SCRA-260507-1330

Good afternoon. I call this meeting of the Senate Community and Regional Affairs Committee to order. Let the record reflect it is 1:46 PM on Thursday, May 7th, 2020. 2026. Present today are Senator Dunbar, Senator Gray-Jackson, Senator Yamp, myself, Senator Merrick.

We have one agenda item today. It's Senate Bill 268, Sick Leave Exemptions Fish Processors, by Senator Stevens. We heard an introduction of this bill last week on March 19th, where we took invited and public testimony.

We have a proposed committee substitute, Mr. Vice Chair. Madam Chair, I move to adopt the proposed committee substitute for Senate Bill 268, Work Draft 34-Lima Sierra 1527/Hilo, as our working document. And I will object for explanation. Senator Dunbar. Thank you, Madam Chair.

So I'll start by saying, in general, I support paid sick leave for workers, and I do not support efforts to exempt folks from the requirements that were passed in the ballot initiative people of Alaska overwhelmingly. Um, I think we should respect that ballot initiative and we should protect sick leave. That being said, the, the fish processors, um, did offer, um, some compelling arguments as to why their end-of-season accumulated leave causes unique problems at these remote processing facilities. Uh, and because of that, my staffer, Mr. Benken, and I have been meeting with the fish processors to try to develop a compromise that both protects sick leave for workers and prevents these kind of problems at the end of a fishing season. And so I could run through the proposed new version, uh, Madam Chair, or my staffer could.

But essentially, let's see if I have a summary document here. What it does is creates a 30-day probationary period where sick leave, paid sick leave, cannot be used, then limits it to 12 hours of sick leave per month that does not rollover and then capped at 48 hours of sick leave per year. Um, and, um, I think this accomplishes two things. One, it preserves paid sick leave, uh, for individuals that are seasonal workers, but two, it also prevents that accumulation of sick leave that causes the problem at the end of session. I'm sorry, the end of the season, end of the fishing season.

Thank you. Take a brief-a-deez.

Back on the record at 1:49 PM. We were joined at 1:48 PM by Senator Olson. Are there questions or comments? Senator Young. Brief comment.

Thank you, Ms. Speaker, or Ms. Chair. I think it's a great committee substitute. It makes it a little bit better than it was. I would like to see it be would have been even better, but we'll chip away at it at the next committee.

So the next body that it goes to. Thank you. [Speaker:CHAIR] Thank you, Senator Young. Further discussion on the committee substitute? Seeing none, I will remove my objection.

Is there further objection? With that, the committee substitute has been adopted.

We will open public testimony on Senate Bill 268. Is there anyone in the room wishing to testify? Is there anyone online? We have one person, Julie Decker, with the President of the Pacific Seafood Processors. Welcome, Ms. Decker.

Please state your name, affiliation, location for the record, and begin your testimony. Thank you, Madam Chair. Can you hear me okay? Yes, thank you. Sure.

Great. My name is Julie Decker for the record. I live in Wrangell, and I'm testifying on behalf of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association. I just wanted to be brief. You heard from me the previous time on this bill.

Senator Dunbar's comments, I think, are very accurate to our conversations and trying to come up to, like, a compromise that recognizes sort of the challenges that we face, but also his concerns. So we do support the CS even though, you know, we do prefer the original language, but again, recognizing that this does address some of our most challenging issues. So thank you for your time, and if you want any questions, I'll stand by. Thank you very much, Ms. Decker. Questions?

I see none. We appreciate your testimony today. Is there anyone else in the room or online? Seeing no one, we will close public testimony. Further discussion on the bill before we look to the will of the committee?

Senator Dunbar. Thank you, Madam Chair. I move Senate Bill 268, version 34-Lima Sierra 1527, backslash Hilo, from committee with individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal note, and authorize Legislative Legal Services to make conforming changes. Is there an objection? Seeing none, Senate Bill 268 is moved from committee.

This concludes our agenda for this afternoon. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, May 12th at 1:30, and our agenda, agenda will be posted soon. So at 1:52 PM, we are adjourned.