House panel advances seafood industry data-sharing bill

The House Labor and Commerce Committee voted to advance legislation that would let the University of Alaska and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development share data for seafood industry research.

Senate Bill 181 passed the committee without objection after a second hearing. The measure, carried by the Senate Rules Committee and presented by Senate President Gary Stevens, puts into action a recommendation from the Joint Legislative Task Force on Alaska Seafood Industry.

"This is a data sharing bill, and it's one of the many recommendations that came out of the Joint Legislative Task Force on Alaska Seafood Industry and supports a collaboration between the University of Alaska and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development," Stevens said.

Committee co-chair Andrew Fields opened public testimony on the measure. Dr. Brett Watson of the University of Alaska Anchorage's Institute for Circumpolar Energy Research appeared on the record but offered no testimony, saying he wanted to be available for questions. Fields then closed public testimony.

Representative Calvin Hall moved to report the bill from committee as Work Order 34-LS 1921/a with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes. Representative Tom Sadler briefly objected to note for the record that he had arrived before the vote was taken. With no further objections, the bill passed.

The legislation now moves to the House floor. Stevens thanked the committee for hearing the bill, which Fields noted had already received a first hearing before the committee took action.