Legislature(2005 - 2006)BUTROVICH 205
02/14/2006 09:00 AM Senate JUDICIARY
Audio | Topic |
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Start | |
SB10 | |
HB41 | |
HB107 | |
Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+= | SB 10 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+= | HB 41 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+= | HB 107 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+= | HB 269 | TELECONFERENCED | |
+ | TELECONFERENCED |
CSHB 41(FIN)-ASSAULT ON SCHOOL EMPLOYEES/BUS DRIVERS 9:43:55 AM CHAIR RALPH SEEKINS announced CSHB 41(FIN) to be up for consideration. REPRESENTATIVE BOB LYNN, bill sponsor, introduced himself for the record. CHAIR SEEKINS said: I have some concern about establishing in statute for the first time that I can find a mitigator on a misdemeanor. I understand, Representative Lynn, that was added in the House Judiciary [Standing] Committee, is that correct? Representative Lynn said: I think so. I'm not sure. CHAIR SEEKINS asked Anne Carpeneti whether that was her recollection. ANNE CARPENETI, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law (DOL), said that was her recollection. CHAIR SEEKINS said: My concern is that we just don't have mitigators in misdemeanors. MS. CARPENETI advised the committee that she looked through the minutes and saw an amendment that was added by Representative [Bruce] Weyhrauch. She was not certain whether it was added in the House Judiciary Standing Committee or whether it was added on the House Floor. 9:45:58 AM SENATOR CHARLIE HUGGINS moved Amendment 1. Page 2, line 5, after the final "the"; eliminate the language through line 8 at the first semicolon. Hearing no objection, Amendment 1 was adopted. SENATOR HOLLIS FRENCH moved Amendment 2. Page 2, line 5; reduce the term of imprisonment down to 30 days. CHAIR SEEKINS objected. SENATOR FRENCH explained the reasoning. Amendment 1 has taken out the mitigator, which did need to come out. He speculated the reason the mitigator went in was because some of the committee members on the House side were concerned about a possible punitive effect in the case of a "de minimus" assault, which is an assault that just barely qualifies under the statutory terms of an assault that occurred on school grounds. He insisted that a 60-day term of imprisonment was a long stretch of time in jail. This is the same term in prison that a person would get for a third DUI conviction. 9:49:45 AM SENATOR FRENCH summarized by comparing the generally minimal assaults that occur on school grounds to those that happen against police officers. He suggested there should be a difference in penalty due to the striking difference between the two assaults, comparatively speaking. SENATOR GRETCHEN GUESS asked Senator French whether the minimum penalty would be 30 days and if it were a more egregious assault, more time could be given. SENATOR FRENCH advised the law would allow a judge to impose up to a year in jail. He reminded the committee that sometimes it is not the assault that determines the sentence so much as the offender. SENATOR GUESS asked the current minimum for an assault conviction. SENATOR FRENCH replied there is currently no statutory minimum. 9:51:28 AM SENATOR GUESS asked Representative Lynn whether the minimum proposed by HB 41 would be 60 days for any assault that occurred on school grounds, even if it were unrelated to a school event and did not include a school employee. REPRESENTATIVE LYNN said originally the bill specified the school employee. The committee substitute changed the language to "school grounds." He suggested the committee could add specified hours. SENATOR GUESS spoke in favor of Amendment 2. She said the intent of HB 41 was good but given the breadth of the bill she worried that something the committee did not intend for to have a penalty of 60 days, in fact, would. REPRESENTATIVE LYNN responded he would support a penalty of up to a year in prison. He asked committee members to maintain the 60-day minimum penalty. 9:53:34 AM CHAIR SEEKINS asked Ms. Carpeneti to advise the committee on AS 11.41.230(a)(1-2). 9:55:27 AM MS. CARPENETI read the statute: Sec. 11.41.230. Assault in the fourth degree. (a) A person commits the crime of assault in the fourth degree if (1) that person recklessly causes physical injury to another person; (2) with criminal negligence that person causes physical injury to another person by means of a dangerous instrument; CHAIR SEEKINS noted under the statute, a casual shoving incident would not qualify. MS. CARPENETI said the term "serious physical injury" is broadly defined in Alaska statutes. CHAIR SEEKINS asked Ms. Carpeneti her experience of how the courts have interpreted physical injury. MS. CARPENETI said very broadly. CHAIR SEEKINS asked whether a person who slapped another person on school grounds could go to jail for 60 days. MS. CARPENETI responded under HB 41, yes. 9:57:07 AM SENATOR HUGGINS asked whether a student over 18 years of age would be subject to the penalties under the bill. MS. CARPENETI said as the bill is currently drafted, yes. CHAIR SEEKINS agreed with Senator French that people who interfere with policeman, paramedics, and firefighters doing their jobs are also interfering with a bigger mission and they should be penalized more strictly. 9:58:38 AM REPRESENTATIVE LYNN retorted that he is a retired schoolteacher but has also been a policeman. Roll call proved Amendment 2 failed 2-2 with Senators French and Guess voting yea and Senator Huggins and Chair Seekins voting nay. CHAIR SEEKINS asked committee members whether the intent was to remove incidents that have nothing to do with school activities. 10:00:22 AM SENATOR GUESS asked for a definition of school activity. CHAIR SEEKINS speculated the intent was to cover school employees while on the way to and from the school grounds and while on the school grounds. SENATOR GUESS read the definition of school grounds as listed in statute as "a building, structure, athletic playing field, playground, parking area or land contained within the real property boundary line of a public or private preschool, elementary school, or secondary school." 10:02:23 AM CHAIR SEEKINS assumed it was anything that was school property. He said conceptually speaking someone could work with the drafter and eliminate activities that might take place that have no connection to a school activity. SENATOR GUESS asked whether the idea was protection for when students were around. CHAIR SEEKINS said it could be a parent-teacher association (PTA) meeting also. REPRESENTATIVE LYNN said they are now known as PTSA or parent, teacher, student association and generally students are at those meetings. 10:04:00 AM SENATOR FRENCH said the thrust is to impose special penalties for assaults taking place on school grounds. What the committee hasn't flushed out is when that happens. A fight that occurs between two adults in the middle of the night should not be considered under the bill. He suggested there be some limiting factor to say the assault would have to take place during normal business hours or during a school sponsored function. CHAIR SEEKINS proposed a conceptual amendment to encompass the discussion and exclude an assault that is not connected with a school activity. SENATOR HUGGINS moved Amendment 3. Exclude assaults not connected with school activities. Hearing no objections, Amendment 3 was adopted. 10:05:29 AM CHAIR SEEKINS advised Representative Lynn that the committee liked the bill. He suggested that staff clean it up and return the following scheduled hearing. 10:08:01 AM JOHN ALCANTRA, government relations, NEA Alaska testified in support of the bill. Formerly he ran the 911-dispatch center for the Kenai Peninsula Borough and said that first responders are advised of much information before reaching the scene of incident. Schoolteachers do not have that advantage, he noted. 10:10:43 AM CHAIR SEEKINS closed public testimony and held HB 41 in committee.
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