Legislature(2001 - 2002)
04/24/2002 01:44 PM Senate JUD
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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
CSHB 375(JUD)-REVISOR'S BILL
SENATOR DONLEY reminded members that the committee held a hearing
on CSHB 375(JUD) the previous week.
MS. PAMELA FINLEY, Revisor of Statutes, Alaska State Legislature,
said she would like the committee to focus on Section 2 because
it is misleading in that it appears to change the statute of
limitations. She explained that last year a floor amendment
changed the statute of limitations but did not change this
related piece. Section 2 is an attempt to amend the action that
was taken via the floor amendment.
MS. FINLEY said before the floor amendment was adopted, the
statute of limitations for sexual abuse and sexual assault was
defined in terms of specific criminal statutes. The statute of
limitations was three years for civil actions. The floor
amendment repealed and reenacted it so there is no statute of
limitations for felony sexual abuse or sexual assault and it's
not defined in regard to any criminal statutes. As a result, the
question then becomes what applies to misdemeanor sexual abuse
and sexual assault offenses. The statute of limitations was three
years but now it is not covered at all. Because no special
statute of limitations exists, she understood that to mean the
standard two-year tort statute of limitations applies. If the
crime occurs when the victim is a minor, the statute of
limitations does not start to run until the victim hits majority.
Section 2 is a subset of that so that if the victim is under 16,
special provisions apply, the main one being the discovery
provision on page 2, lines 9-16.
MS. FINLEY said when this statute was originally written, the
statute of limitations was three years. Then when it changed to
two years for misdemeanors and no limitation for felonies, this
was not amended.
SENATOR DONLEY expressed confusion and said it didn't seem there
was any affirmative act of the Legislature to change the statute
of limitations to two years, it's just that the issue was ignored
so that the existing presumption of two years for everything else
then applied.
MS. FINLEY said the floor amendment did not specify that the
statute of limitations for misdemeanors would become two years
but that is what happened.
SENATOR DONLEY said he believes a strong case could be made to do
just the opposite of what CSHB 375(JUD) does, and that is to say
that the intent of the Legislature was not to shorten the statute
of limitations for misdemeanor sexual abuse offenses, but to
leave it as it was. He noted the revisor's bill could actually
incorporate that as the correct intent of the Legislature.
MS. FINLEY said to do that, the underlying statute of limitations
would have to be rewritten. She said she is reluctant to do that
because the sponsor of that floor amendment showed no inclination
to do that and the bill had been through the House Judiciary
Committee.
SENATOR DONLEY asked who sponsored the floor amendment.
MS. FINLEY answered Representative Berkowitz. She said she put
Section 2 in because she felt it was her duty to deal with the
issue but Section 2 could be removed from the bill.
SENATOR DONLEY said he would prefer to take Section 2 out of the
bill.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR said that taking it out of the bill will leave
the statute of limitations at three years. However, it could be
argued that it could be two years because it is a gray area.
MS. FINLEY said she is not sure what a court would do. She
assumed if the victim is not 16 or under, the court would have to
conclude that the statute of limitations is two years for a
misdemeanor sexual assault because the issue is basically when
the clock starts running.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if this is for civil purposes.
MS. FINLEY said it is. She said she would be perfectly happy to
remove Section 2 but hopes someone will deal with the question
because it is problematic.
SENATOR DONLEY asked Ms. Finley to give him a copy of the
original floor amendment and information describing the
inconsistency so that he could work on it.
MS. FINLEY agreed.
SENATOR DONLEY moved to delete Section 2 of CSHB 375(JUD) because
he does not support shortening the statute of limitations for
these sorts of crimes.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR announced that with no objection, the motion
carried. He then thanked Ms. Finley for her great work as she
does a high quality job that often goes unnoticed.
SENATOR DONLEY agreed and said Ms. Finley is one of the best
attorneys in the Division of Legal Services.
There being no further questions, SENATOR DONLEY moved SCS CSHB
275(JUD) from committee with individual recommendations.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR announced that with no objection, SCS CSHB
375(JUD) will move to the next committee of referral as soon as
it is prepared.
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