Legislature(2021 - 2022)BY TELECONFERENCE
04/13/2021 09:00 AM House SELECT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE ETHICS
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SELECT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE ETHICS
APRIL 13, 2021
9:00 AM
FULL COMMITTEE MEETING
9:02:41 AM
1. CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER
Lee Holmes called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. on
Tuesday, April 13, 2021.
Lee Holmes directed Jerry Anderson to conduct roll call.
Roll call
Sen David Wilson (telephonic)
Sen Tom Begich (telephonic)
Rep Chris Tuck (Alternate for Rep Sara Hannan)(telephonic)
Rep DeLena Johnson (telephonic)
Skip Cook (telephonic)
Conner Thomas (telephonic)
Joyce Anderson
Deb Fancher (telephonic)
Lee Holmes (telephonic)
Quorum present.
Others present
Jerry Anderson
Jacqui Yeagle
Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson (telephonic)
9:05:23 AM
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Lee Holmes stated that the meeting was expected to run
about 45 minutes, then entertained a motion to approve the
agenda.
Motion made by: Senator Tom Begich
There were no objections. The agenda was approved.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Lee Holmes introduced the next item on the agenda: approval
of the minutes of the September 22, 2020, committee
meetings.
Conner Thomas made a motion to approve the September 22,
2020, full committee meeting minutes.
There were no objections. The September 22, 2020, full
committee meeting minutes were approved.
Senator Tom Begich moved to approve the September 22, 2020,
senate subcommittee meeting minutes.
There were no objections. The September 22, 2020, senate
subcommittee meeting minutes were approved.
4. PUBLIC COMMENT
Lee Holmes entertained public comment. There was no public
comment.
9:08:43 AM
5. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE CHAIRS FOR 2021-2022
Lee Holmes opened election of officers for 2021-2022.
Joyce Anderson reviewed for the committees benefit the
officer positions held 2019-2020: Joyce Anderson, senate
subcommittee chair; Deb Fancher, senate subcommittee vice
chair; Lee Holmes, house subcommittee chair; and Conner
Thomas, house subcommittee vice chair.
Lee Holmes opened nominations for senate subcommittee
chair.
Conner Thomas confirmed his understanding that the chair of
the senate subcommittee will also be the chair of the full
committee for the remainder of 2021.
Conner Thomas asked Deb Fancher if she would agree to the
position.
Deb Fancher replied that she was agreeable to assuming the
chair position if no one else wanted the position.
Conner Thomas nominated Deb Fancher chair of the senate
subcommittee.
Lee Holmes asked Jerry Anderson if the nomination required
a second.
Jerry Anderson responded that traditionally seconds have
not been required for officer nominations and further, if
there were only one nomination per position, the committee
voted for the slate of officers, rather than conducting an
individual vote for each office.
Lee Holmes thanked Jerry Anderson for his reply, then
entertained other nominations for the senate subcommittee
chair position.
Hearing no other nominations, Lee Holmes entertained
interest in the senate subcommittee vice chair position.
Joyce Anderson declared her interest in the senate
subcommittee vice chair position and asked if a committee
member would agree to nominate her.
Conner Thomas nominated Joyce Anderson for the senate
subcommittee vice chair position.
Lee Holmes entertained other nominations, heard none, and
moved to the house subcommittee chair position. He advised
the committee that the current vice chair was Conner
Thomas, and then he asked if Conner Thomas was interested
in the chair position.
Conner Thomas replied that he would be happy to do so.
Deb Fancher nominated Conner Thomas for the house
subcommittee chair position.
Lee Holmes asked if there were other nominations for the
house subcommittee chair position. Hearing no other
nominations, Lee Holmes entertained interest in the house
subcommittee vice chair position.
Conner Thomas nominated Skip Cook for the position of house
subcommittee vice chair.
Lee Holmes inquired whether Skip Cook had an objection to
the nomination. Hearing no objection from Skip Cook, Lee
Holmes entertained other nominations for the position.
Hearing no other nominations, Lee Holmes entertained a
motion to cease all nominations.
Conner Thomas so moved.
Lee Holmes stated that given there was only one nomination
per officer position, the committee would vote for the
slate of officers as presented: Deb Fancher, senate
subcommittee chair; Joyce Anderson, senate subcommittee
vice chair; Conner Thomas, house subcommittee chair; and
Skip Cook, house subcommittee vice chair.
Lee Holmes asked Jerry Anderson to conduct a roll call
vote.
