Legislature(2015 - 2016)CAPITOL 106
04/07/2015 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB77 | |
| HB173 | |
| HB55 | |
| HJR19 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 77 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HJR 19 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 173 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 55 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 55-COMPENSATION FOR WRONGFUL CONVICTION
8:22:52 AM
CHAIR LYNN announced that the next order of business was HOUSE
BILL NO. 55, "An Act relating to compensation for wrongful
conviction and imprisonment."
8:23:10 AM
REPRESENTATIVE SCOTT KAWASAKI, Alaska State Legislature, as
prime sponsor, presented HB 55. He asked the committee to think
about the events in their lives, such as weddings, births,
graduations, deaths, retirements, and other significant events
that had occurred. He further asked the committee to include
the creation of the Internet, the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001, and globalization of technology. He then asked the
committee to imagine that during all that time they had been
incarcerated in a small prison cell for a crime they had not
committed. He stated that HB 55 sought to correct the suffering
of Alaskans who had been wrongfully incarcerated.
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI stated that individuals suffer the
consequences of their mistakes; however, the State of Alaska
suffers no consequences when its legal system makes a life-
altering mistake by incarcerating an innocent Alaskan and
"stealing those years away." He said the proposed legislation
would create a mechanism to provide financial compensation for
those lost years to help the wrongfully convicted get back on
their feet. Under HB 55, the exonerated individual would
receive $50,000 a year, with a cap of $2 million, which meets
the federal recommendations under the Federal Justice for All
Act of 2004, and that it is the threshold most commonly used in
the 30 other states that currently have wrongful conviction
compensation statutes. Representative Kawasaki stated that
while no amount of money could truly compensate for the time
spent wrongfully incarcerated, the concept was to provide
finances that would help the wrongfully convicted get back on
his/her feet, reintegrate into society, and start a life after
prison.
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI said the proposed legislation would
proactively protect the state coffers by instituting a
compensation plan to help the reintegration process rather than
waiting for those who have been exonerated to sue the state for
civil damages. He reported that according to the Alaska
Innocence Project, "the average statute amount is roughly
$330,000 per exonerated individual, while the average civil
award amount is about $3.6 million." He said the proposed
legislation would establish a $50,000/year compensation and
protect the state from future civil suits. He related that
while there had not been any exonerations in Alaska that would
have fallen under "this current statute, as written," the
overall rising wave of exonerations over the past 15 years meant
that it was just a matter of time before it happened in Alaska.
Representative Kawasaki concluded that the proposed legislation
was "a proactive measure that rights the state's wrongs and
protects us from future lawsuits, while fulfilling our moral
duty as stewards of the public justice system."
8:27:17 AM
CHAIR LYNN related that he had just seen on television that
someone in the Lower 48 had just been exonerated from death row
after about 30 years in prison, and he remarked that he did not
know how it would be possible to adequately reimburse a person
in that circumstance. He indicated that coming up with a
formula for compensation would depend on many factors, including
how long the person had been incarcerated, the age of the person
when incarcerated, what the person's occupation was, and the
person's physical condition. He asked the bill sponsor how he
arrived at the proposed $50,000.
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI answered that amount was roughly the
average of the amount the other states had incorporated similar
statutes. In response to Chair Lynn, he said the formula used
to determine the amount is complex. He indicated that when
litigation is involved, factors such as whether or not the
individual was in the prime of his/her life are taken into
consideration.
CHAIR LYNN expounded on the idea that arriving at a formula
would be complicated because of all the variables involved.
8:29:19 AM
REILY LEONARD, Staff, Representative Scott Kawasaki, Alaska
State Legislature, on behalf of Representative Kawasaki, prime
sponsor, related that the $50,000/year threshold was chosen,
because that was the amount that Congress had established in
2004 in the aforementioned Act. He indicated that Congress had
also established a $100,000 threshold for time spent on death
row, which was seen as much more severe. He said some states
adopted that standard, as well; however, he noted that Alaska
does not have the death penalty, and the sponsor chose not to
include that factor.
8:30:04 AM
REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ remarked that although it is extremely
difficult to convict someone in Alaska - doing so is more common
in the Lower 48 - she could envision in the future there may be
someone who is wrongfully convicted [in Alaska].
