Legislature(2015 - 2016)BUTROVICH 205
02/05/2015 09:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Alaska Depatment of Military and Veterans Affairs-discussion of National Guard Issues | |
| Continuing Discussion of the Implementation of Ballot Measure No. 2 (13psum) - an Act to Tax and Regulate the Production, Sale, and Use of Marijuana | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE STATE AFFAIRS STANDING COMMITTEE
February 5, 2015
9:00 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Bill Stoltze, Chair
Senator John Coghill, Vice Chair
Senator Charlie Huggins
Senator Lesil McGuire
Senator Bill Wielechowski
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
ALASKA DEPATMENT OF MILITARY AND VETERANS AFFAIRS-DISCUSSION OF
NATIONAL GUARD ISSUES
- HEARD
CONTINUING DISCUSSION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BALLOT MEASURE
NO. 2
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
See Senate State Affairs minutes from 1/22/15, 1/27/15, 1/29/15,
and 2/3/15.
WITNESS REGISTER
CRAIG RICHARDS, Attorney General Designee
Department of Law (DOL)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the discussion of National
Guard Issues.
BRIGIDEAR GENERAL LEON M. "MIKE" BRIDGES
ex-Acting Commissioner
Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and
Adjutant General
Joint Base Elmendorf/Richardson, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during the discussion of National
Guard Issues.
DR. TIM HINTERBERGER, Chair
Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol in Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: As primary Sponsor of Ballot Measure No. 2,
provided information about the implementation of Ballot Measure
2.
BRUCE SCHULTE, Spokesman
Coalition for Responsible Cannabis Legislation
Fairbanks, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information about the
implementation of Ballot Measure 2.
ACTION NARRATIVE
9:00:46 AM
CHAIR BILL STOLTZE called the Senate State Affairs Standing
Committee meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Wielechowski, Coghill, Huggins, McGuire, and
Chair Stoltze.
^Alaska DEPATMENT OF MILITARY AND VETERANS AFFAIRS-DISCUSSION OF
NATIONAL GUARD ISSUES
ALASKA DEPATMENT OF MILITARY AND VETERANS AFFAIRS-DISCUSSION OF
NATIONAL GUARD ISSUES
9:01:05 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE said Mr. Richards would briefly outline what the
administration is doing on National Guard activities.
9:01:49 AM
CRAIG RICHARDS, Attorney General Designee, Department of Law
(DOL), said the administration had done several things related
to the National Guard sexual assault or abuse that is alleged to
have occurred. A couple of weeks ago he appointed Judge Patricia
Collins to be a special investigator. She has been a long-time
member of the community including being a criminal attorney on
the defense side, primarily, and being a judge in Juneau for
about 11 years. The last several years she was the presiding
judge for the first judicial district.
9:02:23 AM
He said he had a thorough internal dialogue with the Governor's
Office, the Criminal Division, and some members of the National
Guard Bureau about how to go forward. They came up with three
options: to go with a special prosecutor, to go with a special
investigator, or do some sort of internal investigation within
the Department of Law. The reason a special investigator made
sense is that it would provide an independent review of law
enforcement activities within the State of Alaska including an
independent review of DOL's own actions in terms of choices to
go forward and prosecute.
He said that Judge Collins' investigation does not just look at
the National Guard and the allegations, but the activities of
statewide law enforcement. This includes jurisdictional entities
that would be beyond the scope of the National Guard, such as
Anchorage Police Department, the Troopers and DOL. These
entities could ask Judge Collins to produce a written report to
communicate her findings to the DOL, so it could decide whether
or not to prosecute, and to have a written report that can be
made public with victims' names and confidential matters in the
investigation redacted.
9:05:25 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE asked him to describe the parameters and powers of
each choice and to detail why he chose a special investigator.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS explained that a special prosecutor is
the most aggressive choice, because the person is assigned the
power of the attorney general to make charging decisions and
prosecute on behalf of the state. Based on the available
evidence, DOL did not feel that was appropriate. Instead, they
looked at past departmental practice, which was to bring in an
independent person and give them the power to investigate and
have all the resources available to do that, but ultimately
leave the charging decision with DOL after the investigation is
completed.