Roll call vote
Senator David Wilson Y
Representative Chris Tuck Y
Skip Cook Y
Conner Thomas Y
Representative DeLena Johnson Y
Joyce Anderson Y
Deb Fancher Y
Lee Holmes Y
Senator Tom Begich Y
The slate of officers was approved.
9:16:39 AM
Lee Holmes asked new Committee Chair Deb Fancher if she
wanted him to continue chairing the meeting and to take on
the post meeting responsibilities. Deb Fancher replied
affirmatively and thanked Lee Holmes.
6. CHAIR/STAFF REPORT
a. Management Log Review
Lee Holmes directed the committee to the management log
review.
Jerry Anderson asked the committee members to review the
informal advice per AS 24.60.158 and to ask follow-up
questions.
Lee Holmes asked if committee members had questions for
Jerry Anderson.
Senator Tom Begich asked Jerry Anderson if there was a
particularly unique or substantive question to which he
would like to call the committees attention.
Jerry Anderson responded that unique in the last year were
the many election-related questions, especially those
questions about putting absentee ballot information and
applications into newsletters, which is generally allowed.
Another unique question concerned whether a board
membership disclosure was required for a world-wide
organization that lacked a physical meeting location or
address. Jerry Anderson said that a disclosure would be
required and submitted that it was a demonstration of how
far reaching is the boards and commissions disclosure
requirement.
Senator Tom Begich thanked Jerry Anderson for his response.
Lee Holmes asked if there were other questions. Hearing no
other questions, he moved to the next agenda item.
b. Public Member Committee Appointment Update
Lee Holmes directed the committees attention to the
resumes of Public Member Skip Cook and Public Alternate
Member Gerald McBeath.
Conner Thomas asked if the public members had been ratified
by the legislature.
Jerry Anderson replied that they had been ratified by both
bodies.
Lee Holmes asked for committee comments or questions.
Hearing none, he moved to the next agenda item.
c. Ethics Disclosures
Lee Holmes directed the committees attention to the three
documents related to ethics disclosures and commented that
it was interesting to see how the numbers change over the
years. Lee Holmes asked if there were questions about the
information.
Jerry Anderson pointed out that in 2020 there was a
decrease in the number of gift/travel disclosures, likely
due to COVID, and that the drop in the total number of
disclosures submitted in 2020 was due almost entirely to
that one category.
Jerry Anderson added for the benefit of the members that
the three documents consisted of 1) the total number of
disclosures submitted in 2020; 2) a year-to-year comparison
of disclosure totals submitted 2017-2020; and 3) the total
number of disclosures of each type submitted to date in
2021.
Lee Holmes thanked Jerry Anderson and asked Joyce Anderson
if she had a question.
Joyce Anderson replied that she wondered why there were
significantly fewer contracts, leases, and grants
disclosures submitted to date in 2021 than there were in
2020. She noted that in 2020, 19 senators, one house
member, and three staffers had submitted disclosures, and
in 2021 that number was dramatically reduced. She asked
Jerry Anderson if he had any comment.
Jerry Anderson said he had not looked at that specifically
but proposed emailing an answer back to committee members.
Joyce Anderson expressed concern that there may be some
legislators who should have filed but did not. She thanked
the chair for the opportunity to ask her question.
Lee Holmes thanked Joyce Anderson and entertained other
follow-up questions about the ethics disclosures documents.
There were no other questions and he moved to the next
item.
d. Update: Collection of Unpaid Fines
Lee Holmes asked Jerry Anderson if there were any unpaid fines.
Jerry Anderson replied that former Representative Alan Dicks
unpaid balance from a long ago, large fine stands at $3,695.
He added that a new, recent fine of $25, assessed on April 8, is
outstanding but filers have a 30-day payment window so it is not
considered late.
Lee Holmes asked about the procedure for handling large fines.
Jerry Anderson replied that the ethics office had been receiving
from former Representative Alan Dick almost monthly payments
averaging about $100 a month. He added that Representative Alan
Dick is making good faith efforts toward paying the fine.
Senator Tom Begich asked Jerry Anderson to repeat the remaining
amount of the fine.
Jerry Anderson replied that $3,695 remains on the fine.
Senator Tom Begich thanked Jerry Anderson for the information.
Lee Holmes entertained other questions about unpaid fines.
Hearing none, he moved to the next agenda item.
e. New internship program: Seattle University School of Law
Lee Holmes introduced the new externship program with Seattle
University School of Law and he asked Jerry Anderson if he had a
comment about the externship.
