Legislature(1997 - 1998)
03/24/1997 12:01 PM House BUD
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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Legislative Budget and Audit March 24, 1997 12:00 p.m. Senate Finance Committee Room Juneau, Alaska Tapes LBA97#4 Side 1 002-349 CALL TO ORDER Chairman Phillips convened the meeting of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee on March 24, 1997 at approximately 12:00 p.m. in the Senate Finance Committee Room in Juneau, Alaska. PRESENT Representatives Senators Rep. Martin Chrm. Phillips Rep. James Sen. Donley Sen. Torgerson Sen. Pearce ALSO PRESENT Mike Greany, Director, Legislative Finance Division; Randy Welker, Legislative Auditor; Jane Andre, Executive Director, Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. REVISED PROGRAMS RPL 12-7-0124 Law Jane Andre, Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, stated that this request encompassed two discretionary, one-time Federal grants that the Council has received in the last six months. Both grants are geared toward helping the State implement the new Domestic Violence Prevention and Victim Act of 1996. The Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Grant has three projects that are covered by this grant. The first is to take Alaska's existing Child Sexual Abuse agreement and rewrite it to incorporate all forms of child abuse. The second project is to provide funds to the Division of Family and Youth Services to enable them to rewrite their protocols to incorporate the screening for domestic violence in all of their child abuse investigations. The third is to provide eleven regional trainings to law enforcement, child protection, village personnel, and victim advocates on how to identify and work with families where there is child abuse and domestic violence both present. Ms. Andre stated that the second grant is to encourage mandatory arrest. This actually has five approved projects at this time. The first is to develop and implement the Statewide registry for protective orders. This will also incorporate meeting the current Federal requirement that each must provide this information at the Federal level. The second project is to expand the existing law enforcement training that is being covered by the Stop Violence Against Women grant to include VPSO. The third project is to improve the investigation and prosecution techniques by providing two hundred law enforcement domestic violence kits throughout the State. The kit has been developed by Polaroid and is being used extensively throughout the Lower 48 to improve the investigation capabilities of law enforcement. Sen. Donley stated that while these all sounded like good ideas, he did not see how they related to mandatory arrest. Ms. Andre stated that the focus of the Federal grant to increase mandatory arrests rested on the State first having a mandate for mandatory arrests. The second focus is how to improve the criminal and civil justice systems so that there will be more effective prosecution that will hold the offender accountable. Sen. Donley stated that he did not see how that related to the mandatory arrest provision. Ms. Andre did not have the list of requirements, however, she stated that one requirement was to implement Statewide registries so that law enforcement could identify who the primary physical aggressor is. The guidelines in the new law have law enforcement look at past criminal and civil actions that have taken place as one of the three or four mandates. Sen. Donley raised concern that this requirement that law enforcement officials determine an arrest based on past record is not in the State statute anywhere. Ms. Andre stated that the State law does include guidelines for determining who the primary physical aggressor is. The law enforcement officials definitely must look at the current situation, but the past history must be factored in. They also must be able to determine if any protective orders are currently in place. They also must be able to assess what the potential physical risk is to both parties. Sen. Donley stated the registry raised many due process considerations that must be addressed to make sure that a person is not unfairly categorized. He stated that when the Department of Law first brought this proposal to the Committee that they indicated that no matter what the law said, it would be used in other manners. He questioned whether the government wanted to be in the business of black lists by using this police criteria for additional action. He stated that he felt that it was absolutely appropriate to make restraining orders part of the decision. In addition, he felt that health factors being in danger was absolutely appropriate. However, he felt that anything short of a conviction would be problematic and potentially dangerous. Ms. Andre clarified that this portion of the project is solely for protective orders, and will not include criminal convictions. The Department of Public Safety was authorized to set up this registry under the new domestic violence laws. This proposal simply provides the funding to put that in place. Sen. Donley asked if it would be the Department of Law setting up the registry. Ms. Andre stated that the registry would be set up by the Department of Public Safety. Sen. Donley asked if any information outside of actual Court determinations would be included in the list. Ms. Andre stated that her understanding was that this list would be developed as an adjunct to (175) ABSUN. The intent of this registry is for the civil orders only. It will contain historical information as well as the current information. Sen. Donley asked what type of historical information would be contained in the list. Ms. Andre stated that preliminary discussions indicated that the list would only enter the decision after an order had been issued. There has not been any discussion about when to go back and purge the information. Sen. Donley stated that his concern is for informal information that has not had an advocacy proceeding to ensure their fairness. He felt that the information should be official established court orders or actual convictions. If the list is not based on actual advocacy procedures or actual documentation that establishes the absolute veracity of the fact, there is an opportunity for hearsay evidence, which may be inaccurate, to be used unfairly against the person involved. Rep. Martin stated that with only three more months until the end of Fiscal Year 1997, he suggested that the money be in ?? (#106) over to the next fiscal year. Ms. Andre stated that the projection was what would be spent in the first fiscal year. The total of the two grants is $1, 960,870. The balance of $846,000 will be included as part of the FY 98 budget requests in the form of a budget amendment. Rep. Martin stated that the Legislative Analysis recommended this request as a one-time request. Once all these procedures are working, they will stay implemented which would mean that the request would not be a one-time only request. Ms. Andre stated that the way the Federal grants are set up, they are discretionary grants that are four pilot projects to try different tactics. The projects will not be ongoing maintenance type of grants. Rep. Martin asked where the financing will come in the future is the pilot projects proved successful. Ms. Andre stated that often the projects are set up as one-time