The third option would have been to treat matters related to
sexual assault in the National Guard in the same manner as other
crimes are handled within DOL, which is that a line level
prosecutor handles the cases and makes the individual decisions.
The decision ultimately was to bring in that independence and go
with the special investigator.
9:06:55 AM
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS said the written report from Judge
Collins will be completed on or before April 30 with the
proposed public version being reported to DOL by the end of May.
The DOL would use diligence to basically make sure everything in
the report is properly released to the public as rapidly as
possible. His hope is that it would be a couple of weeks.
The scope of the report is to look at each allegation of sexual
abuse or sexual harassment that has a potential criminal element
and to look at what information is available. He explained that
the way cases are reported and maintained within the system
actually makes it difficult to find all of the cases associated
with the National Guard, at least at the police level. This is
because the Guard does not organize its files that way.
Therefore, a manual search has to be done or go by peoples'
memories to identify a National Guard case. The DOL has already
done that with the police department, but Judge Collins will do
it again to see if more instances can be uncovered. She will
also indicate whether or not the individual allegations and
potential activity are subject to U.S. Department of Defense
(DOD) confidentiality provisions. If so, the victim has to wave
some confidentiality before charges can be brought, unless the
case can be made another way.
9:08:45 AM
Next, Judge Collins will look at whether the allegation was
adequately investigated and handled by local law enforcement. He
added that there is no reason to believe there were
improprieties by the investigating authorities, but whether or
not they were diligent and handled properly.
Next, she will look at whether or not law enforcement
communicated allegations or potential criminal activity to DOL
and the District Attorney's Office, and if so, was it handled in
a manner that was consistent with the recommendations of law
enforcement in terms of prosecutorial decisions, and was it
prosecuted as it should have been.
The next scope of the work will be to look at any activity
outside DOL and the executive branch as it relates to reported
misconduct and, again, whether other agencies within the
executive branch handled that material appropriately in terms of
reporting and moving forward with investigations.
9:09:49 AM
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS explained that the report would
ultimately culminate in recommendations by the special
investigator as to whether or not there are any instances or
allegations that should be prosecuted or at least further
investigated if information was not available to her to
ultimately make a recommendation as to prosecution.
Finally, a catch-all provision was put in that includes further
recommendations. The reason is that Judge Collins will become
intimately familiar with circumstances and the process and needs
the opportunity in the report to include anything else she might
have learned or determined.
9:10:28 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE asked if the recommendations were to go to the
legislative branch or the administration.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS said he foresees them ultimately being
made public. He envisions the first aspect of the recommendation
to be individual recommendations as to whether to prosecute or
further investigate specific matters. The second level of
recommendations he imagines would be if Judge Collins has any
observations about how the system might work and function better
in the future. For instance, the way cases are reported from the
National Guard to the local police, maybe the way the police
interact with the National Guard investigations, maybe the way
police recommendations are transmitted and handled by DOL, and
other improvements that might come to her.
9:11:33 AM
SENATOR MCGUIRE noted her appreciation of the administration's
commitment to this issue and acknowledged the many women in the
audience who are representing different groups on domestic
violence. She asked if he had set aside the recommendations that
came out of the Office of Complex Investigations (OCI) as a
separate matter, which as Judiciary chair she had done.
She said she intends to hear Senator Wielechowski's bill and the
nine recommendations that came out of the OCI to the legislature
directly, and then wait and hear back in April from Judge
Collins. She wants to hear how the administration is viewing
that report and its recommendations and whether the potential
interplay with Judge Collins' investigation.
9:13:44 AM
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied that he views them as
overlapping a little, but not completely. He views the role of
DOL and the special investigator as one to look at the criminal
situation, past allegations, and how the criminal system
operates including the police and the prosecutorial units. It is
not so much focusing on how to reform, if appropriate, the
National Guard, itself, in terms of its institutions and its
culture.
