SB 137-EVICTIONS FROM UNIV. STUDENT HOUSING CHAIR ANDERSON announced that the next order of business would be SENATE BILL NO. 137, "An Act providing that an institution providing accommodations exempt from the provisions of the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act may evict tenants without resorting to court proceedings under AS 09.45.060 - 09.45.160." 3:01:33 PM REPRESENTATIVE KOTT moved to adopt HCS CSSB 137, Version G, as the working document. The committee took a brief at-ease. 3:03:01 PM CHAIR ANDERSON objected. REPRESENTATIVE KOTT then moved to adopt HCS CSSB 137, Version 24-LS0739/F, Kurtz, 4/27/05, as the working document. There being no objection, Version F was before the committee. JOE MICHEL, Staff to Senator Ralph Seekins, Alaska State Legislature, explained that in order to allay some concerns the word "institution" is no longer included in the title or throughout Version F. Furthermore, Version F only applies to student housing at the University of Alaska. In response to Representative Lynn, Mr. Michel confirmed that the references to nursing homes and hospitals were removed. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG commented that the title and the act seem to be at odds. He suggested that perhaps there is a syntax error. 3:04:36 PM CHAIR ANDERSON opined that he believes it's correct. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG specified that his concern is with regard to the title language "without resorting to court proceedings under" specific statute that is civil procedure. However, in order to evict someone, [the landlord] has to use the civil procedures. CHAIR ANDERSON inquired as to the possibility of deleting the language: "without resorting to court proceedings under AS  09.45.060 - 09.45.160." on page 1, line 3. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said that he wouldn't make a big deal about it, which he characterized as bad syntax, because the legislation has been improved. He suggested that the next committee of referral review the incongruence between the language in the title and the body of the legislation. 3:07:19 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX inquired as to how a student can be evicted without going through a formal eviction procedure. MR. MICHEL noted that there is a long appeals process when the student is removed from student housing. The main goal of this legislation is that once that process is complete, the student can be removed, which usually means that the locks are changed. The legislation means that the university wouldn't have to go to court to obtain a court order to forcible remove the student. 3:08:09 PM REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX pointed out that in one of the cases that she was aware of, the university didn't go to court to evict the [student]. Instead, the troopers were called and the court simply dismissed the misdemeanor complaint against [the student]. Representative LeDoux said that she wasn't opposed to moving the legislation, but she said she wasn't sure that it solved the problem desired. She opined that even under this legislation, a court would probably still say that somebody couldn't be convicted of a criminal offense without some sort of due process. 3:09:23 PM REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG said that he agrees with the legislation as well as Representative LeDoux. He said that the problem with the landlord tenant law is that if "it's not for rent, you have to go through like 30 days to mitigate the situation." He maintained that the title still doesn't seem to fit the legislation. 3:10:13 PM CHAIR ANDERSON reminded the committee that SB 137 was assigned to this committee because of the landlord-tenant aspect of commerce. He related his understanding that the committee concurs with the concept [of the legislation], although there may be a problem with the title. Therefore, he suggested that the aforementioned be discussed with Legislative Legal and Research Services before it's heard in the House Judiciary Standing Committee. 3:10:44 PM REPRESENTATIVE KOTT moved to report HCS CSSB 137, Version 24- LS0739\F, Kurtz, 4/27/05, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal note. There being no objection, HCS CSSB 137(L&C) was reported from the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee. 3:10:57 PM The committee took a brief at-ease.