Legislature(2013 - 2014)CAPITOL 120
04/11/2014 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB254 | |
| SJR22 | |
| SB171 | |
| SB187 | |
| SB108 | |
| HB108 | |
| SB187 | |
| SB173 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SCR 2 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 173 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 370 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 254 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 171 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 187 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 60 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 108 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SJR 22 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 108 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 187-CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION: MISCONDUCT, RLS
1:39:01 PM
CHAIR KELLER announced that the next order of business would be
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 187(JUD)(title am), "An Act relating to
the crime of misconduct involving confidential information in
the first degree; amending Rule 16, Alaska Rules of Criminal
Procedure; amending Rule 8, Alaska Child in Need of Aid Rules;
and providing for an effective date."
The committee took an at-ease from 1:39 p.m. to 1:42 p.m.
1:42:26 PM
RYNNIEVA MOSS, Staff to Senator John Coghill, Alaska State
Legislature, said the conceptual amendment just reverses
statutes on page 4-5 to make it clearer. She said the amendment
inserts "limitation of disclosure of certain recorded images and
records that are also evidence under AS11.41.410-11.41.450."
And beginning on page 4, line 31, the following is deleted:
"there is also evidence for investigation under AS 11.41.410-
11.41.450." This was a recommendation from legal services to
clarify that everything in subsection (j) applied to the
criminal codes, she explained.
1:43:35 PM
MS. MOSS said Representative Gruenberg had brought up a good
point about using the word "physician." The intent was to give
access to medical records to physicians, but after conferring
with others, "physician" was replaced with "healthcare provider"
on page 5, line 28.
The committee took an at-ease from 1:44 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
1:45:56 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG moved to adopt Amendment 1, labeled 28-
LS1145\P.1, Strasbaugh, 4/9/14, as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Page 5, line 28:
Delete "physician"
Insert "health care provider"
Page 5, line 28, following "child.":
Insert "In this subsection, "health care
provider" includes a physician, dentist, physician
assistant, nurse, nurse practitioner, psychologist,
counselor, marital and family therapist, village or
community health aide, community health worker, or
another person that provides health care treatment in
the course and scope of the person's employment."
CHAIR KELLER objected.
1:46:30 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said that the term "includes" on line 6
is defined in Title 1 to mean "included but not limited."
MS. MOSS said she agreed with that definition.
CHAIR KELLER removed his objection. Hearing no further
objections, Amendment 1 was adopted.
1:47:13 PM
JAN RUTHERDALE, Chair, Children's Justice Act Task Force,
Department of Health and Social Services, said the function of
the Children's Justice Act Task Force is to make recommendations
that improve the response to child maltreatment, and last fall
the task force drafted legislation that led to SB 187. She said
the group is grateful to Senator Coghill for carrying it
through, and she told committee members that they have documents
from a "Lunch and Learn" presentation done by the taskforce in
February. She expressed a concern regarding pages 4 and 5 [of
SB 187] over whether the language only offers protections in
cases where there is also evidence for an investigation under a
criminal prosecution. She pointed out that sometimes a child
has been abused and there is an examination and photos taken,
but it ends up being a child-in-need-of-aid (CINA) case rather
than a criminal prosecution. The same danger could happen with
videos posted online, she said, and "I don't want that to be the
effect, where there's a whole class of victims that have the
potential of being re-victimized." She said she cannot think of
a sexual abuse investigation that would not initially involve
the police, so if the law is read in that way, "we are perfectly
happy with this, but I just don't want to leave out a class of
victims." Otherwise, she said, the task force supports the bill
and the changes.
1:50:38 PM
CHAIR KELLER suggested that the sponsor write a letter of
explanation [to address the above concern].
MS. MOSS said, "They were trying to word it so that everything
in that paragraph applied to CINA cases and to criminal cases."
There was concern that only the first sentence would apply to
CINA and not the other two sentences. "They wanted to be
inclusive," she added, and she offered to get an explanation
from Legislative Legal Services.
1:51:47 PM
CHAIR KELLER asked if that was the intent of the sponsor to make
sure that CINA cases are covered, and "you believe that that's
what legal services has done?"
MS. MOSS said yes.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he wants to be sure that it is
crystal clear so that no one has to come back to an obscure
House Judiciary hearing to sort it out.