SENATOR MCGUIRE asked about Judge Collins' recommendations if it
comes back that the National Guard reported to local law
enforcement in some kind of organized manner and did communicate
with DOL, but there was a lack of communication somewhere in
that chain. By extension, one could say there would be a
recommendation to change the reporting process. In Judiciary,
she was looking at the law enforcement angle, the process they
go through whether it's a sex harassment claim, misuse of
government properties, or retaliation. Then, how do the law
enforcement agencies take ownership and report and communicate
to one another.
9:16:20 AM
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied that she described it
correctly. He would expect Judge Collins to look at the
information that flowed from the National Guard to local law
enforcement and the DOL, which overlaps with some of the
recommendations in the OCI report. He said the OCI report made
some recommendations about some cultural changes that might be
appropriate within the National Guard, which wouldn't be under
Judge Collins' scope.
9:17:03 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if the scope of the investigated is
limited to sexual assaults or if it is broadened to potential
crimes the judge may find during the course of the investigation
or that have been reported.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied the charge was to focus on
allegations sexual abuse and sexual harassment. However, there
is nothing that would limit [Judge Collins] if she feels it is
appropriate. A decision was made not to focus on some of the
other issues such as weapons and credit card fraud because they
appeared to be smaller in scope and already being handled
through other processes.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if the judge will have subpoena power
and are the National Guard members being instructed to cooperate
fully.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS answered no because it is a criminal
investigation. The expectation is that [Judge Collins] will have
the same power as law enforcement has in investigating crimes.
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski sent a letter asking U.S. Department
of Defense officials to cooperate with Judge Collins. He said he
and the Governor intend to communicate with the heads of all law
enforcement in the state, including all the TAGS, that
cooperation is appreciated and expected. He has relayed to Judge
Collins his intention to work through the Governor's Office to
correct the problem if cooperation is not forthcoming.
9:19:00 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if he heard correctly that Judge Collins
would look at the "sexual abuse and the innuendos and the
likes," but no other aspects of the National Guard.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS answered yes.
SENATOR HUGGINS questioned how many investigations on this topic
have been undertaken to date.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS asked how he would define
"investigations."
SENATOR HUGGINS clarified that he was referring to
investigations of the National Guard that were outside the
regular chain of command.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied he is aware of three and while
he's heard of a fourth he has not seen any evidence from the
FBI.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if he is comfortable with the results of
those investigations and the actions that were taken.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied he is comfortable with what
he's seen, but some of the matters are still open and before the
Department of Law (DOL).
SENATOR HUGGINS opined that there is an important element that
Alaskans have to be satisfied with, which is that a cloud is
hanging over the chain of command regarding how things were
handled internally. "Some people would say that there are
multiple peoples that were defamed based on those innuendos and
others that say that people hadn't been to justice." He asked if
it's accurate to say that Judge Collins' investigation does not
appear to bring clarity in that regard.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied he believes that there will be
an analysis of the fact patterns as each of the allegations
considered, but she won't focus on whether or not people were
defamed.
SENATOR HUGGINS expressed concern that this is a criminal
investigation, and asked how he sees the resolution of the
challenges people have raised about the internal process of the
chain of command and the reporting and the disposition of
things.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied it is not part of the charge
of the special investigator and he doesn't feel that is
something that prosecutors do. However, he suspects that the
TAGS know how they plan to look at their internal structure and
how they plan to communicate that.
9:22:49 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS said the TAG reports these kinds of things but
as commander in chief the Governor is responsible so it's
important that "he has his arms around this." He urged Attorney
General Richards to think about that. He added that the timing
of the investigation and the release of the results will happen
after the end of the session. If any action is required by the
legislature it won't take place for about a year unless it is a
topic in a special session. He asked him to think about that and
push the information forward as appropriate. Don't wait for us
to ask the questions, he said.
CHAIR STOLTZE asked the attorney general if he would be working
on the structural changes outside of the criminal process and if
he would have recommendations for the legislature as well as
doing things through executive fiat. He asked for general
timelines and opined that it shouldn't have to wait until May.