Jerry Anderson replied that the ethics office maintains a list
of approved universities and organizations that have internship
programs. The Seattle University School of Law program was
reviewed and approved by the administrator and the committee
chair. Procedurally, then, the program information moves to the
full committee for further review and approval. Jerry Anderson
noted that in this case, the program is called an externship as
opposed to an internship.
Lee Holmes asked if committee members had comments or questions
about the program.
Joyce Anderson commented that the committee requires a final
report from the individual who fills the position but she did
not see mention of the final report in the material submitted.
She referred the question to Jerry Anderson.
Jerry Anderson concurred that a final report was required and
expected and noted that the committee did not receive the full
packet of 16-20 pages of material about the externship.
Lee Holmes commented that on the second page of the profile
there is a statement that the agency must provide an evaluation
upon completion. He stated that the evaluation would include the
final report requirement.
Joyce Anderson thanked the chair for directing her attention to
the section.
Lee Holmes asked for other questions of the committee. Hearing
none, he moved to the next agenda item.
f. Publications
Lee Holmes introduced the 2020 Public Decisions Booklet and
asked if Jerry Anderson had comments to share with the
committee.
Jerry Anderson said it was a very thin booklet because there was
only one public decision published in 2020.
Lee Holmes entertained questions or comments from the committee.
Hearing none, he moved to the next publication.
Lee Holmes asked Jerry Anderson if he had comments for the
committee about the 2021 Standards of Conduct Handbook and the
revision.
Jerry Anderson responded that the only revision was the addition
of the Seattle University School of Law externship program.
Lee Holmes thanked Jerry Anderson and asked if committee members
had questions about the handbook. Hearing none, he moved to the
next agenda item.
7. 2021 ETHICS TRAINING
Lee Holmes asked Jerry Anderson to provide the committee
with an overview of the 2021 ethics training.
Jerry Anderson said that training consisted of two segments
delivered by National Conference of State Legislatures
staff (NCSL) and one segment by the ethics office. NCSL
sessions, which were delivered via Zoom during the training
period, reached 472 people.
Recorded versions of all of the ethics training are
available online to meet the training requirement for new
employees and staff. As of April 12, a total of 541 persons
had been trained. Two new staff had yet to be trained.
Lee Holmes asked if the committee had questions for Jerry
Anderson.
There were no questions. Lee Holmes moved to the next
agenda item.
9:34:46 AM
8. BUDGET
Lee Holmes directed the committee's attention to the FY21
Budget Summary and the FY22 Budget Request Detail. He asked
Jerry Anderson if there was anything of particular note in
the documents.
Jerry Anderson commented that the budget summary shows
that, due to current circumstances, spending for this year
is significantly lower. Meetings have been telephonic and
no travel funds, investigator funds, or outside attorney
funds have been expended.
Jerry Anderson added that HB 69 shows the proposed funding
for FY22 is flat.
Lee Holmes asked if committee members had questions about
either the current budget or the proposed budget. There
were no questions. He thanked Jerry Anderson and moved to
the next agenda item.
9. CONTRACT REPORT
Lee Holmes reported that in FY21 there had been no outside
counsel or investigator contracts and therefore, no
expenditures. He asked Jerry Anderson if he had comments to add.
Jerry Anderson replied that no ethics complaints had required
the services of either outside counsel or an investigator.
Lee Holmes entertained questions or concerns about the contract
report. Hearing no comments, he asked Jerry Anderson to present
a legislation update.
Jerry Anderson responded that there were a number of bills
listed under the ethics subject summary. House Judiciary
recently amended HB 62 to allow legislators to accept
travel and hospitality primarily for the purpose of
solemnizing a marriage under AS 25.05.261(a)(4), which
would also change the conflict of interest statute AS
24.60.030(a). He added that an example from the hearing was
that a legislator could accept a helicopter ride to
solemnize a marriage at a wedding held on a glacier.
Lee Holmes asked for comments or questions from the
committee about the proposed legislation. Hearing none, Lee
Holmes moved to the next agenda item.
10. OTHER BUSINESS
Lee Holmes entertained discussion of other business. There
was no other business and Lee Holmes entertained a motion
to adjourn.
11. ADJOURN
Motion made by: Senator Tom Begich
No objections.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 a.m.
9:40:37 AM
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 20210413 Full committee packet - BASIS.pdf |
JETH 4/13/2021 9:00:00 AM |