SENATE BILL NO. 64 "An Act relating to elections; relating to voters; relating to voting; relating to voter preregistration for minors at least 16 years of age; relating to voter registration; relating to the Alaska Public Offices Commission; relating to synthetic media in electioneering communications; relating to campaign signs; relating to public official financial disclosures; relating to the crime of unlawful interference with voting in the first degree; and providing for an effective date." 9:19:16 AM Co-Chair Hoffman relayed that the committee had first heard SB 64 on April 9, at which time it had taken public testimony and reviewed fiscal notes. The only amendments received were from the bill sponsor, which had been rolled into a Committee Substitute (CS) for the committee's consideration. Senator Kiehl MOVED to ADOPT proposed committee substitute for SB 64, Work Draft 34-LS0153\L (Dunmore, 5/8/25). Co-Chair Hoffman OBJECTED for discussion. 9:20:36 AM LIZ HARPOLD, STAFF, SENATOR DONNY OLSON, relayed that there was an Explanation of Changes document (copy on file) that provided technical details regarding the changes between the previous version of the bill and the version that was being considered. She suggested that the sponsor's staff address the amendments that had been incorporated into the CS, which she thought would be more beneficial to the committee. 9:21:17 AM SENATOR BILL WIELECHOWSKI, SPONSOR, introduced himself and referred to his staff. 9:21:24 AM DAVID DUNSMORE, STAFF, SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI, relayed that his office had prepared several amendments to address concerns raised in conversation with various Senators. Mr. Dunsmore summarized the changes to the bill: The following provisions are removed from the bill: • Sections 2 and 5 relating to electronic signatures. • Section 25 and Section 1 subsection (9) relating to moving from a house district just before an election. • Section 49 related to public official financial disclosures by municipal officials. The following provisions are added to the bill: • Section 4, 51, and 52 require data sharing between the Department of Revenue and the Division of Elections (DOE) for the purpose of voter registration, confirming the residency of voters, identifying duplicate registrations, and detecting voters who are ineligible to vote. • Section 11 requiring DOE to notify the public and the Legislature if there is a data breach of confidential election data within 14 days of the election or before the election is certified. • Sections 49 and 50 codifying the ability to opt-out of voter registration through a Permanent Fund Dividend application. The following changes are made to existing provisions in the bill: • In Section 5, the time frame for voter inactivity that triggers a notice is changed from two general elections to 28 months and technical changes are made to the language related to notices sent to voters with out-of-state addresses. • In Section 9, the review of the master voter register is changed from every two years to annually. • In Section 12, the list of entities the rural community liaison is required to collaborate with is narrowed to municipalities and tribes. • In Section 18, it is clarified that language assistance must be provided to the extent practicable in compliance with federal law. • In all sections concerning the use of utility bills, banks statements, paychecks, government checks, or other government documents as identification, the requirement for how recent the document must be is changed from 90 days to 60 days. These provisions are found in Sections 19, 29, and 34. • In Section 24, DOE will be required to adopt regulations for additional risk limiting audits rather than being giving the authority to do so. • In Section 37, language is adding requiring that DOE only purchase a ballot-tracking system from a domestic company and requiring that the ballot- tracking system must use multi-factor authentication to verify a voter's identity. Co-Chair Hoffman asked if Senator Wielechowski believed that any provisions in the legislature were partisan. Senator Wielechowski relayed that the bill had been several years in the making and was the result of meetings between Republican, Democrat, Independent, and Non-partisan legislators as well as the Division of Elections and the Office of the Governor. He opined that SB 64 was truly a bipartisan bill that would clean up the state's voter rolls that currently had 106 percent more registered voters than Alaskans. He continued that the bill would make elections more secure and speed ballot counting. The bill would make small changes to help rural and military voters from having their ballots disenfranchised. 