9:26:43 AM
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS said he has attended meetings with the
National Guard at the national level and with the Governor and
others about potential cultural and process reform in the guard.
He said he is not taking the lead role, but resources from the
Department of Law will be available as appropriate. He suggested
that General Bridges address the timeline for what the Guard is
doing and how they are interacting with the Governor's Office.
9:27:50 AM
BRIGADIER GENERAL LEON M. "MIKE" BRIDGES, ex-Acting
Commissioner, Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
& Adjutant General, Fort Richardson, Alaska, stated that as of
00:01 this morning, he is the outgoing Adjutant General and
Commissioner for Department of Military and Veteran Affairs. He
said he will continue in his duties for a little bit longer as
the Commander of the Alaska Army National Guard.
CHAIR STOLTZE asked if he had any other comments on the systemic
issue.
GENERAL BRIDGES replied that Attorney General Richards has done
a fine job and Judge Collins is on board and well under way. He
detailed that Judge Collins arrived in Anchorage this week and
allowed access to her checklist of people and programs to begin
information gathering.
9:28:54 AM
He continued as follows:
When the former Adjutant General departed, I was
assigned by the previous Governor to step in as the
Acting Adjutant General and Commissioner and continue
the mission. Soon thereafter, the Office of Complex
Negotiations support team came in. These were some
folks from other states, Brigadier General Jon Mott of
the Connecticut Air National Guard, he kind of came in
as my peer-to-peer right-arm teammate. We had law
enforcement, we had legal assistants, we had subject
matter experts from Equal Employment, and that was
kind of the group of them. They came in as identified
subject matter experts from across the country and
sent to us by the National Guard Bureau to help us
look at the five primary areas that came out of the
Office of Complex Investigations (OCI) assessment from
the springtime review by that team: sexual assault,
equal opportunity, coordination with civilian law
enforcement, command climate, and application of
military justice. The other item which was the term,
"potential for fraud," as separate National Guard
Bureau team came, an audit team from the Army Audit
Agency (AAA), to look at some of those things. That's
primarily management of finances and federal
resources. The main area of concern was how we mix and
match state funds and federal funds to maintain our
facilities because there is cross-leveling. [The]
federal government pays most of that and we use state
employees to conduct the work to maintain our
buildings, our physical plant. That was addressed.
Their out-briefing was in the middle of December, so
working with that we are doing the administrative
adjustments there, improving processes and regulatory
guidelines. A lot of these things again are processes
and procedures and thank you Mr. Chair and the others
here. Crime is one thing, not doing things to the book
regulatory-wise is [a] wildly different area of
concern. We have a lot of really great folks who have
been doing a lot of good work in the last several
months now since September with those special
assistants or subject matter assistants in each of
these key areas. Internally, we have reassigned or
assigned personnel to some of these areas of concerns
that we never had before. We never had a Provost
Marshal Office in the Alaska National Guard, ever. We
do now, a two person team with a fulltime Army
representative and fulltime Air National Guard
representative. That is the law enforcement command
for the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs -
the Alaska National Guard. It never existed [before].
They have been working with law enforcement, the
Department of Law, the [U.S.] Department of Justice,
the Alaska State Troopers, and building the Standard
Operating Procedures (SOP) and Letters of Agreement in
how we report anything that we think in the National
Guard - [that] one of [the] members may have
potentially committed a crime - to establish formal
structures and how that goes. That also includes
coordination with federal law enforcement's Criminal
Investigation Division. They are the cops. The senior
cops are law enforcement command on JBER and Fort
Wainwright and those sort of things, if a military
member, a National Guardsman or a civilian, has
conducted a potential or alleged crime on the federal
installation. So we coordinate that way, we coordinate
with civilian law enforcement for all of our Guard
members and our civilian teammates. If we have an
allegation of a crime because we do not have
prosecutorial authority as the National Guard in
Alaska in any manner.
