ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE STANDING COMMITTEE  April 5, 2018 1:37 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Mia Costello, Chair Senator Kevin Meyer, Vice Chair Senator Berta Gardner MEMBERS ABSENT  Senator Gary Stevens Senator Peter Micciche OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT COMMITTEE CALENDAR  CONFIRMATION HEARINGS Alcoholic Beverage Control Board Sara Erickson (Crapuchettes) - Soldotna - CONFIRMATION ADVANCED Alaska Labor Relations Agency Tyler Andrews - Anchorage - CONFIRMATION ADVANCED Board of Marital and Family Therapy Natalie Lewis - Kotzebue - CONFIRMATION ADVANCED Board of Pharmacy Tammy Jean Lindemuth - Anchorage - CONFIRMATION ADVANCED Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives Kenni Linden - Palmer - CONFIRMATION ADVANCED PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION  No previous action to record. WITNESS REGISTER TYLER ANDREWS, Appointee to the Management Seat Alaska Labor Relations Agency Anchorage, Alaska, POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Alaska Labor Relations Agency. NATALIE LEWIS, Appointee to the Public Seat Board of Marital and Family Therapy Kotzebue, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Board of Marital and Family Therapy. KENNI LINDEN, Appointee to a Public Seat Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives Palmer, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives. TAMMY JEAN LINDEMUTH, Appointee to the Public Seat Board of Pharmacy Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Board of Pharmacy. SARA ERICKSON, Appointee to the Public Seat Alcoholic Beverage Control Board Soldotna, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. ACTION NARRATIVE 1:37:42 PM CHAIR MIA COSTELLO called the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:37 p.m. Present at the call to order were Vice Chair Meyer, Senator Gardner, and Chair Costello. ^Confirmation Hearing(s) CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)  Alaska Labor Relations Agency  Board of Marital and Family Therapy  Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives  Board of Pharmacy  Alcoholic Beverage Control Board  CHAIR COSTELLO announced the sole order of business was confirmation hearings for Governor appointees to boards and commissions. 1:39:28 PM CHAIR COSTELLO asked Tyler Andrews to tell the committee about himself and his interest in being reappointed to the management seat on the Alaska Labor Relations Agency. 1:40:07 PM TYLER ANDREWS, Appointee to the Management Seat, Alaska Labor Relations Agency, Anchorage, Alaska, said he's been on the board for some time and views the service as an opportunity to give back drawing on his knowledge and expertise. He is able to learn from others on a topic that is of great interest. He opined that this very functional board serves an important purpose in the public sector labor relations arena when parties are unable to resolve their disputes. 1:41:10 PM SENATOR GARDNER asked him to talk about the process for addressing grievances. MR. ANDREWS explained that grievances generally go to arbitration, not the board. The board generally handles unfair labor practices, claims that parties may file against each other regarding the bargaining relationship, clarification of the bargaining unit to which a position should be assigned, and larger unit clarifications when a bargaining unit is being formed or has changed over time. Grievances are usually issues that come up between parties as to the application of specific contract language or the operation of the agreement, whereas the board addresses the relationship between the parties and their bargaining unit. CHAIR COSTELLO asked what he learned about negotiations from the class he took in 2010 on Advanced Contract Negotiation Skills. MR. ANDREWS related that he had taken several of those classes. Most of them start with a discussion about the traditional position-based bargaining like buying a house or car. The more advanced classes study game theory and how to assess bargaining relationships. In addition to position-based bargaining, there is collaborative or cooperative bargaining, which labor relations calls interest-based bargaining. He said he tries to use this training in his day job and when he is working with his colleagues at the agency. CHAIR COSTELLO thanked Mr. Andrews for his service and stated her intention to move his and the other names forward. 1:45:23 PM CHAIR COSTELLO asked Natalie Lewis to tell the committee about herself and her interest in serving on the Board of Marital and Family Therapy. 1:45:35 PM NATALIE LEWIS, Appointee to the Public Seat, Board of Marital and Family Therapy, Kotzebue, Alaska, said she currently works as the Director of Behavioral Health Services at Manililaq Association. She wanted to serve on this board because of her long-standing interest in helping to preserve families. She has a Master of Social Work degree and a certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy. She said there are unique challenges in Alaska and she believes her skills and background mesh well with this board. 1:47:02 PM SENATOR GARDNER asked her to clarify the answers she gave on the financial conflict of interest section of her application. MS. LEWIS said she did not see any reason that she would have any conflict serving on this board. CHAIR COSTELLO thanked Ms. Lewis for being willing to serve. 1:48:15 PM CHAIR COSTELLO asked Kenni Linden to tell the committee about herself and her interest in serving on the Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives. 1:48:34 PM KENNI LINDEN, Appointee to a Public Seat, Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives, Palmer, Alaska, said her midwife approached her to apply to the board based on her family's phenomenal experience with direct-entry midwives. She is a client of midwifery and is passionate about women's health. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Alaska Family Services in the MatSu Valley. They run family violence intervention, a sexual assault response team, and a domestic violence shelter. She has done some advocacy work and is currently the editor, writer, and teacher with an online publication. Her educational background includes conflict transformation, nonviolent communication, and mediation. This has been helpful on boards she has served on in the past. She is passionate about midwifery care and ensuring that Alaskan families have access to safe, informed, and compassionate care, and that they are able to select the best birthing option for themselves. That and her midwife's recommendation are why she applied for this position. 1:50:38 PM SENATOR MEYER asked her to talk about the Elephant Journal Academy. MS. LINDEN explained that she is the editor and academy coordinator for Elephant Journal, which is an online publication that has about 10 million readers monthly. They publish health- related mindfulness articles through public submissions. She teaches in the Elephant Journal Academy, which is a training program for writers in writing, editing, social media, and journalism. SENATOR MEYER asked if she did that in Alaska or Boulder, Colorado. MS. LINDEN said she works from home in Alaska and the academy is in Boulder. SENATOR MEYER noted that she had worked in Anchorage as a regional organizer for Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii. He asked her to elaborate. MS. LINDEN explained that for two years she was the Anchorage regional field organizer for Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii. She did advocacy for Medicaid expansion to cover pregnant women and children and access to birth control. She also worked on the Alaska State Children's Act that passed in 2016. She left in July 2016 to have a baby and is now six months pregnant with their second child. SENATOR MEYER asked if she had a small business called Running Smart. MS. LINDEN said yes; her she works as the director as part of her husbands contracting business for website development SENATOR MEYER thanked Ms. Linden for her interest in serving. CHAIR COSTELLO thanked Ms. Linden for taking time to call in to the committee. 1:54:22 PM CHAIR COSTELLO asked Tammy Lindemuth to tell the committee about herself and her interest in serving on the Board of Pharmacy. 1:54:40 PM TAMMY JEAN LINDEMUTH, Appointee to the Public Seat, Board of Pharmacy, Anchorage, Alaska, said she has a science degree from the University of Oregon. She works at home as a medical language specialist in the fields of oncology, hematology, and obstetrics and gynecology. She is the mother of five and enjoys being involved in protecting public health and safety. She was interested in applying as soon as she learned the public position was open. It's a way to help take care of the state. SENATOR GARDNER said she initially wondered why Ms. Lindemuth would want to be on the pharmacy board but she explained that with her self-employment in medical transcription and work on public health and safety issues. CHAIR COSTELLO thanked Ms. Lindemuth for making herself available to the committee. 1:56:17 PM CHAIR COSTELLO asked Sara Erickson to tell the committee about herself and her interest in serving on the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. 1:56:38 PM SARA ERICKSON, Appointee to the Public Seat, Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, Soldotna, Alaska, said she was born in Alaska and grew up commercial fishing in Bristol Bay. She has always had a passion for civic service and has served on many different boards throughout the state. This board is of interest because she has a good understanding of the impact of alcohol in rural communities and the balance it plays between public health and safety versus a healthy economy and the benefits that alcohol can bring to a community. She attended the first meeting in Nome two days ago, and hopes to help the public and make sure the licensees abide by the rules. She hopes to be a voice of reason. 1:59:29 PM SENATOR COSTELLO asked if she was following the Title 4 rewrite bill that was going through the process. MS. ERICKSON said yes. SENATOR GARDNER asked her to clarify the statement that she was a life-long Alaskan. MS. ERICKSON said she was born and raised in Alaska, but she moved to Pittsburg for 15 years before returning to Alaska in 2012. 2:00:40 PM CHAIR COSTELLO thanked Ms. Erickson for making herself available to the committee. 2:00:58 PM CHAIR COSTELLO opened public testimony on the appointees to boards and commissions. Finding no one who wished to comment, she closed public testimony. 2:01:27 PM CHAIR COSTELLO read the following: In accordance with AS 39.05.080, the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee reviewed the following and recommends the appointments be forwarded to a joint session for consideration: Alaska State Board of Public Accountancy; Alcoholic Beverage Control Board; State Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers, & Land Surveyors; Board of Barbers and Hairdressers; Board of Chiropractic Examiners; Board of Dental Examiners; Fisherman's Fund Advisory and Appeals Council; Labor Relations Agency Alaska; Marijuana Control Board; Board of Marital and Family Therapy; Board of Massage Therapists; Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives; Board of Nursing; Board of Examiners in Optometry; Board of Pharmacy; State Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Board; Board of Professional Counselors; Board of Psychologist and Psychological Associate Examiners; Board of Certified Real Estate Appraisers; Board of Social Work Examiners; Board of Veterinary Examiners; Workers' Compensation Appeals Commission; and Workers' Compensation Board of Alaska. This does not reflect any intent by any of the members to vote for or against the confirmation of the individuals during any further sessions. 2:03:03 PM SENATOR GARDNER noted that Robert Lee Calhoun was listed as a nominee for a public seat for the Board of Physical and Occupational Therapy when he is a practicing physical therapist. She said she raised the issue with the Governor but wasn't sure about the outcome. CHAIR COSTELLO said her staff would contact the Governors Office to ask if that fulfills the requirement for the public seat. 2:04:05 PM There being no further business to come before the committee, Chair Costello adjourned the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing Committee meeting at 2:04 p.m.