Legislature(2001 - 2002)
05/02/2002 03:47 PM Senate STA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
SB 370-CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION PROCEDURES
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT said the Senate State Affairs Committee
introduced SB 370 at his request. He said the bill deals with
the constitutional convention question that is on the ballot
every 10 years and would be on the ballot this year. He said he
looked into the events that would occur if the voters approved a
constitutional convention. He said the lieutenant governor was
responsible for issuing the call for a constitutional convention.
This call was to be issued as close as possible to the original
call for the Alaska Constitutional Convention in 1955 unless the
legislature placed different provisions in statute, which had not
been done.
He said he wasn't sure we would want the delegates to be selected
in the same districts that they had been in 1955. He was
concerned that those districts would not meet court approval
because they wouldn't stand up to the one man one vote standard.
He said SB 370 would restrict the call from being issued for
approximately one year until October 1, 2003. He said this delay
would allow the next legislature and governor to negotiate the
passage of legislation to spell out the parameters under which
the call would be made. He said the legislature could look at
the geographical areas the delegates should be elected from.
DR. GERALD MCBEATH said he participated in two recent symposia on
the constitutional convention ballot referendum that would be on
the ballot this fall. One was for the statewide League of Women
Voters convention in Kenai. The other was a symposium sponsored
by Common Ground, which is an organization that looks at public
issues. He said there were several questions regarding the
uncertainty of what would happen if the voters were to approve
the referendum calling for a constitutional convention. He said
SB 370 reduces uncertainty by spelling out when the call would be
made and how delegates would be selected. At both symposia,
there was a question about whether the delegates would be subject
to the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) rules. He said SB
370 addresses that concern.
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He said it was not clear why October 1 was selected in Sec.
15.50.080. The current Lieutenant Governor could issue the call
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on November 6 but SB 370 would eliminate that possibility and
only allow the incoming lieutenant governor to issue the call.
He said this would give the legislature an opportunity to have
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hearings during the first session of the 23 Legislature. He
said Sec. 15.50.090 laid out a system of electing 80 delegates.
He felt 80 delegates would be too many. He suggests mirroring
the legislative election districts by having 60 seats, one
delegate from each house district and one from each senate
district. According to SB 370 the constitutional convention
would be held in Fairbanks. He said this makes sense because
that was where the original convention was held but the Fairbanks
of 1955 was very different from Fairbanks today. He believed SB
370 was a step in the right direction and served a useful
purpose.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked for his affiliation.
DR. MCBEATH said he was a professor of political science at the
University of Alaska Fairbanks and was considered an expert in
the field. He wrote The Alaska State Constitution: A Reference
Guide, which was published in 1997.
SENATOR PHILLIPS asked if he had any practical experience as an
elected official.
DR. MCBEATH said he served on the Fairbanks Northstar Borough
Board of Education from 1986 to 1995.
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CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT said October 1 was chosen as the date for
the call in order to put the issue before the legislature during
the next session. He said it was a fairly arbitrary date but it
allowed for enough time for the legislature to hold hearings and
work out a piece of legislation with the administration. There
would also be time after that to bring the public up to speed and
allow the candidates enough time to run a campaign.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT said he understood the concern over the
number of delegates and would be open to changing the number. He
said he selected 80 delegates because he was concerned about the
rural districts, which cover large geographical areas. In those
districts, there was the potential for two delegates from the
same community to be elected because that community happened to
have the largest population in the district. He said Dr.
McBeath's proposal seemed to be a compromise between the original
55 delegates at the 1955 convention and the 80 delegates proposed
in SB 370.
He said individuals campaigning to be delegates ought to be
subject to APOC provisions. If the public was concerned about
money influencing campaigns for legislators, then he expected
there would be the same level of concern when the candidate would
be making structural changes to the constitution.
SENATOR PHILLIPS asked why the original Constitutional Convention
was held in Fairbanks.
DR. MCBEATH said he spoke with Thomas Stewart, who served as
Secretary to the Convention and was a Superior Court judge. Mr.
Stewart said the main reason they wanted to get the Convention
out of Juneau was because there were too many bars. He said the
second reason was because they felt that holding the Convention
in the atmosphere of a university town would contribute to the
development of a model constitution. He said they also wanted it
away from the site of legislative activity.
