Legislature(2007 - 2008)CAPITOL 106
03/15/2007 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HJR11 | |
| HB171 | |
| HJR6 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | HJR 11 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 62 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 171 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HJR 6 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 171-ACCOMMODATE 90-DAY SESSION 8:17:25 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that the next order of business was HOUSE BILL NO. 171, "An Act relating to the terms of legislators, the date and time for convening regular legislative sessions, adoption of uniform rules of the legislature and to certain of those rules, the date for organizing the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, and deadlines for certain matters or reports to be delivered to the legislature or filed; prohibiting bonuses for legislative employees; and providing for an effective date." 8:17:59 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL referred to a recently passed initiative, which amends AS 24.05.150. He read the amended language as follows: The legislature shall adjourn from a regular session within 90 consecutive calendar days, including the day the legislature first convenes in that regular session. This Act takes effect the first day of the second regular session of the Twenty-Fifth Legislature. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said the legislature needs to accommodate the initiative. He said there are 23 sections in the bill, most of which address "small movements of timeline issues." He said there will be issues to consider, such as when to start the session, and whether or not to impose a rule that would not allow a bill to be carried into the second year of the session if it has not passed the first body. 8:22:17 AM RYNNIEVA MOSS, Staff to Representative John Coghill, Alaska State Legislature, on behalf of the House Rules Standing Committee, sponsor by request, which is chaired by Representative Coghill, presented the sectional analysis in HB 171. She reviewed the sectional analysis for Section 1, which read as follows: Section 1. Public Safety annual report on activities of the narcotic drug and alcohol enforcement unit will be available the first day of session. Currently it is to be made available within 30 days. MS. MOSS directed attention to a chart included in the committee packet that shows current and proposed dates for certain deadlines. 8:24:28 AM MS. MOSS turned to the sectional analysis for Section 2, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Sec. 2. In odd numbered years Public Safety submits their report on repeated child sexual abuse arrests and criminal exploitation of children to legislature on first day of session. MS. MOSS reviewed the sectional analysis for Sections 3 through 5, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Sec. 3. Changes the beginning of the term of each member of the legislature to the second Monday of February. (in Senate version). Sec. 4. Starts session the second Monday of February. (in Senate version). Sec. 5. Expand the direction of the legislature to adopt uniform rules at the beginning of each session. Currently the legislature adopts uniform rules in first legislative session. MS. MOSS related that the change made by Section 5 may or may not be a good idea. She explained that the "plus" is that the adoption of uniform rules in joint session does not require a two-thirds vote. However, a two-thirds vote is required in order to amend the rules by concurrent resolution. She said that is a policy call that the committee will have to make. MS. MOSS reviewed the sectional analysis for Sections 6 and 7, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Sec. 6. Requires the department affected by a piece of legislation to deliver to a requesting legislative committee a fiscal note within three days of the request. This is a change from five days and th after the 90 day two days. Sec. 7. Extends the profile [sic] deadline from January 1 to February 1. MS. MOSS noted that the word "profile" should be "prefile". She continued on to the sectional analysis for Section 8, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Sec. 8. Requires a bill introduced in the first legislative session to be passed through its house of origin in the first session to be considered in the second session. MS. MOSS said Section 8 would not preclude someone from introducing a new bill in the second session. She reviewed the sectional analysis for Sections 9 and 10, which read as follows, [original punctuation provided]: Sec. 9. Cleans up AS 24.10.220 and clarifies legislative employees cannot be awarded bonuses. Sec. 10. Requires the Legislative Budget & Audit Committee to be organized within 10 days after the convening of the legislature. MS. MOSS noted that currently the Legislative Budget & Audit Committee has 15 days to organize. She moved on to the sectional analysis for Sections 11-13, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Sec. 11. Requires the Legislative Budget & Audit Committee to prepare a report of investment programs, plans, performance, and policies of all agencies of the state that perform lending or investment functions and notify the legislature of the report on or before the first day of each regular session versus 30 days after convening. Sec. 12. Requires the LB & A to file with the governor and the