Legislature(2013 - 2014)CAPITOL 106
02/18/2014 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB199 | |
| HB212 | |
| HB273 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 199 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 212 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 273 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 273-EXTENDING COUNCIL ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
9:27:55 AM
CHAIR LYNN announced the final order of business was HOUSE BILL
NO. 273, "An Act extending the termination date of the Council
on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault; and providing for an
effective date."
9:28:10 AM
REPRESENTATIVE LINDSEY HOLMES, Alaska State Legislature, as
prime sponsor, presented HB 273. She said the proposed
legislation would extend the Council on Domestic Violence and
Sexual Assault (CDVSA) for the eight years that were recommended
in the legislative audit. She reviewed that Alaska leads the
nation in sexual abuse and domestic violence and that CDVSA is
the entity that is charged with addressing this problem. She
said the council was created in 1981, and since then has served
Alaskans by funding and monitoring domestic violence and assault
programs and prevention activities. She related that the
council not only provides training, outreach, and statewide
public information programs, but it also acts as the state's
grant-making arm and coordinator for statewide efforts.
REPRESENTATIVE HOLMES said the statutory mandate is:
To provide for planning and coordination of services
to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault or
to their families and to perpetrators of domestic
violence and sexual assault, and to provide for crisis
intervention and prevention programs.
9:29:44 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HOLMES listed the following primary functions of
CDVSA: to develop, implement, maintain, and monitor domestic
violence, sexual assault, and crisis intervention and prevention
programs, in coordination with authorities in the field of
domestic violence and sexual assault; to break down "silos in
this area" and coordinate services between the Department of
Public Safety (DPS), the Department of Law (DOL), the Department
of Education & Early Development (DEED), Department of Health
and Social Services (DHSS), the Department of Corrections (DOC),
and other agencies; to oversee, monitor, coordinate and dispense
funds for existing and expanding services and programs to meet
domestic violence and sexual assault victims; to provide
technical assistance to programs around the state; to consult
with public employers and other agencies that are required to
provide continuing education programs; and to consult with other
agencies.
REPRESENTATIVE HOLMES said there has been much discussion over
the years regarding the role of the council. In 2006, the
legislature established a task force, on which she served, which
came up with 26 recommendations. Some of the recommendations
were made into statute. All but two of the rest, she reported,
were fully addressed by the council. The final two
recommendations relate to batterers intervention, and she said
the council has been working diligently to address those. She
said the Division of Legislative Audit had three recommendations
for the council. The council has completely complied with two
of them, which were to implement written procedures to ensure
that public notices are posted in a timely manner and to improve
grant reward and monitoring policies and procedures. The
council has taken steps to comply with the third recommendation,
which was to work with DHSS to ensure that people providing
services are "fully up to speed" on how to address the needs of
victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. She said it is
actually the department's responsibility to create those
procedures; the council has made efforts over the last few
months to fulfill their role in working with the department.
REPRESENTATIVE HOLMES stated that in light of the "mighty task"
in front of CDVSA and the fact that the council has been very
responsive over the years, she would urge the committee to
approve the eight-year sunset extension proposed under HB 273.
9:32:45 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER asked if the council's membership includes
someone from DOC, so that that department has input regarding
the transition of people coming out of prison and the training
and counseling involved.
9:33:07 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HOLMES answered yes, in response to one of the
aforementioned 26 recommendations, one of the council's seats is
now filled by either the commissioner or commissioner designee
of DOC.
9:33:25 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON thanked Representative Holmes for
bringing HB 273 forward. He said he does not think anyone would
doubt the need for the council, but he questioned what steps are
being taken to ensure that the money allotted to CDVSA is being
used for the purposes intended.
9:33:59 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HOLMES responded that there are standards in
place. For example, she said forms have been standardized, and
there is a method by which the content in forms submitted by
grantees is checked for accuracy. She deferred to Lauree
Morton, the executive director of CDVSA for further information.
