Legislature(2017 - 2018)GRUENBERG 120
03/21/2017 03:00 PM House STATE AFFAIRS
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 | |
| HB94 | |
| SB46 | |
| HB163 | |
| HB1 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 94 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 46 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 163 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 1 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 163-DPS LAW ENFORCE. SVCS: AGREEMENTS/FEES
4:08:06 PM
CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS announced that the next order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 163, "An Act authorizing the Department
of Public Safety to enter into agreements with nonprofit
regional corporations and federal, tribal, and local government
agencies to provide law enforcement services; authorizing the
Department of Public Safety to collect fees for certain law
enforcement services; and providing for an effective date."
4:09:04 PM
COLONEL JAMES COCKRELL, Director, Alaska State Troopers (AST),
Department of Public Safety (DPS), presented HB 163 on behalf of
the House Rules Standing Committee, sponsor, by request of the
governor. He stated that through the years, AST has been
impacted by the boom and bust of the economy and has looked for
ways to provide professional services to underserved areas. He
said that recently the communities of Nikiski and Big Lake asked
if they could "contract out" with AST. He mentioned that AST's
"battle" with the Municipality of Anchorage is what prompted AST
to take "ownership" of areas inside the Municipality of
Anchorage and Girdwood. He relayed that DPS offered a potential
contract to the community of Girdwood. He asserted that since
payments under such a contract would be made to the State of
Alaska and not AST, such an arrangement would not help AST's
budget or accomplish what was needed - keeping troopers "on the
road" or providing services to Girdwood. Girdwood chose another
option, which was contracting with the Whittier Police
Department.
COLONEL COCKRELL provided a summary and a sectional analysis of
HB 163, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]:
Summary: This bill allows the Department of Public
Safety to enter into agreements with nonprofit
regional corporations and government agencies to
provide law enforcement services and to collect
reasonable fees for the law enforcement services
provides. It provides the Department receipt authority
for the funds collected and limits applicability to
entities that do not have a police force of public
safety coverage as of the effective date of the Act.
Section 1: Amends 37.05.146 (c) by adding a new
subsection: (90) fees collected by the Department of
Public Safety for law enforcement services under AS
44.41.020 (g)
Section 2: Amends AS 44.41.020 by adding a new
subsection (g); this additional subsection gives the
Department the authority to enter into agreements with
nonprofit regional corporations, or federal, tribal,
or local governments and to collect reasonable fees to
cover the costs of providing services;
Section 3: Amends the uncodified law by adding a new
section that limits the applicability of AS 44.41.020
(g) to nonprofit regional corporations or federal,
tribal, and local government agencies that do not have
an organized police force or contracted public safety
coverage as of the effective date of the Act.
Section 4: Provides for an effective day of July 1,
2017.
4:13:06 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX asked why the proposed legislation is
limited to areas without an organized police force or contracted
public safety agreements as of the effective date of the Act.
She suggested that after the effective date of the Act, a
community might be in the same situation as was Girdwood. She
mentioned as an example the unincorporated area of Chiniak near
Kodiak.
COLONEL COCKRELL responded that in the situation of Kodiak and
Chiniak, the proposed legislation would allow DPS to contract
with a government entity or the Kodiak Island Borough to provide
police services to Chiniak to augment the services that DPS is
currently providing to Kodiak.
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX relayed that Girdwood is part of the
Municipality of Anchorage. She said that if a community was in
a situation exactly like the Girdwood situation, and the
situation occurred after the effective date of the act, then
there would be an organized police force for that community.
She asked why the proposed legislation is not written such that
the Department of Public Safety (DPS) could enter into an
agreement with such a community.
COLONEL COCKRELL replied that Girdwood has contracted with the
Whittier Police Department instead of the Anchorage Police
Department. He stated that the fear is that those cities with
bigger police departments, such as Bethel or Kotzebue, would
decide to no longer have police departments, and the State of
Alaska then would be responsible [for public safety]. He said
DPS does not want to take on that responsibility or to be in
competition with established local police departments. He said
the people of Girdwood have chosen the Whittier Police
Department and he does not know if DPS could contract with
Girdwood under the proposed legislation.
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX referred to the North Slope Borough (NSB),
which includes the City of Barrow and the outlying areas. She
said that if the NSB Police Department does not wish to provide
services to the outlying areas, then she does not see anything
wrong with Barrow paying for AST to provide services.
4:17:02 PM
COLONEL COCKRELL responded that the intent of HB 163 is to allow
areas with limited police protection to pay for AST to augment
the coverage it already provides to the area. He gave the
example of Soldotna and Nikiski: AST has a substantial post in
Soldotna, but there are still not enough troopers to cover the
area. Nikiski wanted to contract [with DPS] for troopers to
augment what is being provided by the post in Soldotna. He
suggested that in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, several villages
might wish to contract for extra trooper coverage to augment
what the Bethel troopers are providing to the area. He
reiterated that AST does not want to compete with the boroughs
or municipalities for providing police services.
