Legislature(2017 - 2018)HOUSE FINANCE 519
01/20/2017 11:30 AM House LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
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 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
JANUARY 20, 2017
11:50 AM
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Sam Kito, Chair
Senator Bert Stedman, Vice Chair
Representative Matt Claman
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Representative David Guttenberg
Representative Charisse Millett
Representative Dan Ortiz
Representative Louise Stutes
Representative Harriet Drummond, Majority Alternate
Representative David Eastman, Minority Alternate
Senator Pete Kelly
Senator Anna MacKinnon
Senator Kevin Meyer
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Gary Stevens
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Cathy Giessel, Alternate
OTHER MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Dan Saddler
AGENDA
COMMITTEE ORGANIZATION
COMMITTEE POLICIES
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
SPEAKER REGISTER
Jerry Luckhaupt, Revisor of Statutes, Legal Services,
Legislative Affairs Agency
Lisa Kirsch, Assistant Revisor of Statutes, Legal Services,
Legislative Affairs Agency
Pam Varni, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs Agency
11:49:09 AM
CHAIR STEVENS opened the Legislative Council meeting by
thanking many of the people who made the last two years so
successful. He particularly thanked Pam Varni, Executive
Director, who has done a tremendous job; Doug Gardner,
Legal Services Director, who has been great to work with
through many contractual issues; his Chief of Staff Katrina
Matheny; and all the staff at the Legislative Affairs
Agency.
I. CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the Legislative Council meeting
to order at 11:50 a.m. in Room 519 (House Finance) of the
State Capitol. Present at the call were Representatives
Claman, Edgmon, Guttenberg, Millett, Ortiz, Stutes,
Drummond (alternate), Eastman (alternate), Kito; Senators
Kelly, MacKinnon, Meyer, Micciche, Stevens, Stedman. Absent
were Senators Hoffman and Giessel (alternate).
II. COMMITTEE ORGANIZATION
a. Election of the Chair
b. Election of the Vice Chair
a. Election of the Chair
11:51:01 AM
Speaker Edgmon nominated Representative Sam Kito as the
Chair of Legislative Council, and asked for unanimous
consent and that the nominations be closed.
There were no objections and with congratulations from the
outgoing Chair, Representative Kito was passed the gavel.
CHAIR KITO noted the removal of the West Benson LIO item
from the agenda and explained that there were still some
issues that needed to be resolved regarding building
renovations. He said they would be putting together a
working group to discuss the issue as session progresses;
right now we are still able to occupy and utilize the
facility while we consider what renovations are necessary
for the future. He then asked for a motion to elect the
Vice Chair.
b. Election of the Vice Chair
11:52:43 AM
SENATOR GARY STEVENS nominated Senator Bert Stedman as the
Vice Chair of Legislative Council, and asked for unanimous
consent and that the nominations be closed.
There were no objections.
SENATOR PETE KELLY noted that with the removal of the West
Benson LIO item, which was a significant action item, he
would be leaving the meeting to attend to another
commitment.
III. COMMITTEE POLICIES
a. Quorum on Voting Requirements
b. Alternate Members
c. Sanctioning Charitable Events
d. Subcommittee Assignments
a. Quorum on Voting Requirements
CHAIR KITO outlined the voting requirements for this
committee. He said there needs to be eight members for a
quorum and at least one member from both bodies. It
requires eight members to approve a motion. The policy for
any motion made without objection is that a roll call vote
will not be required.
b. Alternate Members
Chair Kito noted that there are alternate members for this
committee and they are welcome to participate and attend
any of the Legislative Council meetings but will not be
eligible to vote unless the appropriate body's number of
members are not present.
There was no objection to maintaining the alternate member
policy.
c. Sanctioning Charitable Events
Chair Kito said that per AS 24.60.080(a)(2)(B), Legislative
Council sanctions charitable events that have a 501(c)(3)
tax free status. This has been the policy since 2003. The
committee grants the Chair the ability to sanction events
so there are opportunities if an event is happening before
the next Legislative Council meeting; the committee will
then ratify the sanctioning at the next available meeting.
There was no objection to maintaining the charitable events
policy.
d. Subcommittee Assignments
Chair Kito said he would like to establish subcommittees on
various issues to ensure efficiently addressing legislative
business and as much participation on those issues as
possible. He proposed the following subcommittees, which is
not an exclusive list: Information Technology, Security,
Moving & Travel, Per Diem, and West Benson LIO Space
Utilization. He asked that members who are interested in
serving on any of these subcommittees contact the Chair's
office. The goal is to have at least one member from each
body on each committee.
