Legislature(1993 - 1994)
01/20/1993 01:45 PM Senate JUD
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
January 20, 1993
1:45 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Robin Taylor, Chairman
Senator Rick Halford, Vice-Chairman
Senator George Jacko
Senator Suzanne Little
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Dave Donley
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
OVERVIEWS:
- Bruce Botelho (Department of Law)
- Arthur Snowden (Alaska Court System)
PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
NONE
WITNESS REGISTER
Bruce M. Botelho
Deputy Attorney General
P.O. Box 110300
Juneau, AK 99811-0300
Arthur H. Snowden, II
Administrative Director
303 K Street
Anchorage, Alaska 99501-2084
Dean Guaneli, Chief
Assistant Attorney General
Criminal Division
Department of Law
P.O. Box 110300
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0300
Deborah E. Behr
Assistant Attorney General
General Civil Section
Department of Law
P.O. Box 110300
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0300
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 93-2, SIDE A
Number 001
Chairman Robin Taylor called the Judiciary Committee meeting
to order at 1:45 p.m.
(Due to a malfunction in the taping process, the beginning
of the minutes have been reconstructed from a letter written
by CHARLES CHRISTENSEN, Staff Counsel for the Alaska Court
System and from the log notes.)
ARTHUR SNOWDEN reviewed the letter from the Alaska Court
System requesting the Judiciary Committee to reintroduce the
following bills on behalf of the supreme court.
The first bill was CSHB 93 (HES) relating to the findings
and recommendations of a neutral mediator when awarding
shared custody.
(The following is quoted from the letter.)
"During the Seventeenth Legislature, a bill containing CSHB
93 (HES) passed the House and died in the Senate Rules
Committee. The statutory change which it proposed was first
made in the June, 1990 report by the Task Force on
Mediation. This task force was formed by Chief Justice
Matthews in December, 1988 in response to an instruction
from the Fifteenth Legislature.
Currently, AS 25.20.090 reads in pertinent part:
In determining whether to award shared custody of a
child the court shall consider ....
(7) any findings and recommendations of a neutral
mediator;
After study, the task force concluded that this statute as
written endangers the mediation process and runs contrary to
the majority view that mediation communications be kept
confidential. The majority view also does not envision a
mediator making a recommendation about the resolution of a
dispute. To correct this problem, CSHB 93 (HES) proposed
deleting from the statute the requirement that the findings
and recommendations of a neutral mediator be considered by
the court."
The second bill, HB 172, related to the preparation of the
jury list.
(The following is quoted from the letter.)
"This bill passed the House 34 - 0, and died in the Senate
Judiciary Committee. At the present time, AS 09.20.050
instructs the administrative director to prepare a list of
persons qualified for jury service by March 15 of each year.
It is compiled from the list of applicants for the permanent
fund dividend, which must be submitted by the Department of
Revenue to the court system by the preceding January 15.
Putting the jury year on a calendar year basis would allow
more efficient administration. Accordingly, HB 171 proposed
requiring the administration director to prepare the jury
list by November 30, from a list submitted by the Department
of Revenue no later than September 30."
(Copies of the proposed bills were included with the letter
from the Alaska Court System.)
There ensued a discussion by the committee members about
juvenile matters, minor offenses, presumptive challenges,
and the position of the court in these matters.
(At #222 the taping machine became operable.)
Number 222
In discussing DWI'S, SENATOR HALFORD asked MR. SNOWDEN what
would happen if the judge was to impose a three day minimum
jail term or a fine of $5 thousand in cash, with nothing
suspended. SENATOR HALFORD suggested the judge use which
ever had the maximum deterrent value and asked MR. SNOWDEN
what would happen with his suggestion.
MR. SNOWDEN thought the legislators would have to make some
provisions for indigence and income base. He suggested a
sliding scale, but he explained the judges were too busy to
make decisions on sliding scales. MR. SNOWDEN said many
fines were not collectable anyway, and that using hard beds
for DWI'S was a waste of money.
SENATOR HALFORD suggested that the second DWI offense might
be a super lien on the vehicle driven, and MR. SNOWDEN
countered that many vehicles were owned by the bank. He
claimed that Alaska was the most violent state in the nation
with the combination of alcohol, guns, and dangerous roads,
and incarcerated a larger percentage of our population than
any other state. MR. SNOWDEN said he would welcome any
legislation that would break the cycle of violence and
praised some of SENATOR HALFORD'S ideas. They agreed the
problem might be worse than Washington, D.C.
Number 265
With his court system background, SENATOR TAYLOR said there
needed to be some draconian measures in sentencing to stop
the flood of violence, and he was going to be looking for
alternatives such as the use of antabuse in sentencing for
crimes involving alcohol.
MR. SNOWDEN said Alaska was number 1 in rape and the number
of domestic violence crimes were going through the ceiling.