9:25:53 AM Co-Chair Hoffman reflected that during the previous election, there was a high proportion of votes in his and Co-Chair Olson's districts that had not counted. He asked how the bill would address the problems. Senator Wielechowski relayed that there were several reasons why the event had occurred, which had happened predominantly in rural villages but also in military districts. The biggest problem had been related to a witness signature, and through a compromise package of reforms the section had been fixed. He relayed that the witness signature had never been verified by the Division of Elections. He described ballot tracking procedures and other measures to ensure there was no fraud possibilities in absentee ballots. Co-Chair Hoffman asked if members had further questions. Senator Merrick asked the sponsor if there was anything in the bill that would create statewide mail-in elections. Senator Wielechowski replied, "absolutely not," and relayed that there was nothing in the bill that created anything for statewide elections. Co-Chair Stedman asked if the sponsor had received any feedback from the lieutenant governor's office. He asked about meetings with the office. Senator Wielechowski relayed that he had worked extensively with the lieutenant governor's office and the Division of Elections and relayed that it had been a collaborative process. He did not think the division had taken a position on the bill. He emphasized that he had taken the division's input on every aspect of the bill. 9:28:15 AM Senator Kiehl asked about a provision related to those who had not voted in two cycles, and changing the time frame from 24 months to 28 months. Mr. Dunsmore relayed that the current statute provided a time frame of two general elections. There was a concern for a more specific time frame. He noted that the timeframe of 28 months was chosen because of the review process timing with elections. Senator Kiehl mentioned discussion about changing how municipal officials shared information regarding financial disclosures. Mr. Dunsmore thought there was a provision in the Committee Substitute from Senate State Affairs looking to address the issue. A member had raised concern about unintended consequences. The sponsor agreed that the topic was not a core provision of the bill and would leave the language at status quo. Senator Kaufman knew the sponsor's office had been working with the minority leader, and that there had been input from the minority leader and his office. He asked about the status of concurrence between the two. Senator Wielechowski affirmed that he had worked extensively with the minority leader, and it had been very productive. He estimated that at least 50 percent of the provisions in the bill were at the request of the minority leader. He relayed that the current version of the bill was only received yesterday, and he had hastened to bring it to the minority leader's attention. He mentioned two relatively minor sections which he was working to adjust but did not want to state whether the minority leaders supported the sections. He emphasized that the work had been collaborative and hoped that the minority leader would support the bill. Co-Chair Hoffman asked about fiscal notes. Mr. Dunsmore had not seen an updated fiscal note. He thought most of the changes would have a minimal cost. He had been told that the change related to the review of the master register from bi-annually to annually would probably double the operating cost of the action to about $60,000 per year on a bi-annual basis. 9:32:37 AM AT EASE 9:33:36 AM RECONVENED Co-Chair Hoffman asked Senator Kiehl to review the new fiscal note. Senator Kiehl addressed a new fiscal note, OMB Component 21 from the Office of the Governor Division of Elections. There was no change in the operating expenditures section, which showed costs beginning in FY 27 at $338.8 thousand UGF and one new permanent position and five temporary positions. The fiscal note showed the cost leveling from FY 28 onward to $290.1 thousand. As was typical for the division, the amount was levelized and every other year there were five temporary positions. The fiscal note zeroed the estimated capital cost. Co-Chair Hoffman WITHDREW his objection. There being NO further OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Senator Kiehl MOVED to report CSSB 64(FIN) out of Committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. Senator Kaufman OBJECTED for discussion. He was fine with moving the bill from committee, and commented on the pace of the CS. He wanted to know more from the Senate Minority Leader, who he understood was still reviewing changes to the bill. He thought there may be floor amendments. He hoped that the same bipartisan cooperative effort that had been a part of the bill thus far would continue on the floor. Senator Kaufman WITHDREW his objection. There being NO further OBJECTION, it was so ordered. CSSB 64(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with three "do pass" recommendations and with four "no recommendation" recommendations, and with a new fiscal impact note from the Office of the Governor, and one previously published zero fiscal note: FN 2(ADM). 9:36:36 AM AT EASE 9:38:18 AM RECONVENED Co-Chair Hoffman relayed that the afternoon meeting was canceled.