Legislature(2021 - 2022)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/04/2021 03:30 PM Senate COMMUNITY & REGIONAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB15 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 15 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 15-OPEN MEETINGS ACT; PENALTY
3:31:36 PM
CHAIR HUGHES announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 15
"An Act relating to the Open Meetings Act; and establishing a
civil penalty for violations of the open meeting requirements by
members of governmental bodies."
3:31:45 PM
At ease
3:33:35 PM
CHAIR HUGHES reconvened the meeting and noted Senator Wilson had
joined the committee to make a quorum.
She noted the proposed committee substitute (CS) for SB 15 and
said her aide would review changes to the bill.
3:34:02 PM
SENATOR MYERS moved to adopt the CS for SB 15, work order 32-
LS0176\G, as the working document.
[Due to confusion about whether the work order contained a
forward slash (/) or back slash (\),Chair Hughes asked Senator
Myers to rescind his earlier motion and make a new motion.]
CHAIR HUGHES asked Senator Myer to remove his motion and begin
again.
3:34:35 PM
SENATOR MYERS withdrew the previous motion and moved to adopt
the CS for SB 15, version 32-LS0176\G, as the working document.
3:34:50 PM
CHAIR HUGHES objected for discussion purposes.
She asked Dawson Mann to review the changes from version B to
version G for SB 15.
3:35:14 PM
DAWSON MANN, Staff, Senator Shelley Hughes, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, paraphrased the changes that appear
in version G of SB 15:
Title Changes: The following has been added to the
title in order to conform to changes and added
provisions.
• And relating to the duties of the Alaska Public
Offices Commission and the attorney general
Sec.1 - AS 15.13, Page 1, Lines 5-14
Adds a new section AS 15.13.395 outlining the duties
of the Alaska Public Offices Commission with regards
to hearing and enforcing complaints of violations of
section 4 of this bill AS 44.62.310(i). This section
also excludes members of the commission from being
subject to enforcement of AS 44.62.310(i) under this
section.
Sec. 2 - AS 44.23.020, Page 2, Lines 1-10
Adds a new section outlining the duties of the Alaska
Attorney General with regards to hearing and enforcing
complaints of violations of section 4 of this bill AS
44.62.310(i) directed towards members of the Alaska
Public Offices Commission.
Sec. 3 - AS 44.62.310(h), Page 2, Lines 11-14
Is amended to define the terms "knowingly" and "public
official." Under this section, "knowingly" has the
meaning given in AS 11.81.900(a)(2). "Public official"
has the meaning given in AS 39.50.200(a)(9) but is
changed to exclude "judicial officers" with regards to
this bill.
Sec. 4 - AS 44.62.310, Page 2, Lines 15-23
Is amended to add a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for
elected or appointed members of a governmental body
who knowingly attend a meeting that violates the Open
Meetings Act. This section is changed to outline that
the Alaska Public Offices Commission will enforce this
penalty in all cases except when a member of the
commission is accused of a violation. This section
also explicitly excludes community councils from the
types of governmental bodies subject to this section.
Sec. 5 - Page 2, Lines 24-29
Provides that the penalties added by this bill apply
to offenses occurring on or after the effective date
of this Act and is amended to conform to the addition
of new sections of the bill.
3:38:30 PM
CHAIR HUGHES listed the individuals available to answer
questions. She asked the staff for Senator Costello if they had
any comment about the work with her office that resulted in the
CS.
3:39:27 PM
MELODIE WILTERDINK, Staff, Senator Mia Costello, Alaska State
Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, stated she has answers to the
questions committee members asked during the previous hearing on
SB 15.
She said the committee posed questions regarding violations of
open meeting requirements in other states, specifically how
often they happen and what the penalties are. She relayed that
these violations are rarely penalized. When something does go to
court, it is to determine whether the governmental body is in
fact held to the Open Meetings Act. If the court determines
"yes," the court releases the documents to the public and future
meetings are open to the public.
MS. WILTERDINK said there are some egregious cases that have
happened in various states where people ended up paying attorney
fees in the tens of thousands of dollars, sometimes spending a
night in jail for not holding open meetings and not recording
minutes. She noted that was one of the documents she provided.