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX mentioned that in the Hillside area of
Anchorage, the coverage is relatively sparse. She offered that
if Hillside, through a non-profit corporation, decided that it
wanted to contract for more trooper service, why not allow that
option?
COLONEL COCKRELL answered that he thought that DPS would be
flexible in adopting that type of approach as long as it had the
flexibility to say "no." He stated that DPS's fear is that it
would be forced to enter into a contractual arrangement with an
area. He asserted that the intent of the proposed legislation
is to help the smaller communities that have very limited law
enforcement resources. He added that he believes the more
flexibility DPS has, the better off it is. He said that this is
an experiment - something which hasn't been done in Alaska. He
offered that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ("Mounties")
provide police for Whitehorse and several of the territories.
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX offered that the proposed legislation
would not give DPS the flexibility it wants, because it
precludes contracts with any entity in which there is an
organized police force.
COLONEL COCKRELL replied that DPS would be open to looking at
changing the language in the proposed legislation to address
Representative LeDoux's concern.
4:20:50 PM
REPRESENTATIVE BIRCH asked what the mission was of DPS
geographically and objectively with respect to the services it
delivers.
COLONEL COCKRELL responded that AST has enforcement powers
throughout the state including municipalities. It has posts
from Prince of Wales Island to the most northern post of
Kotzebue. He said that DPS has statewide authority over all
"search and rescues" in the state, which average over 500 per
year. It provides special investigative services to the
Anchorage Police Department (APD) and all the smaller
departments. It is the only statewide drug enforcement agency
in the state. He added that the wildlife troopers enforce all
the fish and game laws in the state. He offered that its scope
and mission are endless considering its responsibilities.
REPRESENTATIVE BIRCH gave as an example the Fairbanks North Star
Borough (FNSB), which includes about 100,000 people in the
borough, 30,000 in Fairbanks, and a few thousand in North Pole.
He asked if DPS provides law enforcement outside the corporate
city limits of North Pole and Fairbanks but within the borough.
COLONEL COCKRELL replied, "Correct." He added that AST provides
services for more residents than do the Fairbanks and North Pole
police departments. He mentioned that the Matanuska-Susitna
("Mat-Su") Valley has two police departments, but AST serves
over 85,000 residents of the Mat-Su Valley with 34 patrol
troopers. He said that in the Kenai Peninsula, there are city
police departments in Homer, Kenai, Soldotna, and Seward, but
these departments have minimal "footprints" on the entire Kenai
Peninsula. He asserted that AST covers much more territory and
residents than the city [police departments] combined.
REPRESENTATIVE BIRCH stated that Girdwood is outside of the
construct of the APD, "so it basically is no different than the
greater FNSB." He said his expectation is that AST would
provide services to those areas in the greater Municipality of
Anchorage that are outside the police service area.
COLONEL COCKRELL responded that it has been the state's position
that all the areas within the Municipality of Anchorage are
under the APD, not AST.
4:24:50 PM
REPRESENTATIVE BIRCH asked if AST still has officers stationed
in Fort Yukon or Holy Cross.
COLONEL COCKRELL answered no. He said that officers have not
been stationed in Holy Cross for the last 20 years and in Fort
Yukon, not since 1987.
REPRESENTATIVE BIRCH stated that the committee learned that
there are 76 funded Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO)
positions and 52 filled. He said that they also learned that
the money not spent on the unfilled positions does not go back
to the state, but is kept by the contractors. He asked if AST
has an opportunity to compete for those contracted positions.
COLONEL COCKRELL said that AST depends greatly on the VPSOs
across the state. He mentioned that they struggle with the same
challenges as does AST - recruitment and retention. He added
that their turnover rate is about thirty-three percent annually.
He stated that they live in very difficult areas of the state
regarding lack of infrastructure, housing, offices, and
plumbing. He added that sometimes they must perform court
arraignments over the telephone, because there is a prisoner in
the other holding cell. He asserted that VPSOs are the "eyes
and ears" of AST when the troopers go to the villages. He said
that the VPSOs certainly suffer when there are that many
vacancies, especially in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, where there
are 11 vacancies out 15 or 18 positions. He said that the
proposed legislation is not designed to create competition with
the VPSO program. He added that the hope is that AST would
augment the VPSO program. Studies show that communities are
safer with either a VPSO in the village or both a VPSO and a
state trooper in the village. He cited Emmonak, Hooper Bay, and
Togiak as communities with both VPSOs and troopers. He added
that the villages in Western Alaska are struggling with crime
and sexual assaults. He said that his focus has been to provide
more troopers to Western Alaska, but in accomplishing that,
troopers were taken out of the urban areas.
