00SENATE BILL NO. 25                                                                                                    
01 "An Act relating to authorizing the Department of Corrections to provide an                                             
02 automated victim notification and prisoner information system."                                                         
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04    * Section 1.  AS 12.61 is amended by adding a new section to article 1 to read:                                    
05  Sec. 12.61.050.  Automated victim notification system.  (a)  The Department                                         
06 of Corrections may establish an automated victim notification system that automatically                                 
07 provides crime victims with notice by telephone when there is a change in the status                                    
08 of their offender.  The system may also allow crime victims to initiate telephone calls                                 
09 to the system to receive the latest status report for their offender.  An automated victim                              
10 notification system established under this section satisfies the duty of a state agency                                 
11 to notify a crime victim of the change in status of an offender.  The failure of a system                               
12 to provide notice to a crime victim does not give rise to a separate cause of action by                                 
13 the crime victim against the state, an agency of the state, or a municipality, or the                                   
14 officers, employees, or contractors of the state, agency of the state, or municipality.                                 

01  (b)  Each department and each municipality shall cooperate with the                                                   
02 Department of Corrections in establishing and maintaining an automated victim                                           
03 notification system authorized under this section.                                                                      
04    * Sec. 2.  AS 33.30.013 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:                                             
05  (f)  The commissioner's duty under (a) - (c) of this section to notify a victim                                       
06 of a change in the status of an offender is satisfied by the notice provided by an                                      
07 automated victim notification system if such a system has been established by the                                       
08 commissioner under AS 12.61.050.                                                                                        
09    * Sec. 3.  AS 44.28.020 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:                                             
10  (c)  The department may establish an automated inmate information system to                                           
11 allow persons to place surcharge telephone calls to obtain information concerning                                       
12 inmates and where they are incarcerated, bail and bond information, and information                                     
13 concerning visiting hours at institutions.  A system established under this subsection                                  
14 (1) must be designed so that all the costs of the system are, at a minimum, met by the                                  
15 revenues received from calls to the system, and (2) shall be designed so that the                                       
16 revenues received satisfy or defray the costs of establishing and maintaining an                                        
17 automated victim notification system if such a system is established under                                              
18 AS 12.61.050.