Legislature(1997 - 1998)
05/07/1998 09:09 AM Senate FIN
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HOUSE BILL 257
"An Act relating to elections, to election officials
and election workers, to voter registration, and to
candidates for election; and providing for an
effective date."
Co-chair Sharp provided history of the bill, including
changes made to meet federal guidelines on purging voting
lists.
GAIL FENUMIAI, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF ELECTIONS, OFFICE OF
THE GOVERNOR, provided an overview of the House version of
the legislation. She reported that Sections 1 through 4
dealt with maintenance procedures for voter lists, which
the Senate Finance Committee had heard and passed earlier
in the session. The provision would bring the state into
compliance with federal law and would eventually reduce the
size of Alaska's voter lists as well as get them more
accurate. She noted that the division was not currently
able to remove people from the list unless asked to do so
by the voter; the division had to follow the precise
details outlined in the federal National Voter Registration
Act.
Ms. Fenumiai continued that Sections 5 and 8 of the bill
would provide authority for the division to conduct
elections using optical scanning ballot tabulation
equipment, the new system the state would purchase in the
current year. The division would then have authority to use
the equipment and should thereby avoid legal challenges for
using it.
Ms. Fenumiai turned to Section 6 of HB 257, addressing
absentee voting by personal representative. The process
would streamline the absentee vote by personal
representative, making it easier for both the
representative and the voter. It would also add safeguards;
the personal representative would be required to show
identification and sign a register when using it for the
first time.
Co-chair Sharp queried the process. Ms. Fenumiai clarified
that before the representative would be issued a ballot for
the first time they would have to show identification and
sign a register.
Ms. Fenumiai noted that Section 7 of the bill would deal
with absentee voting by facsimile; the division was
proposing to extend the application deadline to 5 p.m. the
day before the election. Currently, the deadline was four
days before the election; after implementing that deadline
into statute, the division had found there were many people
who were not able to participate because of extenuating
circumstances. The division felt the measure would better
serve the needs of the voters.
Senator Torgerson asked how municipal elections would be
affected by the facsimile section. Ms. Fenumiai replied
that local municipal ordinance would determine whether
voting by facsimile was allowed.
Ms. Fenumiai explained that Sections 9 through 12 of the
bill would make technical changes to the official election
pamphlet. Section 13 would add federal language from the
Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which would eliminate the
state's requirement to pay unemployment taxes for election
workers who made less than $1,000 in one calendar year
(approximately 2,500 workers); there would be a cost
savings of $10,000 to the division every election year
(reflected in the fiscal note).
Ms. Fenumiai added that the fiscal note attached to the
bill was strictly for the list maintenance procedures.
Co-chair Sharp asked whether the division was expecting to
have the electronic voting devices available for the
primary and general elections. Ms. Fenumiai responded that
the devices would be available for both elections.
Co-chair Sharp asked whether the devices were the ones that
had been on display on the second floor. Ms. Fenumiai
responded in the affirmative.
Co-chair Sharp noted that completing the item was a
priority for the lieutenant governor.
Senator Torgerson MOVED to ADOPT Work Draft SCS CSHB
257(FIN) (Version "R" dated 5/6/98) as a working document
before the committee. There being no objection, it was so
ordered.
JIM BALDWIN, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF
LAW, spoke to the CS. He thought there were two sections
that needed to be addressed on the record because the
department expected litigation. He stated that the CS could
prevent litigation in the next election cycle.
Mr. Baldwin detailed that Sections 14 and 15 of the bill
would retroactively forgive failure to file a legislative
financial disclosure (LFD), a filing required for a
candidate for office. Section 16 would have the effect of
excusing the failure to file by an incumbent candidate. He
referred to a situation in which a filing was not made by
April 15 (as required by law); it was made six days late.
Section 16 would make a retroactive change in the law that
would apply to the particular candidate, make the filing
timely, and remove any necessity for the Alaska Public
Offices Commission (APOC) from going forward and acting on
the late filing.
SENATOR MIKE MILLER reported that the CS had been
introduced at his request to provide clear intent for the
record. Currently, the deadline for filing conflict of
interest statements was April 15. The section would move
the date back one month; the conflict of interest
statements would have to be filed on March 15. There would
be a grace period of up to 30 days after March 15 as well,
which was not allowed under current law. The intent was
that APOC would immediately realize when someone failed to
file and would notify the individual right away that the
form was not on file. The individual would then have until
April 15 to file the form. Currently, the form had to be
filed by April 15; the new section would provide an earlier
filing date and a grace period if there was a failure to
file. He stressed that the net effect was that everything
still had to be filed by April 15 under both the old and
new laws.
Senator Miller reported that he sat on the Conference
Committee that had drafted the piece of legislation when it
became law in 1992. He stated that it was not the intent of
the Conference Committee that there would be the same
penalty for willful failure to file as there was for late
filing. The current law stipulated the same penalty for
refusal to file as late filing, which was an oversight. He
believed that someone could file a blank statement, with
only their name, and comply with the current law, while
someone filing on April 16 with a full statement suffered a
drastic penalty. He added that Section 15 was a retroactive
clause for the current year.
Senator Phillips asked whether the lists would be purged
for the current year under the bill. Ms. Fenumiai replied
that the division would not be able to start working on the
list until January 1999.
Senator Pearce MOVED to REPORT SCS CSHB 257(FIN) out of
committee with individual recommendations and the attached
fiscal note.
Co-chair Sharp pointed out that the fiscal note was about
the same for the Division of Elections as the fiscal note
seen previously.
There being no objection, it was so ordered.
SCS CSHB 257(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do
pass" recommendation and attached fiscal note by the Office
of the Governor.
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