4:28:35 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KNOPP mentioned that Title 29 [of the Alaska
Statutes] controls the powers granted to the boroughs. He
stated that as a second-class borough, Nikiski did not create a
law enforcement service area or adopt police powers. He asked
if Nikiski would have had to vote to create a law enforcement
service area for DPS to contract with the city.
REPRESENTATIVE KNOPP offered that a non-profit [organization]
has no authority outside of what it owns, so he didn't see how
it could contract for law enforcement services without the
people voting for "that power." He asked if the residents of a
rural community with a non-profit regional corporation would
have to vote on the service area before contracting out for
police services and if that would be an issue with the governing
body of the community.
COLONEL COCKRELL, in answer to the first question, replied that
his understanding is that in the '90s, Nikiski voted to tax
themselves for police services and then voted again in 2013. He
added that Nikiski was in close contact with DPS during that
time. He said that the answer to Representative Knopp's
question was yes, Nikiski would have to vote to tax themselves
and the Kenai Peninsula Borough (KPB) would pay the troopers
[through a contract with DPS] to provide services to augment the
services out of Soldotna. He said that his greatest fear
regarding HB 163 is a scenario in which Nikiski asked for five
state troopers under a contract costing possibly $1 million and
the next administration or legislature would cut the AST budget
by $1 million or by five positions. He asserted that the intent
of the proposed legislation is for AST to improve services, not
break even or even earn money.
COLONEL COCKRELL, in answer to the second question, said that
the non-profit regional corporations own swaths of land in rural
Alaska and, except for Northwest Arctic Borough (NAB), they
manage the VPSO programs. He said they could apply for grants
to hire troopers to provide services to the villages.
4:32:17 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KNOPP commented that the VPSO program has been a
large source of controversy in the budget process this year. He
said that in compensating the regional corporations for the
VPSOs, two concerns have come forward: the money was not being
used for its intended purpose, and the VPSOs do not have the
same training as the police officers who attend the academy. He
asked if there is a possibility that someday DPS would contract
with the regional corporations and provide them with VPSOs who
are employees of DPS, and VPSOs would be provided the same
training and authority as is provided to state troopers.
COLONEL COCKRELL answered that he felt that some of the
testimony related to VPSOs during a House Finance Committee
meeting had been disrespectful of the VPSO program. He said
that not one dollar of the funds spent on the VPSO program goes
to anything but salaries, benefits, and support of the program.
He said that DPS interacts with nine entities, eight non-profits
and NAB, in areas that are like "third world." He asserted that
DPS provides for some very basic provisions, such as phone,
water, electricity, building a jail cell, and a side-by-side
[vehicle] for safe arrests. He stated, "There are so many
things that they are lacking, and when we do have some extra
money, there's nothing out there that doesn't go to that
program." He added that the money stays in rural Alaska and
does not go to Anchorage or any other place. He said that DPS
has a record for every item purchased with the funds, and he
oversees the purchases. He offered that the testimony he heard
[in the previously mentioned House Finance Committee meeting]
was disheartening, and perhaps he needs to do a better job of
providing information about the VPSO program.
COLONEL COCKRELL responded to Representative Knopp's other
comment by saying that DPS is working with the regional non-
profits, or contractors, to explore the idea of making VPSOs
state employees under AST. He said he believes the idea has
merit and cited the difficulty [currently] of interacting with
eight different agencies with their own bureaucracies. He
stated that there are many positives to making VPSOs state
employees. He offered that doing so would not cost DPS any more
money, since it pays indirect money to the contractors. He said
he believes that doing so would be a step in the right direction
and would help them be better aligned with the state troopers.
He asserted that AST has oversight only over the contractor-
operated VPSO programs and is often held responsible for things
over which it has no control. He said that if DPS owned the
program completely, then it could be held responsible. He
mentioned that interacting directly with the tribes would
generate more trust and ownership in the program.
4:38:25 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL asked if the legislation was proposed to
address the "Girdwood situation" or a "rural situation" or both.
COLONEL COCKRELL replied that the Girdwood situation "brought it
to the forefront." He said the proposed legislation was
intended for areas outside of AST's normal focus of patrol to
augment what is already being done in the areas. He said there
is the potential for [contracted agreements with DPS under HB
163] to be utilized in rural Alaska. He said that he does not
know if HB 163 will result in contracts. He commented that he
believes there is interest in contracting with DPS, and HB 163
would allow the flexibility to enter into contracts to improve
services. He said that he has a fear that only the wealthier
communities would be able to afford such contracts, and DPS does
not want to get into a situation where it is providing more
services to the wealthier areas. He stated that he is not
opposed to offering this opportunity to rural areas, but DPS
does not want to compete with cities such as Bethel, Kotzebue,
or Nome.