9:32:31 AM
GENERAL BRIDGES continued as follows:
At the same time, and you mentioned kind of two
tracks, there are actually three, we have: regulatory,
good order, and discipline regulations. We have Army
regulations and we have Air Force instructions to
maintain the military good order and discipline of a
non-federalized National Guard member if they step out
of bounds of being a good soldier or airman. We're
going to begin action there as a personnel
administrative matter any way, if they step out of
bounds. We don't have to have 100 percent proof to go
pursue a crime prosecution if "Sargent Shmoe" has done
something wrong. We're going to begin a disciplinary
review and that person will get a verbal counseling
all the way up to an equivalent of a dishonorable
discharge if it is so egregious. And that's an other-
than-honorable discharge. As you proceed here and
information is provided, you will see some of these
cases, the most egregious ones, we have pursued that
way through those administrative processes. Some of
those cases have been concluded, there are just a
handful more to go and it is because we have to give
due process. We have to provide defense counsel to
everybody in that process just as if it was through a
civilian process. And it takes time, it takes money,
it takes borrowed legal advisors from other states
because we only have a handful and they are part-
timers themselves, to be able to, I'm going to use the
term "prosecute," but to administer the proceeding and
to give trial defense or defense counsel to somebody
who is alleged to have violated some rules.
9:34:03 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE pointed out that the Governor in the State of the
State addressed the some terms, "arrest," "prosecution,"
"expulsion," and "incarceration." He asserted that General
Bridges is hardly delving into any controversy.
GENERAL BRIDGES noted that the terms are extreme.
CHAIR STOLTZE remarked that the terms are not his.
GENERAL BRIDGES continued as follows:
It is still going to affect, even in an administrative
process, personnel disciplinary process. It still is
going to affect somebody's military career. They may
lose a stripe, they may have a promotion delayed, they
may not get to go to a school or their career may be
terminated and they may lose all the benefits they may
have otherwise accumulated over a many year career in
the military. If it is so egregious and the ultimate
result is an other-than-honorable discharge, it's a
big hammer. We're going to do that even if we are
calling the police.
The third leg is missing, that's the 1955 Alaska
Military Code. It's unusable, it means nothing, it's
never been enforced in the state for all kinds of
reasons and that is something that the legislature and
or the administration, in my opinion, having been in
the Guard in two other states where we had a military
code and we used them, that needs to be updated and
brought in to the 21st Century as an additional part
of the three-legged-stool of discipline of the
military of the state of Alaska, it's missing.
9:35:28 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE stated that the committee will look for
forthcoming recommendations from the new leadership team.
GENERAL BRIDGES replied as follows:
We have a model state code and I know some of the
other folks here at the table have been provided some
versions of that. And we, again, over the last several
months, we have been working on that with our new
legal team to have that available to the
administration and again the new leadership will carry
that action forward to bring that third-leg to the
"stool," to the table, for military good order and
discipline of the militia in Alaska along with
civilian law enforcement.
CHAIR STOLTZE addressed Attorney General Richards as follows:
As Judge Collins, and eventually these will be
referred to you in the investigations if there are
circumstances involving individuals that aren't
prosecutable, aren't good cases, but they have
information or statute of limitations issues, is that
going to be part of the mission of your report and
your disclosure to talk about things like that and
bring up those as well, even if you don't decide to
incarcerate or expel.
9:36:45 AM
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied as follows:
The information that Judge Collins uncovers and
summarizes and make recommendations related to
prosecutions to the Department of Law, it would be my
expectation that that information would be available
for DMVA's own internal processes, so it's outside of
my scope but that information will be available to the
National Guard
CHAIR STOLTZE stated that there may be things that are redacted
or blacked out.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied that he is not entirely clear
on the ability of law enforcement to share all details with the
different processes.
CHAIR STOLTZE remarked that it will be up to the Attorney
General, John McKay, and the guys in the press to figure that
out.
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS agreed. He specified that that
information should be available to the National Guard to
undertake disciplinary matters if they think it's appropriate
even if it doesn't rise to the level of prosecution. He
reiterated it is not a Department of Law decision.
