Legislature(2021 - 2022)GRUENBERG 120
03/22/2021 01:30 PM House JUDICIARY
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB109 | |
| HB29 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 109 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 29 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 109-EXTEND BAR ASS'N BOARD OF GOVERNORS
1:31:53 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the first order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 109, "An Act extending the termination date of
the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association; and
providing for an effective date."
1:32:16 PM
LIZZIE KUBITZ, Chief of Staff, Representative Matt Claman,
Alaska State Legislature, introduced HB 109 on behalf of
Representative Claman, prime sponsor. She explained that HB 109
extends the termination date of the Board of Governors of the
Alaska Bar Association ("Bar") from 6/30/2021 to 6/30/2029, in
accordance with the recommendation of the legislative auditor.
She said the Division of Legislative Audit concluded an audit of
the Board of Governors and determined that the board is
operating in the public's interest and complied with its duties
and responsibilities to the public, and the division recommended
that the termination date be extended to 6/30/2029. She said
the Division of Legislative Audit has also determined that the
Board of Governors should again recommend to the Alaska Supreme
Court that it amend the Bar rules to increase the number of
mandatory continuing legal education (CLE) credit hours.
Currently, she continued, Bar members "shall" complete three
hours of ethics CLE and "may" complete nine hours of general
CLE.
MS. KUBITZ stated that the Board of Governors serves an
important public service by regulating the practice of law,
promoting reform in the law and in judicial procedure,
facilitating the administration of justice, investigating
complaints, requiring continuing legal education for membership,
and increasing the public service and efficiency of the Bar.
1:34:30 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN disclosed for the record that he is a member of the
Alaska Bar Association.
1:34:50 PM
KRIS CURTIS, CPA, CISA, Legislative Auditor, Division of
Legislative Audit, stated that the Division of Legislative Audit
conducted an audit of the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar
Association. She explained that the purpose of a sunset audit
is to determine whether a board or commission is serving the
public's interest and whether it should be extended. She
directed attention to the 6/9/2020 audit report in the committee
packet [titled "A Sunset Review of the Alaska Court System,
Board of Governors of the Alaska Bart Association (Bar)]. She
stated the audit concluded that the board served the public's
interest by effectively admitting qualified members to the Bar
and by investigating complaints made against Bar members. She
further stated that the division is recommending an eight-year
extension, which is the maximum allowed for in statute.
MS. CURTIS brought attention to the schedule of admission and
exam statistics for calendar years 2017 through 2019 (page 8 of
the audit report). She noted that, on average, 120 members were
admitted to the Bar each year, and, on average, the exam pass
rate was 54 percent. She specified that the audit reviewed a
random sample of 15 new member applications and found all 15 met
admission requirements.
1:35:59 PM
MS. CURTIS discussed the Bar's disciplinary statistics (page 6
of the audit report). She related that between January 2017 and
December 2019, 689 complaints were filed with the Bar; 82
percent were not accepted for further investigation because the
complaints were incomplete, or did not identify unethical
conduct, or were not within the Bar's jurisdiction. She noted
that five complaints resulted in discipline and 89 complaints
were still open at the time of the audit.
MS. CURTIS said that to promote competency and professionalism,
active Bar members are required to obtain three hours of
continuing education each year and encouraged to voluntarily
obtain nine additional hours. She pointed out that as of March
2020, 37 states required at least 12 continuing education hours
each year, making Alaska's required CLE hours significantly
below most other states. She further pointed out that the low
number of mandatory continuing education hours has been a
finding in the prior three sunset audits. She related that in
2011 the board formed a committee to review the mandatory
continuing education program. The review, she continued,
included an electronic survey of Bar members, and of the over
900 Bar members that responded to the survey 91 percent did not
favor increasing the mandatory education hours.
1:37:24 PM
MS. CURTIS turned to the findings and recommendations (page 11
of the audit report). The first recommendation, she specified,
is that the Bar's executive director should ensure meetings are
properly posted on the state's online public notice system. She
related that of the nine meetings reviewed by the division,
seven were not published on the state's online public notice
system and six did not include public comment as an agenda item.
