SB 43-PROPERTY CRIMES  1:39:18 PM CHAIR COGHILL announced the consideration of SB 43. [CSSB 43, labeled 28-LS0401\U was before the committee.] He opened public testimony. 1:39:58 PM NEISJE STEINKRUGER, retired superior court judge, clarified that she was speaking for herself to provide information about the resources used in the criminal justice system. She explained that over the past two decades, a number of crimes have moved from a misdemeanor to a felony, which has shifted work from the district court to the superior court. She noted that district courts handle misdemeanor cases and impose sentences of up to one year and superior courts handle felony cases and impose sentences of more than one year. She pointed out that penalties for theft crimes have not shifted to the "bigger hammer" but the sheer numbers of theft cases can have an impact on the system. JUDGE STEINKRUGER said "the felony machine" uses the biggest hammer everywhere along the way, the first of which is the grand jury. Whenever someone is charged with a felony, the case first goes before a grand jury. Depending on the location, between 30 and 60 private citizens are called every month for grand jury selection. At least 18 citizens are selected along with 6-10 alternates. Again depending on location, those jurors go in every week for one to three months to do one to three days of work. People often are unaware of the impact this has on private citizens, but it's a big part of the felony machine, she said. The second part of the machine is the witnesses' time. Quite often law enforcement officers are called to testify in grand jury but private citizens must testify as well. There is also significant Department of Law time. Once a case is charged as a felony, the court appoints counsel and that involves the Public Defender Agency and/or the Office of Public Advocacy. Because of the way these crimes are set out, it takes the experienced people in these offices to handle felonies. The case is then handled in superior court and because it's a felony, it is seldom resolved quickly. Often there are felony- level bail hearings, which mean time for the court and continuances. Once there is a plea agreement or the trial is over, the Department of Corrections (DOC) potentially has to prepare a presentence report, assign a probation officer, and the person is on felony probation. JUDGE STEINKRUGER said the criminal justice system has limited resources so it's important to look at the whole package and decide how to spend those limited resources. She asked the committee to consider whether it wanted to spend it on domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and violence in general or on things that aren't at the highest end of public safety. She highlighted that in misdemeanor cases the judge has the discretion to sentence up to one year, and that sentences for felony theft are almost uniformly under one year. 1:50:14 PM SENATOR DYSON asked what percentage of felony theft cases plead out before they go to trial. JUDGE STEINKRUGER estimated that now it would be about 95 percent. CHAIR COGHILL said he appreciates the context of her testimony. 1:51:41 PM CHRIS NETTELS, President, GeoTek Alaska, Inc., Anchorage, AK, said he was also testifying on behalf of the National Federation of Independent Businesses to ask the committee not to pass SB 43, which would increase the $500 felony threshold for theft and property offenses. He reported numerous incidents of stealing at his business property, four of which were thefts valued at $500 or more. In the past two or three years he has seen a significant increase in the numbers of petty thefts valued at $200 to $300, but in the last year there have been several thefts valued between $1,000 and $3,500. MR. NETTELS expressed concern that increasing the felony threshold will have the unintended consequence of increasing the numbers of some crimes. He said he understands the argument for increasing the felony threshold because of inflation, but wonders if all laws will be similarly inflation proofed. He also asked if the penalties would drop if deflation occurs. He concluded that the $500 felony threshold has served well and he did not support passage of SB 43. 1:54:48 PM CHAIR COGHILL, speaking as the sponsor, said he certainly had no argument about how violated somebody feels when thievery occurs in their business. SENATOR DYSON commented that inherent in the foregoing testimony is the notion that thieves know when the value of a theft passes from a misdemeanor to a felony, and make decisions based on that knowledge. He asked if that's a logical deduction. MR. NETTELS said yes; he opined that if the bill passes, the word will get out and it will encourage people to take on more risk in stealing things. 