9:37:41 AM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI thanked General Bridges for his service. He
stated that he appreciated having a meeting with General Bridges
the other day and noted that it is clear to him that positive
changes are happening in the National Guard. He stated to the
Attorney General that his investigation is fairly limited and he
thinks it is a critical investigation that needs to happen. He
asserted that the sexual assault is clearly an important issue
for Alaskans; but, he added that there are many other issues
that were detailed in the report by the Office of Complex
Administrative Investigations. He stated that Senator Huggins
raises a fair point and it's clear to the committee that
mistakes were made in a wide variety of areas that were not
criminal in nature that dealt with personnel issues and other
criminal issues as well. He set forth that as a legislature in
its oversight capacity, it seems appropriate that the
legislature has hearings on the National Guard's structural
issues, tries to address the mistakes and try to figure out what
changes should be made so they don't happen again.
9:38:53 AM
SENATOR MCGUIRE thanked both Attorney General Richards and
General Bridges. She stated that she concurred with Senator
Wielechowski's and Senator Huggin's comments. She called
attention to the prevention and cultural changes for the
National Guard and its leadership. She stated that as a lawmaker
she is looking at it that way. One way of addressing a problem
is prosecuting people and righting a wrong and that's certainly
something that the investigation is going to look at whether
that is appropriate. She said on a broader scale, the people she
has heard from, constituents and others have said that it's
probably two decades worth of cultural issues that have been
creeping up. She stated that as Senator Wielechowski said, "The
more information we have the better to help you and the
leadership move forward." She remarked that she is looking
forward to hearing from the new Adjutant General and commented
that it is her first day on the job. She commented that the
National Guard can make good changes in the culture and setting
out expectations. He commented that most people mean well,
especially people who already have that good desire to serve
their country and their state, but often they come into an
environment where a culture is set and they get in that groove;
that is part of what the legislature's job is.
She asked the Attorney General how April 30 was decided and if
the date can be discussed. She explained that she had intended
in the Judiciary Committee to receive the report formally given
that it is a special prosecutor, but the legislature will be out
of session. She asked how the date was set and if that is
something that could be moved at all.
9:41:03 AM
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS replied that the date was not really
set in relation to thinking about the legislative session. He
specified that the date was set based upon talking about the
amount of work that needed to be done. He explained that Judge
Collins came on a couple of weeks ago, the task is big and the
discussion centered on how long the report would take. He
detailed that the extra month for doing the public version was
just because he believes that the scope of work would flow a
little easier if Judge Collins could, just in the first version,
put in everything and then spend the next month working through
the confidentiality issues in coming up with the public version.
It was not his expectation to get anything to the legislature
sooner than previously stated.
SENATOR MCGUIRE replied that the legislature holds hearings in
the interim and the legislature can receive the report. She
concurred with Senator Huggins that a Special Session can be
convened if needed. She encouraged Attorney General Richards to
bring it back to the Governor that there has been a discussion
that addressed the limitations of the legislature during interim
versus the general session. She asked that the Attorney General
take into consideration that the Senate Judiciary Committee is
made up of members from across the state so members will have to
travel and find a location.
9:42:34 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS stated the following:
Mr. Attorney General, I'm going to go back one more
time to [what] both Senator Wielechowski and Senator
McGuire was alluding to. My concern is that we get a
solution, the update as General Bridges mentioned and
that as much as we can, everybody sitting up here is a
politician, got elected, you got appointed, that's
politics, that's based on whatever your association is
with the Governor and we have to be honest with one
another. General Bridges has been the [adjutant
general] for a little while and that's not for us to
determine why he's the AG, but the incoming AG, whom I
never met, I've read a number of pieces in the paper
of things she had to say, but she was a candidate in
this last election, so that's politics. The deputy
[adjutant general] was working for our former Senator,
that's politics. What I would encourage us to think
about and you in your counsel to the Governor is if
you can boilerplate down and have the good Alaskans
that are in the National Guard shape the things that
need to be updated and the challenges that we have
learned from and whether it be Judge Collins'
investigation or whether it be the other
investigation, because there are some good people, to
include one that has a last name of McGuire from
Arizona, those are good people, they have some great
experience and the same thing with from Connecticut,
so that we don't have to wade through, the people
sitting up here and in other committees, wade through
a process where some people will get defamed and there
will be a lot of practicing of politics and as much as
we can filter out the politics involved in this and
get to what works, because General Bridges said it
perfectly, there's an extraordinary parallel legal
system that military members have and a lot of people
don't recognize that. So we are doing the criminal
part of it, alright, there's that part, and the
military has a criminal part, and then you have the
administrative part for things of lesser order of
magnitude, but you can escape all of those and General
Bridges can sign a piece of paper, be out of the
National Guard, because it is accountable and it's
extraordinarily accountable. Now, are there
malpractices in that, yes, and if there are things we
need to fix in that, but I would plead to you, I would
ask you to use all of your power and authority with
your staff on behalf of the Governor to help us sort
through and boilerplate down some elements so that we
do not have to wade through the politics of getting to
the issues, because they will be great and I'm afraid
that it will be degrading to individuals, but more
importantly to institution of the National Guard.
9:45:38 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE summarized as follows:
Clearly this was a campaign issue, now it's a hard,
complicated issue. The campaign is over and remember
John F. Kennedy said when he was elected, "Oh my God,
things really are as bad as we said they were." And I
think a lot of that you find that the campaign
transition to be the problem solver and the decision
maker, it's a real challenge and I think there's some
wisdom in what Senator Huggins said, the public is
demanding answers and resolutions and Governor Walker
certainly comes into this with a moral authority and a
mandate to cut through this Gordian Knot of problems
and solve it, but you can't just use that sharp sword
to do it because the intertwined issues of protecting
victims, certainly, and I am very cognizant, we wanted
to have this format, you are conducting potentially
criminal investigations, the legislature is anxiously
waiting for the legal analysis and the investigations
because I don't think we do a very good job, certainly
subpoenaing witnesses and what would that do to the
potential protection of victims or the integrity of
the cases in trying to bring forth answers and trying
to get the politics out of this. I'm going to put a
lot of confidence and trust in the Guard Command who
wants to, for a lack of a better term, to put the
house in order and it's the reputations and the
integrity of those institutions and those aren't just
words you throw around - "integrity" and "honor"
within the military institutions. We are looking for a
steady hand and guidance from the administration and I
think the public would have confidence if we could.
You don't have to ask the legislature, you're able to
do things administratively through executive, but
keeping us along on the ride and letting, not just
important for us, but for the public to know that
something that was clearly a campaign issue and a high
level of concern, it just isn't over because the
calendar turning November 5. The imperative is the
campaign is over and it's time to sit down and do the
work and to restore the reputation and I don't have to
tell Senator Huggins, I think he illustrates that in
his life. Honor and integrity aren't just clichés
within that great institution, the National Guard, and
removing what's become a black eye. The admission is
first and foremost is justice, but we have an
institution, maybe it's not an engine overhaul and
maybe there are other things, but it's up for the
folks that have more expertise than I do to give us
the guidance. I appreciate the time and the candor
provided. We will endeavor to keep this on the same
plane and level of problem solving. Politics is a part
of this business, all branches keep it to a minimum.
It's not possible to eliminate it, we know that.
9:49:41 AM
ATTORNEY GENERAL RICHARDS said he understands the desire of the
legislature and the public to be kept informed as to what's
occurring in the National Guard as to what they are looking at
and the changes they are considering. He asserted that he will
make sure that people in the Governor's Office are aware of
that.
9:50:04 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE announced that the committee will stand at ease.
^CONTINUING DISCUSSION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BALLOT MEASURE
NO. 2 (13PSUM) - AN ACT TO TAX AND REGULATE THE PRODUCTION,
SALE, AND USE OF MARIJUANA
9:51:35 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE announced that the next order of business would
address Ballot Measure No. 2.
