Legislature(1999 - 2000)
02/23/2000 01:17 PM House JUD
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
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HB 163 - DIVISION OF ELECTIONS CHAIRMAN KOTT announced that the first item of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 163, "An Act relating to qualifications of voters; relating to the registration of voters; relating to election districts and officials; relating to election procedures and ballots; relating to special procedures for elections; relating to nomination of candidates; relating to national elections; relating to special elections and appointments; relating to constitutional amendments; relating to election offenses and corrupt practices; relating to election pamphlets; relating to the deferral of jury service for certain election officials; relating to an exemption from the State Procurement Code regarding election ballots; relating to the provision and use of mailing addresses on permanent fund dividend applications for election purposes; relating to the inclusion of voter registration forms with permanent fund dividend applications; making conforming amendments in references to 'election district' and 'chairman'; and providing for an effective date." [Before the committee was CSHB 163(STA).] Number 0064 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES, speaking as the sponsor, made a motion to adopt Amendment 1 [1-0769\A.1, Kurtz, 1/25/00], which read: Page 1, line 12, following "'chairman';": Insert "relating to initiative, referendum, and recall petitions;" Page 27, following line 11: Insert new bill sections to read: "* Sec. 67. AS 15.45.110(a) is amended to read: (a) The petitions may be circulated throughout the state [ONLY BY A SPONSOR AND] only in person. * Sec. 68. AS 15.45.110(c) is amended to read: (c) A circulator [SPONSOR] may not receive payment or agree to receive payment that is greater than $1 a signature, and a person or an organization may not pay or agree to pay an amount that is greater than $1 a signature, for the collection of signatures on a petition. * Sec. 69. AS 15.45.110(e) is amended to read: (e) A person or organization that violates (c) or (d) [(b) - (d)] of this section is guilty of a class B misdemeanor. * Sec. 70. AS 15.45.130 is amended to read: Sec. 15.45.130. Certification of circulator [SPONSOR]. Before being filed, each petition shall be certified by an affidavit by the person [SPONSOR] who personally circulated the petition. The affidavit must state in substance that (1) the person signing the affidavit meets the residency, age, and citizenship qualifications of AS 15.05.010 [IS A SPONSOR], (2) the person is the only circulator of that petition, (3) the signatures were made in the circulator's [SPONSOR'S] actual presence, (4) to the best of the circulator's [SPONSOR'S] knowledge, the signatures are those of the persons whose names they purport to be, (5) the signatures are of persons who were qualified voters on the date of signature, (6) the person has not entered into an agreement with a person or organization in violation of AS 15.45.110(c), (7) the person has not violated AS 15.45.110(d) with respect to that petition, and (8) the circulator [SPONSOR] prominently placed, in the space provided under AS 15.45.090(5) before circulation of the petition, in bold capital letters, the circulator's [SPONSOR'S] name and, if the circulator [SPONSOR] has received payment or agreed to receive payment for the collection of signatures on the petition, the name of each person or organization that has paid or agreed to pay the circulator [SPONSOR] for collection of signatures on the petition. In determining the sufficiency of the petition, the lieutenant governor may not count subscriptions on petitions not properly certified. * Sec. 71. AS 15.45.340 is amended to read: Sec. 15.45.340. Circulation [BY SPONSOR]. The petitions may be circulated throughout the state [ONLY BY A SPONSOR AND] only in person. * Sec. 72. AS 15.45.360 is amended to read: Sec. 15.45.360. Certification of circulator [SPONSOR]. Before being filed, each petition shall be certified by an affidavit by the person [SPONSOR] who circulated the petition. The affidavit shall state in substance that (1) the person signing the affidavit meets the residency, age, and citizenship qualifications of AS 15.05.010 [IS A SPONSOR], (2) the person is the only circulator of the petition, (3) the signatures were made in the circulator's [SPONSOR'S] actual presence, and (4) to the best of the circulator's [SPONSOR'S] knowledge, the signatures are the signatures of persons whose names they purport to be. In determining the sufficiency of the petition, the lieutenant governor may not count subscriptions on petitions not properly certified. * Sec. 73. AS 15.45.580 is amended to read: Sec. 15.45.580. Circulation [BY SPONSOR]. The petitions may be circulated [ONLY BY A SPONSOR AND] only in person throughout the state or senate or house [ELECTION] district represented by the official sought to be recalled. * Sec. 74. AS 15.45.600 is amended to read: Sec. 15.45.600. Certification of circulator [SPONSOR]. Before being filed, each petition shall be certified by an affidavit by the person [SPONSOR] who personally circulated the petition. The affidavit shall state in substance that (1) the person signing the affidavit meets the residency, age, and citizenship qualifications of AS 15.05.010 [IS A SPONSOR], (2) the person is the only circulator of that petition or copy, (3) the signatures were made in the circulator's [SPONSOR'S] actual presence, and (4) to the best of the circulator's [SPONSOR'S] knowledge, the signatures are those of the persons whose names they purport to be. In determining the sufficiency of the petition, the director may not count subscriptions on petitions not properly certified." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. Page 31, line 20, following "AS 15.20.740;": Insert "AS 15.45.110(b);" Page 31, line 21: Delete "sec. 88" Insert "sec. 96" Page 32, line 1: Delete "15.45.580," Page 32, line 9: Delete "Section 85" Insert "Section 93" Page 32, line 10: Delete "sec. 87" Insert "sec. 95" Delete "1999" Insert "2000" [END OF AMENDMENT 1] Number 0095 GAIL FENUMIAI, Election Program Specialist, Division of Elections, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, came forward at the request of Representative James. She explained that Amendment 1 was introduced to make changes to the initiative petition and the referendum and recall petition statutes, which are in conflict with a recent United States Supreme Court ruling in Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Fund. That court ruled that circulators of initiative petitions don't have to be registered voters in Alaska, whereas Alaska's current law is contrary to that. That court case also stated that petition circulators don't have to identify themselves by wearing a badge, whereas in 1998 the Alaska State Legislature passed legislation requiring that. Therefore, the changes in Amendment 1 bring Alaska's statutes into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court case. Number 0217 CHAIRMAN KOTT asked whether there was any objection to Amendment 1. He indicated it had originally been suggested by Representative Croft. Noting that there was no objection, he announced that Amendment 1 was adopted. Number 0240 REPRESENTATIVE MURKOWSKI asked whether, with this change, petition circulators are required to do anything in terms of identifying themselves. MS. FENUMIAI answered no. A person's name is printed on the petition booklet in front of him or her while gathering signatures, but the person is no longer required to state his or her name while circulating a petition. In response to a further question about "checks" to ensure that persons are who they claim to be, Ms. Fenumiai explained that the petition circulator signs an affidavit on the back of the booklet saying the signatures were gathered in that person's presence and that he or she was the only circulator of the petition booklet. That is in current statute. Number 0350 REPRESENTATIVE GREEN pointed out that the bill before the committee is CSHB 163(STA). However, Amendment 1 amends the original version of the bill. He asked Representative James what the intent is. REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said she didn't know the reason, as the same drafter had written the original version, then CSHB 163(STA), then Amendment 1, in that order, and would draft the new committee substitute (CS). It was a drafting error. She suggested the committee look at the new CS before moving it from committee. She informed members that Amendment 1 adds a whole new issue to the bill. Number 0536 REPRESENTATIVE GREEN and CHAIRMAN KOTT pointed out that there are a couple of other minor details, as well. [Informal discussion followed as the committee went through the two versions of the bill and the amendment.] Number 0986 REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG noted that the bill contains the word "chairperson" instead of "chairman." CHAIRMAN KOTT, REPRESENTATIVE GREEN AND REPRESENTATIVE MURKOWSKI pointed out that Amendment 1 says "chairman," however. MS. FENUMIAI reported that Legislative Legal Services had suggested changing all the references from "chairman" to "chairperson." CHAIRMAN KOTT concluded that the title should read "chairperson" as well, then. REPRESENTATIVE GREEN AND REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said they didn't like it. REPRESENTATIVE JAMES indicated she didn't want to go through this issue on the floor again. Number 1075 CHAIRMAN KOTT agreed, saying he would rather not go through the exercise of addressing "chairman" versus "chairperson" on the floor again, but would encourage doing it there rather than in committee. Number 1086 REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG nonetheless made a motion to adopt a conceptual amendment to change the language throughout the bill to "chairman" rather than "chairperson." REPRESENTATIVE MURKOWSKI objected for purposes of discussion. She suggested that if those changes are made in the bill, perhaps they should go back into the election statutes and revise the whole chapter. She said she isn't interested in completely revising all statutes to make them "gender-neutral." She proposed the possibility of sending a letter to Legislative Council, however, requesting that they look into this to see whether there is a policy. Although not strongly on either side of the issue, Representative Murkowski said she is a proponent of consistency. If they are going to use it one way, they should use it throughout. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG remarked that he would advocate for a policy that "chairman" can be used in the statutes but that "the reference to the chairman could be at the discretion of that chairperson, and any other words interchangeably meaning the same would be acceptable as a matter of law." He suggested some flexibility, saying it is a matter of personal preference now. REPRESENTATIVE GREEN agreed that if it is done, it should be done throughout the statutes. For example, the statute before them refers to another statute that still has "chairman" in it. Number 1354 CHAIRMAN KOTT announced that if it is the will of this committee, they can address it now and submit a letter - on whatever is decided upon - as a recommendation to Legislative Council to review the statutes to either use "chairman" throughout the statutes or to go to the politically correct term, whatever that may be. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG suggested instructing the Legislative Council that the Revisor of Statutes would take it up after the legislature has made a decision, to avoid these debates. Number 1405 REPRESENTATIVE MURKOWSKI expressed concern about what else is in Alaska's statutes currently that isn't "politically correct." She said she didn't even want to suggest what those items might be. She indicated it might open a Pandora's box of issues that they wouldn't want to resolve right now. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG agreed but stated that the earlier "flap" about same-sex marriage had been caused by the revisors' changing of the statute on their own, resulting in a substantive revision because of trying to make the statute gender-neutral by changing "men and women" into "persons," or whatever the exact wording was. He offered to withdraw the amendment to move the process along if there is to be a letter to the Legislative Council. Number 1495 CHAIRMAN KOTT suggested that would be more acceptable to the committee than debating this. He announced that a letter would be submitted to Legislative Council asking them to come up with some consistent term throughout, so that Legislative Council, after their own debate of the issue, can direct the Revisor of Statutes about the drafting manual from here on out. Number 1511 REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG withdrew his amendment. CHAIRMAN KOTT indicated the intention of bringing a new CS before the committee that includes Amendment 1, to ensure that all the sections are placed appropriately throughout the bill. He thanked Ms. Fenumiai, stating his belief that no other testifiers wished to speak at the moment. He announced that HB 163 would be held over until the coming Friday, at which time there would be a letter for everyone's review that would accompany the bill. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG restated the need to ask Legislative Council about the issue and mentioned getting further guidance from Legislative Legal Services. [HB 163 was held over.] HB 163 - DIVISION OF ELECTIONS CHAIRMAN KOTT briefly returned the committee's attention to HOUSE BILL NO. 163, discussed earlier in the meeting. Number 0164 LESIL McGUIRE, Legislative Assistant to Representative Pete Kott and Committee Aide, House Judiciary Standing Committee, Alaska State Legislature, informed members that she had spoken with Pamela Finley, Revisor of Statutes, who had indicated the legislative drafting manual, page 58, specifically states that they must use "chair" or "chairperson" instead of "chairman." When Ms. McGuire had asked where that policy came from, Ms. Finley had said it was adopted and enacted by the legislature in 1982. Ms. Finley had referred Ms. McGuire to AS 1.05.031(c), which states, "The revisor shall edit and revise the laws as they are enacted by the legislature, without changing the meaning of any law, so as to avoid the use of pronouns denoting masculine or feminine gender." REPRESENTATIVE GREEN stated his belief that that has been violated repeatedly. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG pointed out that "chairman" isn't a pronoun, however. [HB 163 was held over.]
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