legislature its annual report summarizing audit reports on or before the first day of session versus within five days. Sec. 13. Requires APOC to publish a directory of registered lobbyists within 15 days after session convenes. They now have 45 days. MS. MOSS pointed out that with a session start date of February 5, and without the change made in Section 13, APOC's directory of registered lobbyists would not be delivered until half way through the session. MS. MOSS reviewed the sectional analysis for Section 14, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Sec. 14. Eliminates one of the disclosure reports for contributions made to a civic league or organization to influence activities of a legislature. The report th is currently due on February 10 which most likely will be close to the first day of session. MS. MOSS said Brooke Miles, the director of APOC, told her APOC has not figured out a way to implement the current statute, and she noted that there is an amendment in the committee packet, upon the recommendation of Ms. Miles, which would repeal that statute. 8:28:48 AM MS. MILES reviewed the remaining portion of the sectional analysis, covering Sections 15-23, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Sec. 15. This section gives the governor an extra 30 days to present to the legislature the annual operating, capital, and mental health trust budget th bills. The deadline is moved from December 15 to th January 15. Sec. 16. Moves the deadline for the governor's budget workbook to the first Monday in February versus the first Monday in January. Sec.17. The governor's request for supplemental appropriations must be provided to the legislature by th the fifth day of session versus 30 day and the governor's budget amendments must be submitted by the thth 15 day versus the 45 day. Sec.18. Requires LB & A to prepare a report of fees collected and recommended fee adjustments of state agencies and provide it to the legislature by the fifth day of session versus 30 days. Sec.19. Requires DNR to give notice to the legislature within five days from convening that a report reflecting all money deposited to the State Land Disposal Income Fund for the prior fiscal year is th available. They currently have until the 30 day. Sec.20. Reduces from 30 to five days after convening the deadline for DNR to submit a summary of all "cooperative resource management or development agreements" to the legislature. Sec.21. Requires governor to submit to the legislature within 15 days from convening the names of persons appointed to a position or membership who have not been confirmed by the legislature and persons to be appointed to fill a position or membership for a term that will expire on or before March 1 during that session. Current provides for 30 days. It also instructs the governor to immediately submit the name of someone appointed after the first 15 days by while the legislature is in regular session. Sec.22. The term of office beginning on the second Monday of February for a member of the legislature first applies to legislators elected during 2008. Sec.23. This legislation has an effective date of January 1, 2008. 8:32:07 AM JOHN BOUCHER, Senior Economist, Office of the Director, Office of Management & Budget (OMB), Office of the Governor, told the committee that he is a policy analyst. He said OMB thinks that the change in Section 15 is unnecessary. He said it is the opinion of OMB that the December 15 budget is a preliminary one, and that that version of the budget will inevitably be amended by the statutory deadline. He said, "While it could be argued that there's a potential benefit of having 30 extra days to prepare or ... collect information for the December budget, it's our assessment that it would be unlikely that this would prevent an amended budget occurring." He continued: Postponing the first budget submittal until January 15, while keeping the current deadline for the budget amendments, significantly compresses the amount of time available to prepare an amended budget from about five to six weeks. If we kept the December 15 budget deadline, we'd have about nine to ten weeks to prepare that. And it's currently our assessment at this time that we need that time. MR. BOUCHER noted that many of the governor's appointees were not "on board" by December 15. Furthermore, he said there are statutory "and other" mechanisms currently in place to support the December 15 deadline. He suggested OMB's preference would be to have a couple years' experience using a regular budget cycle with a later start date for a session, and then revisit the issue as to January 15 would be a good budget deadline. MR. BOUCHER concluded by noting that if all the budget-related date changes are dependent upon moving the session back 30 days - if the end result is a compressed time to prepare the budget - than that would concern OMB. 8:35:37 AM MR. BOUCHER, in response to a question from Chair Lynn regarding a later start date for session, said he thinks the bill is headed in the right direction because of the timing of the revenue forecast. He said he thinks it would be ill-advised to move the Spring forecast up 30 days. He stated, "... With the price of oil the way it is, everyone would like the best information ... possible." He said he thinks that's the reason the revenue deadlines are set the way they currently are. MR. BOUCHER, in response to Representative Coghill, offered his understanding that the Spring forecast was timed to be closer to the end of both the fiscal year and the session. 