9:52:43 AM
TIM HINTERBERGER, Ph.D., Primary Sponsor, Petition 13PSUM/Ballot
Measure No. 2, provided information on the implementation of
Ballot Measure No. 2. He said that he and his colleagues at the
Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., who are providing
legal staff, are following SB 30, which deals with criminal
issues, and HB 59, which deals with concentrates from cannabis.
The campaign reviewed the bills and provided comments to the
Joint Judiciary Committee and to the House Health and Social
Services Committee. The campaign had strenuous objections to
measures contained in the draft legislation that overstepped the
guidelines that voters approved. He said they are awaiting new
versions of the bills.
He stated that the coalition has been encouraged by comments
from Cynthia Franklin, Chair of the ABC Board, who described the
board's efforts to understand the needs for regulation, based on
discussions with Colorado. He encouraged the legislature to
include Ms. Franklin's input.
CHAIR STOLTZE said the initiative provides timelines for a
regulatory framework, however, some public members and
entrepreneurs have different guidelines in mind. He asked Dr.
Hinterberger for comments on that issue, as well as on the
initiative's timelines and expectations. He questioned what a
reasonable timeline would be to get a regulatory framework in
place, considering some of the issues at hand.
9:53:08 AM
DR. HINTERBERGER related the expectation that personal
possession and ability to transport marijuana would go into
effect on February 24 and the regulatory process, currently in
the hands of the ABC Board, would take place for nine months
after the effective date. He said that one year after the
election, the regulatory body would accept applications for
businesses to produce, process, and sell marijuana. He
emphasized that the ABC Board has expressed confidence that the
state has the ability to meet those deadlines.
9:55:02 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE recognized that Dr. Hinterberger is not affiliated
with entrepreneurs.
Dr. Hinterberger stated that he is not affiliated in any way
with the business aspect.
CHAIR STOLTZE voiced appreciation for Dr. Hinterberger's candor
and information on timelines. He said he looked forward to
continuing to work with Dr. Hinterberger.
9:59:12 AM
BRUCE SCHULTE, Spokesman, Coalition for Responsible Cannabis
Legislation (CRCL), provided information about the
implementation of Ballot Measure 2. He said he is pleased and
encouraged by the progress on the initiative and the efforts the
legislature has made. He shared concerns about the bills that
have come forth and he agreed that there is a lot of work to be
done. He voiced appreciation for the work on the re-calibration
of the criminal code as it relates to marijuana. He opined that
all legislators are doing their best to see the process through
in an orderly fashion, a belief he shared with the other members
of the coalition.
He commented that some of the issues in HB 59 could be dealt
with differently and he urged a more strategic approach. He gave
an example of where the bill attempts to separate certain
derivatives of marijuana from the plant and maintained that it
was not the ideal approach. He noted that Cynthia Franklin has
indicated that the ABC Board can establish regulations within
the specified timeframe and said he hoped to see that happen. He
voiced concern that a prohibitionist group might attempt to
delay the process long enough so that the legislature could
repeal it. He concluded that, given time, the industry can
demonstrate responsible behavior, so that in February of 2017
there would be no reason to delay or repeal the initiative.
10:02:46 AM
CHAIR STOLTZE asked Mr. Schulte if he had seen the Governor's
memorandum on the administration's priorities and policy
recommendations.
MR. SCHULTE answered that he has not seen it.
CHAIR STOLTZE stated his responsibility to do his best to
implement the initiative. He noted the aforementioned bills were
not from the State Affairs Committee, but are a relevant part of
the public record. He thanked Mr. Schulte for his comments.
10:04:52 AM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Stoltze adjourned the Senate State Affairs Standing
Committee hearing at 10:04 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Senator Murkowski - Letter to DoD and Army IGs - Feb 5 2015.pdf |
SSTA 2/5/2015 9:00:00 AM |
National Guard |
| Senator Murkowski - Letter to NGB - Feb 5 2015.pdf |
SSTA 2/5/2015 9:00:00 AM |
National Guard |
| GLO Memo to Senator Stoltze (S)STA 2-4-2015.pdf |
SSTA 2/5/2015 9:00:00 AM |
Marijuana |