Legislature(2019 - 2020)BY TELECONFERENCE
09/22/2020 10:00 AM House SELECT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE ETHICS
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SELECT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE ETHICS
SEPTEMBER 22, 2020
10:00 AM
FULL COMMITTEE
10:02:51 AM
1. CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER
Lee Holmes called the meeting to order at 10:02 a.m. on
September 22, 2020, and asked Jerry Anderson to conduct
roll call.
Roll call
Senator John Coghill (telephonic)
Senator Tom Begich (telephonic)
Representative DeLena Johnson (telephonic)
Representative Louise Stutes (telephonic)
Conner Thomas (telephonic)
Lee Holmes (telephonic)
Joyce Anderson
Deb Fancher(telephonic)
Skip Cook - absent
Quorum present.
Others
Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson (telephonic)
Senator David Wilson (telephonic)
Jerry Anderson
Jacqui Yeagle
Skiff Lobaugh (telephonic)
10:05:00 AM
2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Lee Holmes entertained a motion to approve the agenda.
Motion made by Senator Tom Begich
There were no objections.
The agenda was approved.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Lee Holmes entertained a motion to accept the January 21,
2020 Full Committee meeting minutes.
Motion made by Representative Louise Stutes
There were no objections.
The minutes were approved.
Lee Holmes entertained a motion to accept the May 27, 2020
Senate Subcommittee meeting minutes.
Motion made by Senator Tom Begich
There were no objections.
The minutes were approved.
10:06:32 AM
4. PUBLIC COMMENT
No public comment.
10:07:12 AM
5. CHAIR/STAFF REPORT
a. Planning for 2021 training
Lee Holmes asked Jerry Anderson if Skiff Lobaugh was
planning to call in to the meeting for discussion on the
agenda item.
Jerry Anderson replied that as of the day prior to the
meeting, it was his understanding that Skiff Lobaugh
planned to attend for discussion of the agenda item.
Skiff Lobaugh announced that he was present and available
to answer questions.
Lee Holmes thanked Skiff Lobaugh for announcing his
presence.
Lee Holmes asked Jerry Anderson to open a discussion about
the 2021 ethics training.
Jerry Anderson thanked Lee Holmes and directed the
committees attention to the meeting packet and the email
from Stacey Householder of the National Conference of State
Legislature (NCSL). He said that Stacey Householder had
assisted with ethics training in 2020 and that he had been
in contact with her about potential training in 2021.
Jerry Anderson noted that because all legislators and
legislative employees will need training in 2021, there
will be a larger number of training sessions, including
possibly a new legislator training in December 2020, which
would have a different format from the other trainings.
Jerry Anderson commented that under committee consideration
is the components of the training. Committee members were
provided for reference the links to NCSLs 2020 training,
which included two segments: one being the sexual
harassment and others forms of discrimination training and
the other training related to civility.
Jerry Anderson asked for committee input about the
components of the training, the time to devote to each
component, and the training format virtual or in person.
He assured the committee that NCSL can accommodate both
training format types.
Lee Holmes asked committee members if there were comments.
Representative Louise Stutes said that she heard from other
legislators that the sexual harassment training was too
long.
Lee Holmes thanked Representative Louise Stutes and asked
for other comments or discussion.
Joyce Anderson asked Jerry Anderson to remind the committee
how long the sexual harassment training that Representative
Louise Stutes referred to had been.
Jerry Anderson replied that in 2020, it was less than 1
hours long and in 2019, it was three hours long.
Representative Louise Stutes made it clear she was
referring to the 2019 training.
Jerry Anderson thanked Representative Louise Stutes for her
clarification.
Lee Holmes asked Jerry Anderson how much time would be
devoted to each of the topics in the 2021 training.
Jerry Anderson said that feedback he had gotten was that 1
hours of sexual harassment training was still too long and
that is one of the reasons he is asking for committee
input. He emphasized that the more time devoted to sexual
harassment training, the less time available for ethics
training given the direction that the entire training
should not last longer than three hours.
10:14:41 AM
Representative Louise Stutes remarked that it seemed there
was more participation in the portion of the training
delivered by Jerry Anderson and questions were left
unanswered. She recommends allocating more time to ethics
training.
Jerry Anderson agreed it was unfortunate that he did not
have time to fully address the questions.
Lee Holmes asked if three hours is too short to cover both
subjects adequately.
Jerry Anderson said three hours is a practical good maximum
amount of time for training at least for returning
employees, but he granted that perhaps new employees may
benefit from a longer training. He said NCSL is willing to
accommodate whatever allocation of time the committee
directs.
Joyce Anderson asked if Skiff Lobaugh had gotten any
feedback about the length of training and the topics
covered.
Skiff Lobaugh reported he had heard a lot of feedback about
both the length of training and the topics covered. There
are individuals who due to their workload want minimal
training time. He elaborated that NCSL seemed to do a good
job in covering topics pertinent to the legislative branch
both on EEOC/sexual harassment and the ethics side but
acknowledged the need for local knowledge in the area of
ethics. He also reported he had not heard any negative
comments about the NCSL training so he thinks the time
allotted to the training was just right.
Joyce Anderson expressed to the Chair Lee Holmes that she
wanted to pitch a discussion topic.
Lee Holmes directed to Joyce Anderson to continue.
Joyce Anderson stated she thinks statute requires more
detailed ethics training than does the sexual harassment
training. She questioned if ethics training should be
delivered first while the attendees were fresh.