8:37:05 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said the House Special Committee on Ways and Means is dealing with the issue shown in Section 16, lines 9-14, which read as follows: *Sec. 16. AS 37.07.040(7) is amended to read: (7) provide the legislative finance division with an advance copy of the governor's budget workbooks by the first Monday in February [JANUARY] of each year [, EXCEPT THAT FOLLOWING A GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION YEAR THE ADVANCE COPY SHALL BE PROVIDED BY THE SECOND MONDAY IN JANUARY]; REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked Mr. Boucher if he thinks the language to be deleted on lines 12-14 would affect the ability of a new administration to prepare an adequate budget. 8:39:25 AM MR. BOUCHER responded: If we do keep the December 15 deadline, then I think ... [paragraph] (7) could more or less stay intact - it would not need to be amended - because we would have the budget in place and we could provide that. ... Going back to what I said previously: Whether the budget deadline is December 15 or January 15, I think a new administration is handicapped under either scenario. And I do believe that the best result is to give the new administration adequate time to prepare an amended budget, rather than coming in [and] having to do a quick budget, so to speak, to meet a deadline, and potentially having expectations set higher because ... it is supposedly their budget. 8:41:42 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked Ms. Moss if the various sections in the bill that will affect different departments have been "vetted with those departments." 8:42:08 AM MS. MOSS said that has not been done with every single department. However, she said the sponsor worked with the Legislative Liaison Office. She pointed out that there is "a zero fiscal note from all departments." 8:43:01 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL, regarding Section 3, posited that starting session on the second Monday in February would give the legislature time to "do a little bit of discovery," move the session closer to the spring forecast, and put the session into more months with typically better weather. He said the big question is whether or not the legislature wants to have its elected officials in limbo from November to February. 8:44:18 AM CHAIR LYNN said this is a matter that concerns him. He explained that the person newly elected in November cannot do anything until February, while the legislator on his/her way out is a lame duck in November and December. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL interjected, "But still [authoritative]." CHAIR LYNN concurred. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said Representative Roses had brought up the possibility of calling into special session those who are the lame ducks. He added, "It gives you a month for a possible scenario where you could put those who have been elected by their ... citizenry to be ineffective under some scenarios." CHAIR LYNN remarked that being called into a special session after every election, but before the new session, would mean the legislature ends up meeting for 120 days. He indicated that there has been precedent on this. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL noted that legislators cannot be sworn in until they have convened. 8:46:12 AM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES pointed out that the initiative clearly states that the 90 days must be consecutive. He said that is unfortunate, because without that stipulation the legislature could convene in January and take a break in the middle, which would allow time during the annual Energy Council and Easter break. He said that is the unfortunate part of initiatives. He explained, "Part of doing a bill is that you have these discussions and you can vet out the unintended consequences. But the voters have spoken, and it appears we have to ... at least abide by what's there." He stated that it doesn't matter to him when the legislature convenes, as long as it gets its work done. 8:47:51 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said according to statute, the term of a Representative is two years and the term of a Senator is four years. He deduced: The Twenty-Fifth [Alaska] State Legislature will ... be out of office on the third Monday in January in 2009. The Twenty-Sixth [Alaska State] Legislature won't convene until the second Monday in February. That leaves the state without a legislature for several weeks, and I think that that violates ... Article 2, Section 3. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he would like the director of Legislative Legal and Research Services, Tamara Cook, to review the matter. 8:49:12 AM MS. MOSS proffered, "That same section of the constitution says that their terms begin on the fourth Monday of January following the election, unless otherwise provided by law, so that can be fixed by statute." REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG responded that it is not a question of when the term begins, but rather the amount of time legislators are in office. He specified that there would be a gap between the middle of January through the middle of February. 8:50:12 AM REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON asked if it would be possible to swear in legislators on January 2 and wait to convene session until February. In response to a comment by Chair Lynn, he said judges swear people in all the time. He said that idea would at least cover a special session if it were called January 1. 