Sec. 36.10.005. - Legislative findings. - Alaska Statutes

(a) The legislature finds that

(1) because of its unique climate and its distance from the contiguous states, the state has historically suffered from unique social, seasonal, geographic, and economic conditions that result in an unstable economy;

(2) the unstable economy is a hardship on the residents of the state and is aggravated by the large numbers of seasonal and transient nonresident workers;

(3) the rate of unemployment among residents of the state is one of the highest in the nation;

(4) the state has one of the highest ratios of nonresident to resident workers in the nation;

(5) the state has a compelling interest in reducing the level of unemployment among its residents;

(6) the construction industry in the state accounts for a substantial percentage of the available employment;

(7) construction workers receive a greater percentage of all unemployment benefits paid by the state than is typical of other states;

(8) historically, the rate of unemployment in the construction industry in the state is higher than the rate of unemployment in other industries in the state;

(9) it is appropriate for the state to consider the welfare of its residents when it funds construction activity;

(10) it is in the public interest for the state to allocate public funds for capital projects in order to reduce unemployment among its resident construction workers;

(11) the influx of nonresident construction workers contributes to or causes the high unemployment rate among resident construction workers because nonresident workers compete with residents for the limited number of available construction jobs;

(12) nonresident workers displace a substantial number of qualified, available, and unemployed Alaska workers on jobs on state funded public works projects;

(13) the state has a special interest in seeing that the benefits of state construction spending accrue to its residents;

(14) the natural resources of land owned by the state belong to the citizens of the state;

(15) Alaskans have chosen to use the majority of the royalties derived from the state's natural resources to fund state government;

(16) the vast majority of the state's revenue is derived from natural resource income rather than from other forms of taxation;

(17) because the state has no personal income tax or sales tax, nonresident workers use services provided by the state but do not contribute fairly to the costs of those services; and

(18) Alaskans, more than the residents of other states, suffer economically when nonresidents displace qualified residents since resident workers contribute local taxes as well as their share of the royalties from natural resources.

(b) The legislature further finds that

(1) the state and its political subdivisions, when acting as a market participant in funding public works projects, should give Alaska residents an employment preference to promote a more stable economy;

(2) the state and its political subdivisions have a duty of loyalty to their citizens and should fulfill this duty by giving residents preference for employment on public works projects they fund;

(3) there is a legitimate and compelling governmental interest and that the public health and welfare will suffer if state residents are not afforded employment preference in state-funded construction-related work.

(c) The legislature finds that the following factors are reasonable but not exclusive indicators of the ratio of nonresident to resident employees in the state:

(1) the ratio of applicants for unemployment insurance who list out-of-state residences to applicants who list residences in the state;

(2) the ratio of employees who are subject to unemployment insurance coverage and who did not apply for or were denied a permanent fund dividend to employees who were found eligible for a dividend.

(d) The legislature finds that

(1) the number of state residents who are unable to find work is considerably higher than is reflected by unemployment rates based on nationally accepted measures;

(2) many rural state residents who wish to work do not seek employment as frequently as necessary to meet federal definitions of unemployment because of continuing lack of employment opportunities in rural areas of the state.