Legislature(1993 - 1994)
02/17/1994 03:00 PM Senate STA
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SENATE STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
February 17, 1994
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Mike Miller, Vice Chair
Senator Robin Taylor
Senator Jim Duncan
Senator Johnny Ellis
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Loren Leman, Chair
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 36
Proposing amendments to the Constitution of the State of Alaska
requiring that candidates for governor and candidates for
lieutenant governor receive more than 50 percent of the votes cast
to be elected and changing the term of office of the governor and
the lieutenant governor.
PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION
SJR 36 - No previous senate committee action.
WITNESS REGISTER
Senator Tim Kelly
State Capitol, Juneau, AK 99801-1182¶465-3822
POSITION STATEMENT: prime sponsor of SJR 36
Greg Wakefield
12940 Foster Road, Anchorage, AK 99516¶345-3002
POSITION STATEMENT: opposed to SJR 36
Rosemary Hagevig, State President
League of Women Voters
P.O. Box 22048, Juneau, AK 99802¶463-2501
POSITION STATEMENT: in favor of SJR 36
Representative Fran Ulmer
State Capitol, Juneau, AK 99801-1182¶465-4947
POSITION STATEMENT: in favor of SJR 36
ACTION NARRATIVE
(Call to order was not on the tape.)
TAPE 94-10, SIDE A
Number 035
SENATOR KELLY states the two-party system is over, and it is
important that the governor be elected by a majority vote. Senator
Kelly chose 50% as the figure a candidate must get to win the
governor's seat, but 40% is also a possible figure. However, it is
important that a governor be representative of as many people as
possible, and should be over 25-30%.
Number 066
VICE-CHAIR MILLER thanks Senator Kelly for his testimony and calls
the next witness.
Number 069
GREG WAKEFIELD, testifying from Anchorage, disagrees that the two-
party system is over, although there are many splinter parties.
Mr. Wakefield believes this bill would be the death bell for third
party movements, and would strengthen the two-party system at the
expense of diversity in Alaska. Mr. Wakefield asks that the
committee consider something less than a majority vote, say 40%.
He is not sure the expense of SJR 36 would justify the end result.
The constitution should only be tampered with as a last result.
Number 147
VICE-CHAIR MILLER thanks Mr. Wakefield for his testimony and calls
the next witness.
Number 155
ROSEMARY HAGEVIG, State President, League of Women Voters, states
the league has discussed the concept of SJR 36 in the past, but has
not studied it or developed a position on it. At this point, she
cannot provide definitive support for SJR 36, however, as a general
rule, any effort that is made to make the election process more
representative of a majority of the electorate is usually something
the League of Women Voters would support. The only section the
league is concerned with at this point, is the section that would
eliminate access to the ballot for absentee voters in a run-off
election.
Number 176
VICE-CHAIR MILLER thanks Ms. Hagevig for her testimony and calls
the next witness.
Number 179
REPRESENTATIVE ULMER states she supports a candidate getting a
minimum of 40% of the votes cast to win an election. She favors
this because asking for a minimum of 50% increases the chances of
having frequent run-off elections, which would be expensive.
Secondly, she is concerned with the time period between a regular
election and a run-off election. By compressing that window, it
could put the governor at a disadvantage. Perhaps the legislative
session following a run-off election should be delayed.
Number 212
SENATOR KELLY says he wants to clarify for Ms. Hagevig of The
League of Women Voters, that absentee ballots would be counted, but
write-in candidates on ballots would not be counted in a run-off
election.
Number 224
VICE-CHAIR MILLER thanks Senator Kelly for his comment.
Number 227
SENATOR DUNCAN asks Senator Kelly if there is a prohibition in
elections in the Municipality of Anchorage against write-in
candidates in run-off elections.
(The tape is not clear, not able to understand Senator Kelly's
response.)
SENATOR DUNCAN is curious about why Governor Hammond is interested
in seeing greater than 50% required to win a run-off election.
Number 247
SENATOR ELLIS asks if there is a fiscal note or cost estimate for
SJR 36.
Number 250
VICE-CHAIR MILLER responds that there is a fiscal note from the
Division of Elections, which is approximately 765,000 dollars.
This is their estimate for a run-off election.
Number 268
SENATOR ELLIS asks the vice-chair if the committee can have a day
or two to think about the bill before passing it out of committee.
Senator Ellis states that the bill that was introduced in the house
in the last legislature by Representative Kubina was not intended
to be a jab at Governor Hickel. Hopefully, enough time has gone by
so that SJR 36 is not seen in the same way. He wants the committee
to think about changing the 50% requirement to 40%. Senator Ellis
states he would like to see the bill pass, and thinks 40% would
help it out.
Number 314
VICE-CHAIR MILLER says he recalls there was strong opposition to
Representative Kubina's bill in the last legislature from the Green
Party. The vice-chair will request Chairman Leman to bring the
bill back up for consideration in Wednesday's committee meeting.
Hearing no other comments, Vice-Chair Miller adjourns the State
Affairs Committee meeting.
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