04/01/1998 10:05 AM Senate FIN

                                                                               
SENATE BILL NO. 234                                                            
"An Act extending the termination date of the Board of                         
Governors of the Alaska Bar Association."                                      
                                                                               
                                                                               
Senator Adams moved for adoption of the CS for SB 234.                         
Senator Pearce announced that she was not going to offer                       
that version because it was not what was discussed at the                      
subcommittee meeting.  In her opinion, the Drafter                             
misunderstood the intent of the subcommittee and therefore                     
Version E of the Workdraft was not what was discussed.                         
Senator Adams removed his motion.                                              
                                                                               
Senator Donley moved to amend SB 234, Line 6 to change the                     
number "2002" to "2000".  Senator Adams objected.  His                         
reason was because of the recommendation of the Auditor                        
suggesting the date extend the sunset date out to six years.                   
He wanted to know why the request was now being made to                        
reduce the date to two years.                                                  
                                                                               
Senator Donley responded saying there was a continuing                         
question on the Bar Association's carry-over of                                
approximately $1 million.  As it related to its budget                         
expenditures, he felt it was important to review this again                    
after a couple of years.  With that, Senator Adams removed                     
his objection.                                                                 
                                                                               
Senator Donley noted on the record that he was a member of                     
the Alaska Bar Association, but didn't feel that constituted                   
a conflict of interest.  Senator Parnell noted the same.                       
Co-Chair Sharp ruled there was no conflict of interest and                     
that they would both be required to vote on this                               
legislation.                                                                   
                                                                               
There was no objection to Amendment #1, and Co-Chair Sharp                     
ordered it adopted.                                                            
                                                                               
DAVID BUNDY testified on behalf of the Alaska Bar                              
Association to the bill.  He told the committee he was                         
surprised to see there was a desire to move the sunset date                    
up to two years.  He spoke of the surplus of funds and said                    
it had been the association's position from the beginning                      
that they did not operate on state funds.  They did their                      
best to manage their funds economically and efficiently, he                    
said.  They planned their budgeting out well beyond two                        
years from now, which had been summarized in the audit.  He                    
said he didn't see any reason that would change.  It would                     
be an expensive process for everybody to go through.  He                       
felt it would be unnecessary to through this again when                        
there was no prospect that things would be significantly                       
altered from what they were now.                                               
                                                                               
This concluded public testimony on SB 234.                                     
                                                                               
Senator Pearce spoke of the subcommittee conversation                          
talking about the fact that the vote to elect members of the                   
board of the ABA should be done by mail, which was already                     
done.  The discussion then centered on voting for the                          
officers of the association and the requirement of members                     
of the bar to be in attendance at the annual convention to                     
participate in the officer election.  Senator Pearce talked                    
about the distribution of area and population in                               
representation.  This system would bring diversion to the                      
board, by rotating the residency of the presidency even                        
though Anchorage has the highest percentage of attorney                        
seats on the board.                                                            
                                                                               
She added that the professional dues charged by the ABA were                   
higher than charged by most other professional associations                    
in the state.  Many attorneys contacted her office saying                      
that they didn't like the high dues, but the public didn't                     
know much about the ABA.  She wanted the ABA to understand                     
that other states have taken steps to reduce the dues                          
charged in their state.  (Further conversation was illegible                   
due to a microphone malfunction.)  Bar expenses were                           
certainly higher than other professional dues, she said.                       
Whether the two-year extension would well serve the public,                    
she wasn't sure.  The ABA treated what they did internally                     
different than most other professional licensing boards.                       
                                                                               
Mr. Bundy requested an opportunity to respond to Senator                       
Pearce's comments.  He quantified that he was unable to hear                   
her entire discussion because the teleconference was broken                    
up.  He didn't think it was fair to characterize the bar                       
association as not concerned by what the Legislature felt.                     
They took an extensive amount of time to respond to Senator                    
Donley's earlier questions, he argued.  He said they were                      
interested in input from anyone with an opinion in the                         
organization.  We certainly listen to members and their                        
opinions he stressed.                                                          
                                                                               
Mr. Bundy defended the level of dues charged by the bar.                       
Their research indicated that considering the functions the                    
bar performed, both admissions and discipline of attorneys                     
and continuing legal education, and that they got no state                     
subsidy, the dues were not higher than other states that                       
performed similar duties.  Other states had discipline                         
administered by the Supreme Court as a state function, or                      
done on a volunteer basis instead of paid council, which he                    
said was another way of getting a state subsidy for the bar.                   
In his view, it was not accurate to say Alaska lawyers paid                    
more than any where else therefore it must be too high.  The                   
organization did a great deal of research to verify that and                   
the information was available for interested parties, he                       
offered.  He wanted to make sure his comments were noted on                    
that point.                                                                    
                                                                               
Senator Adams offered an amendment on Page 1 Line 8 to add:                    
"Any Alaskan that fails the Alaskan Bar license test after                     
25 tries is automatically a lawyer and must be President of                    
the Bar Association and pays no dues."  Senator Adams then                     
told the committee that this was his APRIL FOOLS JOKE, and                     
withdrew the amendment.  (Laughter)                                            
                                                                               
Senator Adams moved Senate Finance Committee Substitute for                    
SB 234 out of committee with individual recommendations.                       
There was no objection, and Co-Chair Sharp so ordered.