Legislature(2021 - 2022)GRUENBERG 120
04/21/2022 03:00 PM House STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB396 | |
| HB66 | |
| HB316 | |
| SB161 | |
| HB256 | |
| SB66 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 161 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 66 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 66 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 396 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 316 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 271 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 256 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 66-MEMBERS LEG COUNCIL; LEG BUDGET & AUDIT
4:23:38 PM
CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS announced that the final order of business
would be SENATE BILL NO. 66 am, "An Act relating to the
membership of the legislative council; and relating to the
membership of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee."
4:24:06 PM
SENATOR TOM BEGICH, Alaska State Legislature, prime sponsor,
introduced SB 66. He paraphrased the sponsor statement
[included in the committee packet], which read as follows
[original punctuation provided]:
As outlined in AS 24.20, the Legislative Council has
the essential role of conducting internal business for
the Alaska Legislature, while the Legislative Budget
and Audit (LB&A) Committee plays a pivotal role in
managing state finances and expenditures. Both
committees are established in statute with authority
to conduct business anytime throughout the year so
that internal legislative business may be conducted in
a timely manner.
Alaska State Statute establishes membership on
Legislative Council and the LB&A Committee to include
"at least one member from each of the two major
political parties of each house." However, the Alaska
Legislature has a long history of coalition caucuses
and unaffiliated legislators. In addition, following
passage of voter initiative Ballot Measure 2 in 2020,
candidates are not required to name a political party
affiliation, and therefore may be elected to office
without one. Senate Bill 66 seeks to update the
membership statutes for both Legislative Council and
the LB&A Committee to reflect these changes in law and
practice to ensure fair caucus representation on these
committees.
Every committee established in the Alaska Legislature
Uniform Rules ensures representation of organized
minority caucuses. Under current law, there is no
guarantee that these two joint interim committees will
include representation of all organized caucuses. SB
66 also reflects the Uniform Rules definition of
"minority" as constituting at least 25 percent of a
chamber's membership.
As all Alaskans have a right to vote for their
legislators, who in turn have a right to form caucuses
if they choose, those organized caucuses have a right
to have their voices and visions represented on all
committees. Senate Bill 66 seeks to ensure this fair
representation is established in law.
4:27:29 PM
MERCEDES COLBERT, Staff, Senator Tom Begich, Alaska State
Legislature, on behalf of Senator Begich, prime sponsor,
presented a sectional analysis of SB 66 [included in the
committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Section 1. Amends AS 24.20.020 to include at least one
member of the minority on the legislative council.
Includes language from Uniform Rule 1(e) to entitle
minority caucus membership on the council that is
proportional to their total house membership.
Section 2. Amends AS 24.20.161 to include at least one
member of the minority on the Legislative Budget and
Audit Committee, and changes "chairman" to "chair."
Section 3. Adds a new section to AS. 24.20 to define
"minority" as a group of members who have organized
and elected a minority leader and who constitute at
least 25 percent of the total house membership.
4:29:09 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN directed attention to page 2, line 1, and
asked what would happen if no one was appointed from each house
within the 15-day deadline after convening the first regular
session of each legislature.
SENATOR BEGICH stated that the bill was silent on that matter;
nonetheless, he indicated that he was open to suggestions from
the committee.
4:30:59 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN expressed his concern about the language
on page 1, lines 9-14, and the provision on page 2, which
defined the minority as having at least 25 percent of the
membership in the body. He remarked:
If you had a 16-member majority and a 4-member
minority, under this definition, there is no minority,
and yet, the first section of the bill would suggest
that there should be some proportional representation.
And A, you don't have a minority, so in theory,
there's no minority entitled to sit, but in addition,
if you had 4 minority members, you're at 20 percent
and of 6 Senate seats, that would justify 1 Senate
seat even though there's no minority. That seems like
a math problem, but it's more than a math problem.
