ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE
March 25, 2009
1:14 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Jay Ramras, Chair
Representative Nancy Dahlstrom, Vice Chair
Representative John Coghill
Representative Bob Lynn
Representative Max Gruenberg
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Carl Gatto
Representative Lindsey Holmes
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
HOUSE BILL NO. 170
"An Act repealing the authority for day fines."
- MOVED HB 170 OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 3
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of
Alaska requiring an affirmative vote of the people before any
form of gambling for profit may be authorized in Alaska and
setting other requirements.
- MOVED HJR 3 OUT OF COMMITTEE
HOUSE BILL NO. 108
"An Act relating to real property foreclosures, to the sale of
property on execution, and to deeds of trust."
- SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 170
SHORT TITLE: REPEAL AUTHORITY FOR DAY FINES
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S) CHENAULT
03/09/09 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
03/09/09 (H) JUD
03/25/09 (H) JUD AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 120
BILL: HJR 3
SHORT TITLE: CONST. AM: NO GAMING WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL
SPONSOR(S): REPRESENTATIVE(S) CRAWFORD, DAHLSTROM
01/20/09 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/9/09
01/20/09 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/20/09 (H) STA, JUD, FIN
02/12/09 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
02/12/09 (H) Heard & Held
02/12/09 (H) MINUTE(STA)
03/17/09 (H) STA AT 8:00 AM CAPITOL 106
03/17/09 (H) Moved Out of Committee
03/17/09 (H) MINUTE(STA)
03/18/09 (H) STA RPT 6DP 1NR
03/18/09 (H) DP: GATTO, SEATON, WILSON, PETERSEN,
JOHNSON, LYNN
03/18/09 (H) NR: GRUENBERG
03/23/09 (H) JUD AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 120
03/23/09 (H) Heard & Held
03/23/09 (H) MINUTE(JUD)
03/25/09 (H) JUD AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 120
WITNESS REGISTER
TOM WRIGHT, Staff
House Majority Office
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented HB 170 on behalf of the sponsor,
Representative Mike Chenault.
DOUG WOOLIVER, Administrative Attorney
Administrative Staff
Office of the Administrative Director
Alaska Court System (ACS)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided comments during discussion of
HB 170.
REPRESENTATIVE HARRY CRAWFORD
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke as one of joint prime sponsors of
HJR 3.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:14:40 PM
CHAIR JAY RAMRAS called the House Judiciary Standing Committee
meeting to order at 1:14 p.m. Representatives Ramras,
Dahlstrom, Lynn, and Gruenberg were present at the call to
order. Representative Coghill arrived as the meeting was in
progress.
HB 170 - REPEAL AUTHORITY FOR DAY FINES
1:14:56 PM
CHAIR RAMRAS announced that the first order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 170, "An Act repealing the authority for day
fines."
1:15:14 PM
TOM WRIGHT, Staff, House Majority Office, Alaska State
Legislature, explained on behalf of the sponsor, Representative
Mike Chenault, that HB 170 repeals the authority granted to the
Alaska Court System (ACS) to charge "day fines." The
legislation establishing this authority was enacted in 1994, and
required the Alaska Supreme Court to adopt a day-fine plan. To
accomplish this, the court created a committee to establish a
fine schedule based on the legislation's stipulations. That
committee found several problems with adopting a day-fine plan,
and requested legislation to address those problems, but that
legislation did not pass. As a result, the ACS has still not
adopted a day-fine schedule, and since this law isn't being
used, HB 170 has been introduced to clean up the statutes by
repealing this unused law.
1:18:00 PM
DOUG WOOLIVER, Administrative Attorney, Administrative Staff,
Office of the Administrative Director, Alaska Court System
(ACS), concurred that the committee established by the ACS found
a number of problems such as a question of which misdemeanor
crimes to include and which to exclude, since one of the goals
of the original legislation was to reduce prison overcrowding by
limiting the number of people incarcerated due to misdemeanor
convictions. There were also problems in determining a
defendant's income for purposes of calculating the amount of the
day fine. Furthermore, using the guidelines recommended by the
legislature, many of the fines would have been very, very high,
and the court was reluctant to impose such high fines given that
there were a lot of other options available to the court. In
addition, the legislation didn't provide for court-ordered
treatment. In other words, there was a whole host of reasons
why the ACS wanted more legislative direction before imposing
day fines, but that direction never came and so that statute is
sitting idle.
CHAIR RAMRAS, after ascertaining that no one else wished to
testify, closed public testimony on HB 170.
1:21:22 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to report HB 170 out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal
notes. There being no objection, HB 170 was reported from the
House Judiciary Standing Committee.
The committee took an at-ease from 1:21 p.m. to 1:23 p.m.
HJR 3 - CONST. AM: NO GAMING WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL
1:23:31 PM
CHAIR RAMRAS announced that the final order of business would be
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 3, Proposing an amendment to the
Constitution of the State of Alaska requiring an affirmative
vote of the people before any form of gambling for profit may be
authorized in Alaska and setting other requirements.
1:23:54 PM
REPRESENTATIVE HARRY CRAWFORD, Alaska State Legislature, as one
of joint prime sponsors of HJR 3, noted that legislation similar
to HJR 3 had passed the [House] during the prior legislature,
and surmised that all committee members have had a chance to
hear it at one point or another. He opined that Alaska couldn't
afford an excursion into for-profit gambling.
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM, speaking as one of joint prime
sponsors of HJR 3, concurred, and opined that gambling
contributes to the disintegration of families, as well as many
other ills such as crime and corruption. In conclusion, she
requested that the committee vote in favor of moving HJR 3 out
of committee.
REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD, in response to a question, indicated
that the language of HJR 3 is identical to that of the
legislation [that passed the House last year].
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN expressed strong support for HJR 3.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL suggested that requiring a vote of the
people, should HJR 3 first be approved by the voters, would be a
good way to continue the discussion regarding whether a
community wants to allow [for-profit] gambling.
REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD, in response to a question, explained
that a past ballot initiative proposing the establishment of a
gambling commission would have taken the decision regarding
whether to have for-profit gambling in Alaska out of the hands
of both the legislature and the voters and would have instead
placed the decision in the hands of a five-member commission
that could have acted with only three members present. This is
such an important decision, he asserted, that the legislature,
the governor, and the communities and people of the state ought
to have a say in it. He characterized that past ballot
initiative as an attempted end-run around the legislature
because it had blocked the formation of such a commission in the
past, and characterized [HJR 3 as promoting] more democracy.
CHAIR RAMRAS, after ascertaining that no one else wished to
testify, closed public testimony on HJR 3.
1:29:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM moved to report HJR 3 out of committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal
notes. There being no objection, HJR 3 was reported from the
House Judiciary Standing Committee.
1:29:57 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Judiciary Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.