Legislature(2003 - 2004)
04/29/2003 08:04 AM House BUD
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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
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
JOINT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE BUDGET AND AUDIT
April 29, 2003
8:05 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Ralph Samuels, Chair
Representative Beth Kerttula
Senator Gene Therriault, Vice Chair
Senator Ben Stevens
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Lyda Green, alternate
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Mike Hawker
Representative Vic Kohring
Representative Jim Whitaker
Representative Reggie Joule, alternate
Representative Bill Williams, alternate
Senator Con Bunde
Senator Gary Wilken
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
EXECUTIVE SESSION
AUDIT REPORTS
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
WITNESS REGISTER
MR. TED POPELY, Majority Counsel
Majority Legal Office
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke on amending the contract with
Keesal, Young & Logan in the matter of Grimm v. State, Case No.
3AN-02-12950.
PAMELA A. VARNI, Executive Director
Legislative Affairs Agency (LAA)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented information pertaining to the
staff longevity plan.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 03-4, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIR RALPH SAMUELS called the Joint Committee on Legislative
Budget and Audit meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. Members present
at the call to order were Representatives Samuels and Kerttula,
and Senators Therriault, Ben Stevens, Hoffman, and Green.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Number 0048
SENATOR THERRIAULT made a motion to approve the minutes of April
9, 2003.
CHAIR SAMUELS asked whether there were any objections. There
being none, the minutes from the meeting of April 9, 2003, were
approved as read.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Number 0060
SENATOR THERRIAULT made a motion to move to executive session
for the purpose of discussing confidential audit reports under
AS 24.20.301. There being no objection, the committee went into
executive session at 8:07 a.m.
CHAIR SAMUELS brought the committee back to regular, open
session at 8:25 a.m.
AUDIT REPORTS
Number 0110
SENATOR THERRIAULT made a motion for the final audit for the
following to be released to the public for response: 1) DCED
[Department of Community & Economic Development] Commercial
Fisheries Revolving Loan Fund, and 2) DHSS [Department of Health
& Social Services] DFYS [Division of Family & Youth Services]
Selected Travel Issues.
CHAIR SAMUELS asked whether there were any objections. There
being none, the audits were released to the public for response.
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
Number 0133
TED POPELY, Majority Counsel, Majority Legal Office, testified
that the Joint Committee on Legislative Budget and Audit had
approved [a legal contract with] the law firm Keesal, Young &
Logan [December, 2002] in response to litigation relating to
Senator Thomas Wagoner's election results. Grimm v. State was
filed, challenging Senator Wagoner's election success, and the
Joint Committee on Legislative Budget and Audit voted to file an
amicus brief in support of Senator Wagoner's attorney's position
regarding the interpretation of the election statutes.
Ultimately, Mr. Wagoner prevailed in litigation and is now
seated in the Alaska state Senate.
Number 0302
MR. POPELY continued that the contract amendment relates to
payment on a contract [with Keesal, Young & Logan] that, for a
variety of administrative reasons, was originally capped at
$20,000. Amending the contract would include payment for
additional expenses pertaining to items such as copying,
postage, mailing, overnight delivery, and services provided by
Westlaw.
Number 0401
SENATOR HOFFMAN asked if the contract was specifically for
$20,000 and if the law firm had been fully aware of that amount.
MR. POPELY responded that the contract was for $20,000 and that
the firm performed $34,000 worth of billable work, but was not
authorized to charge for the additional $14,000. Other expenses
incurred by the firm resulted in the final bill totaling
[$26,266.58].
Number 0438
SENATOR THERRIAULT told the committee that he didn't recall what
the total billable amount was, but commented that the work
product had been very thorough, and that he had been kept
informed of how things were progressing. He said basically the
Joint Committee on Legislative Budget and Audit was involved
because of a "separation of powers issue," and the legislature
was "looking out for its own" and addressing the challenge of
how the winner of an election was being perceived. He said that
he was willing to cover the [$6,266.58] additional costs.
Number 0556
REPRESENTATIVE KERTTULA asked if there were attorney fees
against the other party.
MR. POPELY replied that there were no fees for the amicus,
saying that the state was strictly an amicus curiae.
SENATOR THERRIAULT commented on the issue of separation of
powers, pointing out that the administration looks out for its
powers and the legislature needs to aggressively protect its
[powers].
REPRESENTATIVE KERTTULA inquired whether the amicus could apply
for attorney's fees if its position prevailed.