He suggested the committee look at mandated hearings which
increased the number of hearings for each case, expanding
the case load and the costs.
Next to speak was BRUCE BOTELHO, Deputy Attorney General.
He introduced DEAN GUANELI, Director of the Criminal
Division, and DEBORAH BEHR, Assistant Attorney General and
Legislative Liaison.
Number 294
MR. BOTELHO brought regrets from ATTORNEY GENERAL COLE
because he was unable to attend. He said that MR. GUANELI
would be outlining the crime package of legislation from the
Department of Law. MR. BOTELHO, before turning the meeting
over to MR. GUANELI, spoke to the supplemental
appropriations legislation for the Department of Law, and he
discussed the scope of the legislation:
- $400,000 for the criminal division to prevent the
lay-off of prosecutors, caused by budget cuts last year.
- A supplemental for Oil and Gas for $8.8 million, in
addition to the $10.5 million in the original appropriation.
- $280 thousand for outside counsel for the
State/Federal Relations office, staffed by JOHN KATZ in
Washington, D.C., in a case dealing with the Federal
Communications Commission and our Interstate Communications.
He gave an overview of the case which has lingered for 9
years, and said he would be presenting a separate
judgement's bill for about $87 thousand.
- MR. BOTELHO explained there was $1.3 million owed in
judgement against the state in the reapportionment case, and
he described the imperatives of the judgement. He then
turned the meeting over to MR. GUANELI.
Number 358
MR. GUANELI explained the attorney general had personally
directed the Department of Law to draft four pieces of
legislation currently under consideration by the governor
for introduction. The first two pieces of legislation are
conspiracy and forfeiture in drug cases, and the last two
are wiretapping legislation and juvenile waiver, prosecuting
juveniles in adult court for murder offenses. These last
two are new pieces of legislation. MR. GUANELI discussed
the reasons for the crime package.
When asked by SENATOR TAYLOR when the bills would be
available, MR. GUANELI explained the time sequence. SENATOR
LITTLE asked for a description of the conspiracy bill, and
MR. GUANELI gave her an overview on the legislation, which
included murder, kidnapping, and serious felony drug
offenses using joint concerted action.
Number 403
SENATOR LITTLE questioned the wiretapping, and MR. GUANELI
explained the application and limitations of the
legislation. He referred to the federal wiretapping
legislation in relation to what must be included in state
legislation, particularly to protect individual rights. MR.
GUANELI explained why wiretapping was an expensive
proposition - but an important tool in law enforcement.
SENATOR TAYLOR noted the innovations used in New South
Wales, Australia where world wide wire tapping was employed
for drug investigations.
Number 455
SENATOR TAYLOR invited DEBORAH BEHR to testify on the Civil
Division legislation for the session. She reviewed the
priorities which included interest rates on judgments which
need to be updated in statute. She said the legislation
would work for all private and public litigants equally and
would parallel what is being done in federal courts now.
In answer to questions from SENATOR TAYLOR, she explained
the market rate and how the judge would use the information
in the judgments.
MS BEHR reviewed the second bill which has been recommended
by the Uniform Law Commissioners, and she added she was a
Uniform Law Commissioner. She explained how it would update
the Uniform Commercial Codes allowing for more
predictability in commercial transactions across state
lines.
Number 492
MS BEHR said the Civil Division was going to recommend two
bills to change 4(A) of the Commercial Code to deal with
electronic transfers in banking. A mega-bill would also be
introduced to improve leasing, negotiable instruments, and
bulk sales. MS BEHR explained it was being introduce in
both houses and was supported by the attorney general. The
last bill she discussed with the committee would address
charities and mail order fraud in answer to many complaints
about these subjects. She outlined the protection built
into the bill to prevent fraud, and said she was working
with REPRESENTATIVE LARSON on the legislation.
SENATOR LITTLE questioned whether the banking industry was
in agreement with the interest rate judgments, and MS BEHR
said the judgments would move across all private and public
interests. She explained how the banking community would
benefit from the legislation.
SENATOR LITTLE questioned the electronic banking in the same
manner, and MS BEHR said there had been no concerns
expressed at this time. She also explained that Alaska was
behind other states in this banking procedure.
SENATOR TAYLOR suggested some of his ideas for calculating
the judgement interest with the use of a floating interest
rate to be established at a yearly rate at a specific time.
MR. BOTELHO asked SENATOR TAYLOR if he envisioned a
particular body, such as the supreme court, to set the rate,
and they discussed possible constitutional conflict and
separation of powers with the legislature. SENATOR TAYLOR
suggested basing the rate on the Consumer Price Index.
MR. BOTELHO concluded the presentation, and SENATOR TAYLOR
thanked the participants.
There being no further business to come before the
committee, the meeting was adjourned at 2:35 p.m.
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