Legislature(1999 - 2000)
01/21/2000 01:15 PM House JUD
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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HOUSE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE
January 21, 2000
1:15 p.m.
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Overview of interstate compact by: Lonzo Henderson
TAPE(S)
00-3, SIDE A
CALL TO ORDER
Representative Pete Kott, Chairman, convened the House Judiciary
Standing Committee meeting at 1:15 p.m.
PRESENT
Committee members present at the call to order were Representatives
Kott, Green, Croft, Rokeberg and Murkowski.
SUMMARY OF INFORMATION
COMMISSIONER MARGARET PUGH, Department of Corrections, introduced
Lonzo Henderson, Deputy Director/Interstate Compact Administrator,
Division of Community Corrections. Commissioner Pugh informed the
committee that many persons on probation and/or parole, both state
and federal, move about the country in one capacity or another.
Therefore, states have a compact regarding how issues are handled
with people who move across state borders. Furthermore, each state
has an interstate compact administrator and as such Mr. Henderson
represents the State of Alaska.
LONZO HENDERSON, Deputy Director/Interstate Compact Administrator,
Division of Community Corrections, Department of Corrections,
provided the committee with an overview of the existing interstate
compact and how the proposed legislation is coming about. He
explained that the current compact allows for the transfer of the
supervision of people on probation or parole to another state, the
receiving state, if certain criteria are met. Those criteria
include the person having a residence in the receiving state, the
person being a resident of the receiving state, the person having
a home offer in that state or receiving acceptance from the compact
administrator of the receiving state that the plan is acceptable
for the rehabilitation of the person. Due to issues that have
arisen with the existing compact, which has been in existence since
1937, the Probation (Indisc.) Compact Administrators Association
approached the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) for
technical assistance. Those issues include victim notification,
the allowance of people to transfer across state lines without
going through the interstate compact, the issuance of travel passes
that were outside the 30-day limitation and the allowance of sex
offenders to cross state lines without verification as to their
specific location. The NIC's position is that the current compact
is outdated and should be "revamped." Therefore, NIC provided the
states with a draft of the proposed compact.
MR. HENDERSON stated that the proposed compact will have "more
teeth" than the existing compact. He emphasized that any state
[wishing to participate] would have to utilize the exact language
provided in the proposed compact; there can be no deviations.
Therefore, under the proposed compact the state would have to
create a state council, a interstate council and an executive
committee. He noted that the committee packet should include a
breakdown regarding the cost per state that NIC projects. The
formation of a new interstate compact ranges in cost from $18,000
to $48,000 per year. He pointed out that the new interstate
compact has to be adopted by 35 states before it can become
effective and before the rules can be established.
MR. HENDERSON informed the committee that at the last Interstate
Compact Administrators Association meeting a resolution to revise
the new compact and add rules was adopted. One rule being drafted
is in regard to the development of a policy for traveling sex
offenders. Mr. Henderson noted that his policy for sex offenders
in Alaska is that if a sex offender wants to travel to another
state, the travel pass has to be faxed to his office where it is
reviewed and then faxed to the receiving state. Furthermore, if
the receiving state has registration requirements, those must be
followed. Another issue under review is victim notification.
Practically every state has a victim notification system and thus
it is merely a matter of coordination between states. The new
compact creates the Interstate Commission, which can sanction a
state for not following the rules. However, Mr. Henderson believes
that when an officer doesn't follow the compact rules that is an
issue that should be dealt with in that state as a personnel issue,
which is [currently] the case in Alaska. In conclusion, Mr.
Henderson noted that if Alaska were to consider [the new compact],
there would be an initial fiscal note of $18,000, which would cover
the creation of the state council, the executive committee and the
interstate commission.
A question and answer session followed in which Mr. Henderson
explained that Alaska doesn't have the issues that other states are
experiencing with the existing compact and thus the adoption of the
new compact would not have relevance for Alaska. If 35 states
adopt the new compact and Alaska is not one of the 35, Alaska could
continue under the existing compact and states with the new compact
could continue to send people to states operating under the
existing compact. However, it is not clear as to whether a state
with the new compact would be able to go to court in order to
sanction the receiving state, if the receiving state didn't follow
the procedures of the compact. He also pointed out that no states
have adopted the new compact, although he believes Massachusetts is
reviewing the new compact. In response to Representative Croft, he
informed the committee that the existing compact doesn't include
representation by victim's groups and thus [the division] is
looking into drafting legislation to ensure victim notification.
There was discussion regarding the $18,000 fiscal note. It was
noted that there may be fiscal notes in other areas. Commissioner
Pugh pointed out that [the new compact] would raise the dues from
the current $2,000 to $18,000 per year in order to run the
commission at the national level. Furthermore, the new compact
would require an in-state commission, which would be an additional
cost. The discussion then turned to the difference in Alaska and
other states in that Alaska doesn't have as much bureaucracy as
other states and thus this is less of a problem in Alaska; the
existing compact is working in Alaska. Therefore, Alaska needs to
wait and see what happens as far as the other states and the
proposed compact.
During further questions and answers, Mr. Henderson said that the
[proposed new] compact would supersede state law if there is a
conflict. In regard to whether there would be an increased
liability/burden to the state with the new compact if a person
enters the state under the compact and commits a heinous act, Mr.
Henderson indicated that if the policies and procedures were
followed, there would be no additional liability. Regarding the
cyclical work in Alaska, Mr. Henderson noted that there have been
a few cases in which people have stayed without permission [beyond
the length of their seasonal work], but those situations were
resolved [with] the compact administrator of the other state.
The questions turned to the issue of sex offenders, which are
covered under the existing compact. Mr. Henderson pointed out that
[the division] is looking at legislation to draft rules for travel
passes for sex offenders. Commissioner Pugh pointed out sex
offender travel has to be coordinated through the probation parole
officer of the sending state. There was discussion regarding the
sex offender laws in Alaska and other states and how that is dealt
with in respect to the compact. Mr. Henderson clarified that the
existing and the proposed compact only cover the supervision of
those on probation or parole supervision. In regard to cases in
which say an Alaskan on probation or parole supervision with
electronic monitoring wants to travel to another state which
doesn't have electronic monitoring, the case would have to be
brought to the court for sentence modification in order for the
person to travel to that state.
COMMITTEE ACTION
The committee took no action.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting took a brief at-ease in order to organize for the
committee to hear the legislation scheduled for the day.
Therefore, the portion of the meeting in which the scheduled
legislation was heard is treated as a separate meeting with
separate minutes.
NOTE:
The meeting was recorded and handwritten log notes were taken. A
copy of the tape(s) and log notes may be obtained by contacting the
House Records Office at 129 6th Street, Suite 229, Juneau, Alaska
99801, (907) 465-2214, and after adjournment of the second session
of the Twenty-first Alaska State Legislature this information may
be obtained by contacting the Legislative Reference Library at 129
6th Street, Suite 102, Juneau, Alaska 99801, (907) 465-3808.
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