Legislature(2019 - 2020)BUTROVICH 205
03/03/2020 03:30 PM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB137 | |
| SJR18 | |
| HB83 | |
| SB165 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SJR 18 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 83 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | SB 165 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 137 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SB 165-PROSTITUTION/TRAFFICKING; VACATE CONVICT.
4:08:58 PM
CHAIR REVAK announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 165,
"An Act relating to sex trafficking; establishing the crime of
patron of a victim of sex trafficking; relating to the crime of
human trafficking; relating to sentencing for sex trafficking
and patron of a victim of sex trafficking; establishing the
process for a vacation of judgment for a conviction of
prostitution; and providing for an effective date."
He asked Mr. Skidmore to introduce the governor's bill.
4:09:40 PM
JOHN SKIDMORE, Deputy Attorney General, Criminal Division,
Department of Law (DOL), Anchorage, Alaska, stated appreciation
for the opportunity to address the issue of sex trafficking and
human trafficking, which is often underreported in the state. He
related that this is the third most profitable industry in the
world for organized crime. It only falls behind drugs and arms
trading.
MR. SKIDMORE said it is difficult to determine the extent of sex
and human trafficking crimes in Alaska because they are often
underreported or mistaken for things such as drug or alcohol
abuse, domestic violence, delinquency, teen pregnancy, or
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The people who are treated
for these conditions are often victims of either sex or human
trafficking and they commonly became a victim of this crime at
14-16 years old. These young victims are lured with false
promises and then made to engage in this conduct through force,
fraud, or coercion.
MR. SKIDMORE stated that SB 165 is designed to do five things:
1. It increases the penalties for sex trafficking and human
trafficking in Alaska.
2. It moves sex trafficking to the chapter in Title 11
relating to person crimes.
3. It closes gaps in the statutes to allow a more effective
response to these crimes.
4. It creates a complementary framework between human
trafficking and sex trafficking.
5. It creates a method to vacate a prostitution conviction for
a victim of sex trafficking.
MR. SKIDMORE highlighted that the Alaska Council on Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault found a 115 percent increase from
2016 to 2019 in the number of individuals in shelters who
voluntarily reported being a victim of these crimes. Further,
the Alaska Native Justice Center reported working with 125
victims of sex trafficking in 2018 and the organization in
Anchorage called Priceless said they have helped more than 150
survivors get out of prostitution. He reiterated that these
crimes are often underreported.
MR. SKIDMORE said what should be most alarming is that more than
50 percent of these victims are Alaska Native. While it is not
clear how much these crimes are related to missing and murdered
indigenous persons, SB 165 will make the law more responsive to
this problem in the state.
4:14:47 PM
MR. SKIDMORE paraphrased the prepared sectional analysis for SB
165:
Summary: This bill enacts a new offense series for sex
trafficking in the first, second and third degrees. It
enacts the new crime of "patron of a victim of sex
trafficking." The bill also amends the crime of human
trafficking in the first degree and second degrees and
enacts the new crime of "human trafficking in the
third degree." The bill adds sex trafficking in the
first and second degree and patron of a victim of sex
trafficking to the list of registerable sex offenses.
Additionally, the bill establishes a process whereby
people who have been convicted of prostitution can get
that conviction vacated if they are able to show that
they were a victim of sex trafficking at the time that
they committed the prostitution offense.
Section 1 is conforming changes to the amendments made
in section 2.
Section 2 enacts a new offense series; sex trafficking
in the first, second, and third degrees. In essence a
person is guilty of sex trafficking in the first
degree (unclassified sex felony) if the person
traffics a person under the age of 20, uses force when
trafficking a person, or manages a place of
prostitution. A person is guilty of sex trafficking in
the second degree (class A sex felony) if the person
recruits, entices, or otherwise induces or causes a
person to engage in commercial sexual conduct. Sex
trafficking in the first and second degrees would be
sentenced under the enhanced penalties for sexual
felonies and the person would be required to register
as a sex offender.
A person is guilty of sex trafficking in the third
degree if the person provides resources in furtherance
of the commission of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking
in the third degree is a class B felony if the value
of the resources is $200 or more and a class C felony
if the value of the resources is less than $200. A
person who commits sex trafficking in the third degree
would be sentenced under the enhanced sexual felony
sentences but would not be required to register as a
sex offender.
This section also enacts the new crime of "patron
of a victim of sex trafficking." A person is guilty of
being a patron of a victim of sex trafficking if the
person solicits sexual conduct with reckless disregard
that the person they are soliciting is a victim of sex
trafficking. If the person solicited is under 18 years
of age this offense will be a B sex felony. If the
person solicited is an adult, this offense will be a C
sex felony. This crime would be sentenced under then
enhanced penalties for sexual felonies and the person
would be required to register as a sex offender.
While there are sex trafficking crimes already in
statute, these new crimes are broader and have updated
language to capture the ways in which sex trafficking
actually occurs. The sex trafficking statutes in
current law are repealed as that offense will now
appear in AS 11.41 as specified in this section.
4:17:24 PM
Section 3 amends the crime of human trafficking in the
first degree to be an unclassified felony when the
person uses force against the victim or the victim is
under the age of 20.
Section 4 denotes that human trafficking in the first
degree is an unclassified felony.
Section 5 amends human trafficking in the second
degree to include situations in which the perpetrator
(1) exposes or threatens to expose confidential
information or a secret, whether true or false,
tending to subject a person to hatred, contempt, or
ridicule;
(2) destroys, conceals, or threatens to destroy
or conceal an actual or purported passport or
immigration document or another actual or purported
identification document of any person;
(3) threatens to report a person to a government
agency for the purpose of arrest or deportation;
(4) threatens to collect a debt;
(5) instills in another person a fear that the
person will withhold from any person lodging, food,
clothing, or medication; (6) provides or withholds
controlled substances from the person; or
(7) deceives the victim.