8:51:15 AM REPRESENTATIVE JOHANSEN expressed appreciation for Representative Gruenberg's comments. He agreed that there can be problems implementing citizen initiatives, which he said is "exactly why we're capable of amending" them. He emphasized how concerned he is about the lag time between legislators being elected, sworn in, and the start of session. He said he is familiar with what it feels like to sit around and wait, because he was elected in the primary and had nobody running against him in the general election. 8:52:41 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG, regarding Representative Johnson's comment about swearing legislators in early, said doing so can be unconstitutional because there would end up being two different groups of legislators in office simultaneously. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON explained that he had used January 1 as an example, but it could be another date certain that worked out. 8:53:43 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL noted that the Alaska State Constitution stipulates that the legislature shall convene every year; it only gives the authority to change the day and the month. He said he was referring to Article 2, Section 8. He said, "You cannot have officers [and] you cannot swear anybody in until you've actually convened." He said he would task his staff to get an opinion from Tamara Cook on the issue. At this point, it is expected that incoming legislators will be sworn in on the fourth Monday in January, and most [outgoing] legislators would expect that their term would end at that point, unless otherwise notified. CHAIR LYNN thanked Representative Gruenberg for bringing the issue to the everyone's attention. 8:56:31 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said the bill has urgency, because the legislature must make plans this year to be ready for what it must do next year. It is, however, not as easy as it looks to do so, and there are constitutional issues involved. He cited [the last sentence of] Article 2, Section 8 of the Alaska State Constitution, which read: The legislature shall adopt as part of the uniform rules of procedure deadlines for scheduling session work not inconsistent with provisions controlling the length of the session. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he does not know if the legislature must change any of its uniform rules to meet that constitutional question. He recommended looking at the entire bill to see if there are any constitutional issues that need to be addressed. 8:58:19 AM CHAIR LYNN asked if those issues should be searched for by the House Judiciary Standing Committee. 8:58:35 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG suggested that the House State Affairs Standing Committee do the work. CHAIR LYNN concurred. 8:59:13 AM REPRESENTATIVE ROSES suggested the bill may need work by a subcommittee. CHAIR LYNN said he would not be opposed to that idea. 8:59:56 AM REPRESENTATIVE DOLL concurred with [Representative Rose's suggestion to form a subcommittee]. 9:00:23 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said he does not think a subcommittee is necessary. He named the policy calls the committee must make: the date session should start and whether or not a bill should die if it doesn't pass the first house. The other issues, he said, will fall into place. At this point, he said, the only Uniform Rules change that he anticipates would be in relation to notification of bills. He recommended working through one 90- day session first to "see where the tension lies." He said another issue to consider is how many days to give the governor to bring an amended budget to the legislature, and he recommended 30. 9:03:00 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said Representative Roses' suggestion to form a subcommittee may be good idea. However, he proposed an alternative to that idea would be to schedule extra time for the full committee to address the bill. CHAIR LYNN indicated that the public, as well as legislators, will be affected by a 90-day session. 9:04:30 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL reviewed some of the questions that the committee needed to address, including focusing on the time between election and being sworn in and what would happen if a special session were to be called. He reiterated that he would get a legal opinion. 9:05:12 AM CHAIR LYNN said he would hold comment on Section 3 for the moment. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG stated that he hopes Chair Lynn will be receptive to amendments on all parts of the bill, even if the committee moves forward with its study of it. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG, in relation to Section 4 of the bill, cited Article 2, [Section 8], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: SECTION 8. Regular Sessions.The legislature shall convene in regular session each year on the fourth Monday in January, but the month and day may be changed by law. The legislature shall adjourn from regular session no later than one hundred twenty consecutive calendar days from the date it convenes except that a regular session may be extended once for up to ten consecutive calendar days. An extension of the regular session requires the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the membership of each house of the legislature. The legislature shall adopt as part of the uniform rules of procedure deadlines for scheduling session work not inconsistent with provisions controlling the length of the session. 