Legislature(2001 - 2002)
05/01/2002 03:52 PM Senate JUD
| Audio | Topic |
|---|
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 52-COMPACT FOR ADULT OFFENDER SUPERVISION
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR announced the committee has held an extensive
hearing on this bill. He then took testimony.
MS. CANDACE BROWER, legislative liaison for the Department of
Corrections, explained that the Interstate Compact governs the
state-to-state transfer and/or travel and supervision of
offenders. Currently, the Compact in place was enacted in 1937
and is outdated. The ability to transfer between states is much
different now than it was in 1937, when 1,000 offenders crossed
state lines. Now, one-quarter of a million offenders cross state
lines each year. The current Compact promotes slow and unreliable
exchange of case information and frequent violations of the
Compact rules result in otherwise supervised offenders slipping
through the cracks.
MS. BROWER stated the new Compact creates oversight of offenders
on a national basis. It creates a state council, of which the
Compact administrator becomes a commissioner to the national
commission. The national commission will be made up of one
commissioner from each state. Each state gets one vote. The
Interstate Commission will also have non-voting, ex-officio
members who are interested parties that can contribute to the
facility of the Compact. There will also be paid staff, including
an executive director, and Interstate Commission staff who will
oversee the day-to-day activities of the Compact, which Alaska
does not currently have. Today, each state has a Compact
administrator who participates in a formal body, but that body
has no power to enforce compliance with the Compact so states can
do what they wish. The executive director and staff would
administer enforcement and compliance with the provisions of the
Compact. They would enforce its bylaws and, as directed by the
Commission, perform other duties as assigned. The new Compact
will provide uniform procedures, a mechanism for acquiring and
maintaining routine data and will provide a structure to adopt
new rules and to guarantee or enforce compliance. It will also
provide for adequate consideration of victims, more oversight at
both the state and national levels, and a way to hold offenders
more accountable.
MS. BROWER pointed out that committee packets contain a map of
the states that have enacted the Compact at this time: 31 as of
today. That number is expected to increase to 35 by June. One
reason it is so important that the Alaska Legislature pass this
legislation this year is that the first 35 states to enact it
will be at the table to set the rules and decide how the Compact
will be operated. Alaska's population is small, therefore it is
important that it protect its interests. In addition, Alaska
exports more offenders than it imports so it will benefit from
belonging to the Compact. She pointed out she revised the fiscal
note after consulting with some of the folks working on the
Compact. The fees are not expected to be initiated until July of
2003 so there will be no fiscal impact until FY 04.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if the amount is $16,000.
MS. BROWER said that is correct for FY 04. The amount for FY 03
will be zero.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR took public testimony.
MR. RICHARD MASTERS, Special Counsel, Council of State
Governments (CSG), said he echoes Ms. Brower's comments. The CSG
has been involved in the Compact bill for a long time and
assisted in the original draft in 1937. The proposed legislation
is the result of a year-long study in which Compact
administrators under the existing mechanism came together with
representatives from the legislative branch, attorneys general
offices and decided the existing mechanism is not working as it
depends almost entirely on cooperation. It is simply not designed
to function in an environment where an offender can move from one
part of the country to another in a matter of hours. In addition
to the 50,000 known offenders who are under supervision, there
are a large number of offenders whose whereabouts are unknown. HB
296 is an attempt to update the 63-year old law to make it
effective by giving authority to states to make sure that
compliance is achieved.
MR. MASTERS pointed out that the threshold for creation of the
commission that would allow the rule making to begin is 35
states. Currently 31 states have enacted legislation and two
states have legislation waiting to be signed by their governors.
Eight other states have passed legislation through one chamber.
The CSG hopes Alaska will be present at the table when the rules
are reconsidered and adopted to enforce this important public
policy mechanism.
MR. WILLIAM CRAIG, speaking on his own behalf, informed members
he is a former police officer and noted the bill addresses
victims' rights but it does not cover witnesses or past members
of the criminal justice system who may have concerns about an
individual. He said he does not worry about most of the people he
encountered throughout his brief career, but he would like to
know the status of a few people. He is aware of prosecutors and
witnesses in the same situation. He hoped, if Alaska does join
the Compact, that issue is addressed.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR noted that Linda Zaugg, Department of
Corrections, was available to answer questions. He then continued
taking public testimony.
MS. PAT TUTHILL, testifying via teleconference, told members the
following story of her daughter Peyton Tuthill and her very
preventable murder. After Peyton graduated from college in South
Carolina, she went to the mountains of Wyoming for a survival
course camping trip for four weeks. Peyton gave back to the
community through her involvement with the American Cancer
Society, working as an advocate for the elderly, and then moved
to Denver to attend graduate school. After six months in Denver,
she entered her apartment at noon to let her dog out. She
encountered a man over 300 pounds who brutally tortured, raped
and killed her. The offender, Donta Page, had recently been
transferred and released from prison in Maryland and traveled to
Denver where he was to be under three years of supervised
probation in a halfway house. He was lost in the system. No one
knew he was there. He was removed from his program for hostile
behavior and was to be given a bus ticket to return to prison in
Maryland. However, the current Compact was blatantly ignored. The
current Compact does not have the technology, database or
uniformity to notify and keep track of these prisoners. So,
instead of waiting for the bus ticket, he broke into Peyton's
apartment where she met her tragic and violent death.
MS. TUTHILL said the 1937 Compact was enacted when there were
only 1,000 offenders moving across state lines. Over 250,000
offenders are now moving across state lines. Ms. Tuthill stated,
"Peyton should have never died like this. No one should ever have
to die like this. This new Compact, with provisions and the
witness/victim involvement in the new Compact is going to prevent
such tragic deaths. And I have to make a decision every day if
I'm going to live or die. And I feel like I'm Peyton's voice now,
the voice of other victims. And I live this legislation everyday
in the hope that it will be passed because I know what it will
do. And I hear words from Peyton everyday and her favorite
passage was, when we act from our hearts, speak from our hearts,
we're standing in our full strength, for our heart is a place of
courage, honor, integrity, wisdom, and passion." She asked
committee members to support HB 52.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR expressed sympathy to Ms. Tuthill for the tragic
loss of her daughter and then asked Mr. Humphries to testify.
MR. KERMIT HUMPHRIES, National Institute of Corrections (NIC),
said one of his responsibilities at the NIC has been the
development and passage of this Interstate Compact. As a former
probation/parole officer in Alaska for eight years, he noticed
that in all of those years, only one state, on one occasion,
returned an offender who had come to Alaska on interstate
supervision and violated that arrangement. Many times, the
Department of Corrections would do the paperwork, but other
states would terminate jurisdiction for the offender so that the
offender would stay in Alaska, or they would issue an in-state
warrant. In that case, only residents of that state are
protected. In only one case that he supervised was there an
extradition back to the sending state. He could not recall any
other officers who ever had anyone returned. He said Alaska is
particularly vulnerable to the lack of enforcement on the
existing Compact. The new Compact was drafted because department
of corrections' spokesmen from all around the country came to the
NIC saying the existing compact was broken and posed a danger to
public safety.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR noted with no further testimony or questions, he
would entertain a motion to move the bill.
SENATOR COWDERY moved HB 52am from committee with individual
recommendations and its accompanying fiscal note of $16,000.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR announced that without objection, the motion
carried.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|