SB 167: "An Act relating to day fines in certain criminal cases and release of employment information for use in the collection of criminal judgments."
00SENATE BILL NO. 167 01 "An Act relating to day fines in certain criminal cases and release of employment 02 information for use in the collection of criminal judgments." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 12.55.036(a) is amended to read: 05 (a) Upon conviction of a misdemeanor, other than a violation of AS 11.41 and 06 AS 11.56.740, a defendant may be sentenced to pay a day fine as authorized by this 07 section. If a day fine is imposed under this section, the defendant may not be 08 sentenced to pay a fine under AS 12.55.035, serve a term of imprisonment, or be 09 placed on probation. However, the court may order a defendant to participate in 10 or comply with a screening, evaluation, or treatment program related to the 11 defendant's offense. 12 * Sec. 2. AS 12.55.036(b) is amended to read: 13 (b) The Alaska Supreme Court shall adopt a day fine plan that includes 14 (1) an assessment of the gravity of common [ALL] misdemeanor
01 offenses [, WHICH ASSESSMENT MUST INCLUDE THE EXISTENCE OF PRIOR 02 OFFENSES,] and the assignment of presumptive penalties to them in day fine units 03 within the following ranges: 04 (A) for class A and unclassified misdemeanors, not to exceed 05 365-day fine units; 06 (B) for class B misdemeanors, not to exceed 90-day fine units; 07 (2) a schedule of the presumptive day fine penalties; 08 (3) procedures for a court to increase or decrease the presumptive day 09 fine penalties if the court finds the existence of an aggravating factor [UNDER 10 AS 12.55.155(c)] or a mitigating factor [UNDER AS 12.55.155(d)]; 11 (4) a table for the conversion of a defendant's actual, potential, or 12 estimated net [GROSS] income after taxes, less one-third for a defendant above the 13 federal poverty guideline as determined by the United States Department of Health and 14 Human Services, and less one-half for a defendant below the federal poverty guideline 15 into net daily income amounts; the table must include adjustments for the number of 16 dependents actually supported by the defendant; 17 (5) procedures for a court to gather information about the defendant's 18 occupation, actual, estimated, and potential income, number of dependents, and other 19 facts necessary or relevant to sentencing a person to a day fine; a court may order the 20 production of the financial or other records of a person it determines to be relevant to 21 a determination under this section; the procedures must include a requirement that the 22 facts shall be received 23 (A) under oath so that the defendant is subject to prosecution 24 under AS 11.56.200; or 25 (B) in a writing or recording that bears notice that false 26 statements made in it are punishable under AS 11.56.210; and 27 (6) other information the court determines to be necessary for 28 implementing the day fine plan. 29 * Sec. 3. AS 12.55.036(c) is amended to read: 30 (c) The amount of a day fine shall be the product of the net daily income of 31 the defendant, adjusted for the number of dependents actually supported by the
01 defendant, times the day fine penalty. When imposing a sentence of a day fine, the 02 court shall 03 [(1)] state on the record the 04 (1) [(A)] presumptive day fine penalty for the offense, and whether the 05 court is adjusting the presumptive day fine penalty for the existence of aggravating or 06 mitigating factors; 07 (2) [(B)] net daily income of the income of the defendant, adjusted for 08 the number of dependents actually supported by the defendant; and 09 (3) [(C)] amount of the day fine [; 10 (2) MAKE WRITTEN FINDINGS OF THE FACTS CONSIDERED 11 IN 12 (A) FINDING THE EXISTENCE OF AGGRAVATING OR 13 MITIGATING FACTORS AND IN ASSIGNING A VALUE TO THOSE 14 FACTORS; AND 15 (B) DETERMINING THE DEFENDANT'S GROSS AND 16 DAILY NET INCOMES]. 17 * Sec. 4. AS 12.55.036(d) is amended to read: 18 (d) When imposing a sentence of a day fine, the court may permit the payment 19 of the day fine in specified installments or within a certain period of time, provided 20 the entire day fine is paid within one year [180 DAYS] of imposition. 21 * Sec. 5. AS 12.55.036(f) is amended to read: 22 (f) The Alaska Court System shall evaluate and report every two years to the 23 legislature not later than February 1 on the use of day fines and their effectiveness. 24 The report must include 25 (1) a comparison of the number of defendants receiving a day fine as 26 a sentence with the number of other defendants, eligible to receive a day fine, who 27 receive another sentence; 28 (2) to the extent that recidivism information is available, a 29 comparison of the recidivism rates between defendants receiving a day fine with other 30 defendants, 31 (A) eligible for a day fine, who receive another sentence; and
01 (B) not eligible for a day fine, who receive another sentence; 02 (3) the potential savings to the state from the number of defendants 03 who are eligible to receive a sentence of imprisonment, and who receive a day fine, 04 assuming those defendants would have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment; 05 (4) the amount of day fines collected, the success rate of collections, 06 and the number of cases requiring civil process to collect the day fine; and 07 (5) recommendations concerning expansion or restriction of the use of 08 day fines, including proposals for legislation. 09 * Sec. 6. AS 12.55.036 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 10 (h) When there are mitigating circumstances, when the ends of justice will be 11 served, and when the good conduct and reform of the defendant warrant it, the court 12 may upon payment of the entire day fine within the time specified by the court set 13 aside the conviction and issue to the defendant a certificate to that effect. 14 * Sec. 7. AS 23.20.110(a) is amended to read: 15 (a) Except as provided in (h), [AND] (i), and (l) of this section, the 16 department shall hold information obtained from an employing unit or individual in 17 the course of administering this chapter and determinations as to the benefit rights of 18 an individual confidential and may not disclose them or open them to public inspection 19 in a manner that [WHICH] reveals the identity of the individual or employing unit. 20 A claimant or the legal representative of the claimant is entitled to information from 21 the records of the department to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of the 22 claim in a proceeding under this chapter. Subject to restrictions that [WHICH] the 23 department prescribes by regulation, the information may be made available to an 24 agency of this state or another state or federal agency charged with the administration 25 of an unemployment compensation law or the maintenance of a system of public 26 employment offices, or, for the purposes of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act, to the 27 Internal Revenue Service of the United States, or, for tax purposes, to the Department 28 of Revenue. Information obtained in connection with the administration of the 29 employment service may be made available to persons or agencies for purposes 30 appropriate to the operation of a public employment service. 31 * Sec. 8. AS 23.20.110(j) is amended to read:
01 (j) Notwithstanding (h), [OR] (i), or (l) of this section, the department may not 02 release information to an administrator under (h) of this section, [OR] on an employer's 03 hiring practices under (i) of this section, or to the Department of Law as provided 04 under (l) of this section if the United States Secretary of Labor rules that release of 05 the information would be grounds to find that the state is in substantial noncompliance 06 with 42 U.S.C. 503(a). 07 * Sec. 9. AS 23.20.110 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 08 (l) The department shall make information obtained from an employing unit 09 or an individual available on request to the Department of Law to assist the 10 Department of Law in the collection of criminal judgments.