Alaska Legislature: House Community & Regional Affairs, 4/7/26, 8am

Good morning. I call the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee meeting to order. Today is Tuesday, April 19th, 2023.

seventh and the time is 8.05 a.m. Member members present are representative Kyle Holland, representative Mike Prox, representative Caroline Hall, representative Steve Sinclair, representative Gene Nelson,

co-chair Rebecca Hemshoot, uh and myself, co-chair Donna Mears. Uh we have a full house and quorum to d conduct business. Welcome back everyone. Uh as a reminder, after a little time off, please silence your cell phones.

What are you looking at you? Why'd she look at you?

I just,

You have no idea.

over in this way.

Um if you need to pass a note to committee members, please get the attention of my aide Talia Eames, thank you Talia, and also thanks to Co-Chair Hemshoot's committee aide Thatcher Brower. Before we get started I would also like to thank our recording secretary Keir Brown and helping us from the Juno I_I_O_ is Doug Bridges.

We have three items on our agenda today. First we will hold public testimony on House Bill 334, unhoused young adults IDs and birth certificates,

sponsored by Representative Mina,

and this is the bill's second hearing. Also welcome Representative Mina to Community and Regional Affairs.

Next we'll look to the committee for final action on House Bill 234, per as emergency dispatchers, sponsored by Representative Hall, and this is the bill's third hearing. And last we will take up consideration of Governor appointee Julie Vogler for commissioner of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. We will hear from Ms. Vogler and take public testimony before signing the confirmation report. Thanks for being here in person, Ms. Vogler. First we'll take up House Bill 334 for public testimony, Representative Mina and staff.

ask Tamaleva Salanova.

Uh please welcome to the committee. Please app Approach the table, put yourself on the record, and provide a quick recap recap of the bill.

Thank you, co-chair Maris and members of the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee. My name is Genevieve Mina. For the record,

I represent House District 19 in the Alaska Legislature. Those are the Anchorage neighborhoods of Airport Heights,

Mountain View,

and Russian Jack.

And I'm here with my staff,

Tamaleva Salanoa. Thank you again for hearing House Bill 334, which is related to eliminating barriers for young adults who are experiencing homelessness in Alaska. What House Bill 334 does is make it

so that the state can waive fees for these young adults who are experiencing homelessness as it relates to the state documents for birth certificates and state identification.

The bill also helps expand the ability for a young adult experiencing homelessness to verify their identity for both the division of motor vehicles as well as for the Bureau of Vital Statistics.

statistics.

And then particularly for state IDs,

it would expand the address that they can put on those state IDs since many young adults who are experiencing homelessness do not have a stable address for their living situation.

Thank you very much, Representative. Are there any questions from the committee before we get to public testimony?

I can do it before or after.

I'll do it after.

Alrighty then. I will now open public testimony for House Bill 334.

So anyone in the room for public testimony, please approach the testifier table. I'll give you 3 minutes for public testimony.

Good morning.

My name is Jordan Nigro and I'm the Youth Services Manager for the City and Borough of Juneau. Thank you for your service for our to our state and for this opportunity to testify.

Among among an array of other services, we provide transitional living,

rapid rehousing and navigation services to homeless youth ages eighteen to twenty five. We help youth get their birth certificates, social security cards and I_D_s on a regular basis.

This process

This process often takes months as we help them to track down the necessary documents they need to file to get the other necessary documents and on and on. We even cover the cost. But not every young person comes to us, and even with our help the process is slow and cumbersome. Alaska can and should do better.

I'm here today in support of House Bill three thirty four and to urge you to pass this important bill out of committee.

I've spent the past twenty seven years working with youth and families experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness in Juneau. In that time I've learned a few things about what it means to be poor in this state and how our systems fail our most vulnerable folks again and again. Representative Mina's bill is, as she described it when she spoke on it,

previously in this committee, low-hanging fruit. I'm sure most of us in this room are carrying our identifications on us right now. It is an expected part of being in society, we can't get a job, apply for housing, get a mail back box and more without an I_D_

It's important for the committee to understand that transition aged youth who are homeless often have have often grown up in unstable homes and usually have been in and out of homelessness through much of their childhood. Keeping track of documents when you don't have a pladdy spl steady place to eat or sleep is extremely difficult if not impossible. It's also important to remember that young adults who are homeless will become older adults who are homeless without

without intervention. A job is intervention, but you can't get one without identification.

Young people deserve our support. They deserve us to manage the low-hanging fruit so we can reduce as many barriers as possible. The less time young people spend being homeless, the less homeless community members we will have, and this is a simple and elegant solution to a problem that has long lasting impacts.

Over the years I've heard many misunderstandings of what it means to be homeless, how folks get there, why they can't get out, usually boiling down to something along the lines of, if they'd just

But what I hope I can leave with you today is that being homeless is harder than anything you and I do every day. The work it takes to hustle, to stay alive, to stay safe, to get an I_D_ all of it is excruciatingly difficult. The numbers of homeless folks are growing in Alaska and across the country. Young adults are midway in the river. This bill helps them go from going further downstream. Let's make it easier for them to get to shore so they can grow up

Grow up and give back to this great state. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your testimony.

Anyone else in the room?

Seeing and hearing none,

I will now go online.

We have Eileen Arnold,

the Executive Director for Tundra Women's Coalition.

Welcome to House Community and Regional Affairs.

Please put yourself on the record and begin your testimony.

Hi, my name is Eileen Arnold,

and I'm the Executive Director of the Tundra Women's Coalition in Bethel.

That's a shelter for people experiencing domestic and sexual violence. One of our newer programs is sort of...

My community's first foray into youth homelessness,

and that's the tender youth home,

transitional living that we created a couple years back for that 18 to 24 year age range that is so vulnerable and needs so much.

