SB 249-PUBLIC RECORDS/ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSIONS  VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced the consideration of SB 249. It was heard previously. 2:43:43 PM MAX HENSLEY, staff to Senator Ellis, explained that the committee substitute (CS) for SB 249 responds to the concerns the administration expressed in a memo that was distributed at the previous hearing. 2:44:07 PM SENATOR MCGUIRE moved to adopt the work draft CS for SB 249, labeled 26-LS1014\P, as the working document. CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI objected for discussion purposes. MR. HENSLEY said he would walk through the changes the CS makes and explain how they reflect the concerns that were raised. In Section 1 on page 2, line 9, the words "electronic record" were added as part of the list of formats of records. The definition of an electronic transmission was deleted from that section because the Department of Law (DOL) found it to be both too specific and too broad. Subparagraph (B) lists items that are excluded from the definition of "public record" in other places and those are included here for consistency. On page 1, lines 13-14, the phrase "appropriate for preservation" was deleted and the phrase "required by law to be preserved" was inserted. The records retention schedule is outlined in Title 40.21 and DOL thought that more specific description should be preserved. Section 2 is a new section. It was moved from the Executive Branch Ethics Act to the Personnel Act in the belief that this would be a more appropriate place for the prohibition on the use of private electronic transmission systems. It also rewritten to add a few exceptions to the rule. The administration felt strongly that there are places where use of private emails and other electronic transmissions are appropriate. This mirrors the policy the bill was attempting to put into statute, he said. In particular, subsection (c) says that it does not apply to a public officer who is taking or withholding official action during a public safety emergency. 2:47:00 PM MR. HENSLEY said Sections 3 and 7 mirror the changes that are found in Section 1 with respect to the definition of a public record. Sections 4, 5, and 6 refer to the fee schedules for accessing public records. DOL was concerned about the additional cost burden of lowering this fee schedule and the mutually agreed solution was to maintain the current fee schedule for the categories described on page 5, lines 14-16 - for a corporation other than a news media corporation, for an unduly burdensome request, or for a commercial request. If a request is determined to be unduly burdensome, there is language that requires DOL to work with the requester to move them out of that category. He noted that DOL's experience is that most excessively large requests are due to the fact the person making the request may not understand what they are requesting. But with some guidance, they can get the needed information without creating unnecessary work, he said. Section 7 rewrites AS 40.25.125 to clarify that someone who impairs a public record is subject to prosecution for a criminal offense under the two existing tampering with public records statutes. It was never the sponsor's intent to create new criminal liability, he said. Section 8 makes the same change to the definition of public record as in Sections 1 and 3 thereby providing consistency throughout. 2:49:21 PM VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI, noting that the administration wasn't represented at this hearing, asked Mr. Hensley if he and the sponsor had worked with DOL to address their concerns. MR. HENSLEY answered yes; the CS represents the points of agreement between the two offices. Although they didn't resolve every concern, they did address a majority of the points that were raised in the letter that was presented to the committee. CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI removed his objection and found no further objection to the adoption of the CS. 2:50:42 PM SENATOR COGHILL moved to report CS for SB 249, version P, from committee with individual recommendations, attached zero fiscal note(s), and the stated intention to find out if there is a fiscal impact since the fiscal notes hadn't been updated for the CS. VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced that without objection CSSB 249(JUD) moved from the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee.