Legislature(2005 - 2006)
05/02/2005 02:09 PM House JUD
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB104 | |
| SB101 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE
May 2, 2005
2:09 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Lesil McGuire, Chair
Representative John Coghill
Representative Nancy Dahlstrom
Representative Pete Kott
Representative Les Gara
Representative Max Gruenberg
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Tom Anderson
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 104(JUD)
"An Act relating to the crimes of unsworn falsification in the
first and second degrees and false information or report;
requiring the establishment of a permanent fund dividend fraud
investigation unit in the Department of Revenue; and providing
for an effective date."
- MOVED HCS CSSB 104(JUD) OUT OF COMMITTEE
CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 101(JUD)
"An Act making corrective amendments to the Alaska Statutes as
recommended by the revisor of statutes; and providing for an
effective date."
- HEARD AND HELD
CS FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 12(JUD)
Requesting the United States Senate to move quickly to a
majority floor vote of the United States Senate on all
nominations by President George W. Bush to the United States
Supreme Court.
- SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: SB 104
SHORT TITLE: PERMANENT FUND DIVIDEND FRAUD
SPONSOR(S): SENATOR(S) SEEKINS
02/14/05 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/14/05 (S) STA, JUD
02/22/05 (S) STA AT 3:30 PM BELTZ 211
02/22/05 (S) Heard & Held
02/22/05 (S) MINUTE(STA)
02/24/05 (S) STA AT 3:30 PM BELTZ 211
02/24/05 (S) Moved CSSB 104(STA) Out of Committee
02/24/05 (S) MINUTE(STA)
02/28/05 (S) STA RPT CS 4DP SAME TITLE
02/28/05 (S) DP: THERRIAULT, ELTON, HUGGINS, DAVIS
03/01/05 (S) JUD AT 8:30 AM BUTROVICH 205
03/01/05 (S) Heard & Held
03/01/05 (S) MINUTE(JUD)
03/02/05 (S) JUD AT 8:30 AM BUTROVICH 205
03/02/05 (S) Moved CSSB 104(JUD) Out of Committee
03/02/05 (S) MINUTE(JUD)
03/02/05 (S) JUD RPT CS 3DP 2NR NEW TITLE
03/02/05 (S) DP: SEEKINS, THERRIAULT, HUGGINS
03/02/05 (S) NR: FRENCH, GUESS
03/07/05 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
03/07/05 (S) VERSION: CSSB 104(JUD)
03/09/05 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/09/05 (H) STA, JUD
04/05/05 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
04/05/05 (H) Moved Out of Committee
04/05/05 (H) MINUTE(STA)
04/06/05 (H) STA RPT 4DP 1NR
04/06/05 (H) DP: LYNN, ELKINS, GRUENBERG, SEATON;
04/06/05 (H) NR: GARDNER
04/29/05 (H) JUD AT 4:00 PM CAPITOL 120
04/29/05 (H) Heard & Held
04/29/05 (H) MINUTE(JUD)
05/02/05 (H) JUD AT 12:00 AM CAPITOL 120
BILL: SB 101
SHORT TITLE: REVISOR'S BILL
SPONSOR(S): RULES BY REQUEST OF LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
02/14/05 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/14/05 (S) STA, JUD
02/24/05 (S) STA AT 3:30 PM BELTZ 211
02/24/05 (S) Heard & Held
02/24/05 (S) MINUTE(STA)
03/01/05 (S) STA AT 3:30 PM BELTZ 211
03/01/05 (S) Moved CSSB 101(STA) Out of Committee
03/01/05 (S) MINUTE(STA)
03/03/05 (S) STA RPT CS 3DP 1NR SAME TITLE
03/03/05 (S) DP: THERRIAULT, WAGONER, HUGGINS
03/03/05 (S) NR: ELTON
04/25/05 (S) JUD AT 8:30 AM BUTROVICH 205
04/25/05 (S) Moved CSSB 101(JUD) Out of Committee
04/25/05 (S) MINUTE(JUD)
04/25/05 (S) JUD RPT CS 3DP 1NR SAME TITLE
04/25/05 (S) DP: SEEKINS, THERRIAULT, HUGGINS
04/25/05 (S) NR: FRENCH
04/27/05 (S) TRANSMITTED TO (H)
04/27/05 (S) VERSION: CSSB 101(JUD)
04/28/05 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
04/28/05 (H) JUD
05/02/05 (H) JUD AT 12:00 AM CAPITOL 120
WITNESS REGISTER
JAMES CRAWFORD, Assistant Revisor
Legislative Legal Counsel
Legislative Legal and Research Services
Legislative Affairs Agency (LAA)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented SB 101 on behalf of the Senate
Rules Standing Committee, sponsor of the bill by request of
Legislative Council, and responded to questions.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR LESIL McGUIRE called the House Judiciary Standing
Committee meeting to order at 2:09:57 PM. Representatives
McGuire, Coghill, Kott, and Gara were present at the call to
order. Representatives Dahlstrom and Gruenberg arrived as the
meeting was in progress.