MR. POPELY answered that generally this was not allowed. She
then asked, "Does the rule actually bar it?"
MR. POPELY responded that this was left out in the rule, saying
that he didn't know of any instance in which it had even been
applied for.
Number 0703
SENATOR THERRIAULT moved that the committee approve the
expenditure of the additional $6,266.58 to cover the costs.
CHAIR SAMUELS asked whether there were any objections. There
being none, it was so ordered.
CHAIR SAMUELS announced that the next order of business would be
the staff longevity plan.
Number 0725
PAMELA A. VARNI, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs Agency
(LAA), testified that in 1988, the House and the Senate adopted
an employment policy for legislative staff, which has worked
well with the exception of the longevity steps of J through M.
She explained that the reason this hasn't worked well is because
of the word "continuous", which penalizes legislative staff
because of their switching of ranges due to budget constraints
or because of the legislator for whom they work not having that
range available. An example would be if a staff member worked
in the capacity of a range 19J and then switched to a range 17
during the interim; it wouldn't be possible to place that person
at step J - he/she would need to be placed at a range 17F.
Number 0843
MS. VARNI told the committee that there is a lot of switching of
ranges and that during February and March [2003], at different
committee meetings, a new longevity policy that removes the word
"continuous" was approved by the Senate Rules Standing
Committee, the House Rules Standing Committee, Legislative
Council, Joint Committee on Administrative Regulation Review,
Senate Finance Standing Committee, and the House Finance
Committee.
Number 0916
MS. VARNI referred to Chair Samuels' memo [dated April 28, 2003,
to members of the committee] and said she wanted to emphasize
that in giving this ability [to implement policy] to the
legislative auditor and to the director of legislative finance,
she hoped there would be consistency with [LAA policy], noting
that in the past there has been a generous "comp policy"
amounting to approximately double the amount that LAA employees
receive. She said that the LAA is very consistent with
personnel policies, and referred the committee to two resources,
the "State of Alaska Legislative Staff Employee Handbook" and
the "State of Alaska Legislative Affairs Agency Handbook for
Legislative Employees" if there was interest in obtaining
additional information.
CHAIR SAMUELS indicated that for [staff hired] directly by the
Joint Committee on Legislative Budget and Audit, the proposed
longevity policy would be provided and that by statute [AS
24.20.221 and AS 24.20.261] the employees of the Legislative
Fiscal Analyst and the Legislative Auditor have the flexibility
to come up with their own [employee compensation policy,
including longevity, based on the principles of merit and
longevity]. In response to a query from Senator Therriault, he
confirmed that extensions could be made to the policy that was
before the committee.
SENATOR HOFFMAN asked how this pertained to legislative staff
[in general].
SENATOR THERRIAULT referred to Ms. Varni's comment regarding
various committees' adoption of the policy and asked if the
Joint Committee on Legislative Budget and Audit was the last
legislative entity to come into compliance.
MS. VARNI confirmed that this was the case.
CHAIR SAMUELS pointed out that legislative staff do not get
hired for another legislative session if they don't perform
well, suggesting this to be the ultimate test of merit.
Number 1229
SENATOR THERRIAULT moved that the Joint Committee on Legislative
Budget and Audit not adopt AS 39.27.022 to pay increments for
longevity for state services, but instead adopt its own plan,
which better applies to services provided to the committee.
This new policy is before the members and would be effective
[retroactively] January 16, 2003. The new plan reads as follows
[original punctuation provided, with some formatting changes]:
1. For staff hired directly by the Committee the
proposed longevity policy would provide
Step J - Fourteen legislative sessions of at
least 100 days each, or two full years with the
legislature at a comparable or higher level.
Step K - Eighteen legislative sessions of at
least 100 days each, or two full years with the
legislature at a comparable or higher level.
Step L - Twenty eight legislative sessions of at
least 100 days each or five full years with the
legislature at a comparable or higher level.
Step M - Thiry six legislative sessions of at
least 100 days each, or four full years with the
legislature at a comparable or higher level.
2. Consistent with AS 24.20.221 the Legislative
Fiscal Analyst will implement an employee
compensation policy (including longevity), based
on the principles of merit and longevity.
3. Consistent with As 24.20.261 the Legislative
Auditor will implement an employee compensation
policy (including longevity), based on the
principles of merit and longevity.
CHAIR SAMUELS asked whether there were any objections. There
being none, it was so ordered.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the
Committee on Legislative Budget and Audit was adjourned at 8:45
a.m.
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