04/07/2010 02:43 PM Senate JUD
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB249 | |
| HB52 | |
| HJR48 | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE
April 7, 2010
2:43 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Bill Wielechowski, Vice Chair
Senator Lesil McGuire
Senator John Coghill
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Hollis French, Chair
Senator Dennis Egan
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE BILL NO. 249
"An Act relating to official action by electronic transmission,
to records, and to public records."
- MOVED CSSB 249(JUD) OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE BILL NO. 52
"An Act authorizing psychological counseling for jurors serving
in criminal trials who are traumatized by graphic evidence or
testimony."
- HEARD AND HELD
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 48
Urging the United States Congress to pass the Crime Victims Fund
Preservation Act.
- HEARD AND HELD
SENATE BILL NO. 304
"An Act adopting the Alaska Entity Transactions Act; relating to
changing the form of entities, including corporations,
partnerships, limited liability companies, business trusts, and
other organizations; amending Rule 79, Alaska Rules of Civil
Procedure, and Rules 602(b)(2), 602(c), and 605.5, Alaska Rules
of Appellate Procedure; and providing for an effective date."
- SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 249
SHORT TITLE: PUBLIC RECORDS/ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSIONS
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) ELLIS
02/01/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/01/10 (S) STA, JUD
03/23/10 (S) STA RPT 5DP
03/23/10 (S) DP: MENARD, FRENCH, MEYER, PASKVAN,
KOOKESH
03/23/10 (S) STA AT 9:00 AM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/23/10 (S) Moved SB 249 Out of Committee
03/23/10 (S) MINUTE(STA)
03/31/10 (S) JUD AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
03/31/10 (S) Heard & Held
03/31/10 (S) MINUTE(JUD)
04/02/10 (S) JUD AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
04/02/10 (S) Heard & Held
04/02/10 (S) MINUTE(JUD)
04/07/10 (S) JUD AT 8:30 AM BUTROVICH 205
04/07/10 (S) JUD AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
BILL: HB 52
SHORT TITLE: POST-TRIAL JUROR COUNSELING
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) KERTTULA
01/20/09 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/9/09
01/20/09 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/20/09 (H) JUD, FIN
02/26/10 (H) JUD AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 120
02/26/10 (H) Moved Out of Committee
02/26/10 (H) MINUTE(JUD)
03/01/10 (H) JUD RPT 5DP
03/01/10 (H) DP: LYNN, GRUENBERG, HERRON, DAHLSTROM,
RAMRAS
03/26/10 (H) FIN AT 1:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519
03/26/10 (H) Moved Out of Committee
03/26/10 (H) MINUTE(FIN)
03/29/10 (H) FIN RPT 10DP 1NR
03/29/10 (H) DP: THOMAS, GARA, DOOGAN, JOULE,
AUSTERMAN, SALMON, N.FOSTER,
FAIRCLOUGH,
03/29/10 (H) STOLTZE, HAWKER
03/29/10 (H) NR: KELLY
03/31/10 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S)
03/31/10 (H) VERSION: HB 52
04/01/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
04/01/10 (S) JUD, FIN
04/07/10 (S) JUD AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
BILL: HJR 48
SHORT TITLE: CRIME VICTIMS FUND PRESERVATION ACT
SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) KERTTULA
02/23/10 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/23/10 (H) FIN
03/19/10 (H) FIN AT 1:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519
03/19/10 (H) Moved Out of Committee
03/19/10 (H) MINUTE(FIN)
03/22/10 (H) FIN RPT 9DP
03/22/10 (H) DP: GARA, DOOGAN, JOULE, KELLY,
AUSTERMAN, N.FOSTER, FAIRCLOUGH,
STOLTZE,
03/22/10 (H) HAWKER
03/25/10 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S)
03/25/10 (H) VERSION: HJR 48
03/26/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/26/10 (S) JUD
04/07/10 (S) JUD AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
WITNESS REGISTER
MAX HENSLEY, staff
to Senator Ellis, explained that the
POSITION STATEMENT: Described the changes that the committee
substitute (CS) made to SB 249.
REPRESENTATIVE BETH KERTTULA
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Sponsor of HB 52 and HJR 48.
MINDY LOBAUGH, representing herself
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in strong support for HB 52.