3:41:27 PM
CHAIR HUGHES restated that other states are going through the
court system rather than a civil penalty process to handle
violations.
MS. WILTERDINK answered yes; sometimes it goes through the
court, otherwise it is an opinion from the attorney general. She
noted that part of the CS addresses APOC as the defendant.
She said the next question was how the bill and Open Meetings
Act would interact with the Anchorage code of ethics. She
explained the code of ethics in Anchorage refers to the Open
Meetings Act. The Board of Ethics in Anchorage is an advisory
board and when complaints are filed the board can make a
recommendation to whoever is presiding over the person who is
the defendant in the complaint. Penalties are the same as those
in the Open Meetings Act, which is what is in statute.
3:43:06 PM
CHAIR HUGHES asked for confirmation that there currently is no
penalty in statute.
MS. WILTERDINK answered correct. She explained, "Actions can be
voided and it is specifically of a governmental body, it does
not target an individual elected official."
CHAIR HUGHES asked if she was aware of any other home rule or
municipalities with anything more extensive than what Anchorage
has.
MS. WILTERDINK answered she was not aware of any other
municipality that has a similar ethics code that refers to
Alaska statutes.
CHAIR HUGHES asked if the Alaska Municipal League (AML) weighed
in on the bill.
MS. WILTERDINK answered yes; Nils Andreassen with the Alaska
Municipal League was helpful in figuring out the difference
between governmental bodies and whether community councils would
be subject to SB 15. She said they discovered Alaska statute is
not clear and does not define community councils. The CS adds
language to ensure community councils would not be subject to
the penalty.
CHAIR HUGHES asked if the bill drafter felt the language would
be adequate for coverage even though statute is not definitive.
MS. WILTERDINK cited a memo from Legal Services that said, "This
should cover it, if we did want to define community councils
more specifically, we could, but having it in there will be
sufficient."
3:45:09 PM
CHAIR HUGHES announced Senator Gray-Jackson joined the meeting.
She summarized the committee has reviewed changes to the bill
and there is an objection before the committee.
SENATOR GRAY-JACKSON asked her to confirm the committee was
hearing the amended version of SB 15.
CHAIR HUGHES answered yes. She summarized the CS would exclude
community councils, have APOC deal with penalties unless the
issue deals with a commission member from APOC, which would
route the matter to the attorney general. Additionally, the CS
triggered a title change.
She asked Ms. Wilterdink if she missed anything.
MS. WILTERDINK noted there was one additional change. The Open
Meetings Act excludes judicial officers, but the definition of a
public officer in the CS includes judicial officers, so the CS
now specifies "not judicial officers."
SENATOR GRAY-JACKSON said she was pleased the CS removes
community councils.
CHAIR HUGHES thanked Senator Gray-Jackson for highlighting
community councils in the previous hearing because that was not
the intention of the sponsor.
3:47:10 PM
SENATOR MYERS asked Ms. Wilterdink what the thought process was
for picking APOC as the enforcement body.
MS. WILTERDINK replied because APOC regulates elected officials,
the determination was APOC was the best group to handle
enforcement.
SENATOR GRAY-JACKSON noted in the previous hearing she brought
up how the Municipality of Anchorage has an ethics code that
deals with the Open Meetings Act. She said she was glad to see
that put into the legislation and to show that the bill will be
basically the last remedy if things did not work out at that
level.
3:48:20 PM
CHAIR HUGHES removed her objection. Finding no further
objection, version G was adopted.
3:48:43 PM
CHAIR HUGHES held SB 15 in committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| CSSB 15 Version G.pdf |
SCRA 3/4/2021 3:30:00 PM SJUD 3/17/2021 1:30:00 PM |
SB 15 |
| CSSB 15 Version G Explanation of Changes.pdf |
SCRA 3/4/2021 3:30:00 PM SJUD 3/17/2021 1:30:00 PM |
SB 15 |
| SB15 Anchorage Code of Ethics Answers.pdf |
SCRA 3/4/2021 3:30:00 PM SJUD 3/17/2021 1:30:00 PM |
SB 15 |
| SB15 Answer to Violations Frequency.pdf |
SCRA 3/4/2021 3:30:00 PM SJUD 3/17/2021 1:30:00 PM |
SB 15 |