Legislature(2017 - 2018)SENATE FINANCE 532
04/14/2018 10:00 AM Senate FINANCE
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB31 | |
| HB121 | |
| HB215 | |
| HB299 | |
| HB275 | |
| HB299 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 31 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 299 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 121 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 215 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 275 | TELECONFERENCED | |
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 31(FIN)
"An Act relating to law enforcement training in
domestic violence and sexual assault; relating to
sexual assault investigation protocols; requiring an
inventory and reports on untested sexual assault
examination kits; and providing for an effective
date."
10:11:09 AM
Co-Chair MacKinnon reported the bill had been heard on
April 4, 2018 where public testimony had been heard. The
fiscal notes had been reviewed as well.
REPRESENTATIVE GERAN TARR, SPONSOR, introduced herself.
Co-Chair MacKinnon shared that there were two outstanding
issues for the committee to address. The first was related
to the process of how anonymous reports worked. The
committee had engaged in discussions with the department
that had met her satisfaction. The second topic was the
cost of training resulting from an increase from 2 hours
from some departments to 12 hours. She had provided a
series of emails with the Anchorage Police Department
(APD), where APD had indicated it did not believe the
change would be an undue burden on its facilities. The bill
did not cover Village Public Safety Officers (VPSO), who
accessed a different form of training and were not police
officers.
Representative Tarr agreed.
10:13:00 AM
Co-Chair MacKinnon asked for a brief overview of the bill.
Representative Tarr explained that the bill accomplished
three things. First, it put in statute a victim centered
approach to reporting sexual assault crimes. She had
brought a sexual assault examination kit box to the meeting
in case someone had not seen one previously. She elaborated
the box was an evidence collection kit. Much work had been
done on the issue, and a victim centered approach had been
developed that included anonymous reporting and law
enforcement reporting. Anonymous reporting allowed the
victim to have the evidence collected, which needed to be
done in a timely fashion (within 72-hours), but did not
require the victim to decide whether they wanted to move
forward with a criminal prosecution. If a person wanted to
move forward with a prosecution at the time evidence was
collected they would select the law enforcement report. The
bill would put the victim centered approach into statute.
Representative Tarr explained the bill also required
individuals to receive 72 hours of sexual assault response
training during their law enforcement training in Alaska in
addition to 12 hours of domestic violence training, which
was currently in statute. Although the sexual assault
training was already in statute, the bill underscored its
importance. The bill also included an ongoing audit. The
first audit had concluded and was presented in November
2017, which provided an understanding of the issue in
Alaska. She noted the issue was also happening nationwide,
but there were over 3,000 untested rape kits in Alaska. It
would be somewhat expensive to get all of the kits tested
and go through the process with the victims to ensure they
wanted to participate. The audit would provide the
legislature with an annual status update. At some point it
would no longer be necessary when the backlog was
eliminated, and cases were prosecuted. She complimented Co-
Chair MacKinnon for discussions that had taken place in the
committee. She understood the discussions had been so
informative, some of Co-Chair MacKinnon's suggestions would
be incorporated into the process. She explained the bill
was one step towards ensuring there was reform in the way
rape kits were tested, victims received the justice they
deserved, and to keep dangerous criminals off the street.
10:15:47 AM
Co-Chair MacKinnon shared that under the current bill
victims went to healthcare providers when reporting
anonymously. She was concerned there could be a closure or
problem with keeping track of the location in Anchorage,
where storage for the rape kits was centralized. She had
asked if the department could work with state law
enforcement so that victims would go to law enforcement
instead of independent hospitals or medical facilities
across Alaska. There was more likely in the next 50 years
to be a state trooper position that could locate the
numbers for anonymous reporting than individual medical
facilities that may change over administrations and lose
track of important data. She elaborated that some people
did not remember that things happened after awhile when an
experience was traumatizing. She explained they may be
triggered by something in the future that may cause them to
seek out the information. She appreciated the troopers and
others who had taken time to speak to her on the important
issue.
Vice-Chair Bishop reviewed a new zero fiscal note from the
Department of Public Safety for statewide support of the
training academy (OMB Component Number 524) He read from
the second paragraph of the fiscal note's analysis:
The Alaska Law Enforcement Training (ALET) is a
sixteen week course providing instruction in criminal
investigation, police procedure, laws, and physical
skills. Instruction comes primarily from commissioned
Alaska State Troopers stationed in Sitka. The ALET
program fulfills the requirements to be certified as a
municipal police officer or an Alaska State Trooper.
The ALET program currently exceeds the number of hours
of instruction and training in sexual assault laws,
response, and investigation as proposed by this
legislation so there would be no fiscal impact to the
DPS Training Academy should it pass. Therefore, a zero
fiscal note is being submitted.
10:18:43 AM
Senator von Imhof noted that Representative Tarr had
indicated there were currently about 3,000 untested rape
kits in the backlog. She remarked that the fiscal note was
zero and she believed it specified the department would
absorb the cost to address the backlog. She asked for the
accuracy of her statements.
