Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
03/22/2018 03:30 PM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Confirmation Hearing(s): Lieutenant Governor Successor, Board of Fisheries | |
| SB186 | |
| HB31 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | HB 31 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 186 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 31-SEX ASSAULT TRAINING & EXAM KITS; DOM VIOL
4:37:09 PM
CHAIR MEYER announced the consideration of HB 31.
4:37:33 PM
At ease.
4:38:21 PM
CHAIR MEYER called the committee back to order.
4:38:42 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GERAN TARR, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau,
Alaska, sponsor of HB 31, provided an overview as follows:
We have been working on the issues related to how we
process our sexual assault kits for the last few
years, starting in 2014 when I was contacted by a
national organization called "End The Backlog," and it
was an issue that I was not familiar with but through
their organization learned about this effort and
basically across the country there are these sexual
assault kits that have not been tested, there's a
variety of reasons that's been the case in the past,
but it's been thousands and thousands of kits and
there's become a movement around reforming how we deal
with these kits and basically using it as a tool to
address serial sexual assaulters and that is what has
been found to be very helpful in accomplishing.
We started out with a bill related to an audit that
was the first piece of information that we needed to
try and understand the extent of the problem in
Alaska. At the same time the Federal Department of
Justice started offering some grants because this
issue took on a national impact and so they were
offering these grants so then at that time the
governor's office applied for one of the grants so
there are kind of two things happening at once then,
once those grant dollars were received by the state,
the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) was formed
and we have been working closely with them and trying
to unravel where the problems are in Alaska and what
we can do to address those issues. There are several
different things that we could choose to work on at
this time, but we have confined it to a few items
right now because these are things that we can make
changes to pretty immediately and continue working
with the SAKI for more long term changes that we think
will result in a much better system that functions
well and makes sure it keeps the public safe.
4:40:50 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR explained the bill's components as follows:
This particular bill addresses three components. One
is the audit and that piece was thankfully put into
Senate Bill 55, so we got the first audit last year
but it continues and has that same provision in it so
that we can get an annual update of the status of the
kits and the progress in Alaska, and that audit I
would say was really helpful for us this year because
what it did was help us define sort of the universe of
untested kits, how many are out there, where are they
and kind of get everybody on the same page because now
we can actually come up with a plan of how we are
going to address the backlog of untested kits. So, the
audit provision remains, and I think that's an
important way for the state to get updated, the
Legislature to get updated on the progress and on an
annual basis have a number that we are working off of,
so we know progress is being made. We've worked
closely with the department on that provision and my
understanding is that they feel like that could be
easily implemented as an ongoing thing that because we
did it through Senate Bill 55: again, thank you to
Senator Coghill for that last year, that
infrastructure is in place to continue that on an
annual basis and at some point that may not be
necessary, but I think it's going to be a multi-year
effort here for us to continue to working on this and
it will keep us getting accurate information. So, one
piece is the audit.
4:42:06 PM
She continued as follows:
A second piece is related to sexual assault training
for law enforcement officials. Most folks in Alaska go
through either the academy in Anchorage or the trooper
academy unless there is someone who perhaps comes in,
does a lateral transfer or something, but most of our
folks are going to come through those two academies,
but right now what the statute says is it requires
that 12 hours for training on domestic violence, but
it doesn't specify that there is also training
required on sexual assault response, even though that
is happening in practice. The recommendation to
include this actually came in from the folks who are
working on this, that way it is clear that it should
be both domestic violence and sexual assault, there
are ways that those can be the same information
because, of course, a domestic violence situation
could involve a sexual assault, but there are also
instances where that is different and what we want to
ensure that we have a good victim-centered approach
and so that if someone is assaulted it doesn't matter
whether it happened in northern Alaska or southeast
Alaska, that there's going to be a strong victim-
centered approach and that everybody is going to get
the same response and treatment.
