HB 3-DEFINITION OF "DISASTER": CYBERSECURITY  6:11:08 PM CHAIR SHOWER announced the consideration of CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 3(JUD) "An Act relating to the definition of 'disaster.'" He noted that this was the second hearing and public testimony was closed. He asked the sponsor if she had any comments. 6:11:46 PM REPRESENTATIVE DELENA JOHNSON, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of HB 3, advised that a representative from the Court System was available to answer questions about how [the recent cybersecurity breach] affected the Court System. She deferred further comment to her staff, Eric Cordero. 6:12:28 PM ERIC CORDERO, Staff Representative DeLana Johnson, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, offered to answer any lingering questions about HB 3. SENATOR COSTELLO stated support for the bill and asked if other states had added cybersecurity into their disaster statutes. MR. CORDERRO answered that a number of states have listed cybersecurity in their disaster statutes and the Department of Homeland Security is encouraging all states to be more proactive in protecting against cyber threats. He noted that Legislative Legal Services suggested the legislature clarify the disaster statute after it removed the reference to manmade causes several years ago. CHAIR SHOWER commented on the times the state has been breached the last several years, including elections and the Court System. He listed the individuals available to answer questions. SENATOR REINBOLD asked if a disaster can be declared based on a cyber [attack]. She added that she was "kind of done with disaster declarations and emergency declarations right now." REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON answered that everyone is probably sick and tired of what's happened in the last year, but it has caused a greater understanding of the declaration of disaster than when she initially introduced the bill nearly two years ago. She deferred further response to Mr. Corderro. MR. CORDERRO explained that the language in the bill specifically refers to a credible immanent threat of widespread damage to critical infrastructure due to a cyber attack. He noted that Nancy Mead could comment on the recent cyber attack on the Court System database. 6:16:54 PM NANCY MEADE, General Counsel, Administrative Staff, Office of the Administrative Director, Alaska Court System, Juneau, Alaska, offered her belief that the record might benefit from hearing about the recent widespread cyber attack on the Court System database. She said it has been very difficult to deal with and it has affected the public because all their websites and CourtView are offline. A team is working around the clock to create workarounds and resolve the issues. The court immediately hired a security consultant to determine the extent of the attack and the expectation is to soon enter the remediation phase. 6:17:36 PM MS. MEADE said many people would acknowledge that the Court System is critical to the ongoing operations of the state, and it was fortunate that the attack did not completely shut the court down. Employees have internal access to email, but nobody can email the Court System and employees have no access to the internet. She acknowledged that the Court System has some older equipment that made it vulnerable and said the monetary damage is very real. She advised that she spoke to the sponsor about letting the committee and others know about what an impact this sort of attack can have. CHAIR SHOWER said he understands Senator Reinbold's comment, but a cyber attack of a certain scope and scale would certainly be a disaster. He asked the sponsor if she had final comments. 6:19:27 PM REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON offered her belief that the threat of cyber attacks would not decrease over time. CHAIR SHOWER commented that it is the world today. SENATOR REINBOLD said she had to read between the lines to discern that the answer was "yes" and that was a concern. She maintained that terms such as "widespread" and "infrastructure" were not adequately defined. She said she would not try to slow the bill, but her recommendation would be to amend because the bill needed sideboards. CHAIR SHOWER committed to work with the sponsor in the next committee of referral. He solicited a motion. 6:21:32 PM SENATOR REINBOLD moved to report HB 3, work order 32-LS0041\W, from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). CHAIR SHOWER found no objection and CSHB 3(JUD) was reported from the Senate State Affairs Standing Committee.