9:35:52 AM
KRIS CURTIS, Legislative Auditor, Legislative Audit Division,
Legislative Affairs Agency, presented a sunset review of CDVSA,
dated May 21, 2013. She said the purpose of any sunset audit is
to determine if a council, or any other entity, is serving the
public's interest, and whether its termination date should be
extended. She said the division's audit report also provides a
summary of the council's organization and function, and a
description of its funding sources. She said the audit
concluded that the council is serving the public's interest by
funding and monitoring Alaskan domestic violence and sexual
assault programs and prevention response activities. The audit
also found that the council effectively served as the central
coordinator for related services throughout the state. She
reported that the Legislative Audit Division recommended the
maximum extension allowed in statute, which is eight years.
9:36:56 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON asked Ms. Curtis if she foresees any
problems related to a misuse of funds.
MS. CURTIS responded that the audit found that the council has
controls in place, such as the aforementioned forms; however,
the problem was that the forms were not being used consistently,
which she said is a much easier problem to address. She said
the cause of the recommendation was staff turnover and a lack of
procedures. She said she cannot say what the current state is,
since the audit was done in the spring of 2013; however, she
reiterated that the division does consider "that type of
recommendation much easier to address."
9:38:33 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES asked if the council takes steps to ensure
the effective use of the funds given to nonprofit groups.
Further, she asked what amount "is being spent on these programs
on an annual basis."
9:39:22 AM
MS. CURTIS directed attention to a schedule on page 16 of the
audit, [included in the committee packet], which shows a
schedule of funding sources and expenditures. She said it shows
that in fiscal year 2012 (FY 12), the council granted $12.7
million in awards. There is an appendix to the report, which
shows who received the money in the account and how much they
received. In general, she reported, the council funded the
following: 20 community-based victim service programs, 6
community-based batterers' intervention programs, 3 prison-based
batterers' intervention programs, and 13 other related programs.
She said the audit found that there was some inconsistency in
the council's monitoring files - they did not always have
evidence of follow-up on some of their findings - and that
contributed to the recommendation.
9:40:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES indicated that her question stems from
feedback she has received from her constituents regarding their
concern about the accountability of non-profit organizations
that receive state funds.
9:41:09 AM
LAUREE MORTON, Executive Director, Council on Domestic Violence
and Sexual Assault (CDVSA), reported that over the past year,
there were over 9,330 people who sought assistance from the
funded programs. She continued as follows:
About 75 percent of them was related to domestic
violence, about 20 percent related to sexual assault,
3 percent to stalking, and about 30 percent to other
violent crime victims.
MS. MORTON said the council receives a federal grant through the
Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), which allows the council to fund
services for victims of other violent crimes. She said about 68
percent of the people who sought services were adults - of whom
79 percent were women and 17 percent were men - and about 28
percent were children. She indicated that 4 percent of those
who applied did not note age or sex. Ms. Morton said the
programs are generally supported in the respective communities;
in the past year there were over 3,000 volunteers who donated
over 78,000 hours of service.
MS. MORTON reported that there were 262 intakes into the
council-funded batterers' programs last year and 84 people who
completed the programs. She said the task force recommendation
still outstanding has to do with the programs. She said since
assuming her executive director role two years ago, the council
has been diligently working on its batterer's intervention
programs. She said current regulations narrowly define what a
program can look like. Back when the regulations were first
instituted in the mid '90s, there was only one program
available, which was crafted from "the Duluth model" from
Minnesota. Over the years, she said, programs have been made
more effective by being customized through consideration of
factors including a person's age, lethality, and cultural
affiliation. She explained that the council is in a year-long
process of revising the regulations and has entered into a
memorandum of agreement (MOA) with DOC to take that task on, and
the council will be reviewing the first draft of regulations at
its meeting the end of this month.