4:43:17 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR continued as follows:
The third provision is related to the actual options
for a victim to report. About a year ago the Federal
Department of Justice released a "white paper" on this
very provision and there's a couple of ways to look at
this, and this sort of took me a little bit to wrap my
head around because when you start working on this and
see what some of the results have been in other
states, there's a strong motivation to say everything
single kit needs to be tested because that individual
could be a dangerous criminal and we want to get them
off of our streets; however, we have to make sure that
we have a victim-centered approach and it isn't always
the case that a victim wants to engage in law
enforcement and so we really do have to make sure that
we have an opportunity for them to have the kit taken
or evidence collected because it has to be done in a
timely fashion if it's not done in about 72 hours then
your evidence collection isn't going to be useful.
Unfortunately, you have someone who just experienced a
very traumatic situation, that has to go in for an
invasive medical procedure to do the examination and
collect the evidence and might not be the right time
for them to make the decision about where they want to
go, do they want to pursue a case with law enforcement
or do they want to just make sure they don't have
health issues as a result of the assault or STD
testing, things like that. Because you have that
limited window of time when you can do the collection,
having a couple of different options is the best way
to make sure that the individual who experienced the
assault can choose what works for them.
So, what we put in, and you will notice in the
original version there were actually three different
opportunities for a victim and in working with the
department and through the SAKI that has been going
on, we've been able to decide that this number-two can
come out and as you look at it, what looks like
number-three, one and three would be the two that
remained, so you would have the option of getting the
evidence collected and choosing to engage with law
enforcement right at that moment and you would have
the second option of an anonymous report and that
allows you to choose at a later date whether you want
to engage with law enforcement or not, and we are told
that often the individual does choose to move forward,
but needs a little bit of space from that whole
experience to be able to get a support network around
them, but able to work with the people who are trained
to provide that kind of response, the trauma response,
and once they feel more secure, more safe, more
stable, that they know that that's something that they
can move forward with then make that choice, but you
haven't missed that window of opportunity when you can
actually collect as evidence that would be usable. So,
those are the two options that are allowed for that.
4:46:09 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR summarized as follows:
So, those are the three parts that are in the bill
now. Some of the other provisions that people may want
to consider in the future are a timeline within which
all of the kits have to be tested, that was one thing
we considered. Also, from the folks who have been
working on this nationally, they are really pushing
for a way for a victim to be able to track where their
kit is, so that is something that we might consider at
a later date. So, there are a couple of those other
pieces out there that you may have heard of in the
conversation, that's why I wanted to mention them
today, but these ones are confined to the items that
the department has said they can do at this time
without a fiscal impact which is really important to
the work we are all trying to accomplish in developing
our sustainable fiscal plan, but can be meaningful and
I think that is really important. I know that Senator
Meyer, and I thank you for your leadership on sexual
assault issues and always acknowledging April as
Sexual Assault Awareness Month, this is something that
we try to work together on and so I'm encouraged that
there is an option here where we can make meaningful
changes that could have a positive impact, but also
aware of our fiscal situation right now, don't have a
big price tag attached to them.
4:47:20 PM
CHAIR MEYER asked if 3,400 kits remain untested.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR answered yes. She explained that batches of
kits were being sent out to be tested, but there was a backlog
in the facilities that do the testing because a lot of states
were trying to move forward as well. She conceded that testing
will take some time and noted hundreds of thousands of dollars
is needed for all the kits to be tested. She said federal grants
dollars would be used but noted that an audit would be helpful
to assist in the process. She said prosecutions may occur
because of the testing. She stated that the process would be
ongoing, and her hope was that everyone will work together.
4:49:01 PM
CHAIR MEYER thanked Representative Tarr for her leadership in
sexual assault exam kits. He continued as follows:
Often times we get asked what are our favorite bill
that we ever got passed and mine was when we were able
to drop the statute of limitations on rape and sexual
assault; unfortunately, that was in 2001 or 2002, so
anything prior to that we cannot go after. With these
kits and with DNA, we are able to go back 10, 15, 20
years or more.
SENATOR WILSON asked if the legislation assists current practice
and specified as follows:
During my time as a director of a DVSA program, we
started a program in the Mat-Su and working with the
SART team there, we already had these protocols in
place in terms of anonymous reporting, I just didn't
know if that was part of the statute. Is this just
needed to help that, sort of? I'm trying to understand
the need for anonymous reporting in statute versus
what is currently in practice. I didn't know if there
was an issue that's happening out there or not, and
that's sort of a DPS type of question, I know that
they still funded folks who wanted to have SART kits
ran for the anonymous process. I didn't know if that
was a new issue that was now coming up or not.
