Legislature(2017 - 2018)GRUENBERG 120
04/11/2018 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB230 | |
| SB205 | |
| HB387 | |
| HB351 | |
| HB336 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | HB 230 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 205 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 351 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 336 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 387 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 387-AG SCHEDULE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES
6:15:42 PM
CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 387, "An Act relating to scheduled substances;
relating to the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee; and
authorizing the attorney general to schedule substances by
emergency regulation or repeal an emergency regulation that
scheduled a substance."
6:16:18 PM
LIZZIE KUBITZ, Staff, Representative Matt Claman, Alaska State
Legislature, referred to [CSHB 387, page 2, lines 4-11] Section
1, which read as follows:
LEGISLATIVE INTENT. It is the intent of the
legislature that, if a person's criminal convictions
or charges outside the state are included in a
pretrial risk assessment conducted under AS 33.07, the
result of that assessment will control the release
decision and the section of this bill allowing a
defendant to be detained for 48 hours and directing
presumptive release on a person's own recognizance or
on an unsecured bond when the person has a criminal
conviction or charge outside the state will no longer
apply.
MS. KUBITZ advised that Sections 2-4 remain unchanged.
6:17:26 PM
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 5, and advised that it contains a
technical change as to the 4/4/18 adopted Amendment 1 and has
been integrated into the bill to clarify that the attorney
general may schedule a substance by emergency regulation only if
the substance is currently listed on a federal controlled
substance schedule.
MS. KUBITZ advised that Sections 6-7 remain unchanged.
6:18:07 PM
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 8, and advised that it allows (audio
difficulties) if the person has (audio difficulties) that the
release of this person will not reasonably ensure their
appearance in court or the safety of the community.
6:18:59 PM
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 9, (audio difficulties).
6:19:27 PM
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 10, conforming (audio difficulties).
6:19:52 PM
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 11, (audio difficulties).
6:20:15 PM
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 12, and advised that it makes
conforming and technical changes to the mandatory conditions of
release.
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 13, and advised that it makes
conforming changes to clarify that the court shall consider out-
of-state convictions when determining the conditions of release.
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 14, and advised that it changes the
law so that when a defendant who would otherwise be mandatorily
released on their own recognizance (OR) has an out-of-state
criminal conviction or charge that is a felony, a crime against
a person, or a sex crime, and has not been used in determining
the person's risk assessment under AS 33.07, the judicial
officer may require monetary bail upon finding on the record
that there is clear and convincing evidence the other conditions
are not sufficient to ensure public safety.
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 15, (audio difficulties).
6:21:36 PM
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 16, and advised that it makes
conforming changes to ensure pre-trial services officers comply
(audio difficulties) with the court (audio difficulties) with or
without a warrant and request (audio difficulties) violations of
conditions of release.
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 17, [audio difficulties continue
throughout Sections 17-22].
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 23, and advised that it integrates
Amendment 2 [adopted on 4/4/18] clarifying that any (audio
difficulties).
6:22:32 PM
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 24, and advised that it remains
unchanged.
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 25, and advised that it is an indirect
court rule amendment stating that Sections 9-13, and AS
12.30.011(m) enacted by Section 14, have the effect of changing
Criminal Rule 41 by changing release conditions for defendants.
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 26, and advised that it relates to
applicability.
6:23:05 PM
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 27, and advised that it is the
conditional effect.
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 28, and advised that it relates to the
effective date.
MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 29, states that Sections 1, 8,15, 16,
and 25-27 of this Act take effect immediately under AS
01.10.070(c).
6:23:45 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS moved to adopt CSHB 387, Version
30-LS1461\D as the working document.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN objected.
6:24:01 PM
A roll call vote was taken. Representatives LeDoux, Kreiss-
Tomkins, Reinbold, Kopp, Stutes, and Claman voted in favor of
the adoption of CSHB 387, 30-LS1461\D as the working document.
Representative Eastman voted against it. Therefore, CSHB 387,
Version D was adopted by a vote of 6-1.
6:24:50 PM
REPRESENTATIVE REINBOLD commented that she reviewed CSHB 387,
Version D, and performed a comparison (audio difficulties) and
she found the following three valuable issues in this
legislation: prior to the attorney general adding an emergency
regulation, the substance must be on a federal schedule; (audio
difficulties) contention for two years and she is happy it is
addressed in this legislation; and out-of-state convictions can
be included, which is critical. In addition, she said, this
bill unshackles the state's judges by offering more judicial
discretion, and she will be a yes vote.
6:26:16 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP commended Chair Claman for addressing the
following key pieces of public safety legislation in one bill:
the attorney general's authority to control dangerous substances
within the state's criminal law that are causing havoc on the
streets; this bill deals with the out-of-state criminal
offenses; it gives the prosecutors more time to make critical
detention decisions; it gives judges the discretion they have
been requesting; a defendant with a misdemeanor from an out-of-
state conviction is no longer excluded by the risk assessment
tool; and he truly appreciates the increase in authority for the
pretrial officers to make arrests and request warrants. He
described this legislation as a great piece of public safety
legislation and he, again, commended Chair Claman for moving the
bill.
6:27:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN commented that this legislation is asking
the attorney general to take on a different type of
responsibility than was previously asked, and he opined that it
would be unexpected to find an attorney general who is already
in possession of (audio difficulties) that the legislature is
now expecting them to make decision. While the state has a
Controlled Substances Advisory Committee that can offer input,
there is nothing in the bill requiring that that input is
listened to, or read. Under this bill, he commented, the
attorney general can simply ignore that input and issue whatever
scheduling of a drug or other items it feels is appropriate in
its own discretion, which appears to be "an awful lot of
authority" to give to one person. He said that he is hopeful
that authority be well used, but he believes that experience has
shown that "that hope is not always borne out and that those --
that large of a grant of authority is likely to be abused at
some point so I am still holding reservations about that."
6:28:59 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP asked whether Chair Claman would clarify the
concerns [of Representative Eastman] or whether the chair would
like Representative Kopp to clarify that the attorney general
has to use the controls of the Controlled Substances Advisory
Committee.
CHAIR CLAMAN clarified that as was discussed earlier in the
amendments, the whole purpose of the adopted two amendments was
to limit the drugs the attorney general can list to those that
have already been considered by the federal government.
Clearly, that significantly limits the attorney general's
authority. Also included is the three-year sunset clause
wherein if the legislature does not believe it is a good idea,
it can stop that authority at any point. In the event the
legislature has not acted within three years, then it lapses.
Therefore, in both of those instances, the committee is putting
significant restrictions on what actions can be taken by the
attorney general and, he added, Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth
joined the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee and would be
fully informed as to the controlled substances at issue.
6:30:11 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS moved to report CSHB 387, Version
30-LS1461\D, out of committee with individual recommendations
and the accompanying fiscal notes.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN objected.
6:30:29 PM
A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Stutes, LeDoux,
Kreiss-Tomkins, Reinbold, Kopp, and Claman voted in favor of the
passage of CSHB 387 out of committee. Representative Eastman
voted against it. Therefore, CSHB 387(JUD) was reported out of
the House Judiciary Standing Committee by a vote of 6-1.