Legislature(2009 - 2010)BUTROVICH 205
04/15/2009 05:30 PM Senate JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB152 | |
| SB68 | |
| HB49 | |
| HB170 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 68 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 152 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 49 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 170 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 152-2009 REVISOR'S BILL
6:15:21 PM
CHAIR FRENCH announced the consideration of CS for HB 152. [CSHB
152(JUD).]
KATHRYN KURTZ, Assistant Revisor of Statutes, Legislative Legal
and Research Services Division, Legislative Affairs Agency, said
the revisors are statutorily required every two years to review
Alaska statutes and prepare legislation to correct deficiencies,
remove obsolete provisions, and fix errors in the statutes. This
bill does that; it improves the statutes. The Department of Law
(DOL) has reviewed the changes and discussed the relevant
provisions with the different departments. A letter of support
from DOL should be included in the bill packet, she said.
CHAIR FRENCH acknowledged that the letter is in the packet.
MS. KURTZ said there is an explanation of each change in each
sectional summary.
CHAIR FRENCH said he usually reviews a revisor bill by stress-
testing it in a place or two. He targeted bill section 82 and
asked why this part of law requires so much revising.
MS. KURTZ replied that section is full of repealers. The
sectional summary has the text of each section that is being
repealed as well as the explanations.
6:17:04 PM
AS 08.362.46(a)(4)(B) is a reference to the specialty
examinations given by the Central Regional Examining Board, but
that board doesn't offer specialty examinations so it makes no
sense. The solution is to take it out.
AS 31.05.080(b) was impliedly repealed by the enactment of AS
22.10.020(d).
CHAIR FRENCH said this appears to have come to your attention in
the course of some litigation.
MS. KURTZ replied it did indeed. It is referred to in Allen v.
Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. This makes express
that repeal so it's not in the statutes where it could cause
confusion.
6:18:04 PM
CHAIR FRENCH observed that this collection of repealers isn't
related to any particular part of the statutes. There is no
thematic link.
MS. KURTZ replied that's correct and there's a special
constitutional provision for that. The single subject rule
applies to everything but appropriation bills and bills revising
the statutes. That provision enables the revisors to solve a lot
of small technical issues at once.
CHAIR FRENCH expressed satisfaction and asked Senator McGuire if
she had any test questions on the revisor's bill.
SENATOR MCGUIRE said no, but the changes can be comical. For
example, bill section 9 corrects an apparent error by changing
"adopted parent" to "adoptive parent" because Alaska law does
not provide for the adoption of parents by children.
CHAIR FRENCH noted that bill section 39 replaces "newsboys" and
"salesman" to avoid the use of gender specific terms. That same
bill section deletes a grammatically incorrect use of the word
"some," which appeals to the grammarian in him. Similarly, bill
section 41 substitutes "that" for "which" and semi-colons for
commas to conform to the current drafting style. Senator French
said he will bring that to the attention of a staffer with whom
he has a long-standing running debate.
6:20:21 PM
SENATOR MCGUIRE referenced bill section 1 and asked what a
generic reference to the division of agriculture would look
like.
MS. KURTZ explained that the generic reference would be to the
division that has responsibility for agriculture. Within a
department names can be changed administratively and things can
be rearranged such that a specific reference would be out of
style and wouldn't make sense in the statute. "We're
anticipating that in some places, and in some places things have
already been rearranged and we're playing catch up," she said.
CHAIR FRENCH found no further questions, no amendments and no
public testimony. He thanked Ms. Kurtz for doing this exacting
difficult work and added, "We could not do it without people
with rigorous minds." He asked for a motion.
SENATOR MCGUIRE moved to report CS for HB 152 from committee
with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s).
There being no objection, CSHB 152(JUD) was reported from the
Senate Judiciary Standing Committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|