4:50:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR replied as follows:
What we hope to accomplish is to have a standard
statewide policy. What has been explained to me, and
that also relates to why we want to put the 12 hours
of training in, is that there's over 200 law
enforcement agencies in the State of Alaska, in some
cases people are doing things a little bit different
from the next and by having that standard policy it
will ensure that everybody is getting that
opportunity.
SENATOR WILSON said his other question related to getting the
actual number of untested rape kits. He conceded that his
question may be better posed to the Department of Public Safety
(DPS). He said his last question addressed the audit language in
Senate Bill 55 and asked if the audit would be only for one year
or for an annual audit.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR replied yes and noted that committee members
were provided with a report given to the Legislature on November
1, 2017 regarding the single-year audit. She continued as
follows:
This is where it states that there are 3,484 sexual
assault kits inventoried; 3,219 were in the possession
of the 7 largest agencies and that is the number we
are working off of right now. The SAKI grant allows a
portion of the grant money to be used to test kits and
under these grants 571 sexual assault kits were
identified as eligible for testing and those are the
ones that are going to be sent outside to the
contractor.
4:53:03 PM
CHAIR MEYER opened invited testimony.
SENATOR WILSON asked Mr. Dym from DPS to specify the number of
sexual assault kits that remain untested.
4:53:39 PM
ORIN DYM, Forensic Laboratory Manager, Alaska Department Public
Safety, Anchorage, Alaska, answered questions relating to HB 31
as follows:
We did provide the number in our report and what I can
say is we have sent 300 kits so far to the contract
vendor for analysis, we have not received any of those
kits back yet, so they are not yet completed. We have
another 132 kits staged, ready to go. Our vendor did
request that we delay sending those because they ran
out of space to put the kits. We have 432 kits
scheduled to go to the vendor. We will be waiting to
see whether or not we run out of money with those kits
as to whether or not we can continue to send kits.
SENATOR WILSON asked how testing for sexual assault kits is
prioritized.
4:55:17 PM
RANDI BREAGER, Criminal Justice Planner, Scientific Crime
Detection Laboratory, Alaska Department of Public Safety,
Anchorage, Alaska, answered questions relating to HB 31 as
follows:
We established a triage protocol to identify how we
were going to send kits and in what order knowing that
we might possibly run out of funds before we can test
all 571 eligible kits. We prioritized first based on
cases that have an unknown suspect or a stranger
assault, essentially. Our next priorities where all
sexual abuse of minor cases. The next step was any
suspect that had more than ten incidences in their
criminal history and that goes beyond sexual assault,
so they could have a number of different other crimes
attributed to them. Our next one was known suspects
but not in [Combined DNA Index System (CODIS)] yet,
and then our final category is a mix of the remaining
kits.
SENATOR WILSON pointed out that only 571 sexual assault kits
were eligible and inquired what occurred with the remaining kits
and would the state have to test the remaining kits.
MS. BREAGER replied as follows:
No, that's a great clarification point. So, the 571
kits are actually only Department of Public Safety-
Alaska State Trooper kits. What we did with this grant
was we applied first isolating Alaska State Trooper
cases because they are within the jurisdictional
control of the Department of Public Safety and we are
utilizing it as sort of a pilot project if you will
because it is taking an immense amount of resources
for personnel and time to organize this project and we
knew the smaller departments would not have the
resources to dedicate to that level of a project. So,
we are hoping by us going through this process that we
will be able to provide policy recommendations, best
practices, templates, etcetera, for all of the smaller
departments to copy and implement, they could choose
to apply for grant funds on their own or we can
continue to have conversations about what it might
look like for the state to help with that.
CHAIR MEYER asked Ms. Breager if she had anything to add.
MS. BREAGER replied that Representative Tarr did an excellent
job explained the bill step-by-step and she did not have
anything else to add. She noted that Representative Tarr worked
closely with the Department of Public Safety throughout the
process and she did a great job summarizing the feedback from
multiple agencies.
4:58:19 PM
CHAIR MEYER opened public testimony.