only projects so that there will not be a need for ongoing funding. The one exception to that is the pilot Misdemeanor Probation Project in the Mat-Su Valley. At this point, there have not been discussions on where to proceed if the project turns out to be successful. Sen. James stated concern with the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Grant. She pointed out the grant stated it would rewrite Alaska's interdepartmental child sexual abuse agreement to include all forms of child abuse. She asked what public process would be included in rewriting the agreement. There are no perfect families and this raises the issue of what really constitutes child abuse, outside of child sexual abuse. Ms. Andre stated that the project is set up so that there will be input throughout the development of the project. One of the requirements of this specific grant is that tribal representation must be included in the planning process of the entire grant. She stated that she had just finished a teleconference with some representatives of the Tribal State Colloboration group. This group is setting up regional input a process to receive input from the tribes which they represent. There will be some representation on the working group. There have also been plans incorporated for a public hearing and input sections once the funding is established. Sen. James expressed her opinion that domestic violence in a family is very traumatic. She felt that children should remain with a family if at all possible, not placed in foster homes. Sen. Torgerson asked why the $205,000 is being proposed now instead of through the budget process. Ms. Andre stated that there is a specific concern about the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization grant that expires March 31, 1998. If the program must wait to get up and running until July, it would be so far behind that it would not be realistic to finish the project. Under the grants to encourage mandatory arrest, there is a bid on the DB Polaroid kit that expires at the end of this month. Currently the purchase of these 200 kits would be at $60 apiece. At the end of this month, the cost will go up to $250 apiece, which is about a $38,000 difference. Sen. Donley stated that the items listed on the request were not problematic. He requested that if the grant were approved, he would request that the Legislature be intimately involved in any expansion of the utilization of this money beyond the actual registry for protective orders. Sen. Torgerson opposed a attempt to go forward with the grant given the explanation given in testimony. He suggested that the Polaroid kits be approved and also the child abuse program. He wanted to do that without giving authority for the entire program. Ms. Andre clarified that this registry is specifically for the protective orders. Mr. Greany stated that he needed more information on what the Committee wanted approved and not approved. -- inaudible-- Rural Domestic Violence asked for $100,000 and $150,000 for the mandatory arrest which already has Federal authority of $34,506. So the net amount needed between the two pieces (inaudible). He stated that since there was no objection to the Rural Domestic Violence portion, a motion could be made to approve the $100,000 for that. In the case of the mandatory arrest program, a motion could be made to approve the Polaroid kit amount. Sen. Torgerson asked if the cost of the Polaroid kits would be $7,200. Ms. Andre answered no, that the cameras would be $12,000 plus the $7,240 for the film that goes with the cameras. The total cost of the Polaroid kits would be $19,240. The additional amount of the grant would be RSAs to Public Safety on the central registry and an RSA to the Alaska State Troopers who are overseeing the law enforcement training. Sen. Torgerson stated that he would sanction approval of the $19,240 and the $100,000 alone with the remainder of the request channeled through the regular budget process. Rep. Martin suggested letting the legislative Finance committee analyze and provide guidelines when complex questions arose so as to bring the Public Safety to the full Committee. Chrm. Phillips summarized that the approval of the RPL would involve $19,240 to cover the cost of the camera and film and $100,000 for the Rural Domestic Violence part of the RPL. Mr. Welker stated he was unsure how the available funding worked into the proposal. He stated that the Committee was approving specific items while there is already $44,500 authorized. He asked if that amount should be factored into the decision. Ms. Andre stated that she could take the message back to the Council saying that these are the two things that are approved. The other possibility would be to subtract that $44,500 from the $119,240. Mr. Greany suggested that it be clear in the motion that the specific additional money is $100,000 for the Rural and $19,240 for the camera. Chrm. Phillips asked if the $44,500 would then be subtracted from the $119,240. Ms. Andre stated that that would be an option. Mr. Welker stated that if the motion approved $119,240, then the Council would have $163,740 to work with since they already have authority on the books at $44,500. If the Committee only wishes to provide the authority for the $119,240, then the $44,500 should be net out. Chrm. Phillips stated that $74,734 is the bottom line. This would include $12,000 for the camera, $7,240 for the film and $100,000 for the Rural aspect. Sen. Torgerson MOVED for APPROVAL of RPL 12-7-0124 with the amount $12,000 for Polaroid cameras, supplies of $7,240 under the Mandatory Arrest category and approval for $100,000 for Rural Domestic Violence Prevention and Child Victimization. From the total of $119,240 there would be subtracted the amount already authorized of $44,500 for a net increase in authorization of $74,734. Rep. Martin asked why the larger amount of the request was not honored. Sen. ?? stated that the rest of the amount requested could then go through the regular budget amendment process. Rep. Martin asked if the Council would need the $142,000 or part of it before the end of the Fiscal Year. Ms. Andre stated that the only concern was that the grants were written on a 16 month implementation period and expire August 1998 so the implementation period would be shorted by a couple of months. Chrm. Phillips asked if everyone was clear on the MOTION on the floor. No objections being raised, the RPL 12-7-0124 MODIFIED was APPROVED. AUDIT REQUESTS Mr. Greany recommended approval of the request from Rep. Ogan concerning Mental Health Grant - Providers. An audit is currently underway on the mental health providers. The second request was from Rep. Martin on a series of Railroad questions. Rep. Martin felt that since there were two audits going on with the Railroad, it would be easy to implement this audit. Rep. Martin MOVED to APPROVE the two Requests for Audits. No objections being raised, the MOTION APPROVED. Chrm. Phillips asked Mr. Greany how long before the Mental Health audit would be seen by the Committee. Mr. Greany stated that each question generates more questions so that the audit has grown from the original desires. He felt that it would probably be near the end of the session before the audit is completed. ADJOURNMENT Chrm. Phillips adjourned the meeting at approximately 1:15 p.m. LBA 3/24/97 Page 7
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