In a Friday floor session, the Alaska Senate passed bills addressing contractor ethics, real estate brokers and a shooting range on the Kenai Peninsula. All three now head to the House for consideration.
Ethics act modified
Senate Bill 24, brought forward by Sen. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage, clarifies that the Legislative Ethics Act does not apply to contractors hired by the Alaska Legislature. Speaking on the floor, Gardner said it doesn’t mean that contractors can operate without ethics – it just means that they won’t be required to sit through Legislative training mandated by the ethics act.
Each year, the Legislature holds training sessions for staffers, interns and lawmakers to instruct them how to handle political calls, how to distribute messages to the Legislature, and other business pertaining to the Capitol itself.
Gardner said it doesn’t make sense for a company like Lexis-Nexis, which is contracted to publish the official paper version of the Legislature’s journals, to sit through those sessions.
“Some parts don’t make sense to apply” to contractors, she said.
The Senate approved SB 24 by a 19-1 vote. Sen. Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla was the lone ‘no’ vote.
Tougher standards for brokers
Senate Bill 158, introduced by the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, toughens the requirements for a real estate broker license.
To get a broker license, the bill requires an Alaskan to work as a real estate agent for four years (instead of two) and requires the broker to take 30 hours of continuing education classes per year (up from 15 hours).
Speaking on the Senate floor, Sen. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage and chairwoman of the committee, said brokers should be held to a higher standard because they oversee real estate agents.
“This bill recognizes that brokers have final signing authority on all real estate deals handled by their firms,” Costello said, adding that there are only about 414 brokers in the state, and they oversee more than 3,000 associates.
The Senate approved SB 158 in a 17-3 vote, with Sens. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks; Mike Dunleavy, R-Wasilla; and Huggins voting no.
Before voting not, Kelly made an impassioned speech explaining how he had used his real estate license to keep his family fed during the Great Alaska Recession of the 1980s and does not want the state to prevent Alaskans from running their own businesses.
“It keeps getting further and further out of reach for people who just might want to go into business,” he said. “I don’t know what we would have done if I couldn’t drive truck or sell real estate.”
Shooting range renamed
In a unanimous 20-0, the Senate approved SB 204, which renames a shooting range on the Knik River Public Use Area after Kenny and Patti Barber.
The measure, submitted after the deadline for personal bills, was brought forward by the Senate State Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak.
