Legislature(2003 - 2004)
04/16/2003 01:35 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 179-TEACHER CERTIFICATION: FINGERPRINTS
CHAIR FRED DYSON announced SB 179 to be up for consideration.
MR. ZACH WARWICK, staff to Senator Therriault, said a
constituent who is a teacher brought the idea behind SB 179 to
Senator Therriault's attention. This teacher left Alaska for
many years and came back and had to renew her license. She was
required to submit fingerprints as part of the process. Teaching
and nursing are two of the leading professions for which
fingerprints get worn out to the point of being unreadable. As a
result, this teacher, who is currently teaching, has been
resubmitting her fingerprints for the past couple of years. The
state has to keep reprocessing the prints and give her
conditional certificates every three months.
The Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) did
some research and found that 42 people have had to resubmit
three sets of fingerprints in nine months. This bill adds
language that says if a person cannot submit legible fingerprint
cards due to a permanent disability that precludes the person's
ability to submit fingerprints. A number of people in the state
without fingers or hands are attempting to teach.
MR. WARWICK said that the DEED feels that the language on lines
5 to 7, starting with "whenever" and ending with "teacher"
should be deleted, because that paragraph does not refer to
fingerprints in reference to a teaching certificate. Another
concern expressed by the person who does the hiring in the
Palmer school district said that the district never gets
fingerprint checks back within three months and suggested
changing to a five-month period.
The Governor's Office also said that it has some issues with
fingerprints. Supposedly, the state is not in compliance with
federal law regarding fingerprint background checks. He said the
Governor's Office did not have time to prepare a committee
substitute before the meeting today.
CHAIR DYSON asked Mr. Warwick if Senator Therriault would agree
to conceptual amendments and if it is important to get this
legislation enacted this session.
MR. WARWICK indicated the conceptual amendments would be up to
the chairman, but if this legislation passes this year, the
teachers would not have to go through the application process
again. The Department of Administration (DOA) has asked for an
extension until July 2004 to bring the fingerprint background
checks into compliance, but if that request is turned down, DOA
might not get federal help to do the background checks.
SENATOR GARY WILKEN said he had two and a half pages of
conceptual amendments for the committee to look at.
MS. MELINDA PRUSAK said she tried to renew her teaching
credential in December 2002 and her fingerprints were rejected.
She reprinted two more times in Fairbanks and then had a public
safety officer in Anchorage do the printing. She then tried
going to the FBI and others, but her fingerprints are
unreadable.
MS. ANNIE CARPENETI, Criminal Division, Department of Law, said
that several areas of state law require a background check for a
person to get a license, generally people who work with children
and vulnerable adults. The FBI requires states to have certain
statutory provisions to participate in its national repository.
A review of the statute in 2001 identified a number of
inadequacies, but without an extension of the July 1 deadline,
the state will be unable to get national background checks for
people like teachers. She noted that Senator Wilken's amendment
took care of her concerns and had been approved by the FBI.
SENATOR WILKEN moved to adopt Amendment 1. There were no
objections and it was so ordered.
SENATOR WILKEN moved to adopt conceptual Amendment 2, which
would change three months to five months. There were no
objections and it was so ordered.
SENATOR WILKEN moved to delete language on page 1, line 5, to
the word "teacher" in line 7. There were no objections and it
was so ordered.
SENATOR WILKEN moved to pass CSSB 179(HES) from committee with
individual recommendations. There were no objections and it was
so ordered.
MR. KEVIN SWEENEY, Department of Education and Early
Development, said the department had some problems with the
bill, but it would work them out with the sponsor.
MS. DIANE SCHENKER, Department of Public Safety, supported the
CS.
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