Many of the youth who are in that program are coming out of OCS custody,

so it's been a long time since they've had stability in their lives.

or parents making sure that they've got all their teeth crossed and eye dotted or coming out of juvenile justice programs or what have you.

We see this in both our tender youth home and our shelter at Tender Women's Coalition.

The main thing everybody needs is an ID.

It's the first thing that gets destroyed in violent relationships. It's the first thing that you don't have if you've been sort of...

institutionalized or growing up without their parental units or a caregiver and it just stops everybody's progress it stops everything and that can sometimes be a difficult thing for us to find the funds for it's not a lot of money but like for however many people who go through your program in a year and for us that's hundreds you know like something like 500 unduplicated people through all programs it's a big chunk of change so

I think this is a great idea.

I think that that's something that's really helpful and something that, you know, youth in that 18 to 24 year age range like even deserve.

It is hard enough out there, especially in places like Bethel that are so far away from these systems.

It takes a lot. It takes help to even get the paperwork in to get your IDs and to get going. Like without an ID,

you don't have a job, you don't have.

have you can't get housing you can't get any sort of social services because you're just missing that first critical step so I think this is a great idea this would be really helpful those young people need need all the help all the you know all the benefits that that they can that they can get to try to you know try to make it in these really hard corners of Alaska

Thank you very much for your testimony today. Seeing no one else in the room or online for public testimony, public testimony is now closed.

Thank you Representative Mena and Ms. Salanova.

Do you want to— are there—

I have

you got questions,

yes.

Mr. Sinclair for Representative Mena and staff?

Yes Madam Chair. I have several.

Okay. Through the chair,

Representative Mena,

couple of questions. Why, why the age range that you have, 18 to 25?

For the record, Genevieve Mina,

House District 19 Representative through the Chair to Representative Sinclair.

Part of this was from the National Conference of State Legislatures Youth Homelessness Program that I attended as a fellow last year,

and over the course of those meetings,

we centered on the demographic of young adults. My interest in particular with that 18 to 25-year-old bracket

As a previous testifier just spoke about,

when we talk about this broader issue of homelessness,

I think getting at young adults who are just transitioning out into adulthood and who might also be transitioning out of other systems that we have in the state,

like OCS,

et cetera,

this is a critical area where we can help narrow.

the population of people who are experiencing homelessness in terms of how the state can target and help them and

especially since we are waiving these fees for state identification,

birth certificates, I didn't want to start out and make it universal. And so because of the experience and the different

events and and courses from the the youth homelessness fellowship that's that was part of my interest

Definitely.

Follow up?

Sinclair?

If they age out of OCS,

are they not considered an adult?

That's why they age out?

Through the chair to Representative St. Clair, I believe they're considered an adult when they turn 18.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, let me see. Follow up?

Follow-up, Representative St. Clair.

Uh do you know the standard practice for getting uh I'm sorry, through the chair to Representative Mina, uh do you know the standard processing time for um a birth certificate is three months and you can't get it expedited?

Have through the chair to Representative St. Claire. Yes, and I think a lot of our testifiers have also talked about the long wait time from the Bureau of Vital Statistics for a birth certificate.

Thank you Madam Chair.

Representative Nelson.

Thank you, Madam Co-Chair. To the bill sponsor, it looks like this is— correct me if I'm wrong— essentially in 1865.310, there's already exemptions in place for paying for identification cards. This is just like adding another class.

Okay. Follow-up.

I don't know. I was just looking. I don't know what goes into

like a real ID, you know, and I was just looking at in 165, or 1865.310,

section, subsection N.1, shall copy, scan, or retain only the minimum number of documents required by whatever for the REAL ID Act.

With this, is, um,

would this require the state to provide a REAL ID or just a state driver's license? I mean, if they don't have those documents, I just see as a challenge. I mean, it's we're already doing this for seniors,

it sounds like, from statute, but what's the— what is required in the REAL ID? Would this require us to do a REAL ID as well?

Through the chair to Representative Nelson. So the bill is very specific about non-federally compliant state IDs. So

Okay.

it would not pertain to a real ID. And to your first question, there are uh different exemptions for the fees related to a state ID, including for seniors as you stated.

Okay, yeah, thank you.

Representative Holland?

Great, thanks. Uh through the chair, just a couple follow-ups from um last time we heard the bill. I um

had done a little bit of digging and uh um

Percentage of disconnected youth, we talked about before, has actually surprisingly fallen in the country um over the last five years, and Alaska is now down to a little over fifteen percent. So I think the the work that this bill is addressing is still chronically needed since we're still leading the nation in disconnected youth and I appreciate what you're doing. Um I was curious about two things. One is um anything more from a discussion before about thinking about

about how we define unhoused in terms of transitional um temporary um situations versus chronic situations to differentiate between somebody who's left a situation temporarily and is in some sort of crisis but then gets, you know, back into some sort of stable situation versus somebody who's

in a position where that's that uh

the unhoused status is going to be long-term and this sort of um

approach for ID is necessary.

Through the chair to Representative Holland, in the bill itself we leave the definition for unhoused youth to

It's

it's to the

discretion of those divisions, so two Bureau of Vital Statistics and as well for the Division of Motor Vehicles uh to to verify what unhoused means. But I would defer to some of those two federal definitions that I talked about previously related to uh unhoused youth and in terms of the those federal definitions

Within the uh U.S. Department of Education, th though primarily it's McKinney-Vento funds that pertain to uh runaway youth, they define homeless children and youths as children and youths who might be sharing housing due to loss of housing, uh who

Do not have a regular primary night-time residence, who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, um migratory children, uh and there's also the U_S_ h uh HUD definition as well, and so we could look to some of those federal codes to help define those parameters of the conditions of what it means to be unhoused.