Section 6 denotes that human trafficking in the second
degree is a class A felony.
Section 7 Enacts the new crime of human trafficking in
the third degree. A person is guilty of human
trafficking in the third degree if the person provides
resources in furtherance of human trafficking. Human
trafficking in the third degree is a class B felony if
the value of the resources is $200 or more and a class
C felony if the value of the resources is less than
$200.
This section also clarifies that corroboration of
a victim's testimony is not necessary. This codifies
current law in that a jury has the ability to convict
based on a victim's testimony alone. This section is
in current law and is simply relocated to AS 11.41
along with the rest of the sex trafficking statutes.
This section also makes clear that any property used
to commit sex or human trafficking may be forfeited.
Section 8 is the definition section for sex
trafficking and human trafficking.
Section 9 clarifies that the crime of coercion is only
to be used if the sex trafficking or human trafficking
elements are not present.
Section 10 cleans up the references to sex trafficking
in the prostitution statute.
Section 11 makes a conforming change to a provision
that is repealed in the repealer section (being a
patron of a prostitute under the age of 18).
Section 12 clarifies that the definition of sexual
conduct used in the prostitution statutes is the same
definition that is used in the sex trafficking and
human trafficking statutes.
Sections 13 19 make conforming changes to sex
trafficking and human trafficking references that
appear in those statutes.
Section 20 establishes that human trafficking in the
first degree, as an unclassified felony, will be
sentenced between five and 99 years.
Section 21 makes conforming amendments to AS
12.55.125(i), the sex offense sentencing statutes,
incorporating the new sex trafficking statutes and
patron of a victim of sex trafficking statute. This
ensures that these offenses will be subject to the
higher sentences associated with sex offenses.
4:20:13 PM
Section 22 makes conforming changes to the statutory
definition of "most serious felony," by removing sex
trafficking in the first degree, which is then added
to the statutory definition of "sexual felony" in
section 23.
Section 23 adds sex trafficking and patron of a victim
of sex trafficking to the definition of "sexual
felony."
Section 24 makes changes to the definition of "serious
offense" reflecting the changes made to the sex
trafficking and human trafficking statutes.
Section 25 adds sex trafficking in the first and
second degree and patron of a victim of sex
trafficking to the list of registerable sex offenses.
MR. SKIDMORE reminded the committee that under current law, sex
trafficking is not a registerable sex offense and that SB 165
corrects that omission.
Section 26 establishes a process whereby people who
have been convicted of prostitution can get that
conviction vacated if they are able to show that they
were a victim of sex trafficking at the time that they
committed the prostitution offense. If the conviction
is vacated the court system may not publish records
relating to the conviction on CourtView nor may the
Department of Public Safety release that information
as part of an employment background check.
Sections 27 29 make conforming changes to the
changes made to the sex trafficking statutes.
Section 30 clarifies that if a person's prostitution
conviction made them ineligible for a permanent fund
dividend and that conviction was vacated under section
26 of the bill, the person would be eligible for a
permeant fund dividend from the date of the vacation
forward.
Sections 31-34 make conforming changes to the changes
made to the sex trafficking statutes.
Section 35 is the repealer section.
Section 36 is the applicability section. The majority
of this bill will apply to offenses occurring on or
after the effective date.
Section 37 establishes the effective date as July 1,
2020.
4:22:13 PM
CHAIR REVAK noted who was available to answer questions.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if a convicted patron of a sex trafficked
victim will be required to register as a sex offender.
MS. SKIDMORE answered yes; the patron of a victim of sex
trafficking is a new crime. Under current law, the patron of
prostitution does not require registry and that does not change.
But the convicted patron of a sex trafficked victim would be
required to register as a sex offender under this new law.
CHAIR REVAK asked Lieutenant Ingram his opinion of the bill.
4:24:16 PM
MIKE INGRAM, Lieutenant, Alaska State Troopers, Department of
Public Safety, Anchorage, Alaska, described SB 165 as a fairly
good solution to address the issue of patrons of sex trafficked
victims. Under current law the patrons can only be charged with
a class B misdemeanor relating to prostitution. For that reason,
the Alaska State Troopers support SB 165.
4:25:26 PM
SENATOR COGHILL asked for confirmation that this is about a
patron of a person who is acting under duress or is underage.
MR. SKIDMORE replied that is correct.
4:25:57 PM
CHAIR REVAK held SB 165 in committee and encouraged the public
to submit written testimony to ssta@akleg.gov.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 165 Highlights Doc 1.27.2020.pdf |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
SB 165 |
| SB 165 Sectional Analysis v. A 1.27.2020.pdf |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
SB 165 |
| SB 165 Transmittal Letter 1.27.2020.pdf |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
SB 165 |
| SB 165 Hearing Request 1.31.2020.pdf |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
SB 165 |
| HB83 Explanation of Changes Feb 14 2020.pdf |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
HB 83 |
| HB83 Sectional Analysis Feb 14 2020.pdf |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
HB 83 |
| HB83 Sponsor Statement Feb 14 2020.pdf |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
HB 83 |
| SJR 18 - Letter of Support - League of Women Voters 2.28.20.pdf |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
SJR 18 |
| SJR 18 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
SJR 18 |
| SJR 18 Backup document HB 2 from 3.21.1913.jpg |
SSTA 3/3/2020 3:30:00 PM |
HB 2 SJR 18 |