SENATOR BEGICH contended that per the Uniform Rules of the
Alaska State Legislature, a minority was defined as having 5
members in the case of the Senate. He remarked, "If I and
another of my colleagues had elected to lead my body, we would
not have an official minority; consequently, when you look at
the definition of minority on Page 1, they would have no seat
because there would be no minority and that is consistent with
Uniform Rules." He pointed out that currently, the Uniform
Rules did not offer proportional representation, except by the
goodness of a presiding officer to an unrecognized minority.
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN considered the scenario in which the
Senate had 6 members in the minority. He asked how many seats
would be entitled to the legislative council under this
provision.
MS. COLBERT stated that with a 6-member minority for a 7-member
committee, 2 members would be appointed from the Senate
minority. For the 18-member House minority, she reported that 3
members would be appointed to the legislative council.
4:34:45 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN shared his understanding that the language
in the bill made no reference to the Uniform Rules. Instead, it
provided that the minority was entitled to the number of seats
on the council proportional to the number of minority members
compared to the total house membership.
MS. COLBERT clarified that the language in question on page 1,
lines 9-14, was adopted from uniform Rule 1(e). Likewise, the
definition of "minority" in Section 3 was lifted from the
Uniform Rules. Therefore, although the bill made no direct
reference to the Uniform Rules, it essentially placed the
Uniform Rules into statute.
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN maintained his belief that, per the
existing bill language, a strict proportional analysis would be
conducted to determine the minority's membership on the
legislative council.
4:36:18 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN shared his understanding that the
language in Section 3 was found in the Legislative Ethics Act.
He shared his preference that the minority leader would appoint
the minority members serving on the legislative council, as
opposed to allowing the majority to make that selection.
4:39:26 PM
SENATOR BEGICH said the intent was to make the legislation as
consistent with the Uniform Rules as possible. He acknowledged
that the language in Section 3 mirrored the Legislative Ethics
Act; however, it was also taken directly from the Uniform Rules.
He explained that the Uniform Rules directed the power of
appointment to the presiding officers, which was a topic of
debate in the Senate. He expressed his hope that the minority's
preferences would be considered; nonetheless, he had no desire
to codify that, as it would create another inconsistency with
the Uniform Rules. He suggested passing the bill in its current
form, pointing out that without some form of representation, the
minority would be subject to potentially being denied a seat on
the legislative council during the next legislative session. He
suggested that the Unfirm Rules and how they were applied should
be addressed in the future in the interest of fairness.
4:41:48 PM
REPRESENTATIVE TARR wondered whether Legislative Legal Services
would recommend further clarification of the language on page 1,
lines 9-14.
SENATOR BEGICH sought to confirm that Representative Tarr was
suggesting that there should be a direct reference to the
Uniform Rules in statute. He offered to follow up with a
response from Legislative Legal Services.
4:42:56 PM
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN pointed out that Uniform Rule 1(e) only
applied to standing committees, which excluded the legislative
council, and the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee (LB&A).
He asked for the bill sponsor's perspective on providing
alternate members for the legislative council.
SENATOR BEGICH conveyed that the statutes pertaining to the
legislative council did not provide for an alternate while the
LB&A statutes allowed for a single alternate. He shared a
personal anecdote. He reported that at present, the alternates
were of the majority, adding that he was open to the idea of
allowing alternates from the minority.
REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN pointed out that if the minority leader
was unable to attend a council meeting, the minority would have
no representation without an alternate.
SENATOR BEGICH agreed that it was a deficit that needed to be
fixed. He welcomed a proposal from Representative Eastman on
this issue to ensure fairness and equity.
4:48:23 PM
REPRESENTATIVE STORY emphasized the need for bipartisanship.
SENATOR BEGICH thanked the committee and expressed his hope that
the bill would move forward.
4:49:02 PM
CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS aligned himself with Representative Story's
comments. He highlighted the importance of having equitable
systems in place. He announced that SB 66 was held over.