She said that according to the executive director the notices
were posted in the Bar's publication called the "Bar Rag" and
were posted on the Bar's website. However, she pointed out,
that does not technically comply with the law that requires they
be posted on the state's public notice system.
MS. CURTIS addressed the second recommendation that states the
board should improve internal controls over the Bar's online
admission system and case management database [page 12]. She
said two deficiencies were identified by the audit that could
affect the security and availability of data. The pertinent
details, she explained, were communicated to management in a
separate confidential document and not reported in the audit to
ensure that the weaknesses are not exploited. She said
management did provide Legislative Audit corrective action.
1:38:33 PM
MS. CURTIS spoke to the third recommendation that states the
board should recommend an increase in the non-ethics mandatory
continuing legal education for attorneys (page 12). In 2019,
she related, 99 percent of Bar members completed the mandatory
ethics education, but only 55 [percent] voluntarily completed
the nine additional hours. She explained that continuing
education is important because it benefits the public by helping
ensure that attorneys remain competent regarding the law and the
profession's obligations and standards.
MS. CURTIS concluded her testimony with a review of management's
response to the audit (pages 29-33 of the report). She said the
court system's general counsel agrees that the board should make
a new recommendation on the number of mandatory continuing
education hours for the court's consideration. The board's
response, she continued, agrees with recommendations one and
two. Regarding recommendation three, the board agreed to
discuss the appointment of a committee to review the mandatory
continuing education at its October 2020 meeting.
1:40:16 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked whether the Alaska Bar Association
has any other duties in addition to admitting applicants and
dealing with disciplinary issues.
MS. CURTIS replied that under the "Organization and Function"
section of the report, page 1 describes the board composition
and page 2 talks about the board's two primary functions. She
said it's an interesting dynamic because of how the Alaska
Supreme Court and the Bar work together to oversee the legal
occupation profession.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN stated that this seems like a short list.
He asked whether statute or official policy delegates any other
official duties to the Bar.
MS. CURTIS responded that the board's purpose includes
regulating the practice of law through regulation, promoting
reform in the law and the judicial procedure, facilitating the
administration of justice, encouraging education, administering
the Bar exam, admitting members to the Bar, and disciplining the
Bar. She explained that that is the typical function of any
occupational board.
1:42:24 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA related that he has looked at how many
attorneys comprise the [board] and how many are appointed by the
governor and how many are appointed internally. He said he
hasn't made a comparison to other boards and commissions, but
the normal process is that the governor appoints members to a
state board to be confirmed by the legislature. He stated that
this board seems lopsided in that it is heavily controlled by
the Alaska Bar Association without input from the legislature.
MS. CURTIS answered that she never considered that. She said
this association appoints its members and the governor appoints
only three, and that typically on an occupational board the
governor appoints more. She said she doesn't have the
background on that to talk about why that is the case.
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA inquired whether Ms. Curtis is aware of any
other boards that are structured this way where it comes
internally from the industry and not from the governor.
MS. CURTIS replied there are plenty of other boards, although
maybe not occupational boards, that have identified composition
that might come from other places, but she doesn't have any
statistics to provide.
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA asked whether it is true that Board of
Governors or the members at large of the Bar select the attorney
appointee to the Judicial Council.
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN clarified that Representative Kurka is
asking about the three members of the Judicial Council that are
selected by the Alaska Bar Association.
MS. CURTIS responded that the audit did not look at that
specifically and has no comment about that.
1:44:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SNYDER stated that these seem to be essential
primary functions. She asked who would pick up those functions
and what the anticipated repercussions would be if this board
was terminated.
MS. CURTIS replied she doesn't have a good answer for that and
doesn't know what would happen if that was the case. She noted,
however, that typically if it's an occupational board it falls
within the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic
Development and if the board goes away the licensing function
reverts to the department and there is no break in the actual
occupation. With this board, she continued, rather than it
terminating she sees this as more of a legislative oversight
process as opposed to actually considering it for termination,
like the Board of Parole and those type of boards.