Okay. Can I follow up?

Gotcha.

Follow up.

Thanks. Thanks for that, I just I wanted to go back there. It continues to be a uh an issue that has a lot of um different aspects to it, causes and um I'm looking to better understand it long term. In terms of the process of updating or providing somebody uh the ability to have an address, the bill provides a number of, I think

very helpful ways of using service providers and others that can be a a temporary address for that person. What's your thought in terms of how successful those organisations can be in being able to maintain contact with an unhoused individual, to be able to keep that up to date at some point, or to perhaps have collected enough documentation so that when that person has moved on to some other living situation, they can

we can more easily go through the process of getting their I_D_ updated the next time. Any thoughts about the transition process beyond the first issuance of an I_D_ which I I get it that all by itself is a huge opportunity, but I'm just curious about the transition beyond that.

Through the chair to Representative Holland, we spoke to a number of different service agencies as we crafted this bill, including with Catholic social services. They have a third avenue

We have a new navigation center over in downtown Anchorage.

We also spoke with Covenant House,

My House Matsu, and many of these service organizations work closely with the person themselves to make sure that they're not just getting a free ID and then saying bye,

but really building a relationship with that person and making sure that they have what they need to be successful and to be self-sufficient.

There is also a recent program called the Good Neighbor Fund in Anchorage that is a private donor whose goal is to help cover the smaller costs that people experiencing homelessness face.

They include state IDs and birth certificates,

but it could also include a bus pass,

etc.

And for these,

whether it's a service organization or these private funds,

the intent is it's not just giving something.

something to you for free. It's making sure that you are working with that person holistically.

And we also know just another detail that when you're experiencing housing insecurity,

you don't have full protection over your own personal belongings. So there are situations where people might lose their paperwork because they are not in a safe place.

So I think there is room in a conversation to figure out those parameters uh and making sure that people can access the documents they need uh within uh good reason to help sure that they're successful.

Great, thanks. One last follow-up if I can.

Representative Holland.

Thanks. The final thought that I was left with

Thanks.

left with both reading the bill the first time and reviewing it again now is um should we could we be doing this for anybody who's unhoused? Um you know the challenge that I'm aware of um through some of the social service agencies and anchorages and this is one of the primary services that they provide to homeless individuals is helping them with I_D_ And this one law is addressing a very

important um demographic age-wise, but there's a lot of people that are older than this that need the very same identical support. And I'm just curious if you've given some thought or perhaps there's something I'm not aware of that would extend this same valuable service to anybody who meets the definition of unhoused.

Through the Chair to Representative Holland, I think that's a great question and I think it also relates back to Representative Sinclair's question, why this specific age demographic, right. And because we were working with a lot of different organizations and stakeholders who are specifically experienced in youth homelessness and young adults experiencing homelessness,

that's where we started. But the concept in general of waiving these fees, because it it's a new idea.

it's not a bad idea for it to also pertain to people in general ex experiencing homelessness. So I'm certainly um supportive of that idea and am uh curious of the conversation and the will of the committee uh on on that topic.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. And I'll chime in. I think that practically speaking, this these processes aren't going to just happen

um randomly with folks it's gonna be in conjunction with a service provider. So there's other things that are kind of like

initiating the process. It's not just like oh um this is my priority for today because I'm imagining there's a lot of other things and that relationship will be built as you know those those other needs are being being met as well.

Coach Hamshute.

Thank you through the chair. I'm coming to this bill cold. I'm sorry I missed the presentation last week. But my question is for the ID that would be issued

Is there an expiration date on it? Is it like an annual ID? Is it or is that not addressed?

Through the chair to Representative Hemshud, I am not sure of that question. I would assume that there is an expiration date, but I don't want to talk for the division of motor vehicles. But yeah,

th that's a good question that we could follow up on.

Okay, thank you.

Representative Prox.

Thank you. Through the chair, I was kind of thinking along the same lines as Representative Holland.

Thank you.

I can see the eighteen lower limit because that's when you're thought to become an adult, emancipation or whatever it's called. I can't remember. But on the other end,

are there a significant number of people

who are twenty five or older that could use the same service? And I guess I can't right now see why we wouldn't extend it to anybody who needs it.

Through the chair to Representative Prox, I don't, I can try to pull up some of the statistics that we have pertaining to people experiencing homelessness and whether young adults are more prominent than other age demographics that need a second to pull that up.

But once again, I think that I'm not

against and I'm supportive of broadening the age for the bill.

Representative

That would work.

Prox follow-up and then Representative Holland.

Follow-up, yes. Uh through the chair, is this

Is there a companion bill in the Senate at this point?

Through the chair to Representative Prox, there is a companion bill

that we can follow up on in a second. And just to answer your earlier question, in your bill packet there should be a document from the Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness point-in-time count. And from their point-in-time count, and there's a lot of different statistics about

trying to figure out how many people experiencing homelessness in the state, but that eighteen to twenty four demographic is nine point four percent of the people they had counted, and the largest demographic is thirty five to forty four years. That's at twenty one point seven percent. And then behind that it's twenty five to thirty four, sixteen point eight percent. So that eighteen to twenty four demographic from one statistic is

not the most prominent age demographic for people experiencing homelessness.

Representative Holland.

Great, thank you through the chair. The last set of questions just introduced a loose end and I don't know the details in the state of Alaska, but I assume we have some sort of process for youth under eighteen to be emancipated and to be declared independently capable. And I'm just wondering with the definition in the bill looking at age eighteen, does that preclude somebody who has gone through the legal

process and become emancipated who's under eighteen that perhaps should be able to access this same service and benefit.

