Legislature(2011 - 2012)HOUSE FINANCE 519
04/12/2012 09:00 AM House FINANCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB137 | |
| SB19 | |
| SB135 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 137 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 19 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 135 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 23 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 119 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SCR 24 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 160 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 135(JUD)
"An Act relating to the rights of crime victims;
relating to the duties of prosecuting attorneys; and
amending Rule 45, Alaska Rules of Criminal Procedure."
5:50:50 PM
Vice-Chair Fairclough MOVED to ADOPT the proposed committee
substitute for SB 135(FIN), Work Draft 27-LS0966\I
(Gardner, 4/11/12) as a working document.
Co-Chair Stoltze OBJECTED for the purpose of discussion.
JOE MICHEL, STAFF, REPRESENTATIVE BILL STOLTZE, outlined
the additions in the proposed CS. He detailed that on page
4, Section 3 had been included; Sections 4, 5, and 6 were
likewise added to the legislation. He concluded that
Sections 7, 8, and 9 were part of the original bill that
had entered the committee.
SUE WRIGHT, STAFF, REPRESENTATIVE MIKE CHENAULT, explained
that the CS basically merged HB 221 into SB 135; HB 221
dealt with court appointed council. Page 4, line 25 of the
bill added financial resources and "adds a little teeth" to
what people swear to in court when they were asking for
court appointed council. Page 5, line 14 described the
change to the court rule, which was Rule 39.1 subsection
(e). Page 5, line 19 specified that people who lied when
asking for appointed council were subject to penalties for
perjury. She added that the merging allowed for courts to
go back and make sure that the financial statements that
were signed were correct and enforceable. She expressed
appreciation for the cooperation on the bill. She observed
that the CS had been delivered to her about 5 minutes prior
to the meeting and offered her apologies if she misstated
anything.
5:55:11 PM
Co-Chair Stoltze emphasized that he had been working with
Speaker Chenault's office for quite some time on the
legislation and stated that he did not want the public to
be under the impression that the speaker's office had just
received the CS. Ms. Wright responded that she had been
absent from the office and that someone else had been
working on the bill. She clarified that she had just
personally received the CS.
Co-Chair Stoltze commented that the committee had a
thorough process, which had not been shortened during the
formulation of the legislation. He inquired if the
presumption in the bill was that someone would be provided
an attorney during arraignment and would have to verify
their financial ability at a later date. Ms. Wright
responded in the affirmative.
Co-Chair Stoltze requested Vice-Chair Fairclough to share
her contributions to the measure. Vice-Chair Fairclough
replied that the Office of Victims' Rights (OVR) was
reviewed and it was discovered that its pay scale was
frozen at Step A. She related that it was difficult for
someone to stay in an office and be stuck at a particular
pay level, while other staff was advancing. She had
proposed to Senator French's and Co-Chair Stoltze's offices
that the restrictions on that particular level be lifted;
the level would stay at a pay grade 26, but the change
would allow OVR, based on the employee's number of years of
service, to move across the states pay scale.
Co-Chair Stoltze inquired if the changes to OVR arose from
discussions by the Victims Advocate Selection Committee.
Vice-Chair Fairclough responded that she had brought the
suggestion to his attention.
Co-Chair Stoltze observed that the discussions regarding
OVR were conducted in executive sessions and that there
probably was an issue with confidentiality regarding the
specifics of the discussion. Vice-Chair Fairclough
responded that earlier in the day, she had discussed the
change to OVR with Senator French, who also had served on
the Victims Advocate Selection Committee.
Co-Chair Stoltze clarified for the record that the process
to change the OVR pay scale did not arise arbitrarily, but
that it had come from discussions during the selection
process.
Co-Chair Stoltze WITHDREW his OBJECTION. There being NO
further OBJECTION, Work Draft 27-LS0966\I was ADOPTED.
LILA HOBBS, STAFF, SENATOR HOLLIS FRENCH, stated that
Article 1, Section 24 of the Alaska State Constitution
housed the entitled rights of crime victims and that the
amendment that had added those rights had passed by an
overwhelming majority, when it had gone before Alaskan
voters in 1994; included in those rights was a guarantee
that crime victims would have the right to a timely
disposition of the case following the arrest of the
accused. She offered that it had been 18 years since the
constitutional amendment had passed and that the promise of
timely disposition was often not kept, particularly with
the most serious cases. Delays in the trials of cases, also
known as continuances, could go on for years. She shared
that SB 135 required prosecutors and judges to consider a
victims right to a timely disposition of their case, when
making decisions on allowing continuances; the bill also
insured that victims were notified of any requests or
motions that could substantially delay the speedy
prosecution of their case. She mentioned that repeated
delays in cases prevented the victims from reaching
emotional, physical, and financial closure; furthermore,
delays in prosecution could also affect the availability of
witnesses, the victim's ability to recall details, and
could create other impediments to a successful trial. She
concluded that the legislation would guarantee a victims
right to a timely resolution in the court system. She
concluded that the bill was widely supported from
organizations such as the Victims for Justice, the OVR, the
Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault,
Standing Together Against Rape, the Alaska Peace Officers
Association, as well as Karen Foster, who was the mother of
Bonnie Craig.
5:59:35 PM
KAREN FOSTER, SELF, ANCHORAGE, shared that her daughter,
Bonnie Craig, was murdered and that it had taken almost 17
years before the person responsible was convicted. She
discussed the incredible tragedy and hardship of having her
daughter murdered, as well as having to wait almost five
years for a conviction after the defendant was identified.
She stated that her family was "re-victimized" by the state
of Alaska. Bonnie's killer was identified though a DNA
match in November of 2006, but it took almost two years
before a trial date was set on September of 2008. She
stated that her family had endured six trail dates and
related how difficult the process for everyone. She
mentioned that she had written a letter to the committee
and expressed a desire that the members would all read it.
She stated that the system was financially, physically,
mentally, and spiritually difficult on families;
furthermore, there was nowhere else to turn to while
families were enduring the wait. She shared that more than
once, her family had talked to the judge regarding the
defense attorney's repeated continuation requests; the
continuations had wasting two years of the family's and the
state's time. She urged the committee to deal with the
issue of timely dispositions and emphasized that she did
not want anyone else to go through what her family had. She
requested that the committee consider the victims and give
judges the opportunity to consider the victims as well.
Co-Chair Stoltze CLOSED public testimony.
Vice-Chair Fairclough discussed six fiscal notes. She
addressed the fiscal note from the Department of Law and
related that it was currently indeterminate because the
Senate did not feel that there was adequate supporting
documentation for a new full-time position.
6:06:10 PM
Vice-Chair Fairclough MOVED to report HCS CSSB 135(FIN) out
of committee with individual recommendations and the
accompanying fiscal notes. There being NO OBJECTION, it was
so ordered.
6:06:26 PM
HCS CSSB 135(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do
pass" recommendation and with three new zero fiscal notes
from the Court System, the Legislature, and the Department
of Corrections, two new zero notes from the Department of
Administration, and one previously published indeterminate
fiscal note: FN4 (SFIN/LAW).
Co-Chair Stoltze noted that he was glad to work on another
victims' rights bill and that he had conducted previous
work on the issue.
6:07:18 PM
AT EASE
6:08:15 PM
RECONVENED