HB 349: "An Act relating to legislator salary and benefits; establishing the Citizens' Commission on Legislative Salary and Benefits and defining its powers and duties and abolishing the State Officers Compensation Commission; and providing for an effective date by repealing secs. 9 and 12, ch. 124, SLA 1986."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 349 01 "An Act relating to legislator salary and benefits; establishing the Citizens' Commission 02 on Legislative Salary and Benefits and defining its powers and duties and abolishing the 03 State Officers Compensation Commission; and providing for an effective date by 04 repealing secs. 9 and 12, ch. 124, SLA 1986." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 07 to read: 08 SHORT TITLE. This Act may be known as the Citizens' Commission on Legislative 09 Salary and Benefits Act. 10 * Sec. 2. AS 24.10.100 is amended to read: 11 Sec. 24.10.100. Salary of legislators. Legislators shall receive annual 12 salaries [THE MONTHLY SALARY FOR EACH MEMBER OF THE 13 LEGISLATURE IS $2,001]. The president of the senate and the speaker of the house 14 of representatives are each entitled to an additional $500 a month [YEAR] during
01 tenure of office. 02 * Sec. 3. AS 24.10.101, added by sec. 6, ch. 124, SLA 1986, is repealed and reenacted to 03 read: 04 Sec. 24.10.101. Legislative compensation and allowances. The Citizens' 05 Commission on Legislative Salary and Benefits shall recommend legislative salary 06 and benefits under AS 39.23. 07 * Sec. 4. AS 24.10.130(c) is amended to read: 08 (c) The Alaska Legislative Council shall adopt a per diem policy and a 09 policy applicable to all legislators regarding allowances and the reimbursement of 10 [FOR] moving expenses [APPLICABLE TO ALL LEGISLATORS AND AN 11 APPLICABLE PER DIEM ALLOWANCE POLICY]. The policies [POLICY] must 12 set conditions for per diem and for allowances and the reimbursement of [FOR] 13 moving expenses. The policies must [AND PAYMENT OF PER DIEM AND] 14 prescribe the amounts of reimbursement adapted to the special needs of the legislative 15 branch as determined by the council. 16 * Sec. 5. AS 24.10.130 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 17 (d) The Alaska Legislative Council shall adopt a policy regarding salary and 18 benefits for legislators. The policy must be sufficient in scope and detail to give notice 19 as to how much legislators are paid in salary and the quality and quantity of benefits to 20 which legislators are entitled. 21 * Sec. 6. AS 39.23.200(a) is amended to read: 22 Sec. 39.23.200. Citizens' Commission on Legislative Salary and Benefits 23 [COMPENSATION COMMISSION] established. (a) The Citizens' Commission 24 on Legislative Salary and Benefits [STATE OFFICERS COMPENSATION 25 COMMISSION] is established in the legislative branch of state government. The 26 commission is composed of six [SEVEN] members, three of whom are appointed by 27 the president of the senate and three of whom are appointed by the speaker of the 28 house of representatives [APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR SUBJECT TO 29 CONFIRMATION BY A MAJORITY OF THE LEGISLATURE IN JOINT 30 SESSION]. Members serve for staggered terms of four years. A [COMMISSION 31 MEMBERSHIP SHALL INCLUDE AT LEAST ONE BUSINESS EXECUTIVE,
01 ONE REPRESENTATIVE OF A NONPARTISAN VOTERS' ORGANIZATION, 02 ONE PERSON WITH EXPERIENCE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, AND ONE 03 REPRESENTATIVE OF A LABOR ORGANIZATION. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED 04 IN AS 39.05.080(4), A] vacancy shall be filled for the balance of the unexpired term. 05 A commission member may serve not [NO] more than two complete consecutive 06 terms. A partial term served by a member appointed to fill the balance of an 07 unexpired term, if served immediately before the member is reappointed to serve 08 a full term, is considered to be merged with the full term so the two periods of 09 service constitute only one term. 10 * Sec. 7. AS 39.23.210 is amended to read: 11 Sec. 39.23.210. Qualifications for appointment [PROHIBITIONS 12 AGAINST STATE OR MUNICIPAL SERVICE]. A member of the commission 13 shall meet the qualifications of AS 39.05.100 and may not be employed by the state, 14 including the University of Alaska, serve as a member of another state board, 15 commission, or authority, or hold elective state or municipal office during membership 16 on the commission. 17 * Sec. 8. AS 39.23.230(a) is amended to read: 18 (a) The Alaska Legislative Council [IF REQUESTED BY THE 19 COMMISSION, THE LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS AGENCY] shall provide staff for 20 the commission. 21 * Sec. 9. AS 39.23.240(a) is amended to read: 22 (a) The commission shall review the salaries and [,] benefits [, AND 23 ALLOWANCES] of legislators only. The commission shall [MEMBERS OF THE 24 LEGISLATURE AND] prepare a report on its findings at least once every two years, 25 but not more frequently than every year. The commission shall provide the report 26 and any amendments to it by the commission to the Alaska Legislative Council 27 [NOTIFY THE LEGISLATURE THAT THE REPORT IS AVAILABLE]. 28 * Sec. 10. AS 39.23.240(c) is amended to read: 29 (c) The commission shall prepare its preliminary findings and 30 recommendations and provide them to the Alaska Legislative Council [FOR THE 31 COMPENSATION OF STATE OFFICERS] by November 15. The commission shall