Through the chair to Representative Holland, that is a good question, and we can follow up on that as well. I believe it with emancipation, it's sixteen years of age in the state, uh and uh we can look at

Whether this bill would limit that and create that barrier. And to follow up on Representative Prox's earlier question,

the companion bill is Senate Bill 261 by Senator Gray Jackson.

Representative Nelson.

Thank you, Madam Co-Chair.

To the bill sponsor through the co-chair.

My question is about the I think it's the most recent fiscal note, and if we look at you know it says that they anticipate or estimate that there's you know four hundred and nineteen individuals that would qualify for a free ID under this policy, and I think it's a tremendous thing, you know that this is a tremendous opportunity. But my question or my concern

is that there's no language for limits. And so if we expand the age, or even if we just stay here, I mean that's by the time people go from eighteen to twenty six, that's almost one hundred IDs that, you know, they could get per person if they're just

getting a new ID every month, and I understand the point about expanding it. Frankly, I would like to have some kind of a limit on the number of IDs a person could get so they're not just churning them out. And also especially especially if we expand the age which I don't think is inappropriate, I think it's a good discussion, but just the ability to get a fresh ID every single month or even more frequently

I think there should be some kind of constraint there to encourage responsibility.

Frankly.

Through the chair to Representative Nelson.

Yeah, I'm not opposed to having limits on the number of IDs.

And we're willing to work with some of the stakeholders that we've been talking to what they think is reasonable because it's the balance of being in an unstable situation,

but also if it is unlimited,

that is a lot of money.

But I really appreciate the interest of broadening the age range. I think we bought it.

It brought in the age range, but creates some limitations that will also help with some of those costs. I also wanted to note if the committee is willing that one of our public testifiers,

Jordan Nigro, has a lot of experience in this area and I would also love to defer or have her be available for questions on these issues.

Let's get a question from Representative St. Clair and then if you're willing to come up

and answer some questions, that would be wonderful.

You can try. Representative St. Clair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Um represenative Mina, uh I know during the the public testimony and some of the other testimony they said uh Bethel and rural areas. Do we have demographics on uh rural versus um urban? Now I understand that the uh

Definition in the last constitution of rural and urban is kind of complicated in that uh everything except for Fairbanks, Juneau and Anchorage are considered rural. But I I'm trying to narrow it down to maybe s places off the road system.

Through the chair to Representative Saints Claire.

I don't have the geographic data offhand, but we can certainly pull that up for you.

Okay, thank you. Follow-up?

Okay, thank you.

Follow-up?

Follow-up?

Different topic.

Where did I write mine?

Oh, through the chair to Representative Meena.

Prisoners that get, when they're inmates,

when they come out of prison, they get a 90 day, their license is good for 90 day.

So, 90 days. So I guess that.

ties into the other question as, and those are paid for by the state. So are we doing 90 days? Are we doing— and it, like Representative Nelson said, that could add up quickly if every 90 days they're having to get a new license. So do we have— are there any sidebar— sideboards on how long that these IDs would be good for?

Uh through the chair to representative St.

Claire

I would think that what the bill does, and, you know, thinking back to Representative Hemshew's question as well,

the bill isn't necessarily creating a new type of state ID,

like the prisoner ID is a very specific type.

It makes it so that for this age demographic,

if they're experiencing homelessness,

that they can apply for the same state ID that someone else would. The only difference is that the fee is waived.

Oh, there's three differences. The fee is waived. Number two, they have a broader

area of verification options.

And number three, that their address isn't necessarily their primary residence because they might not necessarily have a primary residence. So it could be the address for a shelter,

et cetera. But it's not a new type of ID.

And so I would think that the expiration would be the same as any other state ID.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

For the sponsor, or you want to get into our guests?

could it could either be the sponsor or or uh Miss Jordan. Uh you know before we go too far down the pathway of being concerned about the cost of providing ideas, I'm wondering if we have some um understanding of the benefit that is coming from youth that get IDs, that get jobs, that get out of homeless shelters, that are reducing the cost to all of us that are providing homelessness.

business. You know, my my general thought is the cost of providing an ID is nothing compared to the cost of what we are trying to do to support people making a transition to a successful housed employed situation. I'm just curious if we know the v the success that comes from having ID so that we don't let the cost of ID become the determining factor of trying to control the policy on this.

Well, I believe we've got the right person in the room to help us with that.

Thank you for being willing to

provide more than just public testimony and answer some questions. Please put yourself on the record and

My name is Jordan Nigro, and I'm the youth services manager for the city and borough of Juneau.

So I think, you know, we see a lot of young people who come to us with very limited job skills, without IDs, without all of these things.

We have over the years we developed with some partners a handful of years ago a youth employment and parks programme um and one of the things that that programme does is really help young people to gain some job skills so that then they can go forward and I you know we talk all the time about how great it would be to just have so many more employment programmes where we can help young people gain employment skills because once you

Once you have a job

It's not only just the financial aspects of it, it's also that they gain confidence,

they feel better about themselves,

they feel like they're, you know, contributing to the community, like it's just so invaluable for the financial aspect and also how they develop as a young person and identification just,

you know, you can't get a job without an ID. We also

So you know this is this

particular bill obviously is about identification, but the other hurdle we have is driver's licences, which is another way that young people can get jobs and have more jobs available to them if they can drive, right. And if they can get there and all of these things. So yeah, it makes a huge difference. And um we work our rapid rehousing programme, you know, one of the things that we try to do is really help young people to get into

into places that even though we might be supporting them with rental assistance initially, the idea is that they take over and

As soon as they get employed,

they start contributing towards their rent. And then they, the way they feel about that is also like they start making money, they start contributing to their rent, they start feeling like an adult.