Representative Tarr responded that currently the funding
used to address the backlog had been provided through two
federal Department of Justice grants. The kits were being
tested in batches - once those funds were gone, if an
additional grant was not awarded, the state would have to
figure out how to pay for the cost through appropriations
in the capital budget or other. There was no appropriation
with the current legislation or linked to testing the
backlog. She stated, "this is other policy changes, so, the
actual testing is a separate issue."
Co-Chair MacKinnon relayed she had met with a group of
individuals including John Skidmore with the Attorney
General's Office, Diane Casto, Executive Director, Council
on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Department of
Public Safety, Orin Dym with the state DPS Crime Lab, and
others. There were about 3,400 untested kits, 114 of which
had been reported anonymously. She noted the numbers had
been rounded. There was a possibility for a bare-bone DNA
analysis at $1,000 per kit. She wanted to understand what
the bare essential analysis provided - she considered
whether it was sufficient information compared to the
$2,300 cost for prosecuting a kit under some of the current
grants. She noted there was a range in cost. She added that
it was possible to identify gender DNA differently. The
majority of sexual assaults in Alaska were perpetrated by
men on women. Tests had been developed that could go back
for almost one week instead of 72 hours, which had been
best practice when she had been the director of Standing
Together Against Rape. She continued that science was
taking leaps and bounds forward, but the tests were
expensive as they tried to recoup the research and
development to get the tests on the market. She expounded
they could highlight the male's DNA when searching for
matches.
10:21:32 AM
Senator von Imhof asked how far the current grant funding
would stretch to cover the 3,400 untested kits.
Representative Tarr answered that the first grant was
$100,000 for testing and additional training. She relayed
that Mr. Dym was online and may be able to provide further
detail related to the training component. The second grant
was largely to develop new systems; it was more about the
reform aspects and less about dollars going towards
testing. She relayed she would need to double check the
figures she had provided. A handful of kit batches were
being sent out under the first grant. Additionally, a new
grant was available that she had encouraged APD to apply
for because some of [the kits] were in its possession. She
speculated that several thousand kits would remain once the
grant funds had been used. She used 1,500 as a rough
average and reported the cost was in the millions of
dollars. She explained that every kit would not be tested
because in some cases an individual would not want to move
forward (there was an anonymous reporting option). She
believed it would be a multiyear process to determine how
to address the issue. As people were identified and linked
to other crimes, there would be prosecution as well.
Senator Micciche appreciated the sponsor's work have the
kits processed and evaluated. He noted there was
information in member's packets that was informative on
understanding the funding options.
Senator Stevens referenced the anonymous reporting option.
He asked if the anonymous kits went to the bottom of the
queue.
Representative Tarr replied there were two groups of kits.
There were cases that were far more recent, which totaled
about 70 at the lab currently. The queue was not based on
whether a kit was anonymous but was mostly about the timing
of the prosecution and when the information was requested.
She elaborated when a case came up for consideration the
lab was contacted to process the kit. She explained that a
victim could chose to move forward at any time with an
anonymous report and it would put the kit in the queue. She
explained the kit was not ranked at the bottom because it
was anonymous, but if a person had done the kit anonymously
it meant they specified they were not presently interested
in moving forward with testing. Until that changed, it
remained in the anonymous pile.
10:25:27 AM
Senator Stevens asked for verification that if a kit
remained anonymous it would not be tested.
Representative Tarr answered in the affirmative. She
remarked it could be hard to accept because if it had the
potential to get a dangerous person off the streets it
would be desirable to move forward; however, the white
paper referenced by Senator Micciche from the Department of
Justice outlined the victim centered approach, which
recommended not moving forward unless the victim was
comfortable with that.
10:25:59 AM
Co-Chair MacKinnon listed individuals available online for
questions.
Vice-Chair Bishop MOVED to REPORT SCS CSHB 31(STA) from
committee with individual recommendations and accompanying
fiscal notes. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered.
SCS CSHB 31(STA) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do
pass" recommendation and with a new zero fiscal note from
the Department of Public Safety, and a previously published
zero fiscal note: FN3 (DPS).
10:26:54 AM
AT EASE
10:28:11 AM
RECONVENED
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| CSHB299 (HFIN) Explanation of Changes ver A to ver U 4.9.18.pdf |
SFIN 4/14/2018 10:00:00 AM |
HB 299 |
| HB 299 - Additional Backup - Precedent Alaska Airlines.pdf |
SFIN 4/14/2018 10:00:00 AM |
HB 299 |
| HB 275 Work Draft Version O.pdf |
SFIN 4/14/2018 10:00:00 AM |
HB 275 |
| HB 299 Alcoholic Beverage Control Board Fact Sheet and Roster - with Source.pdf |
SFIN 4/14/2018 10:00:00 AM |
HB 299 |
| HB 215 DPH response SFIN 4-11-2018.pdf |
SFIN 4/14/2018 10:00:00 AM |
HB 215 |
| HB 299 ABC Board Resolution re amendment to HB 299.pdf |
SFIN 4/14/2018 10:00:00 AM |
HB 299 |
| HB299_ABC Board Resolution.pdf |
SFIN 4/14/2018 10:00:00 AM |
HB 299 |