IV. OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
a. West Benson LIO (removed from agenda)
b. Manual of Legislative Drafting 2017
c. 2017 Revisor's Bill
d. Sanctioning of a Charitable Event
b. Manual of Legislative Drafting 2017
JERRY LUCKHAUPT, Revisor of Statues for the Alaska State
Legislature, said that the Manual of Legislative Drafting
is required under Rule 10 of the Alaska State Legislature;
and the purpose is to provide for some uniformity and
continuity and to reduce ambiguity in the statutes so that
we don't end up with a situation where the courts are
constantly interpreting what we say. If we say one thing in
one place then we should be saying it the same way in
another place. To that end, the new manual was presented to
Council along with a memo identifying the changes. There
were the normal clerical changes that occur going from the
29th Legislature to the 30th Legislature. He said one of
the big changes was the addition of the section to provide
a little more notice to both Legislators and staff of the
things that Legal Services needs in order to effectively
carry out their wishes, which is called "Consideration for
Drafting of Bills." He said this manual allows Legal
Services to ensure a Legislator's wishes are carried out
consistently and effectively.
There was no discussion for this item.
12:01:00 PM
VICE CHAIR STEDMAN moved that Legislative Council adopt the
2017 Drafting Manual.
The motion passed without objection.
c. 2017 Revisor's Bill
LISA KIRSCH, Assistant Revisor, joined Mr. Luckhaupt at the
testifier's table to speak to this item. She said the
Revisor's Bill is designed to correct any deficiencies or
conflicts, or get rid of obsolete provisions, which
generally improved the substance and form of the Alaska
statutes. She said this is done under Title 1, which gives
the Revisors the ability to make certain types of changes.
Generally, they avoid any substantive changes and stay
clearly within their statutory authority. Ms. Kirsch gave
some examples of the types of changes made in this version
of the Revisor's Bill, and each member had a sectional in
their packet that provided the details.
SENATOR MACKINNON moved a conceptual amendment for
discussion, specifically page 6, line 31 through page 7,
line 1, to delete "deliver the report to the senate
secretary and the chief clerk of the house of
representatives and". She asked Mr. Luckhaupt and Ms.
Kirsch to speak to this conceptual amendment.
MR. LUCKHAUPT said that they have been trying to insert
language like that into the statutes to assist the chief
clerk and the senate secretary in dealing with the numerous
reports that the Legislature requires Executive Branch
agencies submit to the Legislature. The clerk and the
secretary have had problems over the years with some
agencies calling their office to say the report is
available, while other agencies send physical reports,
others send electronic reports, and some inundate the clerk
or the secretary with 60 copies. In 1995, the Legislature
enacted a law that, in 127 places in statute, changed the
requirements for reports. It removed requirements for each
member to receive a physical report and added this language
about how the agency completes the report and notifies the
Legislature that the report is available. He said that
language became problematic over the years and created an
additional workload on the clerk and the secretary, who
were often having to do some of the work the Executive
Branch agencies should have been doing and organizing. He
said in this case, it is probably best to remove this
language from the Revisor's Bill and address this
separately in another bill.
Mr. Luckhaupt said that Senator MacKinnon had asked Legal
Services to prepare legislation that might create a common
provision for reports to the Legislature; something that
might be inserted in Title 24 that provides that when the
Legislature requires an agency to submit a report to the
Legislature that it be done in a certain way. It will
either be submitted in electronic format to the senate
secretary or chief clerk and notice shall be provided to
the individual members of the Legislature by electronic
means or whatever Senator MacKinnon desires. Then, in these
individual sections where the Legislature orders an annual
report, we can say that the agency shall submit the report
as provided under 24.10.220. It will be a simpler process,
everyone will know the way to do it, and it might finally
solve the problem of these reports or at least provide
simplicity and certainty to the clerk and the secretary. He
recommended the Revisor's Bill go forward without the
clause that's part of that amendment.
SENATOR MACKINNON said she wanted Mr. Luckhaupt and his
team to have an opportunity to talk about some of the
challenges faced. The Legislature has been moving toward
electronic submittal of reports so that we don't have some
of the expenses. Being able to centralize or unify where
reports are distributed would be helpful for the entire
team. She said she would be happy to introduce a committee
bill or personal legislation on behalf of all the members,
and asked that members who support this amendment to also
support and commit to trying to bring this forward without
adding other things to the bill. She said Legislative
Council's support would be helpful to shepherd along this
move to electronic submittal and certainty on where reports
will wind up.
The conceptual amendment was adopted without objection.
12:10:26 PM
VICE CHAIR STEDMAN moved that Legislative Council approve
the 2017 Revisor's bill version 30-LS0010\J as amended and
forward it to the House Rules Committee for introduction by
request.
The amended motion was approved without objection.
d. Ratification of a Charitable Event - American Red Cross
12:11:35 PM
VICE CHAIR STEDMAN moved that Legislative Council ratify
the Chair's sanctioning of the following charitable events
per AS 24.60.080(a)(2)(B): 100 Years of Flirting With
Disaster Celebration.
DISCUSSION FOLLOWED between Representative Guttenberg and
Executive Director Pam Varni about the need for sanctioning
a charitable event.
The motion was approved without objection.
There being no further business before the committee,
Legislative Council adjourned at 12:13 p.m.
12:13:10 PM
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|