughout the bill. Co-Chair John Torgerson said he would check with the drafters and that the desire for consistency seemed reasonable. There was discussion about the testifier who was not present. Doug Salick told the committee she wished to speak about the length of training required for manicurists, and that she felt it should be more than 12 hours. Co-Chair John Torgerson ordered bill moved to bottom of calendar to wait for the testifier to get to the Anchorage LIO. CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 77(FIN) "An Act relating to the Joint Armed Services Committee, a permanent interim committee of the Alaska State Legislature; and providing for an effective date." SENATE BILL NO. 55 "An Act relating to the Joint Armed Services Committee, a permanent interim committee of the Alaska State Legislature; and providing for an effective date." Co-Chair John Torgerson noted the committee had an earlier hearing on SB 55. Since that meeting, the house bill was referred to the committee and would be the focus of this hearing. CASEY SULLIVAN, aide to Representative Lisa Murkowski, testified to the House bill. He said Alaska was being considered for the site of a National Missile Ballistic Defense System. The Pentagon and the Secretary of Defense recently stated that another round of Base Realignments and Closures were forthcoming. Because of those challenges, Representative Lisa Murkowski introduced HB 77. HB 77 would replace the existing Joint Committee on Military Bases in Alaska with the Joint Armed Services Committee and would have a longer existence than called for in the Uniform Rules, thus requiring a change in statute. The committee would be activated on July 1, 1999 and the Legislative Council would provide administrative and other services to the committee. He continued saying that this committee would provide a unified front by the House, Senate, Military and Civilian members to monitor timely military topics relative to Alaska. Alaska was in the crux of two swaying forces with regard to its military - the potential creation of new sites for a National Ballistic Missile Defense System and possible consolidation of existing military operations. These events would require considerable and constant attention. With the military accounting for approximately $1.7 billion of Alaska's economy, it was imperative that the Legislature take a leading role to monitor the economic impact of future military related events. The Joint Armed Services Committee would provide that focus, summarized Casey Sullivan. Senator Loren Leman noticed a couple differences between the House and Senate bills. One was the transition clause contained in Section 3 of SB 55 but not included in HB 77. The other was the first listed power and duty, which was to review and encourage state policy regarding the National Guard. Casey Sullivan addressed the second difference. Page 4 lines 19 and 20 of the Senate bill discussed the reviewing policy. This was removed in the House because it was felt it would be a duplication of services. He then explained the reason for change in the transition language in Section 3. [Inaudible] He noted that a sunset was also added to both versions. CHRIS NELSON, staff to Senator Tim Kelly, sponsor of SB 55, testified that they had reviewed the House version of the bill and concurred with its content. He felt the sunset clause was not necessary but that future Legislators would chose to extend it. Regarding the transition there was considerable discussion in the House. He concurred with the language in the House bill because it was important to have the historical knowledge. Co-Chair John Torgerson brought the committee's attention to the Legislative Council's zero fiscal note. Senator Lyda Green had a problem with the source of funding on this bill and felt that it should stand on its own rather than contained in the council's operating budget. Co-Chair John Torgerson did not disagree but said that the Legislature had the request before them in the legislative operating budget. There would be two opportunities for discussion on the funding. Senator Al Adams noted that the $18,000 would be debated in subcommittee as part of the Legislative operating budget. Co-Chair John Torgerson agreed and said that if it fell out during the budget debates there would be no funding for the program. Senator Gary Wilken offered a motion to move CS HB 77 (FIN) from committee. Without objection it was so ordered. SB 51-LICENSING OF COSMETOLOGISTS Co-Chair John Torgerson brought this bill back to the table. It was noted that the Anchorage participant had not yet arrived at the LIO. Co-Chair John Torgerson asked for comment on the argument that 12 hours of training for manicurist certification would not be adequate. Catherine Reardon began by informing the committee that she performed two roles, one was with the Board of Cosmetology and the other was as a staff member of the Department of Commerce and Economic Development. She said that the board would meet next week, discuss the matter and possibly decide that more training was appropriate. Speaking from the department, she felt the number of hours was arbitrary. She had worked with the sponsor to reach the 12-hour requirement. She had concerns about people needing to close their business to fly to area were training was available and advised that this could be cost prohibitive to some businesses. She did research and found a school that offered a training course at a cost of $3000 and took three months to complete. She felt that someone in Ketchikan would be unable to afford to do that. Senator Al Adams asked for comparison of training requirements in other states. Catherine Reardon referred to a handout. Co-Chair John Torgerson clarified that the Board of Cosmetology would meet the following Monday. He ordered the bill held in committee to allow the board to put their comments on record. Co-Chair John Torgerson said the bill would probably be brought back up next Thursday. Co-Chair John Torgerson announced the next day's schedule. He anticipated there would be a CS for SB 101. Also the schedule would include SB 11 and SB 24. It was noted that Senator Gary Wilken, Senator Al Adams and Senator Dave Donley would not be present on Friday. Co- Chair John Torgerson said there would probably not be a meeting on Friday. ADJOURNED Senator Torgerson adjourned the meeting at 9:41 AM. SFC-99 (9) 3/17/99