LAUREE MORTON, Program Coordinator
Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
Department of Public Safety (DPS
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified that she personally supports HB
52 and on behalf of CDVSA in support of HJR 48.
DOUGLAS WOOLIVER, Administrative Attorney
Alaska Court System
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information about what the court
might do if HB 52 were to become law.
HANNAH MCCARTY, Staff
to Representative Beth Kerttula
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information related to HB 52 on
behalf of the sponsor.
SAMANTHA ENGILSHOE, Intern
for Representative Beth Kerttula
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information related to HJR 48 on
behalf of the sponsor.
ACTION NARRATIVE
2:43:27 PM
VICE-CHAIR BILL WIELECHOWSKI called the Senate Judiciary
Standing Committee meeting to order at 2:43 p.m. Present at the
call to order were Senators Coghill, McGuire and Wielechowski.
SB 249-PUBLIC RECORDS/ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSIONS
VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced the consideration of SB 249.
It was heard previously.
2:43:43 PM
MAX HENSLEY, staff to Senator Ellis, explained that the
committee substitute (CS) for SB 249 responds to the concerns
the administration expressed in a memo that was distributed at
the previous hearing.
2:44:07 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE moved to adopt the work draft CS for SB 249,
labeled 26-LS1014\P, as the working document.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI objected for discussion purposes.
MR. HENSLEY said he would walk through the changes the CS makes
and explain how they reflect the concerns that were raised.
In Section 1 on page 2, line 9, the words "electronic record"
were added as part of the list of formats of records. The
definition of an electronic transmission was deleted from that
section because the Department of Law (DOL) found it to be both
too specific and too broad. Subparagraph (B) lists items that
are excluded from the definition of "public record" in other
places and those are included here for consistency. On page 1,
lines 13-14, the phrase "appropriate for preservation" was
deleted and the phrase "required by law to be preserved" was
inserted. The records retention schedule is outlined in Title
40.21 and DOL thought that more specific description should be
preserved.
Section 2 is a new section. It was moved from the Executive
Branch Ethics Act to the Personnel Act in the belief that this
would be a more appropriate place for the prohibition on the use
of private electronic transmission systems. It also rewritten to
add a few exceptions to the rule. The administration felt
strongly that there are places where use of private emails and
other electronic transmissions are appropriate. This mirrors the
policy the bill was attempting to put into statute, he said. In
particular, subsection (c) says that it does not apply to a
public officer who is taking or withholding official action
during a public safety emergency.
2:47:00 PM
MR. HENSLEY said Sections 3 and 7 mirror the changes that are
found in Section 1 with respect to the definition of a public
record. Sections 4, 5, and 6 refer to the fee schedules for
accessing public records. DOL was concerned about the additional
cost burden of lowering this fee schedule and the mutually
agreed solution was to maintain the current fee schedule for the
categories described on page 5, lines 14-16 - for a corporation
other than a news media corporation, for an unduly burdensome
request, or for a commercial request. If a request is determined
to be unduly burdensome, there is language that requires DOL to
work with the requester to move them out of that category. He
noted that DOL's experience is that most excessively large
requests are due to the fact the person making the request may
not understand what they are requesting. But with some guidance,
they can get the needed information without creating unnecessary
work, he said.
Section 7 rewrites AS 40.25.125 to clarify that someone who
impairs a public record is subject to prosecution for a criminal
offense under the two existing tampering with public records
statutes. It was never the sponsor's intent to create new
criminal liability, he said. Section 8 makes the same change to
the definition of public record as in Sections 1 and 3 thereby
providing consistency throughout.
2:49:21 PM
VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI, noting that the administration wasn't
represented at this hearing, asked Mr. Hensley if he and the
sponsor had worked with DOL to address their concerns.
MR. HENSLEY answered yes; the CS represents the points of
agreement between the two offices. Although they didn't resolve
every concern, they did address a majority of the points that
were raised in the letter that was presented to the committee.
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI removed his objection and found no further
objection to the adoption of the CS.
2:50:42 PM
SENATOR COGHILL moved to report CS for SB 249, version P, from
committee with individual recommendations, attached zero fiscal
note(s), and the stated intention to find out if there is a
fiscal impact since the fiscal notes hadn't been updated for the
CS.
VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced that without objection CSSB
249(JUD) moved from the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee.
HB 52-POST-TRIAL JUROR COUNSELING
VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced the consideration of HB 52.
