Legislature(2005 - 2006)CAPITOL 106
02/22/2005 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB14 | |
| HB100 | |
| HB62 | |
| HB48 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 14 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 62 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 100 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 48 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 14-MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS CHAIR SEATON announced that the first order of business was SENATE BILL NO. 14, "An Act relating to municipal initiative and referendum elections." 8:13:05 AM SENATOR GARY STEVENS, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor of SB 14, noted that the bill is a companion bill to HB 50. The bill was introduced at the request of the borough and city clerks, he explained, who found that initiatives and referendums often force them to have special elections. He remarked that special elections are often very expensive and have a poor turnout. This bill, he said, would allow more latitude and flexibility to the local municipalities; if there is an issue that they think is of urgency, they can schedule a special election. If the issue is not of great urgency, they can put it off until the next regular election. He pointed out that the Fairbanks Northstar Borough at one point had 46 petitions in a four-month period, which theoretically could have lead to 46 elections. However, there was only one election, which cost around $60,000. He reiterated that the purpose of the legislation was to allow the local municipalities to have more flexibility in order to cut costs and to improve the turnout. 8:15:03 AM CHAIR SEATON directed attention to changes in the language in Sections [1] and 3 of the bill, which specify that an election not occur sooner than 60 days after the certification of a petition. He surmised that the intent of this was to give ample time for petitioners to campaign. SENATOR GARY STEVENS responded, "That's certainly the idea." He suggested that they speak with one the borough clerks to get a clearer understanding of what those changes mean. 8:18:18 AM SENATOR GARY STEVENS, in response to a question from Representative Gruenberg asking why recalls are not included in the bill, explained that he wouldn't want to include recalls, because the bill allows the local municipalities to make the decision to delay initiatives and referendums if they're not urgent. He stated his belief that a recall is urgent and should be dealt with immediately. 8:19:28 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG directed attention to page 1, line 11, and page 2, line 9, where the bill states that if no election is scheduled to occur within 75 days after certification and the governing body determines it's in the best interest of the municipality, an ordinance may be passed ordering a special election be held on the matter before the next election that's already scheduled. He asked, "Do you only want ... the ordinance to allow the matter to be scheduled prior to the next election? How about if they decided they wanted to do it after the next election that's regularly scheduled?" SENATOR GARY STEVENS said that he could see no reason why anyone would want to postpone an initiative or referendum beyond the next election. He clarified that the idea behind the bill is not to delay referendums and initiatives unless it is an issue that is not timely. 8:21:31 AM SENATOR GARY STEVENS, in response to Representative Gardner, said that a similar bill was introduced in the Senate last year and passed the Senate with an amendment, but did not pass the House. CHAIR SEATON clarified that the bill passed through the committees and made it to the floor of the House, and then went back to the House Rules Standing Committee. SENATOR GARY STEVENS said, "I believe the reason it failed in the House was because of the amendment that had been added in the Senate, which I was not supportive of, and ... this is the clear, cleaner version of that bill." REPRESENTATIVE RAMRAS expressed support for the bill. 8:23:14 AM SHERRY BIGGS, Deputy Clerk, Kenai Peninsula Borough, on behalf of the Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks, stated support of SB 14. She said: We'd like to stress that this legislation does not prohibit the local governing body to conduct a special election if they so choose, but it just removes the mandate to often hold an unbudgeted election. Typically municipalities ... would plan for their first Tuesday of October election, and anything else has to come from other sources. MS. BIGGS said the borough has conducted by-mail elections. She indicated that the effort has been is made towards "hitting every targeted voter in an area," but that often people just don't contact the Division of Elections every time they move. As a result, Ms. Biggs said, there is a lot of returned mail - ballots that never make it to the intended voter. The borough gets a special mailing rate when it sends out ballots, but ballots, by law, cannot be forwarded. The borough has to pay a higher charge when those ballots that cannot be delivered are "returned to sender." MS. BIGGS continued as follows: In speaking to the idea of putting a special election after a regular election, if I may, at that point you'd have to order a separate ballot for everyone. You'd need to hire the precinct board and the canvas board all over. You'd have to establish polling sites if they're available. Typically we use schools and local buildings. We'd need to make sure they were available at some time other than our October dates. And the idea of having to conduct an election [within] 45 days: we often have ... to order ballots, to get workers lined up; 60 days is definitely needed and gives us a much better window of work time [for ourselves]. 