And it just, you can just see them grow up, you know, and it's really an amazing and delightful thing to be around.

Yeah.

Thank you. Uh Representative Sinclair.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Through the chair, you made the comment of rapid housing. What is the age limit on that?

Yeah, our rapid rehousing program is for 18 to 25-year-olds.

Okay, thank you.

I follow up.

Great, thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm just wondering, Ms. Jordan, if you had any thoughts or could share some more background on the question we had about emancipated youth and what your experience is with their situation and qualification and how that might factor into this.

Yeah, I mean what I can tell you is that it is extremely rare for youth to be emancipated. Like extremely rare.

Um I think

I've known one kid to successfully do it. You have to have something like, I can't remember exactly.

Um it's like six months worth of savings in a it I mean it's it's it's like more than most adults can successfully do and and I've known one young person to be emancipated inappropriately frankly. Um so and that's in almost thirty years.

Two kits.

Helpful, so we know we don't need to spend too much time on that.

So I wouldn't worry too much about that yet.

Yeah.

Thank you.

And it sounds like those youth would have other means that they're required to prove.

Yeah, exactly.

It seems like it's a very different type of circumstance.

Yep.

Yep.

Alright, any further questions from the committee?

Representative Nelson.

Thank you, Madam Co-Chair. It's basically just a comment.

And I don't think that Rep. Holland was, you know, tossing any shade,

but just to be clear on what I was talking about before is that the fiscal cost on this honestly is very low, even if, and I don't think that all 419, if every single one of them was getting an ID every single month, that's really a very small fiscal note. And I definitely agree, I think the societal benefits far outweigh that. But especially if we're going to be talking about expanding the age and just handing out IDs every month to anybody who requests them,

that's where I think it's really not about the fiscal, it's just about trying to essentially encourage responsibility. And that's basically— I just wanted to clarify that.

Thank you, Representative Nelson. And I think that if you'd like to look at some limitations, we can have some contact information to suss out the practicalities of that. So I think we are done with questions. Thank you very much for being here and being willing to add on to that. So with that, we'll be setting an amendment deadline for House Bill 334 for Friday,

April 10th at noon. If you do need more time, please contact our offices. And with that, we will set the bill aside for a later date. Next we will have House Bill 234. The intention is to move the bill today. We received no amendments. Representative Hall and staff Maya Narang, please welcome to the committee. Please approach the testifier table, put yourself on record, and share with us any final comments.

Thank you, Madam Co-Chair, and good morning, members of the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee. For the record, my name is Carolyn Hall, representing House District 16, which are the West Anchorage neighborhoods of Turnagain, Spenard, and Sand Lake. My final comments are just a very brief recap of what the bill does. HB 234 does two things. First, it recognizes emergency medical dispatchers as first responders, and secondly, it adds emergency response dispatchers to the same

It—

PERS benefits category as other first responder roles, including police, firefighters, and correctional officers, so that they can receive the same retirement benefits as those colleagues.

Thank

Thank you very

Thank you very much. Any final questions from the committee?

Co-Chair Hanschute.

Thank you, Co-Chair Mears. I move to report HB 234 34-LS0830-N out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note, and authorize Legislative Legal Services to make any necessary technical and conforming changes.

Seeing no objection, House Bill 234 34-LS0830-N moves from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note. With that, we'll take a brief at ease to sign the committee paperwork.

We are back on the record with House Community and Regional Affairs, and our final item of business today is considering the Governor's appointee for the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, or RCA.

The RCA regulates public utilities by certifying qualified providers of public utility and pipeline services and ensuring that they provide safe and adequate services and facilities at just and reasonable rates,

terms, and conditions.

Today we'll be considering Julie Vogler for Commissioner of the RCA and hear public

testimony on her appointment.

Also with her today is Chair of the RCA,

John Espindola. Thank you both for joining us. Ms.

Vogler, please approach the testifier table,

put yourself on the record, and tell us about yourself.

Good morning. For the record, Julie Vogler, R_C_A_ Commissioner. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I was appointed by Governor Don Levy on March eleventh twenty twenty six for a six year term to replace Robert M. Pickett. I meet the statutory s

Excuse me, I mean the statutory qualifications to be appointed as the commissioners.

I earned two bachelors degrees, finance and accounting, both from the University of Alaska Anchorage, and I have over twenty one years of regulatory experience. I began my career at the R_C_A_ in two thousand four as a Utility Financial Analyst one, which I will refer to as a UFA,

the entry level position in the series.

I progressed through the series, and in two thousand fifteen, I became the UFA four, the advanced-level analyst that also includes supervisory responsibilities. In this role I temporarily served as the advisory section manager and was responsible for reviewing the work product and overseeing both the finance section and the tariff section while maintaining my additional workload.

In twenty twenty two, my progression continued, and I became a Utility Master Analyst.

I have played a role in the power cost equalisation programme, or P_C_E_ since I joined the commission. For the first u first years I was responsible for managing the P_C_E_ programme for the non-economically regulated entities, and later later on when st staff resources were limited, I again managed the P_C_E_ programme.

In my supervisory role, I provided guidance and reviewed the work product of the UFA2, the analyst responsible for managing the P_C_E_ programme at that time. And most recently, as a master analyst, I provided extensive training to the newly hired UFA1.

I was fortunate early on in my career to be assigned

Complex rate filings as as advanced level agency as advanced level analysts left the commission.

I took that as an opportunity to begin to teach myself all things rate making. As is sign as as staff on dockets and filings for all utility types, which includes but is not limited to surcharge filings, rate filings, gas cost adjustment filings, gas supply agreements, regulatory assets and regulatory

Regulations dockets. As I advanced through the UFIS series, assigned filings became more complex, some being controversial and precedential in nature. Furthermore,

the Commission relied on my excerpt my guidance on matters that I was not the assigned staff but the subject matter expert.