2:51:30 PM
REPRESENTATIVE BETH KERTTULA, sponsor of HB 52, said this bill
came about because a friend came to her after serving on a
particularly difficult jury. When the jurors asked the court
about counseling they were told there was none to be offered.
She said she worked initially with the court, but ultimately
decided that it would be best to introduce legislation. HB 52
would allow up to 10 hours of counseling for jury members who
serve on particularly gruesome and graphic cases and are
traumatized as a result.
MINDY LOBAUGH, representing herself, Juneau, said that HB 52
represents a bridge, a bridge that she and many other jurors did
not have at the end of a traumatic trial. She went on to say:
You arrive at the courthouse; you're given detailed
instructions of what is expected of you as a juror and
how the process of the trial works. What the court
system does not do is transition jurors out of the
trial. It is not uncommon to have major criminal
trials run for many days. I served as a juror on the
Rachelle Waterman trial four years ago. It lasted
approximately 10 days. For me, I arrived open and
ready to do my civic duty as a juror.
For 10 days, prosecutors went into excruciating detail
to help the jurors relive the events of an
unsuspecting mother getting abducted from her home,
tortured, and finally murdered. It was then our duty
to determine if the defendant, her daughter, was
guilty of masterminding this tragedy against a woman
who was a pillar of her community. By the end of the
trial, I left there as a victim, feeling closed,
mentally battered, and very traumatized by the burden
of knowledge I now carry.
I am here to tell you the media does not even come
close to covering the depth of this trial. As a juror,
we had access to piles of emails detailing out every
various way these men planned to kill the mother; the
physical evidence; the photographs; and, of course,
the hours of testimony.
2:54:32 PM
For quite some time during and following that trial,
eating, for me, was a near impossibility because of
the constant nausea I felt. To my friends and family,
I became a stranger, and each night I prayed myself to
sleep. One of my fellow jury-mates was pregnant with
her second child - she had shared her excitement and
the ultrasound pictures with us early on in the trial.
By the end of the trial, she lost her baby and had to
be excused from the trial. When this trial ended with
a hung jury, I turned to the presiding judge and I
asked if the courts offer some kind of counseling or
process to help jurors deal with the traumatizing
information. The answer was no. For me, it was like
having a door slammed in my face. There would be no
help in transitioning back to my life before this
trial, no bridge. Rather, I would have to move forward
with the dark knowledge. It was at this point I felt
the court had failed me as a juror doing my civic
duty.
Please help me to build the bridge by supporting HB 52
- Post-Trial Jury Counseling. I may not have found
closure with respect to this trial, but maybe you can
bridge that for future jurors doing their civic duty
by passing HB 52.
VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI thanked her for her compelling
testimony.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if she got counseling on her own.
MS. LOBAUGH replied she did, but not immediately. Early on she
simply wanted to hide and not talk about it again. Now she
realizes that counseling would have helped her understand right
away that what she was doing was counterproductive.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if the timeframe suggested in the bill is
sufficient to negotiate strategies for dealing with traumatic
court cases.
MS. LOBAUGH said she believes that ten hours is a reasonable
amount of time to start the process. In that time a juror could
be evaluated by a professional and get some tools that would
help them get back to their life. For those who are fortunate,
ten hours may be enough to finish that process.
SENATOR COGHILL said he asked because she received counseling
and would have a good idea about whether or not ten hours is
sufficient.
MS. LOBAUGH said she would have found ten hours to be
sufficient.
2:57:53 PM
LAUREE MORTON, Program Coordinator, Council on Domestic Violence
and Sexual Assault (CDVSA), Department of Public Safety (DPS),
said she doesn't believe that CDVSA had looked at HB 52, but as
a private citizen she believes that it's very important to help
people process traumatic events. When people are willing to come
forward to do service, they should have some help after their
service is complete if it's needed because most people in their
daily lives aren't exposed what they'll see and hear in a murder
or assault or other traumatic trial. It's a fair offering to our
citizens, she said.
2:59:40 PM
DOUGLAS WOOLIVER, Administrative Attorney, Alaska Court System,
introduced himself.
SENATOR MCGUIRE asked if he can envision administering this
bill. She suggested that jurors who serve on cases involving
horrific crimes should automatically receive a handout about
services that may be available to help them deal with the trauma
they may be experiencing. They shouldn't need to ask for this,
she said.