4:58:56 PM
KEELEY OLSON, Standing Together Against Rape (STAR) and Alaska
Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (ANDVSA),
Anchorage, Alaska, testified in support of HB 31. She disclosed
that there were 413 sexual assault kits submitted in 2017 and
approximately 235 occurred in Anchorage.
5:00:31 PM
NANCY PORTO, representing self, Kirkland, Washington, testified
in support of HB 31. She disclosed that she grew up in Alaska
and noted that she testified at a committee meeting in 2016
regarding her sexual assault that occurred in 2013. She revealed
that she consented to a full rape kit examination, but the kit
has not been fully processed and results have not been received
from the biological evidence portion of her exam. She provided
committee members details of her sexual assault and examination
results. She disclosed that she continues to inquire about her
examination but eventually leaves messages and no callbacks
occur. She asked the committee to support the bill to provide
closure for herself and others.
5:03:12 PM
CASSANDRE HUMPHREY, representing self, Burbank, California,
testified in support of HB 31. She disclosed that she is the
sister of Nancy Porto and supports the need for action regarding
sexual assault kit processing. She disclosed personal
information on family members and friends who have been sexually
assaulted in Alaska, noting that none have received justice. She
asserted that Alaska's system on sexual assault has failed her
sister and emphasized that victims need to know that their
crimes will get a real response from the justice system and
hopefully in turn, sexual crimes will eventually decrease in
Alaska.
5:07:04 PM
JANIS JOHNSON, representing self, Valdez, Alaska, testified in
support of HB 31. She asserted that the sexual assault kit
backlog compromises prosecution and allows perpetrators to
continue at large and repeat their assaults and reoffend. She
said not processing sexual assault examination kits was
devasting to victims and the backlog needs to be addressed. She
asserted that law enforcement agencies need to be accountable
for the kits that have not been processed so that the justice
department can prosecute.
5:08:50 PM
BESSIE ODAM, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, testified in
support of HB 31. She said victims of sexual assault deserve
justice and they deserve the protection of the law. She asserted
that proper procedures must be taken to ensure that victims of
sexual violence are able to get the closure they need and
deserve.
5:09:45 PM
SALLY PORTO, representing self, Anchorage, Alaska, testified in
support of HB 31. She disclosed that her two daughters spoke
earlier. She emphasized that no action has been taken over the
past five years by state authorities to resolve her daughter's
sexual assault.
5:12:48 PM
JANE ANDREEN, representing self and the Alaska Women's Lobby,
Juneau, Alaska, testified in support of HB 31. She provided the
committee with her background in sexual assault training. She
revealed that she was sexually assaulted in Minnesota in the
1970s and detailed her rape examination and police interview.
She disclosed that she has never received any word on whether an
arrest was made or what the results of her examination were. She
explained that her sexual assault incident led her to move to
Alaska and to work in the areas of domestic violence and sexual
assault. She detailed her history in Alaska regarding domestic
violence and sexual assault as follows:
While in Homer as the director of South Peninsula
Women's Services, we worked with South Peninsula
Hospital to bring the first SART training to Alaska,
and then when I took over as the director of the State
Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault in
1994, I was able to play a role in helping to expand
that team approach across the state. I've dedicated a
lot of my life to this issue and wanting to make it be
much more victim centered and much more empowering as
well as to be an affective tool in making arrests and
holding offenders accountable.
After I retired from the state about 18 months ago, I
was working with one of the local programs on contract
doing a needs assessment and as part of that I looked
into the statewide data that we have and I just wanted
to share for 2015, our Alaska victimization survey
that is conducted by the University of Alaska Justice
Center reported that 7662 adult Alaska women were
raped in 2015, at that same time we look at the
uniform crime report which is the reports that were
made to law enforcement, there were 895 confirmed
reports. So, you go from 7662 down to 895, and of
those 895, only 130 arrests were actually made; this
is a crime that represents between 10-20 percent of
our violent crimes that are reported in Alaska every
year, and yet we have the lowest conviction rate, we
need this tool. I often wonder, because rapists are
repeat offenders more often than not, how many other
women were affected by that man who attacked me and
what we could do if we could get this backlog cleared
off.