CHAIR CLAMAN added that it is unlike other boards because the
licensing of attorneys is in the end a matter for the court
because the court is a third branch of government as the people
who are admitted to practice before the court. Unlike any other
board, he continued, it is not entirely clear that it could go
back to another part of the Executive Branch because the
supervision in the end is ultimately the court's responsibility,
not the Executive Branch's responsibility.
1:47:12 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SNYDER requested clarification on the word
"terminate" given that is the word used in the audit provided to
the committee.
MS. CURTIS answered that a sunset date is in statute for this
board, so technically it would terminate if a bill were not
submitted to the legislature to formally extend the board.
CHAIR CLAMAN asked whether anyone from the Alaska Bar
Association would like to add perspective regarding this
specific function should the legislature not extend the sunset
date as well as who is supervising and how that works.
1:48:14 PM
BEN HOFMEISTER, President, Board of Governors, Alaska Bar
Association, noted he is an assistant attorney general in the
attorney general's office, but that he is before the committee
in his capacity as the Alaska Bar Association president. He
said this was analyzed briefly in prior conversations with the
Board of Governors over the past three years, and he agrees with
Chair Claman, which is that the functions would fall underneath
the court, specifically the supreme court. "So," he continued,
"if this were terminated, we would probably follow the same
model of other states that do not have a bar association like we
do." He said if he remembers correctly Nebraska was one of the
other states looked to and all of Nebraska's disciplinary and
admissions issues fall directly under the supreme court. "We
would also terminate the funding source that comes from our
dues," he said, "and that would be something that the
legislature would have to pick up in terms of funding ... all
the things that we do that are pointed out in ... Ms. Curtis's
legislative audit report."
1:49:29 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS referenced the results of the
member survey about increasing the number of CLE hours required.
He inquired whether the Bar has a position about what may happen
to the current requirement.
1:50:02 PM
DANIELLE BAILEY, Executive Director, Alaska Bar Association,
replied that after receiving the audit the Bar formed the "MCLE
Subcommittee." She related that the subcommittee has had five
meetings and at this point has decided it will not be polling
the membership, and that it's looking like the subcommittee is
going to increase the number of CLE hours. However, she noted,
the subcommittee's work is not yet finished, and that
recommendation would go to the board and the board has not had
time to process all those results yet.
CHAIR CLAMAN noted that even if the board suggests increasing
the number of mandatory CLE hours, it would ultimately be a
decision for the Alaska Supreme Court. He recalled that in 2008
or 2009 the supreme court approved the three mandatory ethics
hours, but during years prior to that the board had suggested
more than just the three hours of ethics and the supreme court
rejected the request. He explained he knows about this because
he was president of the board at the time.
1:51:30 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS asked whether there is a list of
courses or trainings that are approved by the Alaska or national
bar associations that one must select from to fulfill the CLE
requirement.
MS. BAILEY responded that attorney members can receive their CLE
credits in a variety of ways. She said the essentially one hour
of education equates to one CLE credit. The Alaska Bar
Association has lots of offerings, she continued, and that
information is provided in the Bar's annual report to the
legislature. Members are also free to get continuing legal
education from other sources, she added.
1:52:36 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN said there seems to be a lot of focus on
CLE requirements in the audit. He asked how that came to be a
focus of the audit.
MS. CURTIS answered that the criteria used is in Appendix A to
the audit. The division, she explained, uses specifically set
statutory criteria to evaluate a board or commission. One
criterium is to what extent a board or commission is operating
in the public's interest and, given this has been a finding in
the previous three sunset audits, it was already on the
division's radar to focus in and provide the current status of
that prior recommendation.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked why eight years was the recommended
for the board's extension.
MS. CURTIS replied that eight years is the maximum allowed for
in the sunset statute. She said this board is operating fairly
well and that, in her opinion, there are not any serious
concerns that should impact the term of extension.
1:53:45 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN recalled the question about what would happen
financially if the legislature doesn't extend the sunset date.
He inquired whether the membership dues collected from members
would be self-sustaining or whether the board relies on any
state funds to run the Alaska Bar Association.
MS. CURTIS responded that Appendix A is comprised of the Alaska
Bar Association's statements of financial position showing the
Bar's fund balance and it looks like the association does have
adequate fund balance now to be self-supporting. To her
knowledge, she continued, the association does not receive any
funding from the legislature.
