Legislature(2013 - 2014)CAPITOL 120
03/04/2013 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SJR2 | |
| SJR6 | |
| HB83 | |
| HB105 | |
| HB81 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | HB 104 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HB 105 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SJR 2 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SJR 6 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 83 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 81 | TELECONFERENCED | |
HB 83 - FEDERAL REGULATIONS & EXECUTIVE ORDERS
1:34:42 PM
CHAIR KELLER announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 83, "An Act relating to certain federal statutes,
regulations, presidential executive orders, and secretarial
orders; relating to the duties of the attorney general; and
providing for an effective date."
1:35:00 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG moved to adopt the proposed committee
substitute (CS) for HB 83, Version 28-LS0328\C, Gardner, 3/4/13,
as the working document. There being no objection, Version C
was before the committee.
1:35:26 PM
JIM POUND, Staff, Representative Wes Keller, Alaska State
Legislature, on behalf of the sponsor, Representative Keller,
explained that under Version C of HB 83, the legislative
findings outlined in Section 1 have been changed; the bill's
proposed new subsection (h) to AS 44.23.020 now uses the
phrases, "attorney general concludes" and "report the
conclusions", instead of the phrases, "attorney general finds"
and "report the findings"; and the bill's proposed new
AS 44.23.020(h)(3) now contains a proposed new subparagraph (D)
that requires the written opinion included in the attorney
general's report to also explain litigation the attorney general
is a party to or aware of regarding conflicts with a federal
statute, [federal] regulation, presidential executive order, or
secretarial order.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG questioned whether the phrase in
Version C's proposed new AS 44.23.020(h) that reads, "but also
finds" should be changed to the phrase, "but also concludes".
CHAIR KELLER, speaking as the sponsor of HB 83, relayed that he
didn't want to limit the number of reports the attorney general
provides.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG agreed. He offered his belief,
however, that the more correct word to use in the context of
Version C's proposed new AS 44.23.020(h) is "concludes", rather
than "finds".
1:42:01 PM
DAVID JONES, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Opinions,
Appeals, & Ethics Section, Civil Division (Anchorage),
Department of Law (DOL), disagreed. If the intent is to ensure
that the attorney general provides a report before waiting until
he/she is absolutely certain that a federal statute, [federal]
regulation, presidential executive order, or secretarial order
is unconstitutional or was not properly adopted, then using the
word, "finds" or "believes" or "determines" would be better than
using the word, "concludes".
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG indicated that he would be amenable to
using the word, "believes".
MR. JONES, in response to a question and comments, said it
couldn't hurt to add the term, "presidential executive action"
to the list of items the bill is addressing.
MR. POUND, in response to further comments, suggested that HB 83
be changed such that the list of items it's addressing also
includes presidential executive actions and secretarial actions.
CHAIR KELLER, offering his understanding that no one else wished
to testify, closed public testimony on HB 83.
1:48:45 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG made a motion to adopt Amendment 1, to
add the words, "and actions" on page 1, line 1, after the term,
"presidential executive orders", and on page 1, line 2, after
the term, "secretarial orders".
CHAIR KELLER noted that there were no objections. [Although not
formally stated, the committee treated Amendment 1 as having
been adopted.]
1:49:45 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG made a motion to adopt Amendment 2, to
add the words, "and actions" on page 1, line 10, both after the
term, "presidential executive orders", and after the term,
"secretarial orders".
CHAIR KELLER noted that there were no objections. [Although not
formally stated, the committee treated Amendment 2 as having
been adopted.]
1:56:55 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG - after brief discussion regarding the
scope of changes the committee and sponsor wished to make to
Version C's proposed new AS 44.23.020(h) - made a motion to
adopt Amendment 3, to delete the word, "concludes" on page 2,
line 15, and insert the word, "believes"; to delete the word,
"finds" on page 2, line 18, and insert the word, "believes"; and
to delete the word, "conclusions" on page 2, line 21, and insert
the word, "findings". There being no objection, Amendment 3 was
adopted.
[During the aforementioned brief discussion, Mr. Jones had
indicated that Amendment 3's proposed changes would clarify that
subsection (h) is not addressing absolute determinations
regarding preemption and constitutionality; in other words, the
attorney need not be "absolutely certain" before providing a
report to the chairs of the House and Senate Standing Judiciary
Committees.]
MR. POUND noted that with the adoption of Amendments 1 and 2,
conforming changes should be made elsewhere in the bill with
regard to adding presidential executive actions and secretarial
actions to the bill's list of items it's addressing.
1:58:20 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG made a motion to adopt Conceptual
Amendment 4, to conform the rest of HB 83 with the changes made
via Amendments 1 and 2 with regard to adding the words, "and
actions" to the bill's list of items it's addressing. There
being no objection, Conceptual Amendment 4 was adopted.
1:59:11 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN moved to report the proposed CS for HB 83,
Version 28-LS0328\C, Gardner, 3/4/13, as amended, out of
committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying
fiscal notes.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG objected and asked whether any other
technical changes ought to be made to HB 83.
MR. POUND offered his belief that none were needed.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG removed his objection to the motion.
CHAIR KELLER, noting that there were no further objections,
announced that CSHB 83(JUD) was reported from the House
Judiciary Standing Committee.