1:52:43 PM
EMILY WRIGHT, Assistant Attorney General, Alaska Department of
Law (DOL), Child Protection Section, said current CINA statutes
have a huge amount of confidentiality language built in; there
are a lot of protections already. She said line 31 [of SB 187]
references AS 47.10.011, which lists all the reasons that a
child could be a child in need of aid. She continued:
If the committee would like to reference sexual abuse
and sexual abuse statutes for child-in-need-of-aid
cases, you could add a reference to the subsection
which specifically deals with sexual abuse and sexual
assault, which is [paragraph] (7), and then you would
also have the reference to the criminal case, if there
is a criminal case, and that way you could cover both
sexual assault-sexual abuse of a minor cases in a CINA
proceeding, as well as if there's a criminal
proceeding.
1:54:04 PM
CHAIR KELLER asked if there would be a danger of narrowing it to
the point that it increases the risk.
MS. WRIGHT said it would narrow it to sexual abuse and sexual
abuse of minor cases, but her understanding was that that was
the point of the bill, to deal with sexual abuse of minors. The
DOL position would be that there are ample protections under
CINA statutes in the rest of the realm, she stated.
CHAIR KELLER clarified that a conceptual amendment would just
add (7) on page 4, line 31, to read: AS 47.10.011(7).
1:55:11 PM
MS. WRIGHT pointed out that the next reference to the statute,
AS 47.14.300, is the multidisciplinary team, so "that clearly
references all of the CINA sexual abuse statutes."
MS. MOSS said, "We introduced this bill at the recommendation of
the Child Justice Task Force, and we've been working with the
Department of Law, with Jan Rutherdale, with the task force, and
with our legal department to try to get this right, and I
thought we had it right."
1:56:32 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said he sees "two potential differences
in here," and he wants to be sure that the bill accomplishes
what everyone wants it to accomplish. He asked if the bill can
be put at the bottom of the calendar to "let these guys talk and
see if they want to make a suggestion, and then they can come
back in a few minutes, because I don't want you to be stuck with
the wrong thing."
CHAIR KELLER said that is a very good suggestion, and he will do
so. [SB 187 was set aside and taken up later in this hearing.]
1:57:42 PM
SB 187-CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION: MISCONDUCT, RLS
2:25:12 PM
CHAIR KELLER announced that the next order of business would be
the CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 187(JUD)(title am), "An Act relating
to the crime of misconduct involving confidential information in
the first degree; amending Rule 16, Alaska Rules of Criminal
Procedure; amending Rule 8, Alaska Child in Need of Aid Rules;
and providing for an effective date."
[The bill was heard earlier in this hearing.]
The committee took an at-ease from 2:26 p.m. to 2:31 p.m.
2:31:24 PM
RYNNIEVA MOSS, Staff to Senator John Coghill, Alaska State
Legislature, said she met with others and is happy with the bill
as it is. Quinlan [Steiner of Public Defender Agency] was the
person who recommended the amendment that the committee passed
last time, which, she said:
added to line 30, on page 4, the language that
limitations on disclosure of certain recordings,
images, and records that are also evidence for an
investigation under AS 11.41.410 through 11.41.450.
MS. MOSS said that Rule 8 is a rule of CINA [Child in Need of
Aid], which already is very confidential, as the committee knows
through the years of passing legislation tightening up
confidentiality, "but this adds some subsections to Rule 8 that
relate to criminal investigations." So, she said, Jan
Rutherdale, Children's Justice Act Task Force, and Emily Wright,
Assistant Attorney General, have looked at the bill and agree
with the language. Ms. Wright had previously mentioned adding
[paragraph] (7) but was not saying that it needed to be added,
because that would narrow the statute. "So we like it the way
it is," she concluded.
2:32:17 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said that Ms. Moss has referred to
language that is not in his version of the bill.
MS. MOSS said, "That is the amendment. I'm reading it as you
amended it at the last meeting."
CHAIR KELLER said Amendment 1, labeled P.1, has been adopted,
and that is what is being referenced.
2:33:25 PM
MS. MOSS said she is reading that section as it was amended with
the conceptual amendment at the last meeting.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG said, "This is Conceptual Amendment 1
by Lynn, adopted without objection. That's what you're
referring to, because they didn't reprint Version P." He said
he understands.
2:34:13 PM
CHAIR KELLER closed public testimony.
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN moved to report CSSB 187(JUD), labeled 28-
LS1145\P, as amended, out of committee with individual
recommendations and the updated fiscal notes. Hearing no
objections, HCS CSSB 187(JUD) passed out of committee.
2:35:01 PM
The committee took an at-ease from 2:35 p.m. to 2:36 p.m.