Legislature(2009 - 2010)BELTZ 211
03/30/2009 01:30 PM Senate JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB47 | |
| SB148 | |
| SB48 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 148 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 48 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| = | SB 47 | ||
SB 48-MEETINGS OF ROAD SERVICE AREA BOARDS
CHAIR FRENCH announced the consideration of SB 48 and asked for
a motion to adopt the committee substitute (CS), version \P.
2:28:56 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI moved to adopt work draft CS for SB 48,
labeled 26-LS0293\P. There being no objection, version P was
before the committee.
2:29:20 PM
SENATOR THERRIAULT explained that this version narrows the scope
of the bill. It now applies to only municipal service area
boards that are established whereas an earlier version talked
about other boards and commissions of a local government. This
brings it back to the original concept, which is to provide
relief [from the Open Meetings Act] to service area
commissioners who are trying to make decisions about things like
snow removal or protecting a culvert from washing out. Under the
open meetings law these mostly volunteer commissioners currently
are precluded from talking to one another.
2:30:29 PM
KATHY WASSERMAN, Executive Director, Alaska Municipal League
(AML), said AML has passed a resolution supporting SB 48. While
AML respects and supports the Open Meetings Act, in this
circumstance it is hampering road and fire service areas in
conducting business. If two people stop alongside the road to
discuss matters related to that road service area, it can be a
violation of the Open Meetings Act. This bill will enable
business like plowing a road to get done without having to call
a meeting.
CHAIR FRENCH asked how many municipal service area boards are in
the state.
MS. WASSERMAN replied most of them are in the Fairbanks North
Star Borough (FNSB).
CHAIR FRENCH asked if Anchorage uses a different model.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said Anchorage has road powers. Service areas
are only formed by neighborhoods or small communities where the
borough government doesn't have general road powers.
SENATOR MCGUIRE added that Hillside has a road service area.
2:33:06 PM
CHAIR FRENCH asked how many members a road service area board
has.
MS. WASSERMAN replied as a rule there are three, which is why
it's such a problem. Under the Open Meetings Act three or more
members constitutes a quorum for an assembly or council meeting,
but an advisory board meets quorum with just two people.
CHAIR FRENCH asked Senator Therriault if Section 2 addresses
that issue.
SENATOR THERRIAULT said he believes so, but he would defer to
the borough attorney. Years ago these boards had five
commissioners, but it became increasingly difficult to find five
volunteers who were willing to take on the responsibilities and
receive the angry calls for no benefit.
2:34:30 PM
RENE BROKER, Attorney, Fairbanks North Star Borough, said she is
speaking on behalf of the borough in support of SB 48. The bill
fixes the unintended consequences of the Open Meetings Act (OMA)
without diluting its important public policy goals. Paid
employees are already exempt from the OMA requirements because
it's recognized that they can't perform day-to-day
administrative functions and provide service to the public and
also comply with the OMA. Service areas for roads and fire are
small and lack resources to hire employees so state law
authorizes these boards to perform administrative functions.
However, the commissioners aren't exempt from the requirements
of the Open Meetings Act. SB 48 extends the exemption that's
applicable to paid employees to the narrow circumstance when a
service area board is performing the same administrative
functions. The commissioners are acting on a volunteer basis and
talking about whether it's a good idea to remove snow now versus
later or whether this culvert should be fixed rather than
another one.
The second change clarifies that when members of a governmental
body gather in a meeting, the same numerical standard that
currently applies to policy making bodies also applies to
advisory bodies. It makes no sense that an advisory body that is
only making recommendations should live under a higher standard
than an assembly. It's a trap for the unwary; people who are
simply trying to volunteer can inadvertently violate the Open
Meetings Act.
2:37:29 PM
CHAIR FRENCH asked if this is a proactive measure or if people
are actually being attacked because of supposed violations of
the open meetings laws.
MS. BROKER replied it's both. She's seen people come under
attack when their mistake was very inadvertent. It's a painful
public embarrassment for this to happen. A road service area
committee asked for this change so it can do business and comply
with the Act.
CHAIR FRENCH asked if she thinks that passing this bill will
make it less likely that road service area boards will continue
to meet on a regular basis.
MS. BROKER explained that the 107 service areas in the FNSB have
eight duties under the borough code and seven of those duties
require meetings. The only duty this bill exempts is supervising
the actual conducting and providing of the services. Some people
get around the meeting requirement by delegating all the
decision making to just one person. The problem is that the
service area loses out when just one person is making all the
decisions for a particular project. The full board needs to
discuss the issue and make a decision, she said.
2:40:08 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI referenced page 2, lines 22-23, and asked
if she reads the current section to mean that two people getting
together would be a violation of the Open Meetings Act.
MS. BROKER said absolutely. The language in subparagraph (A) is
the numerical standard that is applicable to policy making
bodies and SB 148 adds that same numerical standard to
subparagraph (B). Right now there is no numerical standard in
(B) so if there is a gathering of two it's a meeting.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said he'd like to think through the
potential ramifications because this will impact more than just
municipal service area boards.
CHAIR FRENCH said he agrees and he'd like to give it some
thought before moving the bill.
2:41:39 PM
RONALD HILLINGWORTH, Chair, 23 Mile Slough Road Service Area in
the Fairbanks North Star Borough, stated support for SB 148. He
said the current law does not exempt road service areas from the
public meeting requirements, which makes it nearly impossible to
conduct routine administrative and managerial business without
posting notification a week or more in advance and holding a
subsequent public meeting. Service area commissioners are
responsible for implementing maintenance contracts on service
area roads. That entails calling out the contractor to do work
but the commissioners can not talk among themselves about that
work without having a public meeting. They can't stop along side
the road to talk and they can't send emails to talk about
plowing a road after a snow storm. The current public meeting
law makes it nearly impossible to conduct routine business
without breaking the law.
2:45:43 PM
LUKE HOPKINS, Assembly Member, Fairbanks North Star Borough and
Board Member, Alaska Municipal League, spoke in support of the
current committee substitute for SB 48. The proposed exemption
in Section 1 to allow commissioners to meet to perform
administrative functions is a reasonable action. With respect to
Section 2 and what constitutes a meeting, he said he is often
asked why commission members that advise or make recommendations
operate under more restrictive conditions than a body that has
the authority to establish policy.
SENATOR MCGUIRE asked if there was a particular incident in the
Fairbanks area that served as a catalyst.
MR. HOPKINS replied it's probably the sheer number of
commissions and the number of actions that commissioners
undertake that has made them acutely aware of the problem with
the Open Meetings Act.
2:49:22 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE said we need to know if there's an ongoing
complaint in the Fairbanks area that the committee may not be
privy to.
MR. HOPKINS said a resolution was passed to the borough assembly
and this does seem like a reasonable exemption consideration.
Section 2 goes back to the issue of commissioners not wanting to
inadvertently violate the Open Meetings Act and the requirement
for public notice. "It just seems that it's somewhat of an
oversight consideration between a commissioner and an elected
official for the public meeting notice."
CHAIR FRENCH closed public testimony and announced he would hold
SB 48 for further consideration.
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