Legislature(2017 - 2018)ANCH LIO Rm 223
12/12/2017 12:00 PM Senate RULES
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| Start | |
| Investigative Report Dated December 7, 2017 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE RULES STANDING COMMITTEE
December 12, 2017
12:37 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Kevin Meyer, Chair
Senator Pete Kelly
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Berta Gardner
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Anna MacKinnon
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Representative Charisse Millett
Representative DeLena Johnson
Senator David Wilson
Representative Bryce Edgmon
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
INVESTIGATORY REPORT DATED NOVEMBER 30, 2017
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to consider
WITNESS REGISTER
SKIFF LOBAUGH, Manager
Human Resources
Legislative Affairs Agency
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on the redacted confidential Memo
entitled "Investigatory Report for Incident June 15, 2017."
ACTION NARRATIVE
12:37:18 PM
CHAIR KEVIN MEYER called the Senate Rules Standing Committee
meeting to order at 12:37 p.m. Present at the call to order were
Senators Kelly, Micciche, Gardner, and Chair Meyer. He said
Senator Wilson was also present.
Also present were Megan Wallace from the Division of Legislative
Legal Services; Amory Lelake, staff to Representative Edgmon;
and Jody Simpson and Gary Zepp, staff to Senator Wilson.
^Investigative Report dated December 7, 2017
Investigatory Report for Incident on June 15, 2017
12:39:27 PM
CHAIR MEYER announced that the hearing would be on the
Confidential Memorandum [dated November 30, 2017] "Investigatory
Report for Incident on June 15, 2017" discussing whether the
Investigatory Report for Incident on June 15, 2017, should be
released to the public.
12:40:00 PM
At ease from 12:40 to 12:51 p.m.
12:51:01 PM
CHAIR MEYER called the meeting back to order at 12:51 p.m. and
said that Senator Micciche would review the general topics of
the report for the committee included in the accompanying
memorandum, and then he would open the committee for questions.
12:52:16 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE said a Legislative Legal memorandum dated
December 7, 2017, discussed whether the Rules Committee is the
appropriate venue to address this issue and what the options are
for releasing the November 30, 2017 report to the public: in
full or redacted form, or just release the conclusions.
He explained that Uniform Rule 22 allows a committee to meet in
executive session and talk about confidential subjects, but
because the committee decided to address the redacted version,
it did not have to meet in executive session. The committee
process was also chosen for transparency. However, should there
be any subject that crossed the line of confidentiality, the
committee could always go into executive session to address it.
The goal today was to deal with this issue without going into
executive session.
12:54:02 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE explained that the Alaska State Legislature
Sexual and Other Workplace Harassment Policy [that the
legislature is currently operating under] specifically states
that the matter should be referred to the appropriate
legislative body, which the memorandum opines is the Rules
Committee.
SENATOR KELLY noted that some names in the report were not
redacted, but they were part of the public records as being
involved in the investigation.
SENATOR MICCICHE reviewed the Investigatory Report for the
Incident of June 15, 2017 with redacted identifiers:
investigation introduction, materials list, evidence from
interviews with video, findings, and the conclusions and
recommendations as addressed by the legislative legal team. They
are not required to release this report, but in the interest of
transparency the Rules Committee would release both documents.
CHAIR MEYER agreed 100 percent. He wanted the whole report to be
released, because the general public would know the process the
human resources manager went through to reach the conclusions.
12:56:51 PM
SENATOR GARDNER said the first sentence in the Human Resource
document [dated November 30, 2017] said Mr. Lobaugh was informed
during a meeting about the common knowledge of an alleged
incident and asked if that was from an individual or group of
people.
SKIFF LOBAUGH, Manager, Human Resources, Legislative Affairs
Agency, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, replied that
he heard it from a couple of individuals.
SENATOR GARDNER said aside from that, his report answered all
the questions she would have asked, and that she supported
releasing the entire report. She agrees with the conclusions and
doesn't believe that Senator Wilson intended harassment, but she
understands the staffer's position, also, being inhibited from
doing the job she is supposed to do by a senator against whom
she had very little authority.
SENATOR MICCICHE said that Speaker Edgmon made comments about
potential retaliatory actions, and those are being evaluated by
the committee, legal team, and Human Resources.
12:58:40 PM
SENATOR KELLY said the legislature's employees are highly
valued, and inappropriate conduct is not tolerated. Leadership
made the decision to go to the Rules Committee for reasons of
transparency. He recommended that Doug Gardner, Lead Attorney,
Legislative Legal, and Skiff Lobaugh, Manager, Human Resources,
come up with policies and guidelines, because current policy
does not cover this unusual circumstance. He looked forward to
that process.
1:01:06 PM
SENATOR GARDNER said Speaker Edgmon has denied ever using the
phrase "hang and burn," and she wondered if anyone knew where
that first came into the conversation.
SENATOR MICCICHE said he didn't want to deal with hearsay in the
meeting. He said it was important that the public know the names
were redacted to protect potential victims, and that issue would
be evaluated on a case-by-case process. So, this action is not
setting a precedent.
SENATOR KELLY moved to release the Investigatory Report for
Incident June 15, 2017, dated November 30, 2017, with redacted
names and identifiers, along with the attached legal memo. There
were no objections and it was so ordered.
1:03:21 PM
CHAIR MEYER adjourned the Senate Rules Committee meeting at 1:03
p.m.
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