ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  JOINT MEETING  SENATE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE  HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE  March 2, 2006 3:35 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT  SENATE STATE AFFAIRS Senator Gene Therriault, Chair Senator Charlie Huggins Senator Bettye Davis HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS Representative Berta Gardner OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT  Representative Mary Kapsner MEMBERS ABSENT  SENATE STATE AFFAIRS Senator Thomas Wagoner, Vice Chair Senator Kim Elton HOUSE STATE AFFAIRS Representative Paul Seaton, Chair Representative Carl Gatto, Vice Chair Representative Max Gruenberg Representative Jim Elkins Representative Bob Lynn Representative Jay Ramras COMMITTEE CALENDAR  Alaska 20/20 Annual Report PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION No previous action to record. WITNESS REGISTER Ken Osterkamp, Chief Executive Officer Alaska 20/20 510 L Street, Suite 585 Anchorage, AK 99501 POSITION STATEMENT: Presented Alaska 20/20 Second Annual Report ACTION NARRATIVE CHAIR GENE THERRIAULT called the joint meeting of the Senate and House State Affairs Standing Committees to order at 3:35:28 PM. Representative Berta Gardner, Senator Bettye Davis, Senator Charlie Huggins and Chair Gene Therriault were present. Representative Mary Kapsner was also in attendance. ^Alaska 20/20: Alaska Progress Report CHAIR GENE THERRIAULT asked Mr. Osterkamp to come forward and present the Alaska 20/20 annual report. 3:37:06 PM KEN OSTERKAMP, Chief Executive Officer for Alaska 20/20, explained that in 1999 Alaska 20/20 began as an Alaska Humanities Forum project to determine how the public wanted to measure progress in Alaska. Objectives were established to track progress over time and to compare Alaska with other states. He described the current process as the best effort ever made to canvas the public to see how Alaskans define public objectives. He noted that Alaska is the fourth state in the nation to complete this citizen driven process, which establishes a broad measure of the quality of life in Alaska. Conferences were held in 2001 and 2004. In the intervening time about 120 public meetings were held and telephone and Internet surveys were conducted on the general population and particular groups. MR. OSTERKAMP reviewed the state of the state in terms of 49 individual measures. 49 Measures for the 49th State  3:39:34 PM  General measures 1. Demographics 2. Disparities 3:41:40 PM Education: Children will enter school ready to learn 3. Ready to Learn Students will graduate prepared for postsecondary opportunities 4. Students 5. Teachers 6. Schools 7. Curricula Postsecondary institutions will enable personal and professional development 8. Postsecondary Institutions 9. Higher Degrees 3:47:09 PM Economy: Alaskans will have access to quality jobs at livable wages 10. Income 11. Poverty 12. Employment & Wages 13. Unemployment 14. Workforce Development Businesses will be encouraged to innovate and grow 15. Small Business 16. Costs of Business 17. Transportation Economic growth will be sustainable 18. Diversification 19 Federal spending 3:49:11 PM Environment: Biological diversity and wilderness areas will be preserved 20. Biodiversity 21. Wilderness High air, land and water quality will be maintained 22. Air Quality 23. Land Quality 24. Water Quality Energy and natural resource conservation will be encouraged 25. Fisheries 26. Energy 27. Waste 3:53:37 PM Community: Communities will be safe 28. Crime 29. Courts 30. Corrections Communities will be healthy 31. Access to Health Care 32. Mothers and Infants33. Children and Teens 34. Physical Health 35. Mental Health Substance Abuse 37. Risky Behavior Communities will be livable 38. Housing and Utilities 39. Social Services 40. Caring and culture 41. Subsistence 3:59:31 PM Government: Government will be trusted 42. Public Opinion 43. Voter Turnout 44. Public Management Government will be effective 45. Cost of Government 46. Missions & Measures Government will be sustainable 47. Balanced Budget 48. Net Assets 49. Public Debt The following questions were asked during the course of the presentation. REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER asked if the education information is broken down by region. MR. OSTERKAMP said it is, but not when there are so few students in a region that breaking the information out would violate privacy. REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER asked if students with limited English proficiency are impacting the ready-to-learn indicator. MR. OSTERKAMP replied the categories are broken out differently so it's not indicated by the data. However, No Child Left Behind requires K-12 data be broken out that way so you could get the information from the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), website. That data indicates that group consistently underperforms across all areas. He noted that Alaska is the only state without a state-sponsored pre-K program, which probably contributes to that dynamic. 3:50:37 PM REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER referenced page 27 and questioned why Alaskans generate 50 percent more waste per person than the national average. MR. OSTERKAMP replied it was difficult to find good data about solid waste generation in Alaska. The Anchorage landfill is a notable success, but for the most part Alaska has problems with recycling and the fact is it's frequently not cost effective. REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER questioned how much waste the government might generate from activity such as asbestos abatement. MR. OSTERKAMP said it's difficult to break out; the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) website has the data broken out in terms of different material, but public versus private sector waste production isn't addressed. He reiterated there is room for improvement as far as collecting data on environmental measures. SENATOR CHARLIE HUGGINS questioned the student dropout rate listed on page 4. MR. OSTERKAMP pointed out that the narrative states that the measure isn't adequate because the Department of Education tracks graduation rates while the Department of Labor tracks dropout rates. SENATOR HUGGINS questioned the utility of the document. MR. OSTERKAMP explained that the 20/20 project was designed to give a common set of measurements to discuss public objectives. The report is cited in public policy debates with greater frequently and it's difficult to find the same data anywhere else. SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS asked for a copy of the 2004 report. MR. OSTERKAMP agreed. REPRESENTATIVE KAPSNER asked if Alaska 20/20 works with First Alaskans. MR. OSTERKAMP said yes; for instance Alaska 20/20 would be working with First Alaskans to develop performance measures for rural economic development. CHAIR THERRIAULT recessed the meeting to the call of the Chair at 4:14:52 PM. [The Senate State Affairs Committee reconvened at 9:00 a.m. March 6, 2006.]