SB 104 - PERMANENT FUND DIVIDEND FRAUD
[Contains mention that portions of HB 127 and HB 273 have been
incorporated into proposed House committee substitutes (HCSs)
for SB 104.]
2:10:58 PM
CHAIR McGUIRE announced that the first order of business would
be CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 104(JUD), "An Act relating to the
crimes of unsworn falsification in the first and second degrees
and false information or report; requiring the establishment of
a permanent fund dividend fraud investigation unit in the
Department of Revenue; and providing for an effective date."
[Before the committee was the proposed House committee
substitute (HCS) for SB 104, Version 24-LS0519\X, Cook, 4/28/05,
which was adopted as a work draft on 4/29/05; included in
members packets was the proposed House committee substitute
(HCS) for SB 104, Version 24-LS0519\S, Cook, 4/13/05.]
CHAIR McGUIRE noted that public testimony on SB 104 had been
closed at the bill's last hearing, and ascertained that no one
else wished to provide further testimony.
CHAIR McGUIRE referred to the new HCS, Version S, in members'
packets, and relayed that although Version X, which was adopted
as a work draft on 4/29/05, had incorporated provisions from HB
127 and HB 273, in light of conversations she'd had with other
members and the sponsors, she decided that it would be imprudent
to move such an all-encompassing HCS through the process without
providing the public more opportunities for input, particularly
given the concerns raised regarding practical issues and
potential constitutional issues.
2:12:50 PM
CHAIR McGUIRE explained that Version S incorporates into SB 104
the provisions of HB 127 regarding allowable absences for peace
corps volunteers and members of U.S. Olympic Teams, as well as
civil penalties commiserate with the criminal penalties
currently in SB 104.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL made a motion to adopt the proposed HCS
for SB 104, Version 24-LS0519\S, Cook, 4/13/05, as the work
draft. There being no objection, Version S was before the
committee.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA indicated that he appreciates that Version S
does not include the provisions from HB 273, because he thinks
they could use more work over the interim.
CHAIR McGUIRE concurred and relayed that she would defer to the
sponsor of HB 273 with regard to when those provisions can be
addressed.
2:16:54 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KOTT moved to report the proposed HCS for SB 104,
Version 24-LS0519\S, Cook, 4/13/05, out of committee with
individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes.
There being no objection, HCS CSSB 104(JUD) was reported from
the House Judiciary Standing Committee.
2:17:18 PM
CHAIR McGUIRE made a motion that the House Judiciary Standing
Committee introduce a House Concurrent Resolution [which later
became HCR 15] for the purpose of changing the title of HCS CSSB
104(JUD). There being no objection, the motion carried.
The committee took an at-ease from 2:17 p.m. to 2:18 p.m.
SB 101 - REVISOR'S BILL
2:18:18 PM
CHAIR McGUIRE announced that the final order of business would
be CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 101(JUD), "An Act making corrective
amendments to the Alaska Statutes as recommended by the revisor
of statutes; and providing for an effective date."
