04/13/2017 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES

          HB 118-COMPENSATION FOR WRONGFUL CONVICTION                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
3:05:50 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that the first order of business would                                                                
be HOUSE BILL NO. 118, "An Act relating to compensation for                                                                     
wrongful conviction and imprisonment."                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
3:06:17 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
OLIVIA GARRETT, Staff, Representative Scott Kawasaki, Alaska                                                                    
State Legislature, summarized from the Sponsor Statement                                                                        
[Included in members' packets], which read:                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     Our judicial system is meant  to incarcerate the guilty                                                                    
     and  protect   the  innocent.   If  the   system  fails                                                                    
     Alaskans,  then the  state is  responsible to  help the                                                                    
     innocent get back on their feet.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
     With increasing technology,  DNA exonerations have been                                                                    
     on  the rise.  There have  been 349  postconviction DNA                                                                    
     exonerations   since  1989   with  the   vast  majority                                                                    
     occurring  since  2000.   These  individuals  spent  an                                                                    
     average of 14 years behind  bars and were released into                                                                    
     a changed world. House Bill  118 gives these wrongfully                                                                    
     imprisoned victims  a chance  to start  a new  life and                                                                    
     integrate back into society.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
     Specifically, HB 118  creates an administrative process                                                                    
     whereby victims of  overturned criminal convictions can                                                                    
     request compensation  from the  state for  time served.                                                                    
     They can be  compensated up to $50,000 per  year with a                                                                    
     lifetime  cap  at  $2  million,  University  of  Alaska                                                                    
     tuition  for  themselves  and  their  children,  state-                                                                    
     funded  health care  including mental  health services,                                                                    
     up to  3 years  of state  funded job  training services                                                                    
     and economic damages including  lost wages and attorney                                                                    
     fees.  In order  to qualify  for the  compensation, the                                                                    
     claimant must have served time  in prison and then have                                                                    
     been  exonerated  via  retrial, dismissed  charges,  or                                                                    
     executive pardon because of innocence.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     While there is  no price on the  emotional and personal                                                                    
     suffering of  those who were wrongfully  imprisoned, HB
 would  bring Alaska up to  the federal compensation                                                                    
     standards to  help right  the state's  wrong. Financial                                                                    
     compensation   would    help   victims    of   wrongful                                                                    
     imprisonment repair  their lives  by covering  costs of                                                                    
     education, healthcare, housing and transportation.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
     Thirty-two  states and  the District  of Columbia  have                                                                    
     some  sort  of  compensation  statute.  Every  innocent                                                                    
     person,  regardless of  how  they became  incarcerated,                                                                    
     deserves just  compensation for  the time  they wrongly                                                                    
     served. HB  118 is a  stepping stone in a  long process                                                                    
     towards ensuring justice for all Alaskans.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
3:07:10 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ opened public testimony on HB 118.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
3:07:28 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
TIFFANY MERRITT, Graduate Student,  University of North Carolina,                                                               
noted that  she was born and  raised in Alaska and  was currently                                                               
attending graduate  school at the  University of  North Carolina.                                                               
She shared  that her master's  research was in Sociology,  with a                                                               
concentration  in  Criminology.   She  reported  that, for  three                                                               
years, she  had been doing  research on wrongful  convictions and                                                               
she had  created a database  for the amount of  financial redress                                                               
received  by  death row  exonerees.    She  stated that  only  40                                                               
percent of  death row exonerees  received redress, and  that only                                                               
31  states had  compensation statutes,  pointing out  that Alaska                                                               
did not  have this  statute, even as  former Senator  Ted Stevens                                                               
was "technically an  exoneree."  She reported  that exonerees had                                                               
had everything  taken from  them.   After years  of incarceration                                                               
and  the loss  of  many  workable years  with  the attendant  job                                                               
experience, they were  released with a host of  health and mental                                                               
health  problems.    She  relayed  that much  of  this  could  be                                                               
addressed  by   the  proposed   bill.     She  stated   that  the                                                               
compensation package  in the proposed  bill was "probably  one of                                                               
the best  I've seen in  my research."   She declared  her support                                                               
for  the  proposed  bill,  noting that  the  United  Nations  had                                                               
mandated  for countries  to provide  compensation  for those  who                                                               
were wrongfully convicted within their borders.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
3:09:42 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
WILLIAM HARRINGTON urged swift passage  of the proposed bill, and                                                               
he suggested  to amend the bill  to include past incidences.   He                                                               
stated  that the  current treatment  of  wrongfully convicted  in                                                               
Alaska showed "no dignity."  He  said that it was necessary for a                                                               
strong  message of  dignity  to  be sent  from  the Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature and the governor to its citizens.                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
3:11:44 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ closed public testimony.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
3:12:04 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that HB 118 would be held over.