00 SENATE BILL NO. 397 01 "An Act relating to open meetings guidelines applicable to legislators, to the 02 confidentiality of complaints and proceedings involving alleging violations of AS 24.60, 03 and to hearings on formal charges by the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics or its 04 subcommittees." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. AS 24.60.037 is repealed and reenacted to read: 07 Sec. 24.60.037. Open meetings guidelines. (a) A meeting of a legislative 08 body is open to the public in accordance with the open meetings guidelines established 09 in this section. A legislator may not participate in a meeting held in violation of these 10 open meeting guidelines. 11 (b) For purposes of the legislative open meetings guidelines, a meeting occurs 12 when a majority of the members of a legislative body is present and action, including 13 voting, is taken. The Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature control the 14 procedure for conducting open and executive sessions of a legislative body. 01 (c) Legislators may meet in a closed caucus or in a private, informal meeting 02 to discuss and deliberate on political strategy. Those meetings are exempt from the 03 legislative open meetings guidelines. For purposes of this subsection, "political 04 strategy" includes organization of the houses, assignment of committee membership, 05 scheduling of bills, vehicles for adoptions, House-Senate relations, other procedural 06 matters, caucus operations, meetings between majority and minority caucus leaders, 07 meetings between majority and minority caucus leaders of both houses, meetings with 08 the governor, deliberations with regard to strategy, and discussions of issues in the 09 context of strategy. 10 (d) Notwithstanding AS 24.60.130(h) and (n), if a complaint alleges a 11 violation of this section by a group of legislators that includes a legislative member of 12 the committee and that member's alternate, the complaint shall be treated as two 13 separate complaints with members of the group apportioned between them so that the 14 legislative member is not disqualified from participating in a proceeding involving one 15 of the complaints and the alternate is not disqualified from serving in a proceeding 16 involving the other. 17 (e) The legislative open meetings guidelines are subservient to the Uniform 18 Rules adopted by the Alaska State Legislature. In cases where there are conflicts 19 between these guidelines and the Uniform Rules, the Uniform Rules prevail. 20 (f) The legislative open meetings guidelines are the guidelines that shall be 21 used by the committee when considering complaints filed regarding open meetings. 22 (g) In the legislative open meetings guidelines, 23 (1) "legislative body" 24 (A) includes 25 (i) the Senate; 26 (ii) the House of Representatives; 27 (iii) the Senate and the House of Representatives 28 meeting in joint session; 29 (iv) a committee of the legislature, other than the 30 Committee on Committees, but including a standing committee, special 31 committee, joint committee, conference or free conference committee, 01 committee of the whole, and permanent interim committee; 02 (v) a legislative commission, task force, or other group 03 established by statute or resolution; or 04 (vi) a caucus of members of one or more of the bodies 05 set out in (i) - (v) of this subparagraph; 06 (B) does not include 07 (i) any committee or group of legislators considering 08 only matters involving the organization of a committee or a house of 09 the legislature, including selection of legislative officers; 10 (ii) any committee or group of legislators and the 11 governor or staff of the Office of the Governor; 12 (iii) officers of the legislature, including committee 13 chairs; 14 (iv) officers of a caucus; 15 (2) "meeting" does not include 16 (A) a gathering of members of a legislative body for purely 17 ministerial or social purposes where there is no deliberation of policy issues; or 18 (B) forums where members of a legislative body have been 19 invited to address a group on legislative issues or concerns. 20 * Sec. 2. AS 24.60.170(j) is amended to read: 21 (j) If the committee has issued a formal charge under (h) of this section, and if 22 the person charged has not admitted the allegations of the charge, the committee shall 23 schedule a hearing on the charge. The committee may appoint an individual to 24 present the case against the person charged if that individual does not provide 25 and has not provided legal advice to the committee except in the course of 26 presenting cases under this subsection. The hearing shall be scheduled for a date 27 more than 20 days after service of the charge on the person charged, unless the person 28 agrees to an earlier hearing date. At the hearing, the person charged shall have the 29 right to appear personally before the committee, to subpoena witnesses and require the 30 production of books or papers relating to the proceedings, to be represented by 31 counsel, and to cross-examine witnesses. A witness shall testify under oath. The 01 committee is not bound by the rules of evidence, but the committee's findings must be 02 based upon clear and convincing evidence. Testimony taken at the hearing shall be 03 recorded, and evidence shall be maintained. 04 * Sec. 3. AS 24.60.170(l) is amended to read: 05 (l) Proceedings of the committee relating to complaints before it are 06 confidential until the committee determines that there is probable cause to believe that 07 a violation of this chapter has occurred. The complaint and all documents produced or 08 disclosed as a result of the committee investigation are confidential and not subject to 09 inspection by the public. If in the course of an investigation or probable cause 10 determination the committee finds evidence of probable criminal activity, the 11 committee shall transmit a statement and factual findings limited to that activity to the 12 appropriate law enforcement agency. If the committee finds evidence of a probable 13 violation of AS 15.13, the committee shall transmit a statement to that effect and 14 factual findings limited to the probable violation to the Alaska Public Offices 15 Commission. All meetings of the committee before the determination of probable 16 cause are closed to the public and to legislators who are not members of the 17 committee. However, the committee may permit the subject of the complaint to attend 18 a meeting other than the deliberations on probable cause. The confidentiality 19 provisions of this subsection may be waived by the subject of the complaint. Except 20 to the extent that the confidentiality provisions are waived by the subject of the 21 complaint, if a complainant violates any confidentiality provision, the committee 22 shall immediately dismiss the complaint. 23 * Sec. 4. Section 10, ch. 69, SLA 1994, is repealed.