Legislature(2007 - 2008)BUTROVICH 205
03/11/2008 05:30 PM Senate RESOURCES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB267 | |
| SB284 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 284 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 267 | TELECONFERENCED | |
CSHB 267(RES)-WILDLIFE VIOLATOR COMPACT
5:37:31 PM
CHAIR CHARLIE HUGGINS announced CSHB 267(RES) to be up for
consideration.
CAPTAIN BURKE WALDRON, Division of Wildlife Troopers, Department
of Public Safety (DPS), said he was available to answer
questions on HB 267.
KEVIN SAXBY, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Department of
Law (DOL), stated that he was assigned to the Division of
Wildlife Conservation and the Board of Game.
5:40:07 PM
SENATOR STEVENS joined the committee.
JEANNE OSTNES, staff to Representative Craig Johnson, sponsor of
HB 267, related that yesterday they talked about the form that
the DPS would be entering data into. She said the trooper would
need a user name and an ID to get onto the website. She said a
compact state could ratify or review different suspensions or
actions that were happening in the other compact states. The
report could be browsed through by either violator or citation.
Besides the 50 states, the compact includes 18 provinces from
Canada, Guam, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico; it includes
1,834 counties along with 239 countries. So no matter where the
person is living in the world, there is a way to identify where
they are and what action was taken against them. She said the
software is smart enough that the state can choose specifically
how it can look at the different animal species.
CHAIR HUGGINS interrupted, "Let's look at frogs."
MS. OSTNES responded that frogs were included in the fishing
category. She said each state could add to the list and assign
them on the left.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked how the identities of people with like-names
would be confirmed.
MS. OSTNES replied by using home address, eye color, race
gender, and suspension status.
5:43:55 PM
SENATOR WAGONER asked if counties are a sub-grouping under each
state.
MS. OSTNES replied she wasn't sure because all states have their
own system.
SENATOR WAGONER said the reason he asked is that traditionally
counties outside of Alaska offer hunting and fishing licenses,
and they are only good within the boundary of the counties - and
there are a lot of counties.
MS. OSTNES said that taking violator's names completely out of
the database would be a policy matter for the 28 states that are
involved, but not doing that was recommended to help with things
such as legal proceedings after the fact, trend analysis and
tracking habitual violators. Names of people who do not have
their license revoked any longer because "they have paid their
dues" stay in another section of the database.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked the lower age limit for entry into the
system.
MS. OSTNES replied the adult age of the state the person resides
in.
5:46:16 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE joined the committee.
CHAIR HUGGINS turned to Mr. Saxby with that question.
MR. SAXBY answered that age isn't addressed in the bill, so it
would follow that that issue would be up to each state, and
people under age 16 don't need a license in Alaska.
MS. OSTNES said that VISA and Master Card as well as other
credit card businesses can be hired to do a spot check of the
system.
CHAIR HUGGINS asked if this is a certified system.
MS. OSTNES answered yes and added that only a public safety
administrator would have the ability to get into it to change
the information. She said that ADF&G received some funding last
year to computerize its licensing system, and 35 of its largest
vendors as well as all of their departments around the state
will soon be computerized. Once this bill passes, the
administrator would be the person to deal with the process of
how and who would be able to look at the information.
5:49:50 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS asked for a quick review of how this system would
work for the State Troopers.
CAPTAIN WALDRON replied that the DPS would administer the
compact simply because the Troopers are the licensing
enforcement agency and it would be simpler for them rather than
to have the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) forward
the information to them. One person would review court judgments
relating to fish and wildlife cases and make the determination
on whether to enter the individual into the compact database or
not. Once those decisions are made, an in-house clerk would be
assigned to update the list. Initial start-up may require more
effort than once it is going. In most states the administrator
and clerk spend between 10-20 hours a month to update the list.
Historically Alaska doesn't have a lot of revocations and would
have less than 200 names to enter per year.
SENATOR MCGUIRE asked how expungement would work.
CAPTAIN WALDRON answered that peoples' names would remain in the
database and their revocations would be listed as current or
not. They remain in the database unless the member states
adopted language to change it.
MS. OSTNES said that was correct.
CHAIR HUGGINS said that is probably unacceptable for him. The
average Alaskan would expect to be off the list once they have
lost their license.
SENATOR MCGUIRE agreed and remarked that even Senator Green's
similar prescription database bill was changed to allow a name
to come off the list after a period of time. She said that is a
real privacy invasion and asked if there was anything they could
do in this bill to guarantee expungement after someone has
served their penalty.
MS. OSTNES replied that she thought so.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said he understood once a license was
revoked for three-years, one could get it again. He thought this
was different than the prescription database bill in which
everyone was included, including people who hadn't been
convicted of anything. Expungement is appropriate in that case.
He didn't see this bill being different from a criminal court
case; it's a public record once you've violated the statute.
CAPTAIN WALDRON said he agreed with that; the purpose for names
remaining in the database is to provide a criminal history
database for court convictions and sentencing that is similar to
other databases. Troopers and prosecutors could use this
database to help with sentencing recommendations and guidelines
at court hearings.
MS. OSTNES said you can find whether someone had a small claim
against them by just looking at the court house computer.
SENATOR WAGONER said he wasn't sure that the court house records
span another 28 states.
5:58:14 PM
CAPTAIN WALDRON said the court system database is Internet based
and is available to anyone in any state.
5:59:15 PM
CHAIR HUGGINS said he would set HB 267 aside.
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