01 give reasonable public notice of its preliminary findings and recommendations, solicit 02 public comments, and give due regard to the public comments, before submitting a 03 final report under (d) of this section. 04 * Sec. 11. AS 39.23.240(d) is amended to read: 05 (d) The commission shall make available a final report of its findings and 06 recommendations as to the equitable rate and form of compensation, benefits, and 07 allowances for legislators during the first 10 days of a regular legislative session. 08 * Sec. 12. AS 39.23.240(e) is amended to read: 09 (e) The commission may amend [PREPARE AMENDMENTS TO] the report 10 submitted under (d) of this section if requested by the Alaska Legislative Council 11 [AND NOTIFY THE LEGISLATURE THAT THE AMENDMENTS ARE 12 AVAILABLE]. 13 * Sec. 13. AS 39.23.250, added by sec. 4, ch. 124, SLA 1986, is repealed and reenacted to 14 read: 15 Sec. 39.23.250. Legislative council action. (a) The Alaska Legislative Council 16 may publish the final report made available under AS 39.23.240(d) and amendments 17 submitted under AS 39.23.240(e) at any time and may consider adoption of some, 18 none, or all of the commission's recommendations. Any part of the commission's 19 report and amendments not rejected or amended by the Alaska Legislative Council in 20 the policy adopted under AS 24.10.130 becomes final 90 days after the Alaska 21 Legislative Council receives it. 22 (b) The legislature's lawful authority, including the authority to determine the 23 rate and form of salary and benefits for legislators, is neither delegated nor altered by 24 this chapter. 25 * Sec. 14. AS 39.23.260 is amended to read: 26 Sec. 39.23.260. Policy of the legislature. It is the policy of the legislature that 27 the commission recommend [DETERMINE] an equitable rate and form of salary 28 and [COMPENSATION,] benefits [, AND ALLOWANCES] for legislators. 29 * Sec. 15. AS 39.23.270 is amended to read: 30 Sec. 39.23.270. Administrative Procedure Act. [THE REGULATION- 31 MAKING PROVISIONS OF] AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act) does [DO]
01 not apply to [PROCEEDINGS OF] the commission. 02 * Sec. 16. AS 39.23 is amended by adding a new section to read: 03 Sec. 39.23.280. Benefits that are excluded from commission's 04 consideration. In this chapter, the term "benefit" does not include additional 05 compensation paid under AS 24.10.100 to presiding officers, salary, per diem, 06 allowances, or reimbursement of moving expenses. 07 * Sec. 17. AS 39.23 is amended by adding a new section to read: 08 Sec. 39.23.295. Definitions. In this chapter, 09 (1) "commission" means the Citizens' Commission on Legislative 10 Salary and Benefits; 11 (2) "salary" means the annual salary of legislators and does not include 12 additional compensation paid under AS 24.10.100 to presiding officers, benefits, per 13 diem, allowances, or reimbursement of moving expenses. 14 * Sec. 18. AS 39.23.200(e), 39.23.230(b), 39.23.240(b), 39.23.240(f), and 39.23.400 are 15 repealed. 16 * Sec. 19. Section 5, ch. 124, SLA 1986, is repealed. 17 * Sec. 20. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 18 read: 19 INITIAL TERMS. Notwithstanding AS 39.23.200(a), as amended by sec. 6 of this 20 Act, the terms of the members of the Citizens' Commission on Legislative Salary and Benefits 21 who are first appointed under this Act are as follows: 22 (1) one member shall serve a one-year term; 23 (2) two members shall serve two-year terms; 24 (3) two members shall serve three-year terms; 25 (4) one member shall serve a four-year term. 26 * Sec. 21. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 27 read: 28 CONTINUATION OF CURRENT LEGISLATORS' SALARIES. The monthly salary 29 for each member of the legislature is $2,001 until the State of Alaska payroll administration 30 implements a different monthly payment of annual salary in its place based on adoption of a 31 policy by the Alaska Legislative Council under AS 24.10.130(d), added by sec. 5 of this Act,
01 setting out a different salary. 02 * Sec. 22. Sections 9 and 12, ch. 124, SLA 1986, giving delayed contingent effect to certain 03 provisions of AS 24.10 and AS 39.23, are repealed.