Legislature(2015 - 2016)CAPITOL 106
01/27/2015 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB65 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 65 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 43 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 65-LEG./PUB. OFFICIAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
8:04:13 AM
CHAIR LYNN announced that the only order of business was HOUSE
BILL NO. 65, "An Act relating to the disclosure of financial
information by persons who are subject to the Legislative Ethics
Act and by certain public officers, public employees, and
candidates for public office."
8:04:34 AM
JULI LUCKY, Staff, Representative Mike Hawker, Alaska State
Legislature, presented HB 65 on behalf of Representative Hawker,
prime sponsor. She explained that the proposed legislation
would extend the deadline for the legislative financial
disclosure (LFD) and public official financial disclosure (POFD)
from the current date of March 15 to April 30. She said the
change would not affect the content of the reports, change
deadlines for any other reports other than the annual financial
disclosure, and would not affect any campaign reporting
deadlines or content requirements. In response to Chair Lynn,
she said the reason for the proposed change is that people
gather information for the April 15 federal tax deadline, and
the sponsor believes that that information is the best and most
accurate information for filling out the disclosures. In
response to a follow-up question, she said some people have very
complex filings, and the proposed bill would allow them to have
that final federal tax filing information at their disposal.
8:06:49 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER noted that "income" is defined as "any
money that a person sees." He said he is contemplating an
amendment to change that definition to "profit" or "net instead
of gross." He explained that there are a lot of small
businesses that receive hundreds of checks for services, and all
those checks would have to be reported as income. He offered
his understanding that all those checks are not really income,
which he said he thinks is just profit.
8:07:59 AM
MS. LUCKY responded that she does not think the sponsor would
have a problem with such an amendment; however, she recommended
hearing feedback from a representative of APOC to make sure the
accuracy of the reports would not be affected.
8:08:21 AM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ said she would like to see the deadline
extended to May 15 to allow breathing room for legislators who
have just finished a session and to take into account time for
special sessions. She said she agrees that the deadline should
be after income taxes are filed.
8:09:01 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER pointed out that the section of law
related to the disclosure applies not only to legislators, but
also to people who serve on boards and commissions, many of whom
volunteer hours of their time but "have to go through this
indignity of reporting every dollar and every penny that comes
across."
8:10:00 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TALERICO said one issue, which he knows is not
addressed under HB 65, is the requirement to disclose the income
of a child under age 18, who is living in the home of the person
filling out the disclosure, even if the child's income is not a
substantial amount. He said he has never felt that is
information that needs to be made public.
8:10:43 AM
REPRESENTATIVE STUTES remarked that she thinks the proposed bill
is "just the tip of the iceberg in relation to APOC issues."
8:11:23 AM
JOAN MIZE, Project Coordinator, Regulation of Lobbying, Juneau
Office, Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC), offered her
understanding that the disclosure laws were first changed in
1998. The deadline at that time was April 15, and one
suggestion was to change it to February 15, so that the public
could have disclosures before the end of session; however, the
date settled on was March 15, because mid-February was not
enough time for people to get their tax information in January
and have their disclosures prepared so soon after that. In
response to Representative Keller, she offered her understanding
that during the discussion back in 1998, there was one person
who wanted to have the date set in May; however, she indicated
that the general consensus was that May was too far off from
when the public would want the information made available.
8:14:47 AM
MS. MIZE, regarding Representative Keller's previous comment
about the definition of "income", stated that there is a
definition in the Act. She deferred to the executive director
of APOC for further questions.
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER offered his understanding that someone
serving on a board or commission who, for example, owns a small
flying service, would be required by APOC to report each
customer's name and check information, even though the check is
income for the purposes of determining tax, but is not
necessarily profit. He remarked on the amount of work it takes
to write all that information down. Further, he said some of
that information is proprietary.