9:07:16 AM CHAIR LYNN directed attention to Section 5. 9:07:28 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said he does not see any redeeming value in Section 5 at this point. 9:08:07 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL moved to adopt Amendment 1, as follows: On page 3, lines 3-8: Delete all material REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he does not recall the legislature having adopted the Uniform Rules, and he suggested that a motion needed to be made on the [House] floor. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL responded, "I've made the motion this year, and every year, at the beginning of the convening of each session, it is made." 9:09:07 AM CHAIR LYNN [asked if there was any objection] to Amendment 1. There being none, it was so ordered. 9:09:35 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said he thinks Section 6 is necessary. He recommended that discussion on Section 7 be held until the policy call is made on when to start the session. CHAIR LYNN opened discussion on Section 8. 9:10:31 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL moved to adopt Amendment 2, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Page 4, lines 6-10: Delete all material There being no objection, Amendment 2 was adopted. 9:11:06 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL spoke in support of Sections 9 and 10 of the bill. CHAIR LYNN ascertained that the committee had no issue with Sections 11-13. 9:12:54 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL reminded the committee that Ms. Miles had suggested the need to amend Section 14. He mentioned [Amendment 3], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Page 6, lines 11-20: Delete all material Page 9, line 9, after the words "Sec.23.": Insert: AS24.45.116 is repealed. Renumbered "This Act takes effect January 1, 2008." as Sec.24. 9:13:23 AM MS. MOSS reiterated her explanation regarding the practices of APOC in relation to Section 14. 9:14:00 AM [Amendment 3 was treated as moved for adoption.] REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he does not have any problem with Amendment 3, except for the language on the sixth line of the amendment, which "deals with the repealer of the current AS 24.45.116." He said that is substantive. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he would like to see the language "AS 24.45.116 is repealed." removed from Amendment 3. 9:14:37 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said he would have no objection to that. MS. MOSS commented that to be clear, lines [4] through 7 [as numbered on Amendment 3] should be deleted. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG moved [to adopt Amendment 1 to Amendment 3, to delete lines 4 through 7, as numbered on Amendment 3]. [Amendment 1 to Amendment 3 was treated as adopted.] 9:15:51 AM CHAIR LYNN asked if there was any objection to Amendment 3, as amended. There being none, it was so ordered. The adopted Amendment 3, as amended, read thus [original punctuation provided]: Page 6, lines 11-20: Delete all material 9:16:22 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL, regarding Section 15, said the earlier the administration can put together the budget, the better for all concerned. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL moved to adopt Amendment 4 to delete Section 15 from the bill. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG recollected that Mr. Boucher had suggested that both Sections 15 and 16 be deleted. REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said he would like any motion to delete Section 16 to be made separately, because he said he thinks "they are separate discussions." He explained that Section 16 would be affected by the as yet undecided start date of the legislature, thus discussion of it should be delayed. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG concurred. CHAIR LYNN said, "So, we'll leave that go for now." He ascertained that the committee had no issue with Sections 17 and 18. 9:18:35 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said Section 19 would be affected by the start date of session. He stated support of Section 20, which he said would not be affected by the start date. He said that although Section 21 may be affected by the start date, he supports requiring the governor to present appointees names as soon as possible and hopes that the governor would agree with the 15-day deadline proposed in that section. He indicated that Section 22 would encompass the previously discussed issue regarding the legality of shifting dates between one legislature and another. 9:20:41 AM REPRESENTATIVE LYNN said he thinks Section 23, relating to the effective date of the bill, needs to remain in the bill. 9:20:54 AM REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL said he will have a committee substitute drafted as soon as possible and procure the previously mentioned legal opinion. 9:21:36 AM MS. MOSS, returning to a prior question asked by Representative Johnson, stated that the rule related to convening and swearing in is Rule Number One of Uniform Rules. [HB 171 was heard and held.]
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