02/10/2014 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY

                   HB 292-2014 REVISOR'S BILL                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
1:09:50 PM                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                              
CHAIR  KELLER announced  the  first order  of  business would  be                                                               
HOUSE BILL NO.  292, "An Act making corrective  amendments to the                                                               
Alaska Statutes  as recommended by  the revisor of  statutes; and                                                               
providing for an effective date."                                                                                               
1:10:11 PM                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
LISA  KIRSCH,  Assistant  Revisor,  Legal  Services,  Legislative                                                               
Legal and  Research Services, Legislative Affairs  Agency advised                                                               
this bill is the legislature's  opportunity to correct and remove                                                               
any   deficiencies,   conflicts   and/or   obsolete   provisions.                                                               
Primarily,  the bill  updates  the names  of  agencies that  have                                                               
changed due  to changes in federal  law.  The bill  also captures                                                               
several instances of the term  "adoptive child," which is not the                                                               
standard term  for a  child who  has been  adopted.   The correct                                                               
terms  are "adoptive  parent" and  "adopted child."   Ms.  Kirsch                                                               
informed the committee another reference  had been discovered and                                                               
thus  there  is  an  amendment to  change  the  "adoptive  child"                                                               
reference to  "adopted child."   The  bill also  updates obsolete                                                               
date  references  to  the  boiler  code,  and  changes  the  word                                                               
"stimulation"  as it  was a  typographical error  in the  statute                                                               
related to oil wells and hydraulic fracking.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
1:12:01 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                              
CHAIR KELLER referred to the  deletion of the language in Section                                                               
5, "after  January 1, 1974,"  and opined the dates  were valuable                                                               
bits of information,  which often marked when a bill  passed.  He                                                               
noted three or  four sections similar to Section 5,  in that they                                                               
delete  dates.     He   asked  whether   this  bill   included  a                                                               
comprehensive list  of such date  markers in statute  and whether                                                               
such changes had occurred.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
MS. KIRSCH  confirmed that per  Title 1 routine review  occurs to                                                               
remove obsolete dates from statute.   She explained that [January                                                               
1,  1974] has  meaning  when  there were  people  who had  rights                                                               
predating that  date.  However,  1974 is  so many years  ago that                                                               
the likelihood of anyone having a  right arise prior to that date                                                               
is very low to nonexistent.   She further explained that once the                                                               
date is  far enough back in  history, relative to the  context it                                                               
is in and  the nature of the section, the  date may be determined                                                               
to be  obsolete.   Although dates could  [be relevant]  for 20-30                                                               
years,  at a  certain  point  the date  becomes  obsolete and  is                                                               
removed from statute.                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
1:14:45 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER asserted it is good  he is not setting the standards                                                               
for  drafting  as  he  believed  the  value  of  a  date  is  for                                                               
historical context.   He then  questioned whether Section 3  is a                                                               
substantive change.                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
MS.   KIRSCH  stated   the  revisor's   bill  cannot   include  a                                                               
substantive  change.   The  section  of  statute being  added  in                                                               
Section 3 is AS 40.25.295, which  is just the short title.  Short                                                               
titles of  an article  or section  are located  at the  very end.                                                               
She noted that these provisions, being  added in Section 3 are in                                                               
the Alaska Public Records Act.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
1:16:25 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  KELLER  offered   his  belief  the  change   of  the  term                                                               
"adoptive"  to "adopted"  is a  substantive change,  particularly                                                               
since  the  two   have  different  meanings  in   terms  of  time                                                               
sensitivities.  In the English  language adoptive means something                                                               
different than adopted.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
MS. KIRSCH explained  that the adoptive parent is  the person who                                                               
becomes a  parent by virtue  of adopting a  child.  The  child is                                                               
not the  one taking  the action,  the child is  the party  who is                                                               
acted upon  and is adopted.   The aforementioned is  the standard                                                               
usage of those terms.                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
1:17:58 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER  suggested that an  adoptive child could be  a child                                                               
in the  process of being  adopted as opposed  to a child  who has                                                               
been adopted sometime in the past.                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
MS. KIRSCH  expressed her understanding  that the  statutes refer                                                               
to a child who has been adopted, not a child in the process.                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  KELLER maintained  concern with  the change  and asked  if                                                               
other committee members had a  similar concern to which there was                                                               
no response.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
1:19:31 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE   GRUENBERG  moved   that   the  committee   adopt                                                               
Amendment  1,  labelled  28-LS0904\C.1,  Kirsch,  2/14/14,  which                                                               
read:                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
     Page 10, following line 13:                                                                                                
     Insert a new bill section to read:                                                                                         
        "* Sec. 20. AS 39.52.960(11) is amended to read:                                                                    
               (11)  "immediate family member" means                                                                            
               (A)  the spouse of the person;                                                                                   
               (B)  another person cohabiting with the                                                                          
     person in a conjugal relationship that is not a legal                                                                      
     marriage;                                                                                                                  
               (C)  a child, including a stepchild and an                                                                       
     adopted [ADOPTIVE] child, of the person;                                                                               
               (D)  a parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt,                                                                       
     or uncle of the person; and                                                                                                
               (E)  a parent or sibling of the person's                                                                         
     spouse;"                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
     Renumber the following bill sections accordingly.                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER removed his objection.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
There being no further objections, Amendment 1 was adopted.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN  moved to report  HB 292, as amended,  out of                                                               
committee  with individual  recommendations and  the accompanying                                                               
fiscal notes.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER stated there being  no objections, CSHB 292(JUD) was                                                               
reported from the House Judiciary Standing Committee.                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
1:21:09 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
The committee took a brief at-ease.