9:44:18 AM
MS. MORTON said the council also has a research component funded
through the governor's initiative, which looks at the statewide
population. She said the Alaska victimization survey was
conducted in 2010, and she reported that unfortunately, 58
percent of adult women in Alaska have been sexually assaulted,
suffered domestic violence, or both. She said the council plans
to repeat that survey in 2015 and, while it does not expect to
see the "lifetime number" to change in five years, it does hope
to see the start of "down-trending" in the past year.
MS. MORTON said the council has also put together a composite of
almost every statistic in the state regarding domestic violence
and sexual assault, which is called "the dashboard." She said
it shows about 36 different items on the dashboard, including
child abuse, elder abuse, how crimes are reported, the rates of
reports, how many incidents are accepted for prosecution, and
how many of those are successfully prosecuted.
MS. MORTON said the council also has an evaluation of one of the
state's significant primary prevention activities, which is
conducted through the school system and called, "The Fourth R."
She explained that added to the first three "Rs," [Reading,
wRiting, and aRithmetic], the fourth "R" is Relationships. She
indicated that the program has been in place for grades seven,
eight, and nine, and has existed for three years. She said the
program has gone through an institutional review board at a
college level and there are intervention schools where the
program is being actively used, as well as a control group of
schools, where it is not being implemented. The intent is to
have the final result at the end of this summer, and the council
hopes that The Fourth R will show an effect on young people's
ability to enter into respectful and nonviolent relationships.
9:46:34 AM
MS. MORTON relayed that the council coordinates several
activities around state, including: sexual assault response
team training for communities and the justice system to help
people protect themselves from re-victimization. She said it
brings together advocates, health care, and law enforcement to
create a seamless system for the victim who comes forward to
report an assault. She said the council also has a federal
program called, "Services Training Officers and Prosecutors"
(STOP), which uses federal funding to train first responders to
domestic violence and sexual assault. She said the council has
implemented several prevention activities, particularly through
the governor's initiative. One of them is called, Coaching Boys
Into Men, where coaches talk to boys about how to treat their
dating partners and the adult women in their lives with respect.
The theory is that coaches are natural leaders in schools and
can be roles models.
9:48:26 AM
MS. MORTON, in response to Representative Isaacson's previously
stated concern about ineligible groups possibly getting funded,
said the council has a request for proposal (RFP) process, which
is open every two years in a grant cycle. She said any eligible
entity can apply, and there are standards and regulations, by
which the council judges those applications to determine whether
the applicants qualify. The council makes the awards and then
it is "up to the staff to ensure that they are implemented
correctly and that the funds are being properly used." She
surmised Representative Isaacson may have read in the audit
something that was "not a failure in the practical day-to-day
matter of making sure that it was happening," but "a failure in
correctly ensuring all the paperwork was done." She said the
council has instituted ways to ensure that this does not happen
anymore: program coordinators meet on a quarterly basis with a
checklist of everything in the files. She said there is also a
routine business practice for on-sight evaluation files, where
they are checked for accuracy and completeness, and she signs
off on them.
9:50:14 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON concluded that the council is ensuring
and approving eligibility and monitoring where funds are going
to make certain they are being used properly.
[MS. MORTON nodded.]
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON asked Ms. Morton to talk about the
success that the council has seen.
9:51:19 AM
MS. MORTON said she thinks the council has moved away from
looking at programs and their outputs to asking questions about
the quality of services provided, such as ascertaining whether
the people in the programs are safer, know about more resources,
and are better able to enter into the justice system. She said
there is a list of seven outcome measure questions in the short
term that the council started asking last year to determine if
there are ways to improve services to victims. She said the
council is also looking for intervention programs for batterers
as part of the regulation revision - "a way to think through
outcome measures and performance measures." She said she thinks
it is "a little more than recidivism." She mentioned "a high
mark to get back into the justice system" and figuring out why
patterns of behavior are actually changing. She ventured there
is more of a willingness to acknowledge problems and talk about
them, and, as communities, look for ways to stop violence and
sexual assault. She said she started this work in 1984, moved
to Alaska in 1989, where she worked in a crisis center in
Bethel, Alaska, for five years before moving to Juneau. She
said there is "a distinct difference in the air" where people
are saying they do not want sexual assault or domestic violence
to happen in Alaska any more.