MR. WOOLIVER said he's heard judges say that if this bill were
to pass they would speak to the jurors that had served on these
kinds of cases and let them know that counseling was available.
The court may in fact already have a list of counselors that
they've contracted with, he said. But the broader question is if
all jurors should be given a handout at the end of every trial
because he can imagine that even some run-of-the-mill cases are
difficult for some people to sit in on. He said he'd take that
suggestion back to the court.
3:02:05 PM
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked how this would be administered.
MR. WOOLIVER said the court tried this twice in Southeast and
because it was a little out of the ordinary it involved a bit of
scrambling, but it basically involved going through the small
procurement process. If HB 52 were to pass, the court would
probably have a list of providers who had agreed to do this work
for jurors. He noted that oftentimes it would be on short
notice.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if there would be some accommodation for
the jurors who say they need more than ten hours of counseling
and if there might be some indigent pay.
MR. WOOLIVER replied they pay for a lot of things but none that
he can think of that are time limited. This would be similar to
insurance coverage that covers X amount of something and beyond
that it's not covered. In this situation the state would pay for
a certain amount of service, but not beyond that.
3:04:45 PM
SENATOR COGHILL observed that any time there's a time limit it
creates a liability issue because somebody will say they needed
more. It appears that this could put the court under a liability
and to this point the state hasn't accepted any liability for
peoples' reactions to doing their civic duty.
MR. WOOLIVER said he needs to think about that a bit because he
isn't sure that it does creates a liability.
SENATOR MCGUIRE said the feedback she's received about jury
service is that it's underappreciated. For example, parking
isn't provided and nobody seems to care, and then jurors are
dismissed from the trial with no closure. Jurors deserve more
than that because they are making huge sacrifices and disrupting
their lives. I assume you respond to the feedback you get, she
said.
3:07:05 PM
MR. WOOLIVER replied the court does get those same complaints
and they do respond. It's not the case everywhere, but in
Anchorage juror parking is a huge challenge and a constant
problem.
SENATOR COGHILL, noting that counseling services might not be
available in many of the trial areas outside of Anchorage,
Fairbanks and Juneau, asked how the court might handle that
circumstance.
REPRESENTATIVE KERTTULA suggested Ms. McCarty answer the
question.
HANNAH MCCARTY, staff to Representative Kerttula, reported that
she spoke with a counselor in Kotzebue this morning to learn
more about what's called "tele-behavioral" health. This involves
using Skype to communicate with a counselor in a larger
community who can also provide access to the Alaska Psychiatric
Institute (API) and a children's center in Seattle. Currently,
11 small remote communities in Representative Joule's district
are participating in this program, she said. This technology
could be used for trials that are held in Kotzebue.
REPRESENTATIVE KERTTULA said she expects this to be offered
statewide. She related that when she started this journey she
expected to find that juror counseling was widespread, but that
isn't the case. Texas has a program that hasn't been implemented
and King County in Washington state allows one hour of
counseling. If this passes, Alaska will be the first state to
implement this kind of program, but what's more important is
that it makes tremendous sense to help our citizens who help the
state do its work, she said.
3:09:55 PM
SENATOR COGHILL observed that jury service is more than a civic
responsibility; it's a civic duty that people are demanded to
do. He opined that in particularly tough cases, knowing that
counseling would be available afterward may play into how a jury
is selected. He asked if that had been anticipated.
REPRESENTATIVE KERTTULA replied she has thought about it and she
isn't sure it would impact jury selection. She noted that judges
give attorneys different amounts of latitude in voir dire and
it's a question an attorney might reasonably ask a juror about
beforehand. But in any event, she expects that this would be
offered afterward when the judge has recognized that the trial
was particularly difficult.
SENATOR COGHILL mentioned questions about previous counseling
and family instability and said he can see another realm of
questioning that may come to light.
3:11:53 PM
VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI closed public testimony and announced he
would hold HB 52 for future consideration.
HJR 48-CRIME VICTIMS FUND PRESERVATION ACT
VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced the consideration of HJR 48
3:12:53 PM
REPRESENTATIVE BETH KERTTULA, sponsor of HJR 48, said this
resolution was drafted after a similar National Council of State
Legislatures (NCSL) resolution passed unanimously last December.