1:56:49 PM CHAIR COGHILL asked if he'd had trouble making a case to the police or courts in felony theft cases. MR. NETTELS said no, although he had never received a follow up call or had any property returned in any of the five reports he filed with the police. CHAIR COGHILL asked Detective Plummer if the police were more likely to respond to a felony theft report as opposed to a misdemeanor theft report. 1:58:34 PM }DETECTIVE ROSS PLUMMER, Anchorage Police Department (APD)* Municipality of Anchorage* Anchorage, AK, said yes.{ He explained that APD detectives work felony cases and patrol officers are responsible for follow up on misdemeanor cases, but call volumes leave little time for follow up. If a misdemeanant suspect isn't caught right away or if there isn't a tip that locates the suspect, the chance of closing the case is very small. CHAIR COGHILL asked if a felony theft would receive more detective-level involvement. DETECTIVE PLUMMER said yes; felony thefts receive two screenings, one by patrol and the second by detectives, whereas misdemeanor thefts receive just one screening by patrol. CHAIR COGHILL asked if businesses had a valid fear that raising the felony threshold would cause misdemeanor thefts to receive less police attention. DETECTIVE PLUMMER acknowledged that there was that chance. 2:01:18 PM NANCY MEADE, General Counsel, Alaska Court System (ACS), Anchorage, AK, directed attention to the charts in the packets of criminal theft charges and disposition for 2012. MS. MEADE reviewed the class C felony and class A misdemeanor criminal theft charges filed in 2012 and noted that the 3,611 total charges were split evenly between felonies and misdemeanors. The conclusion, she said, is that misdemeanor thefts come into the courthouse at about the same rate as felony thefts. 2:05:12 PM MS. MEADE reviewed the 2012 criminal theft charge dispositions affected by SB 43, which show that there were more than twice as many misdemeanor theft convictions as felony theft convictions. In 2012, there were 1,208 misdemeanor convictions for theft and 512 felony convictions for theft. MS. MEADE referenced an earlier question and pointed out the low trial rate. Of the 493 theft 2 felony convictions: 13 were guilty after trial, 443 were guilty after a guilty plea, and 31 were guilty after a no contest plea. The statistics show that less than one-third of the theft 2 class C felony charges ended in convictions. Of 1,738 charges filed, 493 resulted in convictions and 995 resulted in no convictions. By comparison, there were 869 convictions and 578 no convictions for theft 3 class A misdemeanors. MS. MEADE noted another factor with theft 2 is that there are more dispositions than charges, which means that some convictions are coming from somewhere else. She said a likely conclusion is that some cases were dismissed when the defendant accepted a guilty plea to a lesser charge. Although there may be other explanations, it's clear that at least some of the 952 dismissals were charged in the theft 2 category but disposed in the theft 3 category. She said she didn't have exact numbers but several hundred wouldn't be an unreasonable estimate based on these statistics. 2:09:31 PM SENATOR DYSON surmised that a $600 theft often is disposed as a misdemeanor. MS. MEADE said the statistics don't provide that information, but it's not illogical. SENATOR DYSON asked about the process for getting citizen rights returned after serving time for a felony conviction. MS. MEADE deferred the question. 2:11:06 PM JEFF JESSE, Chief Executive Officer, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (AMHTA), Anchorage, AK, testified in support of SB 43. He said he looks at the bill from several perspectives based on his work experience and he appreciates the concerns of business regarding professional thieves. However, they take a much more sophisticated approach to crime than his clients. He related that when he was a juvenile public defender he was struck by his clients' lack of sophistication in either anticipating consequences or taking basic steps to avoid detection. MR. JESSE stated that the unintended consequence of not increasing the felony theft threshold to keep up with inflation is that more mental health beneficiaries receive felony charges and that precludes them from therapeutic courts. He acknowledged that the system self-corrects somewhat with more plea agreements to lesser charges, but expressed continuing concern about limiting access to therapeutic courts. He highlighted that the idea of therapeutic court is to keep people from cycling through the system. MR JESSE said his other concern relates to the barrier crime issue. Among other obstacles, a convicted felon faces numerous barriers to employment despite the knowledge that the best way to reduce recidivism is to ensure that a person has a job that provides a legitimate means of support. MR. JESSE reiterated both his sympathy for businesses that suffer theft crimes and his belief that people who aren't necessarily professional criminals need to be treated in a way that gets them out of the cycle of criminal behavior. Increasing the penalty, stigmatizing them, and reducing their opportunities to avoid recidivism is not the answer. 