HB 208-TRUSTS; COMM PROP TRUSTS; POWERS OF APPT  1:51:20 PM CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 208, "An Act relating to trusts and powers of appointment; and providing for an effective date." CHAIR CLAMAN advised that Representative Kopp had previously requested that the Department of Law (DOL) offer an analysis of its fiscal note. 1:51:53 PM RENEE WARDLAW, Assistant Attorney General, Commercial and Fair Business Section, Department of Law, said she was available to answer questions regarding the fiscal note. CHAIR CLAMAN reiterated that during a previous committee hearing, Representative Kopp had requested a brief analysis of the fiscal note, and that questions may be prompted from her analysis. MS. WARDLAW responded that this bill does not necessarily affect the Department of Law (DOL), and as such the DOL had requested, prior to this hearing, that Legislative Legal and Research Services have someone online to speak to a summary of the fiscal note. She said the only information she could offer is limited to what is contained in the fiscal note. 1:53:11 PM REPRESENTATIVE KOPP noted that the DOL fiscal note was detailed and due to the technical nature of the bill asked whether it was legally sound. MS. WARDLAW asserted that this bill is legally sound based upon DOL's review. She explained there are two sections within DOL relating to trusts, and she is more familiar with Title 26. Therefore, she said she was hesitant to offer information with regard to Title 13, as opposed to information regarding Title 26. 1:54:04 PM CHAIR CLAMAN noted that the bill sponsor did contact all committee members to determine whether anyone was interested in offering an amendment. He related that no one was interest and thus did not previously notice amendments. 1:55:29 PM REPRESENTATIVE KOPP referred to a spreadsheet by Peak Trust Company, titled "Reasons to Decant a Trust," and related that it offers five different scenarios as to why this bill is important. This legislation, he commented, will update Alaska's trust statutes, and keep Alaska in a leadership role for estate planning and investments to continue in Alaska. 1:56:21 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN commented that there were a number of letters of support. REPRESENTATIVE REINBOLD commented that she appreciated the explanation of the bill from the Peak Trust Company, the multiple letters of support, and the bill sponsor visiting each office, which was a good example of how the committee process should work and how it was handled in this committee. She said she supports the legislation. REPRESENTATIVE FANSLER thanked the bill sponsor for bringing it forward, and related that he is extremely leery anytime there are changes in trust and estate laws, especially at the request of the industry. He pointed out that Alaska has well established and longstanding trust and estate laws and any time the legislature starts to fiddle with something it creates great pause for him, and requires the highest level of review at all times. REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS noted that the subject is Greek to him and he doesn't really understand what is being passed out of committee. He pointed to the lack of opposition and commented that it would have been helpful for him to have a third party assess the nature of the modernization of trust laws, explain consumer protection, revenue to the state, and whether this was purely a modernization process. 2:00:05 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN agreed that modernization was part of this legislation and said he echoes Representative Fansler in that anytime someone offers a bill and says not to worry about the bill because it is just modernizing things, he worries. Another aspect, he said, is that each state has its own laws and depending upon the quality and flexibility of those laws there would be migrations of professions and capital. Therefore, it is not just modernization that is taking place in a bill such as this, it is also looking at how competitive Alaska can be against other states for market share in order to attract investment into Alaska. 2:01:16 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX commented that she could see where Representative Fansler was coming from, and noted that "this trust law stuff" is not generally a matter of hugely rich people on one side and hugely poor people on the other side. Perhaps, she commented, the hugely rich people may have lawyers, lobbyists, and so forth; therefore, it is the legislature's obligation to be certain the legislation is not skewed against poor people. The whole trust field is made up of fairly affluent sophisticated people, and while trust law is complicated, there is the fact that the committee did not receive one single letter of opposition. 2:02:49 PM CHAIR CLAMAN said he supports the bill, and referred to a previous question regarding how this bill fit with the other states which, he said, gets to the competitiveness question. There certainly are areas of the law where the legislature is well served to wait until the movement of an issue starts coming in from all of the states. For example, the revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, from the Uniform Law Commission, was a response to people bringing forward issues of people having access to information on the internet. In those types of instances, the legislature is asked that the laws keep up with society, rather than the laws leading society. The folks involved in trusts have an interest in Alaska being at the forefront of the most modern laws because that brings in opportunities for the state, investment companies, and individuals who set up trusts. For example, the State of Delaware made a point of becoming the leader in corporate law, and has gotten on a cycle of being at the head of the curve in being a good place for corporations to operate. This bill, he explained, is an instance in which legislators are trying to make it possible for the Alaska trust laws to draw in more trusts to incorporate in Alaska, thereby bringing opportunities to Alaskans they wouldn't have had if Alaska was in 49th place in terms of sophistication of trust laws. CHAIR CLAMAN agreed with Representative LeDoux that he, too, was struck by the fact there were zero letters of opposition. He said he was also struck when the practicing attorney from the Law Offices of Faulkner Banfield discussed her work in this area, and how Alaska's ability to stay in the top two or three states has helped her business and her ability to provide service to Alaskans looking for this type of work. For all those reasons, he said he supports this bill. 2:05:21 PM REPRESENTATIVE KOPP moved to report HB 208, Version 30-LS0770\A out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HB 208 passed out of committee.