SENATE STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE January 22, 1993 9:10 A.M. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Leman, Chairman Senator Miller, Vice Chairman Senator Taylor Senator Duncan MEMBERS ABSENT Senator Johnny Ellis COMMITTEE CALENDAR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 3 Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to terms of legislators. SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 4 Proposing an amendment of the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to the duration of a regular session. SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 5 Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to legislative action on bills and resolutions and legislative caucuses. PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION SJR 3 - See State Affairs minutes dated 1/20/93. SJR 4 - No previous action to record. SJR 5 - No previous action to record WITNESS REGISTER ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 93-3, SIDE A Number 001 Chairman Leman called the Senate State Affairs Committee meeting to order at 9:10 a.m. SENATOR LEMAN brought SJR 3 (LIMITING TERMS OF LEGISLATORS) before the committee as the first order of business. SENATOR MILLER moved to pass SJR 3 from committee with individual recommendations. Hearing no objection, it was so ordered. Number 050 SENATOR LEMAN introduced SJR 4 (90 DAY SESSION LIMIT) as the next order of business. Because the bill is sponsored by the Chairman, Senator Leman turned the gavel over to Mike Miller, Vice Chairman of the committee. SENATOR LEMAN explained that SJR 4 proposes a constitutional amendment to reduce the session length from its existing 121 days to 90 days. He said his rationale for doing this is that he believes that with the proper scheduling of work, a session could be completed within 90 days; it would be advantageous to those monitoring the legislature; and there is a money savings. He said he does not concur with those who say that this will put more power in the hands of the Administration because the legislature has the power to appropriate and it can deal with administration action. He urged the committee's favorable consideration of SJR 4. Number 100 SENATOR TAYLOR moved to pass SJR 4 from committee with individual recommendations. Hearing no objections, it was so ordered. SENATOR MILLER introduced SJR 5 (COMMITTEE ACTION ON BILLS; CAUCUSES) sponsored by Senator Leman, as the final order of business. SENATOR LEMAN said SJR 5 deals with the procedure for acting on bills and the procedure in committee. He explained that he got the idea for this particular legislative reform from the State of Colorado. Colorado adopted the procedure in 1988, and they have found that it has worked well. The legislation provides that every bill or resolution that is introduced must be heard in committee. The rationale for this is that a committee chairman, by himself or herself, would not be able to singularly kill a bill or resolution, but that it would have to come before the committee and be heard. The committee could take a vote and decide not to further advance the bill. The Rules Committee would schedule bills for floor action in the order that the bills are referred to the Rules Committee. Senator Leman sees this as a process that is more open to the public. SENATOR LEMAN said the legislation also provides that every bill would be considered upon its merit. The final section of the resolution relates to caucuses. It prevents a member from being bound by a caucus to vote for or against a matter coming before the legislature, except for organizational votes. Number 150 SENATOR MILLER questioned whose definition of "merit" was being used. He said one member may feel a bill has a lot of merit, while another member may feel it doesn't have any merit at all. SENATOR LEMAN agreed that some bills may have no merit, but he said they should be considered, and if it is found that they have no merit, then they should not be discharged by the committee. Number 180 SENATOR MILLER added that the problem he has with the word "merit" is that it is an extremely subjective term. SENATOR TAYLOR moved to pass SJR 5 from committee with individual recommendations. Hearing no objections, it was so ordered. Number 190 SENATOR MILLER turned the gavel back to SENATOR LEMAN. There being no further business to come before the committee, the meeting was adjourned at 9:24 a.m.