Alaska senators are moving ahead with inquiries into North Slope employment and, in particular, why so many workers seem to come up from Outside.
The Senate Finance Committee has issued a request for proposals for a consultant to do a detailed study of North Slope hiring practices.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dennis Egan, who chairs the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, has tentatively scheduled hearings for early September on North Slope employment issues, part of his committee's consideration of House Bill 110, Gov. Sean Parnell's blueprint to revamp the state's oil tax structure.
Earlier this year, the governor's sweeping tax reform proposal stalled in the Senate when senators balked at reducing taxes by an estimated $2 billion a year with no guarantee from industry that the money would spark new investment on the North Slope, as Parnell had touted.
If that wasn't enough to derail the tax reform effort, it sustained a crippling political blow in the final week or so of the regular session when state labor officials testified that 47 percent of oil field new hires in the past year have been non-residents, up from 30 percent in just the previous few years.
All of this came after months of debate over whether North Slope employment was up or down. Oil companies, oil field contract companies and business lobbyists insisted that North Slope jobs were falling dramatically because the state's tax system, known as ACES or Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share, was too economically burdensome on North Slope operators who were cutting back.
But some lawmakers and opponents of the tax break pointed to records that showed North Slope employment actually increased after ACES was implemented in 2007. The state's own testimony put employment at near record highs in the past year.
But the big question became if employment is up why aren't those jobs being given to Alaskans?
"Why do we have Alaskans who we know can do the jobs and who we know want to work but who are not being hired?" said Dana Owen, a Senate Labor and Commerce staff aide who is working on the issue.
If employment is near an all-time high then there's no question that there's a demand for employees, he said, and the question becomes why are many of them coming from Outside.
Owen said the purpose of the upcoming committee hearings is to explore that issue and try to figure out what can be done to increase Alaska hires. He said the committee hopes to hear from industry, labor, employment experts and others on the matter.
The hearings are tentatively scheduled for Sept. 6 in Fairbanks, Sept. 8 in Anchorage and Sept. 9 in Kenai.
Also in the last week of the regular session, the Senate Finance Committee authorized spending $200,000 to study the same question. Last week, the Senate put that job out to bid, seeking a consultant to conduct a detailed study of North Slope employment, including jobs that may not be on the Slope but are tied to it. The Senate wants to look at work activities, wages, hiring practices and the resident versus non-resident issue.
The Senate proposal specifies an examination that covers at least the last four years.
Proposals are due by July 28 to Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, who co-chairs the Senate Finance Committee. The report is slated to be completed by Dec. 1 with a status report on Oct. 1.
For workers, the examination is long overdue, said Vince Beltrami, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO.
"It is the most important issue as far as we're concerned in regards to the whole oil tax situation," Beltrami said. "From the get-go, we have said, how can you give a $2 billion a year tax break without any commitments?"
Beltrami said the industry should be forced to commit to reinvesting the money in Alaska exploration and development and to hiring Alaskans, "particularly given the lousy record that the companies have on state local hire."
Beltrami said the major oil companies may hire locally but that many of their contractors do not and that much of the work flows through the contractors.
His group has been working with Egan on topics for the upcoming Senate hearings, including how workers are classified as a resident or not and what proof there is of residency.
"We think it really needs to be scrutinized -- what the local hire practices are -- and what the commitments to hiring Alaskans are before we can get behind these tax breaks," Beltrami said.
The AFL-CIO commissioned a poll a few weeks ago that Beltrami said he plans to release at an annual labor meeting later this summer. But the research showed that most Alaskans did not support a tax reduction for the oil industry unless firm commitments were made, he said.
"People don't want to give away something like that without something in return," he said.
Contact Patti Epler at patti(at)alaskadispatch.com