9:53:24 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ISAACSON said he interpreted Ms. Morton's
testimony as meaning that the very presence of the council and
its perpetual focus on the issues is helping to bring awareness,
and that awareness is bringing people to a place where they want
to put a stop to [sexual assault and domestic violence].
MS. MORTON confirmed that is correct.
9:53:55 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES thanked Ms. Morton for her work. She
indicated that after hearing the statistics presented by Ms.
Morton, she thinks Alaska has a long way to go; however, she
said the headway that has been made is encouraging. She said
she thinks drugs and alcohol are key issues, and she asked Ms.
Morton to talk about how the council is making headway by
addressing them.
MS. MORTON said there is a program called, "Sisters," which
helps women who enter into programs who also have substance
abuse issues to coordinate efforts with a local substance abuse
program to give the women an opportunity to work toward their
sobriety. It also helps with childcare. She said not every
program in the state is able to provide that source, but it is a
model in the state being looked at by the council. Another
program just started this past year, she related, is a
cooperative agreement with the Division of Behavioral Health,
wherein victims who come to the council's programs and have an
identified mental health need are able to access 10 sessions
with behavioral health staff that have received a specific
amount of "trauma-informed care training." In terms of
prevention, she said one thing she has recently asked staff to
do is to work with the various prevention coordinators
throughout the administration that deal with sexual assault,
domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health, suicide
prevention, to identify where there may be common concerns in
order to work better together. She expressed her hope that in
the next couple of months, the council will produce an agreement
of overarching strategies in the state and a list of how
individual programs feed into that.
REPRESENTATIVE HUGHES emphasized her belief that people are
medicating mental health issues with substance abuse, which then
leads to domestic violence and sexual abuse. She surmised that
many assaults are happening when people are under the influence
[of drugs and/or alcohol]. She expressed her hope that the
council will consider mental health first aid as it moves
forward.
9:58:06 AM
CHAIR LYNN asked Ms. Morton to restate the percentage of victims
that are men.
MS. MORTON answered about 17 percent of those in the council's
programs last year were men.
CHAIR LYNN, after ascertaining that no one else wished to
testify, closed public testimony on HB 273.
9:58:34 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER thanked Ms. Morton for her work.
CHAIR LYNN echoed Representative Keller's thanks.
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER indicated that as a result of Alaska
becoming firm on the issue of sexual abuse and domestic
violence, there are more people in correctional facilities. He
said he has heard from constituents that even though the court
orders counseling, training, and programs, "nothing's available,
at least at one of the institutions." He indicated that letting
perpetrators [who have served their sentences] out of prison
[without having had counseling] would result in repeated
offenses and an increased problem. He asked the council to pay
attention to that. He noted that Deputy Commissioner Ron Taylor
is interested in and has ideas related to this issue.
10:00:02 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER moved to report HB 273 out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal
notes. There being no objection, HB 273 was reported out of the
House State Affairs Standing Committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 01 HB 212 v.N.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 02 HB 212 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 03 HB 212 Sectional.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 04 HB 212 Fiscal Note.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 05 HB212 Supporting Docs.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 06 HB 212 Supporting Letter.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 07 HB 212 Supporting Letter2.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 08 HB 212 Supporting Letter3.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 09 HB 212 Supporting Letter4.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 10 HB 212 Supporting Letter5.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 212 |
| 01 HB 273.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 273 |
| 02 HB 273 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 273 |
| 03 HB273 Leg Audit for CDVSA.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 273 |
| 04 CDVSA Letter of Support HB273.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 273 |
| 05 fiscalNote DPS HB273.pdf |
HSTA 2/18/2014 8:00:00 AM |
HB 273 |