She related that a friend who works with victims recognized that
the National Victims of Crime fund was growing, but the money
wasn't flowing through to the states. HJR 48 recognizes the
effort in Congress to see that the money is used more
productively while continuing to sustain the fund.
SAMANTHA ENGILSHOE, First Alaskans Institute fellow and intern
for Representative Kerttula, thanked the committee for hearing
HJR 48. She reported the following:
For more than 25 years the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA)
fund has been a protected and dedicated source of
funding for crime victim services. Each year VOCA
dollars are distributed to states to support two
important types of programs - crime victim
compensation programs and victim assistance programs.
The VOCA fund is financed by a collection of fines,
forfeitures, and other penalties paid by federal
criminal offenders - not by taxpayer revenue.
Because the fund is comprised of offender penalties
and fines, the amount deposited into the fund
fluctuates from year to year. In 2000, Congress
started annual obligations from the fund, saving the
amount collected over the cap to ensure the fund's
stability. Currently, the VOCA fund has an accumulated
balance of nearly 3 billion dollars. Under the VOCA
statutory formula for the annual distribution of VOCA
funds, state-assisted grants are dependent on the size
of the cap and the amount available for those grants
is, in effect, whatever remains after other programs
have been funded. Unless the cap is high enough, state
VOCA assistance grants are cut as other VOCA-dependent
costs increase under the cap programs and earmarks are
added.
Despite unprecedented deposits into the fund,
inadequate caps led to severe cutbacks in VOCA victim
assistance grants from 2006 to 2008 causing a
devastating impact on programs providing direct
services to crime victims. At the same time as those
state victim assistance grants were cut by $87
million, the fund grew more than $700 million. That
balance would have otherwise been available for direct
services were the cap minimum higher. Under the Crime
Victims Fund Preservation Act, the VOCA statute would
establish minimum funding levels for fiscal years 2010
through 2014 steadily drawing down a portion of the
accumulated balance. It is projected by the Office of
Management and Budget that even with these minimum
caps, the fund will have a balance of at least $1.3
billion at the end of 2014 insuring the fund's
sustainability without the need for other revenue
sources.
There is strong state support for the Crime Victims
Fund Preservation Act including support by the Alaska
Department of Health and Social Services, the Alaska
Department of Public Safety, and both state Attorney
General Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young have
signed letters of support for the federal legislation.
Representatives from the State of Alaska Violent
Crimes Compensation Board and the Council on Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault are here to testify to the
importance of additional resources for their statewide
efforts.
3:16:01 PM
LAUREE MORTON, Program Coordinator, Council on Domestic Violence
and Sexual Assault, Department of Public Safety (DPS), said she
serves as the VOCA assistance coordinator for the state. She
explained that VOCA assistance funds are distributed to states
on a formula basis - $500,000 per state and a prorated amount
based on population. Alaska typically receives between $1
million and $1.2 million annually. During the 2009 federal
fiscal year, VOCA funds were used to provide services to 5,779
violent crime victims and in the 2010 state fiscal year, 18
community-based victim service programs are using VOCA funds to
fund staff and provide services for victims of violent crimes
primarily at AWAKE in Anchorage, IAC in Fairbanks, and AWARE in
Juneau. uses VOCA funds to support their legal advocate.
3:18:57 PM
MS. MORTON provided several examples to demonstrate how VOCA
funds are being used. She explained that IAC in Fairbanks is a
member of the sexual assault response team that responded to 264
sexual assaults during federal FY09. The IAC VOCA-funded
advocate was able to go to the hospital, meet with the victim,
and be with her or him during the sexual assault nurse examiner
forensic exam. In another example she related how the children-
focused VOCA advocate at AWAKE helped a mother who was a victim
of domestic violence file a Violent Crimes Compensation Board
claim to get counseling for her child who had witnessed the
domestic violence and was traumatized and withdrawn. The VOCA
advocate worked with the counselor to help the child work
through the trauma and ultimately reengage in school and with
other children.
MS. MORTON summarized that a graduated cap will allow
sustainability of the fund and enough growth to stabilize funds
to states. This is important, she concluded.
3:20:34 PM
CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI closed public testimony and announced he
would hold HJR 48 in committee.
3:20:53 PM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Vice-Chair Wielechowski adjourned the meeting at 3:20 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|