As a Master Analyst, I was an advisor to the commissioners providing guidance in the decision making process and performing qualitative and quantitative analysis of both complex and non-complex matters for economically regulated utilities and pipeline carriers and non-economically regulated utilities.

In both my finance and Master Analyst roles, I mentored, trained and provided guidance to staff members in other sections of the agency.

developed and implemented procedures to provide consistency amongst the advisory sections, independently developed adv agency-wide procedures and workflows, collaborated with management to develop section-specific procedures and workflows, and most recently developed the procedure for the annual regulatory cost charge calculation.

For the last two years I've been the legislative liaison for the commission, which includes communi communicating and meeting with legislators and staff, presenting before committees, attending committee hearings to answer questions, and reviewing and drafting of fiscal notes. In

Mm-hmm.

my role as a commissioner I continue to be involved in all legislative matters.

As an analyst I was sponsor responsible for thoroughly reviewing the record in a proceeding, whether that be a P_C_E_ filing, a tariff filing, or a docketed matter, ensuring s compliance with applicable statutes and regulations, and providing the commissioners with an analysis and a recommended path forward. I was objective in my review and analysis, which resulted in recommendations also being objective. This is a skill set that I have now and bring with me as a commissioner.

I look forward to continuing to serve as the Commissioner at the RCA. I'm excited for this opportunity and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you. Before we get uh started with questions from the rest of the committee, I I'd just like to note that my office has been working with Commissioner Vogler for the last couple of years. Um we've uh uh along with uh the rest of the commissioners worked on um some bills prior to filing, um Commissioner Vogler is often on the line for uh questions uh in the House Energy Committee and um

I think has a really good grasp of what the RCA does and does not wander into.

And I was very pleased to hear of your nomination to this role as someone that is really familiar with the.

very detailed quirkiness of the RCA.

It is something that I am continually learning more about and appreciate that there's someone stepping into this role that already has that experience,

although I'm sure you're finding that actually having that title and a different role is,

there's even more to learn.

Co-chair him shoot. I think you were wanting to test some of that that knowledge.

That's true. Thank you. Uh through the co-chair to Ms. Vogel,

It's true.

Thank you.

Through the co-chair to Ms. Vogler, thank you for being here. I'm excited about the opportunity to move somebody who has deep knowledge and has a lot of experience in the organization up. So I'm excited about that. And because of that deep knowledge, I need to ask you, I have heard from

regulated utilities that you guys work with, that they'll submit their rate-setting request and it can take a year, nine months to a year, to get those rates set.

And by that time, the information they submitted you may no longer be completely accurate because of the time that has transpired. What— why does it take so long? Is that typical in the— I'm going to call it industry, but in that line of work, is it typical for rate-setting to take so long? And is there a way to make that

a shorter timeline?

For the record, Julie Vogler to Representative Hempschulte. Yes, that is correct. So when a general rate case filing, which I'm assuming is what you're talking about for a

rate filing.

We have a statutory timeline. So the statutory timeline, the filing initially comes in as a tariff filing, and the Commission has 45 days to act on that filing. Then per statute, the timeline is 450 days from the initial

date of filing that tariff filing. Hence the long time. And what they do give us is a historical test year, and then they make known and measurable adjustments for future test years.

So that is accurate.

Follow-up?

Follow-up. Does the work take 450 days? If you're given those days, of course you're going to use them. Do you need that much time?

Follow-up.

So through the— for the record, Julie Vogler to Representative Hempschulte. We do oftentimes try to

make our decisions prior to that timeline, and we do have a pre-hearing conference after a— if a tariff filing has been suspended for further investigation, where a procedural schedule is established and the parties are available for that procedural schedule. So compressed schedules could potentially be addressed at that pre-hearing conference. If we were to shorten the timeline it would need to be

like, to have a hard shortened timeline, a statutory change.

Follow-up. Thank you through the co-chair, I just want to say I put you in a really tough position because you're looking to join this commission as a commissioner, and so I'm asking you to speak for the commission when you're not even officially

Follow-up?

Follow-up.

confirmed to the seat. So thank you for taking those questions. So I guess my final question on all of that is if the statutory timeline were made shorter, would you be able to meet a shorter timeline?

For the record, Julie Vogler to Representative Himshoot, yes,

we would have to meet that timeline.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'd like to follow up, because we've had this conversation before, is that there are things that happen within that time frame. There's

a lot of technical steps and back and forth that happen between the RCA and the utility and there would be steps along that that would be lost in a shorter timeframe. But they follow the law.

Representative Holland.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you. Through the Chair, welcome, Ms. Vogler. Thanks for being here today, and thank you for the service and support that you've been providing us along the way. It's been welcomed and it's always good to see your name show up on a list to know that somebody is there to help us. I've got a couple of questions I just wanted to run

by you today through the Chair. The first is, I'm curious how you approach the transition from the analyst role that you've served for quite a long time versus the commissioner role. I view that as— I've got a pretty subtle but significant difference in that. And I just also, by the way, just wanted to note that I can tell that you completed some of your education while you were there, which is admirable.

I've worked at a couple of universities, and those students that are juggling trying to complete a degree while holding down a real job, it's an admirable juggle to be able to do that. So I appreciate that you've done that. But back to how are you approaching this transition to a commissioner? What does it mean in terms of how you will look at the work, how you will approach the decisions, and, you know, what I'm going to lead into in a follow-up question, though, but I'm just kind of leading up to

it, is that there's a degree to which I view the analyst's job as really being tied to the regulations and really close conformance to those rules. The commissioners have a slightly different role to kind of look at the broader picture in their decision-making. So I'm curious, how are you thinking about this transition, and how will you manage that so that you kind of shift into the commissioner role versus staying just an analyst in a commissioner seat?