4:41:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL asked if using troopers for the contract
work proposed under HB 163 would create a shortage of troopers
within AST.
COLONEL COCKRELL said that the intent is not to take from
trooper positions but to bring on additional troopers under
contracts. He recommended that a contract be approved for no
less than five years. He added that if the contract ended, AST
always has enough trooper vacancies to hire the trooper or have
him/her work under another contract. He said AST also has
explored using retired state troopers or law enforcement
officers hired into non-permanent ("non-perm") positions. He
said that AST is looking at different options, and he can't
answer that question definitively at this time until more is
known regarding what will be needed. He reiterated that the
goal is to provide more state troopers in Alaska.
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL said that in the Girdwood situation, the
town was going to lose a trooper due to lack of funding.
COLONEL COCKRELL clarified that there were five state troopers
assigned to Girdwood, and the Kenai Peninsula lost six or seven
trooper positions at that time. He said that he made the
decision to close the Girdwood station and move the positions
back to the Kenai Peninsula, because having two troopers for the
entire Kenai Peninsula on the "grave" shift was unacceptable.
REPRESENTATIVE WOOL concluded that there was not enough funding
for troopers to be permanently stationed in Girdwood, and they
were redistributed. He offered that when troopers are pulled
out of a community, some communities may be able to afford
contracting for troopers and some may not. He asked if rural
communities could share a contract for a trooper.
COLONEL COCKRELL responded that he believes that potential
exists, especially in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, or in the areas
surrounding Kotzebue or Nome. He mentioned that, for example,
three villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta could contract with
a trooper to extend the coverage provided by the Bethel
troopers.
4:46:33 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON stated that she appreciates the intent of
HB 163 to fill a need for troopers. She gave as an example the
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which does not have police powers,
and asked who would oversee the contracted trooper.
COLONEL COCKRELL said that in the Mat-Su Borough, the troopers
serve over 85,000 people. He said that if Big Lake decides that
it needs more coverage than it currently gets from Mat-Su West
and contracts with four troopers, then AST would oversee the
troopers, and possibly a community board would coordinate with
the AST detachment commander to ensure the troopers meet the
goals of the contract. He added that the primary patrol area
would be Big Lake; however, AST would allow that trooper to
respond out of the Big Lake area if backup were needed
elsewhere.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON asked if the contracting agency would
have to be a governmental agency or an entity with police
powers.
COLONEL COCKRELL answered that as HB 163 is written, the
contracting agency would have to be a government agency. He
said that in the Mat-Su Borough scenario, DPS would contract
with Mat-Su Borough and the borough would collect taxes from Big
Lake to cover the cost. He said that in the case of Houston,
which currently does not have a police department, either the
City of Houston or the Mat-Su Borough could contract with [DPS]
for troopers using Houston's funds. He added that HB 163 is
designed for towns such as Houston or Willow.
4:51:10 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON referred to two problems brought forward
in a House floor discussion regarding VPSOs: not enough
trained VPSOs or people willing to take the VPSO positions; and
[because positions were unfilled] the money going to the
villages for VPSOs could not be used for that purpose. She
asked if that money could be used to fund a trooper position.
COLONEL COCKRELL said that AST could not use VPSO grant money to
fund an Alaska State Trooper. He speculated that AST would have
to get the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) and possibly
legislative approval to use the money in that way, as it is
strictly for the VPSO program. He mentioned that there are a
few trooper positions that are funded through the VPSO program,
but he said he didn't believe he could use the money to hire a
trooper for a village. He said that recruitment for law
enforcement officers across the county is difficult, and some of
the large police departments in the Lower 48 are having the same
issues as Alaska. He reiterated that VPSO programs have a huge
turnover rate at thirty-three percent, and the most VPSOs Alaska
has ever had was 101 VPSOs under Governor Sean Parnell's
administration. Governor Parnell added 15 VPSO positions per
year and one state trooper position to support the 15 VPSOs. He
said that reductions in the budget brought the long-term number
down to 70-80; the current number is in the 50s.
COLONEL COCKRELL stated that originally a VPSO was a community
officer hired from within the village to be a first responder
but not take much action. He asserted that currently much more
is required of VPSOs; they are essentially police officers; they
attend the trooper academy and have the same training as Alaska
State Troopers; they are now probation officers; and more VPSOs
are hired from out-of-state and are not prepared for village
life. He added that through the "rover" program, the VPSOs are
kept more in the urban areas and are flown out to villages. He
said there is not much willingness for troopers to live in the
villages, and living in the urban area gives them a break from
the village.
CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS announced that HB 163 is held over.