8:30:56 AM
KATHLEEN A. FREDERICK, Chief Administrative Law Judge, Anchorage
Office, Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), Department of
Administration (DOA), explained the reason the department did
not submit a fiscal note was because at the present time there
was no way to determine how many claims would result from the
proposed legislation.
8:31:48 AM
BILL OBERLY, Executive Director, Alaska Innocence Project (AIP),
stated that the issue brought up under HB 55 is one of
importance to AIP. He said the issue is neither conservative
nor liberal, neither related to criminal prosecution nor to
criminal defense, but is an issue of justice. He said AIP
brought Steve Barnes - a man who was exonerated in New York
after about 24 years in prison - to Alaska.
CHAIR LYNN recollected having met Mr. Barnes.
MR. OBERLY relayed that when asked, Mr. Barnes had illustrated
how difficult the issue of compensation was by asking what price
a person would put on having given up all his/her 20s, 30s, and
half his/her 40s to sit in prison. Mr. Oberly said that was a
sobering question, because "there's not enough money to sit in
prison for a crime you did not commit." He said the federal
government set the [$50,000] amount under President George H.
Bush. He relayed that the State of Texas started out at
$50,000, but now had the highest exoneration compensation rate
of $80,000/year of wrongful conviction.
MR. OBERLY referenced Chair Lynn's comment about a man shown on
television who had been exonerated after 30 years on death row,
and he offered his understanding that that person was Anthony
Ray Hinton, in Alabama. He said Mr. Hinton sought recovery
through the judge in the case, who awarded Mr. Hinton $1,000 for
every day he had been in prison. He cautioned that without a
statute in place, "those are the kind of awards that can be ...
realized out there." He echoed the bill sponsor's remarks that
HB 55 would provide a set amount of compensation, while also
setting up a known amount that would be satisfactory without
being at "the high end."
8:35:33 AM
MR. OBERLY concurred with Representative Vazquez that it is
difficult to get a conviction [in Alaska]. He said through good
police and prosecutorial work, the vast majority of convictions
are accurate. Notwithstanding that, he said Alaska's system is
not perfect; therefore, he echoed the bill sponsor's statement
that it is the state's moral duty to correct wrongful
convictions.
8:36:07 AM
REPRESENTATIVE TALERICO asked Mr. Oberly if there were
statistics available showing how many wrongful convictions had
occurred in Alaska that had been exonerated or whether the state
had ever been involved in a civil suit related to that
situation.
MR. OBERLY answered that there had been no exonerations, to
date, in Alaska. He indicated that AIP thinks it has identified
a few wrongful convictions that have occurred in Alaska, and it
is in the process of determining whether it can prove them in
court; therefore, there may be a situation coming up where the
proposed statute could be utilized. He said Alaska's system
generally works as it should; therefore, wrongful convictions in
the state are rare. He said there may have been civil suits for
wrongful arrests, but that is not what was being addressed in
this instance. He offered his understanding that there had not
been any civil suits brought for wrongful conviction in Alaska.
8:38:06 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER asked if the proposed legislation would
provide an incentive for lawyers to look for wrongful
convictions, which may result in more litigation.
MR. OBERLY responded that wrongful convictions are all he
covers, and they are "one of the most complex and difficult
cases to establish." He said he did not think there were any
lawyers that were "struggling enough to undertake this as their
money-making proposition." He explained that an average case
takes 12 years.
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER said Mr. Oberly's response was helpful.
8:40:07 AM
CHAIR LYNN, after ascertaining no one further wished to testify,
closed public testimony on HB 55.
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER indicated he did not think anything would
prevent the state from making reparations for wrongful
convictions on a case-by-case basis. He said he was struggling
with the idea of creating statute for a situation that had not
occurred in Alaska, but said he did not think there was any
reason there could not be "reparations in unusual
circumstances."
8:41:07 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KAWASAKI responded that he did not recommend
operating on a case-by-case basis. He said he thought having a
prescriptive way to [reimburse] any wrongfully convicted person
"is the best way to go," and he said he thinks 30 other states
had agreed to that. Further, President George W. Bush, in
signing the Act in 2004, "recognized that, too."
8:42:00 AM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS moved to report HB 55 out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
[zero] fiscal note. There being no objection, HB 55 was
reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.