Lee Holmes expressed his opinion that the sexual harassment
training be delivered first because it is more easily time-
constrained and leave the ethics training free to run long
if needed. He entertained other opinions.
Senator John Coghill said that he preferred the sexual
harassment training first because many attendees need only
a refresher where ethics training can leave attendees with
lingering questions to ponder. He suggested leaving two
hours for ethics training if possible. He echoed Skiff
Lobaugh in stating that he thinks NCSL did a great job in
delivering their training.
Joyce Anderson agreed with Senator John Coghills comments.
Lee Holmes thanked Joyce Anderson and asked for other
comments.
Lee Holmes summarized what he understood about the
training: the training will total three hours, one hour for
sexual harassment training to be followed with two hours of
ethics training. He asked Jerry Anderson if that was also
his understanding.
Jerry Anderson replied that it was his understanding.
Lee Holmes asked if a motion was needed.
Jerry Anderson replied that he did not believe a motion was
necessary because the training is still in the planning
stages and historically the committee has left it to the
administrator to handle the training arrangement details.
He said that Skiff Lobaugh has always been helpful in
setting up the sexual harassment portion of the training
and making sure that the training is relevant and meets
local requirements.
Representative DeLena Johnson commented that in her opinion
the effectiveness of the sexual harassment training is more
important than length of time devoted to it. She encouraged
a more effective training that is relevant to the
legislature.
Deb Fancher recommended good teaching practice would
include developing an evaluation to use in planning future
trainings.
Lee Holmes thanked Deb Fancher for her comment. He asked
Jerry Anderson if he could work with Skiff Lobaugh to put
together a training evaluation.
Jerry Anderson replied that he could.
Lee Holmes entertained further comments. There were no
further comments.
b. State benefit and loan program review
Lee Holmes directed attention to a review of state benefit
and loan programs requiring disclosure. He asked Jerry
Anderson to provide background information to the
committee.
Jerry Anderson explained the review is one of the
committees statutory duties, under AS.24.60.050(b):
(b) The committee shall review state benefit programs
and state loans and annually publish a list of
programs and loans, designating which ones do not meet
the standards of (a) of this section.
Jerry Anderson elaborated that the committees directive is
to review and annually publish a list of the state benefit
and loan programs that do not meet the standards in
AS.24.60.050(a) and therefore require an ethics disclosure
by legislators or legislative employees who participate in
any of the programs.
Jerry Anderson added that staff annually send letters to
all departments asking that they review the current list in
Appendix C of the Standards of Conduct Handbook to make
sure it accurately identifies the programs that do not meet
the standards. Jerry Anderson said that the proposed 2021
list, titled Appendix C in the packet, is a compilation of
those programs as reported by the departments.
Jerry Anderson reported that only one program change had
been reported: a deletion of the Alaska Capstone Avionics
Revolving Fund by the Department of Commerce, Community,
and Economic Development. He noted that a copy of the
completed review form with the deletion was included in the
packet.
Jerry Anderson asked the committee to review and adopt the
list as Appendix C of the handbook, which will be handed
out at training and available online.
Jerry Anderson asked the committee if there were questions.
Lee Holmes entertained questions. Hearing none, he
entertained a motion to adopt the proposed list for the
2021 Standards of Conduct Handbook.
Deb Fancher moved.
Lee Holmes asked if there were objections. There were no
objections. The motion was approved.
6. OTHER BUSINESS
Lee Holmes moved to other business. He stated that the next
committee meeting is set for the week of January 18. He
asked Jerry Anderson his opinion about whether the meeting
would be earlier or later in that week.
Jerry Anderson said the meeting format is still unknown. He
said that are only some committee activities can be handled
telephonically. He added that committee members also need
training in 2021.
Joyce Anderson said that in planning a meeting date, there
is also a need to check statute about legislative
appointments to the committee and to consider the timing of
those appointments.
Lee Holmes asked for comments.
Senator Tom Begich said he had been going to bring up the
same point. Does the committee have to meet at a certain
time? Who attends the first meeting? The current
legislative members or the new members?
Jerry Anderson responded that changes are expected in
legislative membership and the new members will attend the
first meeting. He added that the terms of three of the
public members also expire. All have agreed to continue on
the committee, subject to nomination by the chief justice
of the Alaska Supreme Court.
Senator Tom Begich asked again if the committee was
required to meet within a certain number of days of the
start of session on January 19, and if so, what is that
number of days. If not, he recommends waiting until the
following week.
Jerry Anderson replied that the committee is not required
to meet that week but it has traditionally done so.
Senator Tom Begich recommended meeting on January 25 or 26
for two reasons: committee legislative membership would be
identified and because there is a possibility that some
legislative members may be at the presidential inauguration
during the week of January 18. He recommended a motion
establishing the week of January 25 for the newly
reconstituted committee.
Lee Holmes thanked Senator Tom Begich. He said that the
decision about a meeting date would be delayed. He asked
everyone to keep the week of January 25 in mind while
calendaring their personal lives.
Lee Holmes asked Jerry Anderson if there was anything more
to discuss.
Jerry Anderson thanked Senator Tom Begich for his input.
Lee Holmes asked for other comments and/or other business.
Hearing none, Lee Holmes entertained a motion to adjourn.
Joyce Anderson moved.
There were no objections.
Lee Holmes adjourned the meeting at 10:42 a.m.
ADJOURN:
10:42:11 AM
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 20200922 BASIS Meeting Packet.pdf |
JETH 9/22/2020 10:00:00 AM |