For the record, Julie Vogler, through the Chair,

to Representative Holland,

Holland. So transitioning from analyst to commissioner, I think the biggest hurdle for me is as an analyst I really

dug in very granular into the filing and to know all the intricacies of the filings. Uh so that transition is going to be taking approach looking more from a high a higher level policy decision still while keeping the record at play, um because we still need to know and understand we need to follow the statutes and regulations in regard to an analyst um just following statutes and regulations.

each analyst has a different perspective and you follow those regulations, but you also in your analysis provide recommendations on various paths for for the commission. So it's not just strictly this filing meets X_ Y and Z.

Great, thanks. Follow-up?

Follow-up?

Follow-up?

Great, thank you for that.

As we look at some of the work that the Commission will be doing now that it has begun and in the future, it is juggling some new questions around how we look at multiple projects potentially achieving the same need for ratepayers. And, you know, I've looked into this a little bit in PUCs around the country, and they have some, you know, guidance around

you know, how you manage that question of capacity versus rate need or service need. And I'm curious, how are you approaching that question and that type of docket case that might be used in the future to look out beyond any individual filing, but to

look across multiple

projects and filings that might be needed for meeting a service need but may encumber ratepayers with multiple excess capacity?

For the record,

Julie Vogler through the chair. Yes, currently we right now are looking at importing liquefied natural gas. It's on the horizon. We have, there's three projects that have been presented. The parties have presented to the legislature

But we at the commission have also opened an eye docket, I-26-001, to gather information from the utilities, we have been uh provided information publicly and privately. Um right now we do not we do not have in front of us all the details, but we will ensure that the the rates are just and reasonable when we do have a final project that comes before

The project won't come before us because it's FERC regulated. However, when the um gas sales agreements or potential terminal use agreements come before us, we will make sure that the rates are just and reasonable.

Now, follow up.

Follow-up?

Follow-up?

Thanks for that. I wonder though if you could um through the chair um dive in just a little bit more to the just and reasonable rates because um the the R_C_A_'s role in in

in part is not only to ensure just and reasonable rates to the utilities, but is protect rate payers. And the problem so far in my experience has been that we do a really good job of protecting the just and reasonable rates for the utilities, but we may end up leaving rate payers paying more than they might have if we had regulated the overall approval of different projects differently. So I'm really looking for you to maybe dive into how this I-Case can maybe in

we inform the R_C_A_ and the commissioners to help guide a better decision rather than just making sure that each individual project gets just and reasonable rate recovery, but that might end up with that us as ratepayers paying a lot more than we would have if that final approval of different decisions was made differently. So again as a commissioner I'm wondering how you gonna kind of go to the balcony to help us make sure that we don't just protect individual projects.

projects, but we protect the overall system and its most uh effective use of providing the services that we need versus having lots of projects in excess capacity when we're all done. But they were all well justified in how much money we had to pay.

For the record Julie Vogler through the chair. When I refer to just in reasonable

rates that was the rates that the ratepayers pay. We have a duty to protect the ratepayers, to protect the consumers, and when we're looking at the different projects, um looking at the different um costs and the impacts on re on the ratepayer itself.

One more, I guess.

Co-chair or Representative Holland.

Coach—

Great, thanks. Um I yes.

I got the energy hat on and the different

roles here. Call

to

order.

Thank you. Through the chair, as we look at the issue of those rates, what's your thought on how much ratepayers should be paying for excess unnecessary capacity?

For the record, Julie Vogler through the chair,

at this time it has not yet been determined.

if there is excess capacity, if all import facilities will be built.

I have to if I can.

Co-chair Holland.

Let's assume there is excess

capacity through the chair.

Let's assume that there is excess capacity, hypothetically, because I wasn't going into that particular case, but you put it there so it's fine, but there's other related situations that might get us there. Let's assume there is excess capacity

through some sort of utility set of projects that come along. What's your approach to the question of ratepayers paying for the excess capacity that would be created by approving the project and providing just and reasonable rates for the project, but in fact it's providing capacity that is excess of what the service area needs?

Representative Holland, they don't approve the project.

Oh, the rates.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And by approving the rates they're approving the project. So it's

a little chicken and egg.

It is, absolutely

Commissioner

is.

Vogler.

For the record, Julie Vogler through the Chair.

For the record, Julie Vogler through the chair. I think I will attempt to answer your question because yes, while we will not regulate the project itself because the import facilities are not public utilities and they're regulated by FERC. The contracts that we see in front of us, we can look at prudent management practices, was it prudent for two projects to be built and look at costs to say okay, should we have had one

import facility? Did each three did all three things that we have in place right now, could they have served South Central as a whole? And look at the prudence of those costs and management decisions.

That's good. Thank you for the latitude you gave me. I appreciate the work that is being done. I just this is a big issue and I appreciate your thought on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Representative Prox.

Thank you.

Through the chair, I do know where to find the coffee pot in the office.

For the record, Julie Vogler threw the chair. I don't drink coffee at work, so no.

For the record, Julie Vogler through the Chair.

I don't drink coffee at work, so no.

Uh, didn't look good.

The uh the thank you. Through the chair. The R_C_A_ like some other state agencies is a little bit not just a little bit a lot difficult for the public to follow.

I tried this a couple of different times before I took this job. Um

And I guess I'm concerned about that, that and the prior question, Representative Hollands was of approving projects these utilities, I guess the ones I'm concerned with

Our co-ops, they're supposed to be membership controlled and it is as a practical matter impossible for the

not even average, for somebody who wants to look into this and inform themselves of their own utility, it's impossible. And there w there has been several projects that I sh thought

should not be approved? Um, I got so upset I went to the Attorney General's office.

