CSHB 349(STA): "An Act relating to legislator salary and benefits; establishing the Citizens' Commission on Legislative Salary and Benefits and defining its powers and duties and abolishing the State Officers Compensation Commission; and providing for an effective date by repealing secs. 9 and 12, ch. 124, SLA 1986."
00 CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 349(STA) 01 "An Act relating to legislator salary and benefits; establishing the Citizens' Commission 02 on Legislative Salary and Benefits and defining its powers and duties and abolishing the 03 State Officers Compensation Commission; and providing for an effective date by 04 repealing secs. 9 and 12, ch. 124, SLA 1986." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 07 to read: 08 SHORT TITLE. This Act may be known as the Citizens' Commission on Legislative 09 Salary and Benefits Act. 10 * Sec. 2. AS 24.10.100 is amended to read: 11 Sec. 24.10.100. Salary of legislators. Legislators shall receive annual 12 salaries [THE MONTHLY SALARY FOR EACH MEMBER OF THE 13 LEGISLATURE IS $2,001]. The president of the senate and the speaker of the house 14 of representatives may receive additional compensation [ARE EACH ENTITLED
01 TO AN ADDITIONAL $500 A YEAR] during tenure of office. 02 * Sec. 3. AS 24.10.101, added by sec. 6, ch. 124, SLA 1986, is repealed and reenacted to 03 read: 04 Sec. 24.10.101. Legislative salary and benefits. The Citizens' Commission on 05 Legislative Salary and Benefits shall recommend legislative salary and benefits under 06 AS 39.23. 07 * Sec. 4. AS 24.10.130(c) is amended to read: 08 (c) The Alaska Legislative Council shall adopt a per diem policy and a 09 policy applicable to all legislators regarding allowances and the reimbursement of 10 [FOR] moving expenses [APPLICABLE TO ALL LEGISLATORS AND AN 11 APPLICABLE PER DIEM ALLOWANCE POLICY]. The policies [POLICY] must 12 set conditions for per diem and for allowances and the reimbursement of [FOR] 13 moving expenses. The policies must [AND PAYMENT OF PER DIEM AND] 14 prescribe the amounts of reimbursement adapted to the special needs of the legislative 15 branch as determined by the council. 16 * Sec. 5. AS 24.10.130 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 17 (d) The Alaska Legislative Council shall adopt a policy regarding salary and 18 benefits for legislators. The policy must be sufficient in scope and detail to give notice 19 as to how much legislators are paid in salary and the quality and quantity of benefits to 20 which legislators are entitled. 21 * Sec. 6. AS 39.23.200(a) is amended to read: 22 (a) The Citizens' Commission on Legislative Salary and Benefits [STATE 23 OFFICERS COMPENSATION COMMISSION] is established in the legislative 24 branch of state government. The commission is composed of six [SEVEN] 25 members, three of whom are appointed by the president of the senate and three of 26 whom are appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives [APPOINTED 27 BY THE GOVERNOR SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION BY A MAJORITY OF 28 THE LEGISLATURE IN JOINT SESSION]. Members serve for staggered terms of 29 four years. A [COMMISSION MEMBERSHIP SHALL INCLUDE AT LEAST ONE 30 BUSINESS EXECUTIVE, ONE REPRESENTATIVE OF A NONPARTISAN 31 VOTERS' ORGANIZATION, ONE PERSON WITH EXPERIENCE IN PUBLIC
01 ADMINISTRATION, AND ONE REPRESENTATIVE OF A LABOR 02 ORGANIZATION. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN AS 39.05.080(4), A] vacancy shall 03 be filled for the balance of the unexpired term. A commission member may serve not 04 [NO] more than two complete consecutive terms. A partial term served by a 05 member appointed to fill the balance of an unexpired term, if served immediately 06 before the member is reappointed to serve a full term, is considered to be merged 07 with the full term so the two periods of service constitute only one term. A 08 vacancy shall be filled by appointment, as provided in this subsection, within 90 09 days after the vacancy occurs. 10 * Sec. 7. AS 39.23.200(b) is amended to read: 11 (b) The commission shall elect a member to chair its meetings. Meetings shall 12 be called by the chair of the commission. The chair shall also administer the 13 commission and its budget. A majority of the commission members constitutes a 14 quorum to transact business. The affirmative vote of four members is required to 15 approve the commission's recommendations on compensation. 16 * Sec. 8. AS 39.23.210 is amended to read: 17 Sec. 39.23.210. Qualifications for appointment [PROHIBITIONS 18 AGAINST STATE OR MUNICIPAL SERVICE]. A member of the commission 19 shall meet the qualifications of AS 39.05.100 and may not be employed by the state, 20 including the University of Alaska, serve as a member of another state board, 21 commission, or authority, or hold elective state or municipal office during membership 22 on the commission. 23 * Sec. 9. AS 39.23.230(a) is amended to read: 24 (a) The Alaska Legislative Council [IF REQUESTED BY THE 25 COMMISSION, THE LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS AGENCY] shall provide staff for 26 the commission. 27 * Sec. 10. AS 39.23.240(a) is amended to read: 28 (a) The commission shall review the salaries and [,] benefits [, AND 29 ALLOWANCES] of legislators only. The commission shall [MEMBERS OF THE 30 LEGISLATURE AND] prepare a report on its findings at least once every two years, 31 but not more frequently than every year. [THE COMMISSION SHALL NOTIFY
