Sponsor Statement for HB 27

"An Act relating to participation in matters before the Board of Fisheries by members of the board."

February 7, 1997

This legislation was introduced because of a growing frustration among fishing Alaskans. Alaskans involved in fisheries have witnessed an erosion in their Board of Fisheries process in recent years. The cause is the reinterpretation and consequent increased interference of the Executive Ethics Act by the Attorney General's Office.

HB 27 adjusts the conflict of interest laws in the Executive Ethics Act as they apply to the Board of Fisheries. It stipulates that all members will vote, after disclosure, despite their financial or personal interest. Historically, this is how the board functioned - with full participation after conflict of interest disclosure. It has only been in the last few years that a conflict has disqualified participation on a vote.

You have in your backup a memorandum from myself to Speaker Phillips which refers to a meeting that I arranged last year which was attended by six Board of Fisheries chairmen. Three of these chairmen came from a commercial background, three from a sportfish background. Their foremost recommendation was for a legislative fix to the conflict of interest of the Executive Ethics Act.

The chairmen unanimously emphasized a conflict of interest adjustment was necessary to minimize attorney interference in the board process and to require board members to vote. Furthermore, they asserted that members of the industry are necessary to, and inherent in, a successful lay board process.

This bill will bring the Board process back to the people who know the industries and who know fish. Our Board of Fisheries is a model in resource management, longstanding in its successful track record. HB 27 will let the Board of Fish function like it should, like it did, and how it was intended to work.