03/15/2008 11:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS

HJR 37-CONST AM: SEC. OF STATE REFERENCES                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
[Contains mention of HJR 7.]                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
11:08:23 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
VICE CHAIR ROSES  announced that the first order  of business was                                                               
HOUSE  JOINT  RESOLUTION  NO. 37,  Proposing  amendments  to  the                                                               
Constitution  of   the  State  of  Alaska   to  correct  obsolete                                                               
references to  the office of  secretary of state  by substituting                                                               
references to the office of  lieutenant governor and to eliminate                                                               
personal  pronoun  references  in  the sections  proposed  to  be                                                               
amended.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
11:08:37 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG presented  HJR 37 as prime  sponsor.  He                                                               
stated his  hope that the  resolution would  be noncontroversial.                                                               
He  said  it  is  similar  to  HJR  7,  which  was  sponsored  by                                                               
Representative  Anderson  in  2007.   As  noted  in  the  sponsor                                                               
statement and in a memorandum  from Jack Chenoweth of Legislative                                                               
Legal  and  Research Services,  dated  2/18/08,  included in  the                                                               
committee packet, voters  approved a series of  amendments to the                                                               
Constitution  of  the  State  of   Alaska  in  1970,  technically                                                               
changing the name, "Office of  Secretary of State," to "Office of                                                               
the  Lieutenant Governor."   However,  through an  oversight, the                                                               
drafting attorneys missed  two of the references  to secretary of                                                               
state, located  in Article 2,  Section 5, and Article  3, Section                                                               
25.    The  proposed  resolution  would  correct  that  technical                                                               
oversight.   Furthermore, the  resolution would  change masculine                                                               
pronouns to gender neutral.                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
11:10:53 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
VICE CHAIR closed public testimony.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
11:11:03 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG moved to report  HJR 37 out of committee                                                               
with  individual  recommendations  and  the  accompanying  fiscal                                                               
notes.  There being no objection,  HJR 37 was reported out of the                                                               
House State Affairs Standing Committee.