Legislature(2015 - 2016)Anch LIO Auditorium
06/10/2015 10:00 AM Senate FINANCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB44 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | HB 44 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE
SECOND SPECIAL SESSION
June 10, 2015
10:04 a.m.
[Note: The meeting was held in Anchorage, Alaska at the
Anchorage Legislative Information Office]
10:04:11 AM
CALL TO ORDER
Co-Chair MacKinnon called the Senate Finance Committee
meeting to order at 10:04 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Anna MacKinnon, Co-Chair
Senator Pete Kelly, Co-Chair
Senator Peter Micciche, Vice-Chair
Senator Click Bishop
Senator Mike Dunleavy
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Donny Olson
MEMBERS ABSENT
None
ALSO PRESENT
Laura Pierre, Staff, Senator Anna MacKinnon; Representative
Charisse Millett; Representative Geran Tarr; Senator Cathy
Giessel; Senator Berta Gardner; Representative Kurt Olson;
Representative Sam Kito; Representative Les Gara;
Representative Scott Kawasaki.
SUMMARY
CSHB 44(FIN)
SEX ABUSE/ASSAULT/DATING VIOL PREV. PROGS
CSHB 44(FIN) was HEARD and HELD in committee for
further consideration.
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 44(FIN)
"An Act relating to sexual abuse and sexual assault
awareness and prevention efforts in public schools;
and relating to dating violence and abuse awareness
and prevention efforts in public schools."
10:04:19 AM
Vice-Chair Micciche MOVED to ADOPT proposed committee
substitute for CSHB 44(FIN), Work Draft 29-LS0258\S
(Glover, 6/9/15).
Co-Chair MacKinnon OBJECTED for discussion.
10:04:56 AM
AT EASE
10:05:36 AM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair MacKinnon noted that Co-Chair Kelly had joined the
meeting.
Vice-Chair Micciche WITHDREW his prior motion. He MOVED to
ADOPT proposed committee substitute for CSHB 44(FIN), Work
Draft 29-LS0258\F (Glover, 6/9/15). Co-Chair MacKinnon
OBJECTED for discussion. She asked her staff to review the
sectional analysis for the committee substitute (CS).
10:06:25 AM
LAURA PIERRE, STAFF, SENATOR ANNA MACKINNON, relayed that
she would present a sectional analysis for the CS (copy on
file).
Co-Chair MacKinnon recognized the bill sponsor,
Representative Charisse Millett in the room. Additionally,
Representatives Geran Tarr, Kurt Olson, Sam Kito III, Scott
Kawasaki, Les Gara, and Senators Berta Gardner, and Cathy
Giessel were present. She noted that the purpose of
adopting the CS was to provide the public access to the
document on the legislative BASIS website.
Mr. Pierre relayed that the bill was accessible online. She
read from the sectional analysis:
Section 1. Provides a short title for sec. 16 of the
bill Alaska Safe Children's Act.
Section 2. Limits AS 14.03.073, which allows students
to challenge courses for credit, to apply only to
students in grades nine through 12.
Section 3. Clarifies that school districts do not have
to establish assessment tools for all courses offered
in grades nine through 12 for purposes of challenging
a course.
Section 4. Prohibits school districts, principals,
other persons in charge of schools, or teachers from
administering a questionnaire or survey unless written
permission is obtained from a student's parent or
guardian.
Section 5. Amends AS 14.03.110(d) to require schools
to inform parents or guardians of who will have access
to results of questionnaires or surveys.
Section 6. Requires regional school boards to
establish procedures to provide required training for
school employees.
Section 7. Requires borough and city school boards to
establish procedures to provide required training for
school employees.
Section 8. Requires the State Board of Education and
Early Development (the board) to establish procedures
for training employees of state boarding schools.
Section 9. Allows school districts to determine how
frequently to provide training related to selection of
nondiscriminatory textbooks and educational materials.
Section 10. Requires individuals receiving a teacher
certificate to complete training relating to alcohol
and drug related disabilities, training regarding
sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention,
training regarding dating violence and abuse awareness
and prevention, and training related to suicide
prevention.
Section 11. Requires school districts to determine how
frequently to provide employee evaluation training for
certificated school employees.
Section 12. Requires school districts and regional
educational attendance areas to determine how
frequently to provide training relating to alcohol and
drug related disabilities.
Section 13. Removes "additional" from AS 14.30.070(b),
which pertains to physical examinations for students
required by the Department of Health and Social
Services.
Section 14. Prohibits school districts from paying the
costs of physical examinations for teachers.
Section 15. Provides that the governing bodies of
school districts shall adopt policies establishing
training programs for employees and students related
to sexual abuse and sexual assault awareness and
prevention and, in grades 7-12, dating violence and
abuse awareness and prevention.
Section 16. Makes conforming amendments to AS
14.30.070.
Section 17. Allows school districts to determine how
frequently to provide school crisis response training.
Section 18. Requires continuing education for teachers
on the following subjects: the nature, extent, and
cause of domestic violence; procedures designed to
promote the safety of the victim and other household
members; resources available to victims and
perpetrators of domestic violence; and the lethality
of domestic violence.
