Legislature(2003 - 2004)
02/24/2003 01:30 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 2-PARENT LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE BY CHILD
CHAIR FRED DYSON called the Senate Health, Education and Social
Services Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. and
announced SB 2 to be up for consideration. Present were Senators
Dyson, Guess, Davis and Wilken.
CHAIR DYSON, sponsor, said he was asked by at least one school
district in the state to remove the upper limit on the liability
of parents for malicious destruction of school property by their
children. Presently, the limit is $10,000 but, in several cases,
the cost of damage has been higher than that. Meanwhile, school
districts are already stretched to meet their financial
obligations.
MS. CAROL COMEAU, Superintendent, Anchorage School District,
supported SB 2 and said that the penalties are very minor for
the youth that commit these crimes. The case about the Dimond
High School damage was very high profile. The court awarded a
$158,000 judgment but it was reduced to a total of $10,000 to be
split between the two juveniles. The bills came in at $70,000
and the district in the process of trying to get a judgment from
the courts that is more in line with the actual costs.
The attitude of the families of youths involved in two out of
three cases is that they can't know where their children are all
the time and can't be held responsible for what they do. She
concluded:
We think that's the wrong message. We think the
message is damaging public facilities and not holding
them accountable for the damage takes money out of the
classroom and takes money away from the instructional
program and it sends the wrong message to young people
that these are not acceptable acts.
SENATOR LYDA GREEN arrived at 1:36 p.m.
MR. JAKE METCALFE, Anchorage School Board, supported SB 2. His
experience as a prosecutor leads him to believe that a higher
liability limit could have some deterrent effects. Last year,
about $300,000 worth of vandalism was done. When that cost can't
be recovered, the money comes out of the district's operating
budget.
SENATOR GREEN asked if the minor's name is currently included in
the judgment.
MR. METCALFE replied that he assumed that minors' names wouldn't
be used, but initials might be.
CHAIR DYSON asked him if the parents could get bankruptcy
protection so that they would not lose their homes, vehicles and
tools of their trade.
MR. METCALFE replied that he assumed so.
CHAIR DYSON said he assumes the judge would be willing to work
out some sort of extended payment plan and maybe the school
district could live with that.
MR. METCALFE responded that he thought it was the type of
situation where they would work to try and get as much as they
could and settle it.
SENATOR GREEN asked with the reference to a homeowner's policy,
whether he was talking about the liability of the child.
MR. METCALFE replied the parents [would be] responsible for the
children.
SENATOR GREEN asked what experience he had with the limits of
that kind of liability.
MR. METCALFE replied not a lot, adding that he didn't practice
that kind of law.
SENATOR GREEN said she thought it was limited to children under
12 years of age.
SENATOR GARY WILKEN said he understood the purpose of the
legislation, but he was concerned about collateral damage and
gave the example of a middle class family - husband and wife, 40
years old, three kids - one of them goes sideways and does
something equal to the experience in Anchorage.
We've got to absolutely knock some heads and $10,000
isn't a head knocking to me...but $100,000 or $150,000
that puts in jeopardy their house, their home, the
other two kids and the family is trying to get along
and that bothers me.
The open-endedness of the legislation concerned him, but he
thought they might be able to get the same effect without the
downside.
CHAIR DYSON responded that bankruptcy laws will protect the
family from losing their home, the tools of their business and a
vehicle. He added, "So they're not going to be out in the
street...."
SENATOR GRETCHEN GUESS said she didn't see any reference to the
child in the legislation and whether the child had any or may
have assets in the future. She asked if that omission was
intentional.
CHAIR DYSON replied that he didn't understand how minor children
could own assets apart from their parents. He assumed whatever
the parents could work out with the child would be up to them.
Under the state code, if a parent or a legal guardian of an
unemancipated minor under 18 has that child run away and reports
him as a runaway, the parents are off the hook.
SENATOR GREEN asked if the child could be named in the future,
upon adulthood. She didn't think that would be cruel and
unusual.
MS. DEBBIE OSSIANDER, President, Association of Alaska School
Boards (AASB), said this issue is supported by AASB's general
membership. Many schools had experienced vandalism in excess of
$10,000. Mountain Village School, for example, had a fire set
to cover the theft of a soda machine and the school burned down.
Costs resulting from actions like that are a serious concern.
MR. CARL ROSE, Executive Director, Association of Alaska School
Boards, supported SB 2. He explained that the state has varying
levels of indemnification, but all school districts are required
to have insurance. There are issues of deductibles, however, and
the Anchorage [school district], for one, has a $1 million
deductible insurance policy. Almost anything under that comes
out of their general fund. In 1992-1996, rural schools across
the state claimed $34 million in losses, including a lot of
vandalism. Any large loss has a large impact on the insurance
market.
CHAIR DYSON said a question came up about liability for foster
parents and the law is quite clear that as long as the child is
a ward of the state, the parents incur no liability.
SENATOR GUESS asked if the state would incur those expenses.
CHAIR DYSON answered yes.
SENATOR GARY WILKEN moved to pass SB 2 from committee with
individual recommendations and the attached fiscal note. There
were no objections and it was so ordered.
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