04/22/2002 01:43 PM House JUD

HB 460 - ANTITRUST CIVIL COURT ACTIONS                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
Number 0375                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR ROKEBERG  announced that the  last order of  business would                                                               
be  HOUSE  BILL  NO.  460,   "An  Act  relating  to  actions  for                                                               
monopolies and  restraint of trade,  including proof  of damages;                                                               
amending Rule 82, Alaska Rules  of Civil Procedure; and providing                                                               
for an effective date."                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR ROKEBERG offered  that HB 460 "allows us  to participate in                                                               
large  ...  'interstate  antitrust  cases' such  as  the  tobacco                                                               
settlement, which we are now prohibited from so doing."                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
Number 0330                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
CLYDE  (ED)  SNIFFEN,  JR.,   Assistant  Attorney  General,  Fair                                                               
Business   Practices   Section,   Civil   Division   (Anchorage),                                                               
Department of Law (DOL), testified via teleconference and said:                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
     This  bill will  allow  the attorney  general to  bring                                                                    
     claims on  behalf of consumers who  make these indirect                                                                    
     purchases.   We've  been directly  involved in  several                                                                    
     lawsuits  where the  inability to  have this  authority                                                                    
     has resulted in the loss  of significant sums of money.                                                                    
     Last year  we lost about $700,000  in a case we  felt -                                                                    
     I'm  involved   with  three   other  cases   right  now                                                                    
     involving  drug  manufacturers -  that  if  we had  the                                                                    
     ability  to   bring  these   types  of   claims,  would                                                                    
     certainly  increase   the  likelihood  that   we  would                                                                    
     recover more money.   So it's something  that's in line                                                                    
     with what other states have  been doing, it's not going                                                                    
     to  increase  the  cost  of  doing  business  from  our                                                                    
     office, and it's something [that]  I think would result                                                                    
     in significant resources for consumers.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
Number 0235                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  JAMES moved  to report  HB 460  out of  committee                                                               
with  individual  recommendations  and  the  accompanying  fiscal                                                               
notes.   There being no objection,  HB 460 was reported  from the                                                               
House Judiciary Standing Committee.