I really want to commend Representative Tarr for the
work that she is doing and dedication, and also for
the work that I know you have done individually and as
a legislature, but for these reasons I think it is
really important to support this bill and move these
kits forward.
5:16:37 PM
ALYSON CURREY, Legislative Liaison, Planned Parenthood Votes
Northwest and Hawaii, Juneau, Alaska, testified in support of HB
31. She expressed her appreciation for Representative Tarr's
leadership on the issue. She thanked those that testified and
shared their personal stories. She asserted that the bill would
clearly have a direct and positive impact for victims of sexual
assault in Alaska who are waiting for closure and justice.
5:17:55 PM
CHAIR MEYER closed public testimony.
5:18:15 PM
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to adopt Amendment 1, version 30-
LS0271\O.2.
AMENDMENT 1
OFFERED IN THE SENATE
TO: CSHB 31(FIN)
Page 3, line 3:
Delete "three"
Page 3, line 8, following "system;":
Insert "or"
Page 3, lines 9 - 15:
Delete all material.
Renumber the following paragraph accordingly.
Page 3, line 28, through page 4, line 25:
Delete all material and insert:
"* Sec. 6. AS 44.41 is amended by adding a new
section to read:
Sec. 44.41.070. Report on untested sexual assault
examination kits. (a) By September 1 of each year,
each law enforcement agency and state department
charged with the maintenance, storage, and
preservation of sexual assault examination kits shall
conduct an inventory of untested sexual assault
examination kits and report, in writing, to the
Department of Public Safety the number of untested
sexual assault examination kits in the possession of
the agency or department and the date on which each
sexual assault examination kit was collected.
(b) By November 1 of each year, the Department
of Public Safety shall prepare and transmit a report
to the president of the senate and the speaker of the
house of representatives that contains
(1) the number of untested sexual assault
examination kits stored by each law enforcement agency
or department;
(2) the date each untested sexual assault
examination kit was collected; and
(3) a plan for addressing the backlog and
prevention of a backlog of untested sexual assault
examination kits.
(c) The Department of Public Safety shall
deliver a copy of the report prepared under (b) of
this section to the senate secretary and the chief
clerk of the house of representatives and notify the
legislature that the report is available.
(d) In this section, "untested sexual assault
examination kit" means a sexual assault examination
kit with evidence that
(1) has been collected but that has not
been submitted to a laboratory operated or approved by
the Department of Public Safety for either a
serological or DNA test; or
(2) has been collected and submitted to a
laboratory operated or approved by the Department of
Public Safety but that has not had a serological or
DNA test conducted on the evidence.
* Sec. 7. This Act takes effect July 1, 2018."
CHAIR MEYER objected for discussion purposes.
5:18:33 PM
DIANA RHOADES, Staff, Representative Tarr, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, explained Amendment 1 for HB 31 as
follows:
Earlier this year, Representative Tarr met with victim
advocates and the Department of Public Safety to talk
about as we mentioned the three reporting options and
the need to remove the middle reporting option, we
call it the "medical option." What this bill would do
was on page, "delete 'three,'" so it is basically
removing the middle option, the "medical option," and
then it actually updates the information about the
"reporting option" so that the original language had
the one-time audit and this would make it be an annual
audit, and then it just changes the dates in the bill,
the bill says 2017 and it updates those dates.
CHAIR MEYER asked if the bill has a zero fiscal note.
MS. RHOADES answered yes.
CHAIR MEYER asked if the amendment would change the fiscal note.
MS. RHOADES answered no.
5:20:01 PM
CHAIR MEYER removed his objection to Amendment 1. He announced
that without objection, Amendment 1 was adopted.
SENATOR WILSON noted that legislators can just ask for a report
and questioned the need for statutorial reporting.
MS. RHOADES answered as follows:
It's just to make it clear that we have that reporting
requirement so that it was one of the recommendations
from across the country that it is very clear that
there is this reporting requirement instate and it's
by November 1 of each that the information should be
collected and reported.
5:21:53 PM
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to report SCS CSHB 31(STA), version 30-
LS0271\O as amended, from committee with individual
recommendations and attached zero fiscal note.
5:22:07 PM
CHAIR MEYER announced that there being no objection, the motion
carried.