APDC Legislative Liaison Commmittee

Legislative Liaison Committee

The APDC Legislative Liaison Committee (LLC) serves three important functions:

Maintain exchange of information between the APDC and the Alaska State Legislature
Negotiate with a lobbyist to represent the APDC
Assist in establishing and reviewing language for legislation that affects the APDC

Each member society is asked to provide at least one member to the committee, and all interested members are welcome. Dale Nelson, PE, is the chairman of the LLC.

For more information or to receive notices of teleconferences and other LLC news, contact Dale Nelson, danelsonpe@earthlink.net.

Any time you want the latest information on a bill, go to http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/start.asp?session=25 and type in the bills to find the current language and status.

March 29, 2007 Meeting Highlights

Some updates from the March 29 teleconference of the APDC Legislative Liaison Committee include:

HB151, an Act requiring an indemnification and hold harmless provision in professional services contracts of state agencies, quasi-public agencies, municipalities, and political subdivisions, passed (H) STA with 6 “do pass” (no members opposed). Rep. Bob Lynn, Chair of (H) STA signed on as a co-sponsor. (H) JUD has scheduled the bill for Monday, April 2. Three of the six (H) JUD Committee members also serve on (H) STA (and are already in support). It is possible the bill will move from (H) JUD Monday and could then advance to (H) RLS for scheduling on the floor.

APDC Lobbyist John Walsh is working with staff in Sen. Joe Thomas’s office to pursue legislation concerning NICET activity under the “specialty license” exemption but requested that we establish with certainty that legislation is needed. David Bowers, Dept. of Law, wrote a memo some years ago indicating that NICET activity could occur under the “specialty license” exemption. We asked Sen. Thomas’s office to secure a legislative legal opinion to corroborate the DOL memo or establish that indeed legislation is in order. Walsh also is meeting with staff to Senator Johnny Ellis concerning “stop work” legislation.

The Climate Change Task Force is planning a meeting in Anchorage, April 12 and 13, wherein engineering/design issues with respect to climate changes will be discussed. Interested APDC members may wish to attend.

Contact Dale Nelson to be added to the LLC email list for special alerts, meeting notices, regular updates and a complete list of bills on the LLC “watch list.” The list includes links to the state Bill Action and Status Inquiry System (BASIS), which provides the bill’s history, status and scheduled hearings.

Contact Dale Nelson at danelsonpe@earthlink.net.