Um so I've, you know, I feel very strongly about that.

And are there

could you bring anything to the to the commission having had all of the experience down in the in the weeds, if you will.

to make

the,

you know, it's going to be very visible, but

to make it easier for the public to follow what the regulatory commission of Alaska does and easier to Rep Hench's point, easier for this to work, utilities or whomever, to work through the process in a shorter time.

For the record through the chair, Julie Vogler to Representative Prox. I am hearing quite a few different questions, quite a few responses

I can provide on that, so I'll do what I can.

I can provide on that, so I'll do what I can. As far as information being accessible by the public, my mind immediately goes to our website and navigating our website.

Right.

And we are in the process of implementing a new case management system, which I as a commissioner

hope that will be much user-friendly for the people using our website.

Yes, the electric co-ops are the member owners and the board does approve the rate increases, projects, etc.

So I think as far as some of these filings they do get publicly noticed, but I think if I'm hearing you right, having a more navigable website could assist with that.

That would help considerably, yes.

Follow-up, Representative Brooks?

I will let it go. It's just I look forward you're replacing somebody with a lot of experience.

And

Mm-hmm.

I'm glad that you stepped forward. I think that's going to be a big help for the commission. So

Thank you.

thank you for applying.

Representative Nelson.

Thank you, Madam Co-Chair and through the chair, um two questions. The first one is uh kind of kind of where representative Holland was asking about your roles and rates. My question is what do you see as your role in uh I know that you oversee different aspects of reliability. And that's kind of like one of my main concerns in our state is the reliability of our infrastructure. And so

Just what is your approach to whether it's a project that's coming through or influencing projects in the future on increasing the reliability or the resiliency of our state infrastructure?

Some of the power pipelines, all that kind of stuff.

For the record, Julie Vogler through the chair, Representative Nelson. Um that is a good question. I think when we are looking at the state as a whole, and the different projects, we need to look at what each utility is bringing to the table, what sort of economic development we can see and this and with the utilities having a reliable source of

of supply.

Follow up.

Follow up.

Follow up on that specifically. So the obviously there are, yes, different utilities and

Different utilities have different standards, and so what do you see as your role in, not necessarily mediating, but kind of maintaining a standard that, you know, can be utilised by the state between those different utilities that sometimes don't play so nice?

For the record, Julie Vogler, through the chair, representative Nelson, we have our guiding statutes and regulations, and we need to stay in line with those statutes.

'Kay, thank you. Uh, second question?

Okay, so you're – well,

I'm also happy that you've kind of come up through the trenches. And so you're going to have to treat me like I treat my kids when we do like devotions and I make them ask a question and they can remember a part of it.

And so you help me walk into the target here.

Towards the end of your introduction, you were talking about a program that you had developed.

That I think it had something to do with, I can't remember if it was power cost equalization, but it said that you had developed a program that's being currently utilized. Is that ringing a bell?

For the record, Julie Vogler through the chair, Representative Nelson. What you I believe are referring to is the regulatory cost charge calculation where

Yes.

I developed the procedures and those were implemented last year by our admin section. That is what funds our agency. It's a very complex calculation. We had 2 years in a row the staff that was responsible for that no longer at the agency.

agency. So I dug in and taught myself all things, R_C_C_s is the acronym, all things R_C_C_s so the newly hired accounting staff could perform the calculation last year.

RCCs is the acronym—

all things RCCs so the newly hired accounting staff could perform the calculation last year.

Could you explain what that accomplished for, like, maybe new hires and the information that they're not going to have to basically redo your work, like what that did for the commission?

Last follow-up.

For the record, Julie Vogler, through the chair,

Representative Nelson,

I can tell you this year these, that procedure was about 30 pages. You could walk into the agency and you could calculate the R_C_C_s for the agency. And this year the staff is following that and they occasionally come to me for a question as a resource, but they're for someone to be able to perform the calculation.

Representative Nelson, let me know how that goes.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Yeah, okay. Thank you.

Alrighty. Well, thank you very much for joining us here today.

And I think it's clear that some of what we've been talking to the RCA about, about some presentations to the House Energy Committee,

it would be helpful for some other folks to follow along when we do finally get that scheduled because you guys have got a docket that's pretty full with things going on, as do we here and just making.

Just making those mesh with enough time to pull things together I think it's been a little tricky but thank you very much for joining us today.

We are going to do public testimony as well.

So I will open public testimony.

Is there anyone in the room who would like to provide public testimony?

Seeing and hearing none,

I will look online and we do not have anyone online,

so I will now close public testimony.

And that will conclude the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee of the governor's appointee for the RCA.

In accordance with A.S. thirty nine dash dot O five dot zero eight zero, the Community and Regional Affairs Committee held a hearing on the following appointee, Julie Vogler. Uh signature on the report, that we will pass around in a moment, does not reflect an intent by any of the members to vote for or against the confirmation of the individual during any further sessions.

So, please.

When we clock out stay behind to sign that report.

As that concludes our business for today,

we do have a couple of announcements.

We have an amendment deadline for HB 334, Representative Meena's bill from first thing this morning for Friday,

April 10th at noon.

Again,

if you need more time contact our office.

On Thursday we will bring back House Bill 162 digital project repair to consider a committee substitute and set amendment deadline.

We will also hold public testimony and set an amendment deadline for

for each B_ two seventeen autonomous vehicles, and last we will bring back House Bill three seventy nine service area elections for public testimony and additional invited testimony. With that, there's no further business before the committee, and this meeting is adjourned. It is nine seventeen a.m.