8:16:58 AM
PAUL DAUPHINAIS, Executive Director, Alaska Public Offices
Commission (APOC), clarified that many of the issues on the
public official and legislative financial disclosure forms are
in ranges, and some of those are quite broad. He said "income"
is defined in AS 24.60.990(a)(7), which read as follows:
(7) "income" means an asset that a person has
received or expects to receive, regardless of whether
it is earned or unearned; inheritances and other gifts
are not income;
MR. DAUPHINAIS remarked that when the recording date follows a
legislative session, people who file can get busy and forget
things, which he said he thinks is part of the reason that the
date got moved up. In response to Representative Keller, Mr.
Dauphinais clarified that the statute is AS 24.60.997(a)(7), and
offered that 2 AAC 50.990 contains the definition of income
referred to in the aforementioned statute. He said he does not
know how that relates to the tax code or the Department of
Revenue.
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER said he was interested in seeing this
change, but did not want to hold the bill up. He recognized
that HB 65 would be heard by the House Judiciary Standing
Committee and said he would look into the matter before that
time. He welcomed input from Mr. Dauphinais regarding the
definition because he surmised that working on the definition
would result in making the executive director's job easier.
8:20:56 AM
The committee took an at-ease from 8:21 a.m. to 8:26 a.m.
8:26:00 AM
MS. LUCKY, to Representative Keller, offered her understanding
that it is the self-employment section of the disclosure where
each individual client is listed; therefore, she said she was
not sure that changing gross to net would fix that. She
recommended clarifying what the problem is to create a more
accurate solution to it. She said she understands the concern
that "reports won't be out before the beginning of session;"
however, she reminded everyone that "there is an annual report
or a 30-day report that is already on file for each individual."
8:27:21 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER expressed willingness to not propose an
amendment if the sponsor would be willing to work with the
committee and Legislative Legal and Research Services to define
"income" to reflect actual profit and to eliminate the need to
list every client.
MS. LUCKY indicated that the sponsor would be amenable to doing
that.
8:28:26 AM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG directed attention to an amendment in
the committee packet, labeled, "29-LS0070\A.2, Wayne, 1/26/15,"
[which became Amendment 1], and expressed his wish to have
Representative Vazquez' name added on it with his own.
8:29:01 AM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ presented Amendment 1, which read as
follows:
Page 1, line 9:
Delete "April 30"
Insert "May 15"
Page 2, line 29:
Delete "April 30"
Insert "May 15"
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he would object for the purpose of
discussion. He said Section 3 of HB 65 deals with non-elected
people. He said he thinks it would be easier for APOC and "most
folks" to have one date rather than two different ones. He
explained that is why Amendment 1 would make the change in both
places. He offered his understanding that AS 24.60.120(b) is
the statute that outlines when public members of the Legislative
Committee on Ethics file their disclosures, and he recollected
that their filing date is the first week of January. He said
that may a subject to consider in the next committee of
referral.
8:31:31 AM
JERRY ANDERSON, Administrator, Select Committee on Legislative
Ethics, regarding the comments from Representative Gruenberg,
said if APOC has a public member being confirmed, the commission
has an LFD on file prior to any appointment date which is why
they have an earlier date.
8:32:59 AM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked Mr. Anderson if he thinks "that
line" would satisfy the need of the Select Committee on
Legislative Ethics.
MR. ANDERSON answered yes. He added, "I think a change to
another date could work; it just works now because of that
confirmation process for our public members." He clarified that
he would not take issue with either date.
8:33:45 AM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ moved to adopt Amendment 1 [text provided
previously].
CHAIR LYNN announced that there being no objection, Amendment 1
was adopted.
8:34:28 AM
CHAIR LYNN announced that HB 65, [as amended], was held over.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 1 HB65 ver A.PDF |
HSTA 1/27/2015 8:00:00 AM |
HB 65 |
| 2 HB65 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
HSTA 1/27/2015 8:00:00 AM |
HB 65 |
| 3 HB65 Sectional Analysis.pdf |
HSTA 1/27/2015 8:00:00 AM |
HB 65 |
| 4 HB65 POFD Reporting Template.pdf |
HSTA 1/27/2015 8:00:00 AM |
HB 65 |
| 5 HB65-LEG-SESS-01-26-2015.pdf |
HSTA 1/27/2015 8:00:00 AM |
HB 65 |