JAMES CRAWFORD, Assistant Revisor, Legislative Legal Counsel,
Legislative Legal and Research Services, Legislative Affairs
Agency (LAA), presented SB 101 on behalf of the Senate Rules
Standing Committee, sponsor of the bill by request of
Legislative Council. He relayed that revisor's bills are
prepared annually under the authority of AS 01.05.036, which
commands the revisor to fix problems in statute. Those problems
and their solutions fall into three general categories. The
first category involves problems the solutions for which improve
the form or substance of the law, and this is the most common
category of solution found in SB 101 and include grammatical
corrections and conforming statutes to the drafting-manual
style. For example, Section 66, which pertains to AS
46.14.010(b), proposes to replace the term "emission unit" with
"emissions unit" because the latter term mirrors the federal
term, as is now required by federal regulations regarding air
quality control.
MR. CRAWFORD relayed that the second category of problem
addressed by revisor's bills involves solutions that correct
oversights or errors. In other words, if language in a
particular section of statute doesn't exactly match the
legislative intent, the revisor's bill tries to conform that
language with the intent, intent as it pertains to a policy
choice that has already been made. This is the least common
category of solution in SB 101, though one example is Section
21, which pertains to AS 13.26.332 - statutory form power of
attorney - and which proposes to replace the phrase "as I have
checked" with the phrase "as indicated"; the latter phrase is
more correct because according to the remainder of the form's
language, checking an item never actually occurs. He also
relayed that the third category of problem addressed by
revisor's bills involve solutions for obsolete provisions.
Provisions can become obsolete either through the passage of
time or through the repeal of other provisions. For example,
Section 35 - which pertains to AS 16.43.460(b) - proposes to
reflect the repeal of AS 16.43.901 and AS 16.43.906.
MR. CRAWFORD went on to explain that the changes proposed in
revisor's bills address problems that have been brought to the
revisor's attention, either through statute reviews conducted by
Legislative Legal and Research Services, or through statute
reviews conducted by the Department of Law (DOL) or other
departments. After a revisor's bill is initially drafted, all
three of the LAA's revisors review the proposed changes to
ensure that they are appropriate to include in a revisor's bill,
since such bills must be nonpartisan and policy-neutral. It is
very important that revisor's bills do not make any new policy
choices, even inadvertently. After the aforementioned review, a
revisor's bill is sent to the DOL where it is parceled out for
further review. After this occurs, the bill is returned to
Legislative Legal and Research Services for finalization and
submission to Legislative Council.
2:24:01 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG referred to page 9, line 16, and asked
whether there should be a comma [added] after the word "below".
MR. CRAWFORD said that from a grammatical standpoint, the
language is fine as is, but he would not object to such a
change.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG turned attention to Section 42, and
asked why it is proposing to eliminate the intent language
currently included in AS 26.10.060(a).
MR. CRAWFORD explained that that intent language refers to
reemployment benefits granted by a federal statute, and the
provisions in that federal statute which granted those benefits
have since been repealed. In response to a further question, he
relayed that [Section 91] proposes to repeal AS 14.08.031(d) -
which stipulates that U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
schools shall be included in a regional educational attendance
area (REAA) boundary - because the BIA does not manage or
supervise schools in the state of Alaska; proposes to repeal AS
18.50.950(4) - which stipulates that "child adoption agency"
means a child adoption agency licensed under AS 47.35 - because
the term being defined is not used in AS 18.50 and so it is not
necessary to include such a definition there; and proposes to
repeal AS 46.14.250(e) - which stipulates in part that with
regard to emission fees, the department shall set the initial
fee rate for the first two years following approval of the
permit program under this chapter by the federal administrator
on the basis of dollars per ton of assessable emissions -
because the time frame referenced in that language has come and
gone.
REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked Mr. Crawford to do further
research regarding the proposed repeal of AS 18.50.950(4).
MR. CRAWFORD agreed to do so.
2:28:55 PM
CHAIR McGUIRE announced that SB 101 would be held over for the
purpose of further reviewing the proposed changes.
ADJOURNMENT
The House Judiciary Standing Committee recessed at 2:29 p.m. to
a call of the chair. [The meeting was never reconvened.]
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