2:15:52 PM JANET MCCABE, Partners For Progress, testified in support of SB 43. She said that PFP has long been concerned that too many nonviolent Alaskans are in prison. Ten years ago, the majority of prisoners were violent offenders, whereas today over 60 percent of prisoners are serving time for a nonviolent offense. The consequence is that the state is spending a lot of money on incarceration that otherwise could be spent for education and infrastructure. She highlighted that because of outdated felony thresholds, many nonviolent offenders receive felony sentences for stealing what would have been valued at $200 in 1978. She suggested that Alaska should follow what all other western states have done and raise the felony threshold. MS. MCCABE cited statistics that show that 95 percent of all prisoners return to the community, but that felons face over 400 legal barriers to life in the community. Most felons find it difficult to rent an apartment or find employment and often can't even qualify for food stamps. She related that even conservative Texas Representative Jerry Madden has advised legislators to lock up true felons and help the others join the lawful community. She urged the committee to follow that wise advice and pass SB 43. 2:18:57 PM SEAN CROUSORE, District Loss Prevention Coordinator, Fred Meyer stores of Alaska, testified in opposition to SB 43. He said that Fred Meyer is a full-line grocery and general merchandise retailer that would suffer if SB 43 were to pass. He explained that thievery has changed over the years and today Fred Meyer faces professionals who steal merchandise like Dyson vacuum cleaners, KitchenAid mixers, iPods, and flat screen TVs. He said the prices of these products have deflated over time, which means that the theft of three or four flat screen TVs doesn't reach the $1,500 threshold that the bill proposes. Furthermore, the items that professional thieves steal are very low margin and the cost comes out of the stores' profits from which wages and benefits for nearly 3,000 associates are paid. He asked the committee to reconsider the legislation. It will lead to more theft and a bigger hit to retailers' profits. 2:25:27 PM CHAIR COGHILL asked if Fred Meyer had any trouble getting the police to respond to misdemeanor thievery. MR. CROUSORE said no; Fred Meyer tries to bring only those cases to the police that it can prove intent. CHAIR COGHILL said his written testimony would be welcome. 2:26:32 PM TOM STENSON, Legal Director, ACLU of Alaska, said he expected to hear testimony from retailers that thieves are currently stealing just under $500 because they know the boundary for a felony. That wasn't the case. The committee heard that people on the street will know that the felony standard has changed, but not that people's behavior is affected by the current low felony standard. He said the written testimony from Fred Meyer was that professional thieves are stealing two Dyson vacuum cleaners or four flat screen TVs, but Dyson vacuum cleaners cost between $300 and $500 so a theft of two vacuums is already a felony offense. Based on that testimony, the current $500 statutory limit doesn't appear to make any difference to people. MR. STINSON pointed out that unlike robbery, homicide, rape, or assault, theft offenses are ones where commercial operators like Fred Meyer can manage security to discourage theft. He opined that some commercial stores want to pass the costs associated with their business on to the state. That doesn't seem like an appropriate use of state resources and it's not clear that it would deter anybody, he stated. 2:31:50 PM CHAIR COGHILL stated that he would not close public testimony. SENATOR MCGUIRE asked the sponsor to consider both a $1,000 threshold and using the criminal conspiracy statues to make the crimes stackable. She said she didn't see any reason for retailers to change their advertising, because stealing is a crime in the state of Alaska. CHAIR COGHILL held SB 43 for further consideration.