Section 19. Allows a person who possess a valid
teacher certificate and applies to work at a facility
or residential child care facility to request that the
person's criminal justice information and national
criminal history record check on file with the
department be used to satisfy criminal history check
requirements for the Department of Health and Social
Services.
Section 20. Adds an individual who volunteers with
children more than four hours per week to immediately
report the suspected harm.
Section 21. Modifies state agency training intervals
for recognition and reporting of child abuse for
mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect and
allows school districts to determine how frequently to
provide the training.
Section 22. Adds the definition of volunteer to AS
47.17.290(1).
Section 23. Repeals AS 14.03.075(a), (b), (c), and
(e),(1), and AS 14.07.165(a)(5) and (b) which relate
to college and career readiness assessments; and AS
14.30.070(a) and 14.30.120, relating to physical
examinations required for students.
Section 24. Establish the Alaska Safe Children's Act
Task Force to develop model curricula.
Section 25. Applicability of Section 10 relating to
training requirements for teachers.
Section 26. Repeals Section 4, ch. 34, SLA 2012.
Section 27. Effective date.
Ms. Pierre noted that Sections 10, 12, 18, 20, 22, 24, 25,
and 27 were new.
10:13:26 AM
Co-Chair MacKinnon WITHDREW her OBJECTION. There being NO
further OBJECTION, Work Draft 29-LS0258\F was ADOPTED.
Vice-Chair Micciche asked if there would be committee
discussion or time for committee members to review the
changes in the CS.
Co-Chair MacKinnon relayed that the purpose of the current
meeting was to provide the public with the new document.
She added that the bill contained some new concepts that
had not yet been discussed. She communicated that
amendments would be considered. She pointed out that the CS
included formation of a task force, which may create a
separation of power issue. She noted that there were some
options the committee could consider to solve the issue.
The CS accounted for the legislature's interest in ensuring
that the curriculum was available for school districts. She
relayed that 24 of Alaska's 54 school districts had adopted
and implemented some form of curriculum. She believed time
was needed to ensure that a standardized curriculum was
available for districts to choose from. She addressed that
another hurdle was that state law required that the
legislature could not mandate individual school districts'
curriculum; therefore, one solution was that task force or
advisory board members would be ex officio. She detailed
that the legislature was not trying to influence the
Department of Education and Early Development's role and
responsibility, but was trying to ensure that the
curriculum was available. She believed legislators shared a
common goal of ensuring that children were protected and
that training was available as soon as possible.
Co-Chair MacKinnon made note of the two-year implementation
date on the training provision. The CS proposed that
districts would adopt the training, but allowed two years
for the development. The intent was to prevent the delay of
implementation and to ensure that the Council on Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault (CDVSA) and Department of
Administration collaborate and possibly make
recommendations the following legislative session to enable
statutory standardization of the training. She underscored
that she had no intention to delay the implementation of
the bill. The goal was to improve the outcomes of safety
for children in the state's schools. She relayed that the
committee would meet at 1:00 p.m. to hear invited and
public testimony on the CS. She highlighted that different
bills and concepts had been incorporated into the CS. For
example, the House had passed a bill sponsored by
Representative Lynn Gattis that would provide streamlining
for individual districts to save money; therefore,
Representative Gattis would be available for questions
during the afternoon meeting. She asked the public to
contact her office with questions related to specific
sections of the bill.
10:19:59 AM
Vice-Chair Micciche commented that many of the changes
included in the CS related to the initial bill version. He
pointed to the task force as an example and noted that some
extra space was added, but it did not change the
effectiveness of the "Erin and Bree law" sections.
Senator Dunleavy asked for clarification that a section on
parental rights had been completely removed from the CS.
Co-Chair MacKinnon replied in the negative. She believed it
was a matter of perspective. She elaborated that there were
portions of what had been SB 89 remaining in the bill. She
detailed that the two most controversial sections for the
public had been removed, which had prevented abortion
service providers from providing training. Additionally,
Section 2 from SB 89 was not included in the CS.
10:21:32 AM
Co-Chair MacKinnon stated the CS included an opt-out
provision for parents who were concerned about the
curriculum.
Vice-Chair Micciche clarified that the original version of
HB 44 had also included an opt-out provision.
Co-Chair MacKinnon referred to the formatting of
legislation and the challenge in recognizing what is
existing state statute versus new language. She furthered
that the CS also touched upon teachers' credentialing,
which she believed strengthened the training proposed in
the bill. She noted that it would impact teachers seeking
professional credentials in Alaska. She expressed interest
in public comment on the issue. She reiterated that the
committee would meet at 1:00 p.m. to hear public testimony
on the CS.
ADJOURNMENT
10:24:07 AM
The meeting was adjourned at 10:24 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HB 44 SCSHB44 work draft version F (FIN).pdf |
SFIN 6/10/2015 10:00:00 AM |
HB 44 |
| HB 44 SCSCSHB 44(FIN) - Sectional Analysis.pdf |
SFIN 6/10/2015 10:00:00 AM |
HB 44 |