Alaska Governor signs five Interior bills

Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski signed five bills penned by Alaska Interior legislators into law Wednesday, including a measure introduced by Alaska Rep. Jim Holm, R-Fairbanks, Alaska to create guidelines for the cleanup of illegal meth labs. Holm's measure requires Alaska law enforcement to post signs warning of the danger of entering a property that was used as a drug lab. Among its many provisions, it also creates guidelines for when such a property can be occupied, sold, rented or leased and mandates testing procedures and standards to see whether a property is livable.

Alaska property owners would be allowed to go after the tenants responsible in order to pay for the cleanup, but otherwise would have to foot the bill themselves.

Holm's bill was actually introduced last year by Anchorage, Alaska Democratic Sen. Gretchen Guess, then a member of the Alaska state House. It passed the House but the Senate ran out of time at the end of the session before it could vote on it. Holm reintroduced the bill this year and it passed unanimously in both the House and Senate.

Another Holm bill, House Bill 250, was also signed into Alaska law Wednesday. The bill changes provisions regarding the procedures undertaken to settle claims filed by contractors with Alaska. It establishes timelines for the Alaska state procurement officer to make a decision regarding a contract dispute, requires arbitration to settle contract disputes under $250,000 and awards attorney fees and costs to the prevailing party. The bill passed both the House and Senate unanimously.

A pair of bills introduced by Sen. Ralph Seekins, R-Fairbanks, Alaska were also ratified by Murkowski on Wednesday. Senate Bill 198 precludes a peace officer or firefighter from suing for damages suffered while on duty, unless the damages are based on an act unrelated to the fire or other event the person was called out on. The bill unanimously passed both the Alaska House and Senate.

Senate Bill 87 rewrites Alaska's Uniform Principal and Income Act. The 13-page bill creates procedures for trustees administering an estate to separate principal from income, and alters Alaska's trust investment law to work with more modern investment approaches. The bill passed both houses unanimously.

Murkowski also ratified House Bill 120, introduced by House Majority Leader John Coghill, R-North Pole. The bill exempts extended service contracts and warranty extensions--such as those sold by department stores--from being regulated as insurance.

The bill differentiates between a warranty extension, which guarantees the operation of an item due to normal usage, and insurance, which covers an item from external damage. The bill passed the House 34-0 and the Senate 19-1.