02/09/1994 01:15 PM House JUD

  HCR 28 - GET CLEARY ORDERS DISSOLVED OR CHANGED                              
                                                                               
  Number 278                                                                   
                                                                               
  JERRY LUCKHAUPT, Legislative Counsel, Legislative Affairs                    
  Agency, drafter of HCR 28, testified regarding the                           
  resolution.  Mr. Luckhaupt explained the resolution                          
  basically instructs the Governor to instruct the Attorney                    
  General to try to get the state out of the consent decree                    
  that the state entered into in the Cleary case.  He told the                 
  committee that Cleary was an institutional prison reform                     
  litigation instigated by an inmate by the name of Cleary and                 
  other inmates in the late 1970's, and the state settled the                  
  litigation in the early 1980's.  Mr. Luckhaupt discussed the                 
  difficulties in getting out of consent decrees; however, he                  
  said, the federal government has loosened its rules, and                     
  enforcing consent decrees on local governments can be quite                  
  taxing and burdensome, and when government officials entered                 
  into consent decrees, they didn't necessarily have the                       
  interest of the state 20 years in the future.                                
                                                                               
  MR. LUCKHAUPT said the state can't afford the Cleary consent                 
  decree anymore, and although the Alaska Supreme Court                        
  doesn't have to follow the U.S. Supreme Court's lead, it                     
  goes to follow that if directed to do so by the                              
  administration and legislature, they would.                                  
                                                                               
  Number 398                                                                   
                                                                               
  REP. GREEN asked if the perception of Alaska being a rich                    
  state would affect the argument that the state could no                      
  longer afford Cleary.                                                        
                                                                               
  Number 413                                                                   
                                                                               
  MR. LUCKHAUPT answered that since state judges signed the                    
  consent decree, any action would be heard in Alaska courts.                  
                                                                               
  Number 443                                                                   
                                                                               
  REP. PORTER recognized Commissioner Frank Prewitt,                           
  Department of Corrections.                                                   
                                                                               
  REP. PORTER told the committee that he was not going to move                 
  HCR 28 out of committee at the present time as Dean Guaneli                  
  of the Attorney General's Office had requested an executive                  
  session to discuss HCR 28, which would take place on Monday,                 
  February 14, 1994.                                                           
                                                                               
  Number 483                                                                   
                                                                               
  REP. PORTER said the next order of business was HB 277.