01 THE LEGISLATURE THAT THE REPORT IS AVAILABLE.] 02 * Sec. 11. AS 39.23.240(c) is amended to read: 03 (c) The commission shall prepare its preliminary findings and 04 recommendations and provide them to the Alaska Legislative Council [FOR THE 05 COMPENSATION OF STATE OFFICERS] by November 15. The commission shall 06 give reasonable public notice of its preliminary findings and recommendations, solicit 07 public comments, and give due regard to the public comments, before submitting a 08 final report under (d) of this section. 09 * Sec. 12. AS 39.23.240(d) is amended to read: 10 (d) The commission shall make available to the public and the Alaska 11 Legislative Council a final report of its findings and recommendations as to an 12 equitable [THE] rate and form of salary and [COMPENSATION,] benefits [, AND 13 ALLOWANCES] for legislators during the first 30 [10] days of a legislative session. 14 * Sec. 13. AS 39.23.250, added by sec. 4, ch. 124, SLA 1986, is repealed and reenacted to 15 read: 16 Sec. 39.23.250. Alaska Legislative Council action. (a) The Alaska 17 Legislative Council shall publish the final report made available under 18 AS 39.23.240(d) and amendments submitted under AS 39.23.240(e) and may consider 19 adoption of some, none, or all of the commission's recommendations. Any part of the 20 commission's report not rejected or amended by the Alaska Legislative Council and 21 any amendment to the report made by the Alaska Legislative Council under 22 AS 24.10.130 take effect on the first day of the first full month following the last day 23 of the legislative session in which the final report is issued or the amendment is 24 passed. 25 (b) The legislature's lawful authority, including the authority to determine the 26 rate and form of salary and benefits for legislators, is neither delegated nor altered by 27 this chapter. 28 * Sec. 14. AS 39.23.260 is amended to read: 29 Sec. 39.23.260. Policy of the legislature. It is the policy of the legislature that 30 the commission recommend [DETERMINE] an equitable rate and form of salary 31 and [COMPENSATION,] benefits [, AND ALLOWANCES] for legislators.
01 * Sec. 15. AS 39.23.270 is amended to read: 02 Sec. 39.23.270. Administrative Procedure Act. [THE REGULATION- 03 MAKING PROVISIONS OF] AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act) does [DO] 04 not apply to [PROCEEDINGS OF] the commission. 05 * Sec. 16. AS 39.23 is amended by adding a new section to read: 06 Sec. 39.23.280. Benefits that are excluded from commission's 07 consideration. In this chapter, the term "benefit" does not include salary, per diem, 08 allowances, or reimbursement of moving expenses. 09 * Sec. 17. AS 39.23 is amended by adding a new section to read: 10 Sec. 39.23.295. Definitions. In this chapter, 11 (1) "commission" means the Citizens' Commission on Legislative 12 Salary and Benefits; 13 (2) "salary" means the annual salary of legislators, including additional 14 compensation paid under AS 24.10.100 to presiding officers, but does not include 15 benefits, per diem, allowances, or reimbursement of moving expenses. 16 * Sec. 18. AS 39.23.200(e), 39.23.230(b), 39.23.240(b), 39.23.240(f), and 39.23.400 are 17 repealed. 18 * Sec. 19. Section 5, ch. 124, SLA 1986, is repealed. 19 * Sec. 20. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 20 read: 21 INITIAL APPOINTMENTS AND TERMS; FIRST MEETING. (a) The initial 22 members of the Citizens' Commission on Legislative Salary and Benefits who are first 23 appointed under this Act shall be appointed within 90 days after the effective date of this Act, 24 and, notwithstanding AS 39.23.200(a), as amended by sec. 6 of this Act, the terms of the 25 members of the commission are as follows: 26 (1) one member shall serve a one-year term; 27 (2) two members shall serve two-year terms; 28 (3) two members shall serve three-year terms; 29 (4) one member shall serve a four-year term. 30 (b) Notwithstanding AS 39.23.200(b), as amended by sec. 7 of this Act, the first 31 meeting of the commission shall be called by the chair of the Alaska Legislative Council.
01 * Sec. 21. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 02 read: 03 CONTINUATION OF CURRENT LEGISLATORS' SALARIES. The monthly salary 04 for each member of the legislature is $2,001 until the State of Alaska payroll administration 05 implements a different monthly payment of annual salary in its place based on adoption of a 06 policy by the Alaska Legislative Council under AS 24.10.130(d), added by sec. 5 of this Act, 07 setting out a different salary. 08 * Sec. 22. Sections 9 and 12, ch. 124, SLA 1986, giving delayed contingent effect to certain 09 provisions of AS 24.10 and AS 39.23, are repealed.