SENATOR PHILLIPS asked if the convention would be held in
October.
MR. JOE BALASH, Senate State Affairs Committee Aide, said the
call would not be made until October of 2003. The delegates
would be elected at the next general election in 2004. The dates
of the convention would be up to the lieutenant governor and
would be one of the items in the call.
SENATOR PHILLIPS said if the convention was held during the
academic year, there might not be enough room on campus.
MR. BALASH said the intent of SB 370 was not to spend a lot of
time with the details. He said the dates of the convention were
certainly something that should be considered. Delaying the call
for one year would give the legislature an opportunity to have
hearings on the issue and work out the details.
SENATOR PHILLIPS said the original Convention was held from
November of 1955 through February or March of 1956.
DR. MCBEATH agreed. He said there was a break to allow the
delegates to return to their communities and discuss the issues.
He said the temperature that year was 30 below zero.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT said the dates of the convention were not
figured into the determination of October 1 as the date of the
call.
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MR. BALASH said the October 1 date would also allow for a
special session if it were necessary because of a veto.
SENATOR PHILLIPS said 30 below was a good incentive to get the
job done quickly.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT joked that Fairbanks had torn down a lot of
its bars since 1955.
SENATOR STEVENS joked that the convention could be held in Adak
where there were no bars.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT said he was open to suggestions regarding the
number of delegates.
SENATOR PHILLIPS said 60 sounded like a more workable number than
80. He noted that the Senate with 20 members was able to get
things done faster than the House of Representatives with 40
members.
SENATOR STEVENS said it looked like some of the original
delegates in 1955 were elected from judicial districts.
DR. MCBEATH said in 1955 the Legislature drew up a new scheme
rather than using the legislative districts. Seven of the
districts were based on judicial districts and 12 to 15 delegates
were elected on a statewide basis. He noted that scheme would
not meet the one man one vote Supreme Court requirement.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT said SB 370 was intended as default language.
If the legislature wanted to come up with something different, it
could. He said without an agreement by the legislature, SB 370
would be the default rather than the 1955 language, which would
cause a problem with the one man one vote requirement.
SENATOR STEVENS asked how many times the constitutional
convention question had been on the ballot since statehood.
DR. MCBEATH said this would be the fifth time.
SENATOR PHILLIPS noted that it passed in 1970.
DR. MCBEATH said it passed in 1970 but was challenged and
invalidated. He said the question was on the ballot again in
1972 and that is why we now have the question on the ballot every
10 years from 1972. He noted that the ballot measure was
defeated in 1972, 1982 and 1992. In 1992, the vote was 63%
against.
SENATOR STEVENS asked what the voter turnout was in 1992. He
said voter turnout in 1982 was 50%.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked Senator Phillips if he wanted to move
an amendment to change the number of delegates to 60.
SENATOR PHILLIPS moved Amendment #1, changing the number of
delegates to 60, one elected from each house district and one
from each senate district.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT clarified that "Two delegates shall be
elected from each house district" would be deleted on page 1,
line 12 and replaced with language electing one delegate from
each house district and one delegate from each senate district
for a total of 60 delegates. He asked if there was any objection
to Amendment #1.
SENATOR PHILLIPS asked Dr. McBeath if 60 was a good number.
DR. MCBEATH noted that there were 55 delegates in 1955 because
there were 55 framers of the American Constitution and they felt
that was a significant number. He said 60 seemed like a good
number because 60 people could fit in one room and have a floor
discussion on an issue.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked if there might be a problem with having
an even number rather than an odd number of delegates.
DR. MCBEATH said that was always a question.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT said that just meant there would be a tie and
things would fail. He said Amendment #1 was before the
committee. He asked if there was any objection to Amendment #1.
There being no objection, Amendment #1 was adopted.
CHAIRMAN THERRIAULT asked if there were any other amendments.
There were none. He asked if there were any other issues to come
before the committee on SB 370. There were none.
SENATOR PHILLIPS moved CSSB 370(STA) out of committee with
attached fiscal note and individual recommendations.
There being no objection, CSSB 370(STA) moved out of committee
with attached fiscal note and individual recommendations.
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