CHAIR CLAMAN asked whether, based on previous audits, there was
ever a time in which the Alaska Bar Association relied on state
funds to be self-supporting.
MS. CURTIS answered that she doesn't remember.
CHAIR CLAMAN stated he is "pretty sure the answer is no, there
was never a time."
1:54:49 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN opened public testimony on HB 109 and noted he
doesn't see anyone wishing to testify. He requested Mr.
Hofmeister to provide the association's invited testimony.
1:55:23 PM
MR. HOFMEISTER testified on behalf of the Board of Governors and
the Alaska Bar Association. He said he thinks the audit speaks
for itself and that the testimony of Ms. Curtis is a positive
note on the Bar and what it does. Regarding the earlier
question about the goals and purposes of the association, he
stated it is correct that discipline and admissions are primary
focuses. However, he continued, as explained by Ms. Curtis the
association also has [other] purposes as set out in Section 3 of
Article I of the association's bylaws. He related that as the
Bar president he constantly finds himself going back to the five
purposes when he is considering initiatives that the Bar
Association and the Board of Governors are taking on. He said
these purposes are to: regulate the practice of law; promote
reform in the law and in judicial procedure; facilitate the
administration of justice; encourage continuing legal education
for the membership; and increase the public service and
efficiency of the Bar. All of those are very important, he
opined, and not only does the Bar Association do an excellent
job of that, but it also has staff that know what they are
doing. He added that with him today are Phil Shanahan, Bar
Counsel, and Danielle Bailey, Executive Director, both amazing
attorneys who have taken on roles very recently and have led the
machine that is the Alaska Bar Association onward into 2021.
The association lost a lot of history last fall when the prior
executive director, Deborah O'Regan, retired after 38 years of
service, but Ms. Bailey has seamlessly led the association
forward. He stated that anyone reviewing this audit should be
comforted that the association does a good job in its purposes
of admissions and discipline. He said the Alaska Bar
Association believes HB 109, as proposed, is solid and should be
passed by the committee.
1:58:31 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN closed public testimony on HB 109 after
ascertaining the committee had no questions of the witness and
no one else wished to testify.
CHAIR CLAMAN offered his belief that Ms. O'Regan's 38 years of
serving as executive director is the longest in any bar
association in the history of the U.S.
1:59:40 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS inquired about the length of time
of the last extension for the Board of Governors.
CHAIR CLAMAN replied it was eight years.
CHAIR CLAMAN held over HB 109.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 109 v. A 2.22.2021.PDF |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/24/2021 1:30:00 PM |
HB 109 |
| HB 109 Sponsor Statement v. A 3.20.2021.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/24/2021 1:30:00 PM |
HB 109 |
| HB 109 Additional Document - A Sunset Review of the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association 6.9.2020.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/24/2021 1:30:00 PM |
HB 109 |
| HB 109 Statement of Zero Fiscal Impact 3.21.2021.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/24/2021 1:30:00 PM |
HB 109 |
| HB 29 v. A 2.18.2021.PDF |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/29/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/9/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/16/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HB 29 |
| HB 29 Sponsor Statement 3.22.2021.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/29/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/9/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/16/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HB 29 |
| HB 29 Supporting Document - Electric Utility Liability Information 3.22.2021.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/29/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/9/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/16/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HB 29 |
| HB 29 Supporting Document - APA Letter 3.1.2021.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/29/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/9/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/16/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HB 29 |
| HB 29 Supporting Document - CVEA Letter 3.9.2021.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/29/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/9/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/16/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HB 29 |
| HB 29 Supporting Document - GVEA Letter 3.16.2021.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/29/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/9/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/16/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HB 29 |
| HB 29 Supporting Document - CVEA Vegetation Management Draft March 2021 3.22.2021.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/29/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/16/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HB 29 |
| HB 29 Fiscal Note LAW-CIV 3.12.2021.pdf |
HJUD 3/22/2021 1:30:00 PM HJUD 3/29/2021 1:00:00 PM HJUD 4/9/2021 1:00:00 PM |
HB 29 |