8:25:50 AM MS. BIGGS, in response to Representative Gruenberg, stated that it is a federal law that ballots cannot be forwarded. CHAIR SEATON referred to page 2, lines 1-5, as well as page 1, lines 7-12, and asked Ms. Biggs if the intent of the bill is that there be at least 60 days [between certification of a petition and the election]. MS. BIGGS answered affirmatively and commented that an election requires considerable time for setting up as well as supplies. She said: I think it is the intent of the governing body to still conduct a timely election. I don't believe they would try and hold it off month after month. But I know that if we tried to hold a special election here in July on the Kenai Peninsula, I think it would be utter chaos and our assembly may choose to pick a better day. So I think it still leaves the control with the governing bodies in the local areas where it needs to remain. 8:27:51 AM CHAIR SEATON asked, "But you wouldn't have a problem with reinserting the words, 'but not sooner than 60 days after the certification' at the end of that paragraph to clarify ... that [an] election couldn't be held ... [in] 20 days ... and not give people time to campaign?" MS. BIGGS agreed with Chair Seaton. 8:28:25 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG commented that he didn't understand what would happen if there were a regular election that has already been scheduled to occur between 60 and 75 days after certification of the petition. He said, "There seems to be that 15-day gap. Why is that?" MS. BIGGS responded that this just allows for the necessary time for them to advertise and notify voters that they must be a registered voter 30 days before an election. She said, "I think it's just a basic timeline of how things have to fall into place." 8:29:18 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked why the bill says "no sooner than 60 days" rather than 75 days. MS. BIGGS said that originally it was 45 days, "so I think that they're just changing it to 60 to still add additional time for preparation." REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG responded, "It seems that if you're talking about 75 at one hand and 60 at another, shouldn't there be either one or the other? That's my question." MS. BIGGS replied, "I do believe that maybe 'no sooner than 75 days' if you wish." 8:30:17 AM REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER said, "It seems to me that the 60 days is when there's already a special election scheduled, 75 days when there's not. And there's less preparation to add something to an existing schedule.... It's only a matter of getting it on the ballot. So it wouldn't take as much time." 8:30:40 AM CHAIR SEATON remarked the 60-day minimum was to ensure that there is enough time for campaigning. He said, "If you don't have an election scheduled within 75 days then you can go ahead and do the other [have a special campaign]. If you have an election scheduled within 75 days then the election would occur then." 8:31:54 AM CHAIR SEATON offered [Amendment 1] as follows: On page 1, line 12: After: "before the next election that is already scheduled" Insert: "but not sooner than 60 days after the certification" On page 2, line 10: After: "before the next election that is already scheduled" Insert: "but not sooner than 60 days after the certification" 8:32:40 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG objected for discussion purposes. 8:33:00 AM CHAIR SEATON, in response to Representative Gruenberg, clarified that previously the bill said that there had to be an election within 75 days. He said that the purpose of this bill is to allow municipalities to wait until the next regular election unless the issue is important enough to schedule a special election. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG removed his objection. 8:33:39 AM DOUG LETCH, Staff to Senator Gary Stevens, Alaska State Legislature stated that Senator Gary Stevens would support [Amendment 1]. 8:34:07 AM BONNIE WILLIAMS, Member, Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, testified in support of SB 14. She stated that she feels it is appropriate to exclude recalls because those need to be conducted quickly. She commented: [Fairbanks] is a community where people like to bring initiatives, people like to debate stuff, [and] people always have very independent opinions.... The last time that we had a special election it cost us roughly $60,000. It would have been very helpful if we could have held that with the regular election, both for the cost and also for the number of participants involved in voting on that issue. Special elections get very, very small turnouts, and so you don't get ... the best possible representation of the community's desires on it. 8:36:45 AM CHAIR SEATON closed public testimony. He announced that Amendment 1 [text provided previously] was adopted. 8:37:34 AM REPRESENTATIVE LYNN moved to report SB 14, as amended, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objections, HCS SB 14(STA) was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.
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