HB 387-AG SCHEDULE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES  6:15:42 PM CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 387, "An Act relating to scheduled substances; relating to the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee; and authorizing the attorney general to schedule substances by emergency regulation or repeal an emergency regulation that scheduled a substance." 6:16:18 PM LIZZIE KUBITZ, Staff, Representative Matt Claman, Alaska State Legislature, referred to [CSHB 387, page 2, lines 4-11] Section 1, which read as follows: LEGISLATIVE INTENT. It is the intent of the legislature that, if a person's criminal convictions or charges outside the state are included in a pretrial risk assessment conducted under AS 33.07, the result of that assessment will control the release decision and the section of this bill allowing a defendant to be detained for 48 hours and directing presumptive release on a person's own recognizance or on an unsecured bond when the person has a criminal conviction or charge outside the state will no longer apply. MS. KUBITZ advised that Sections 2-4 remain unchanged. 6:17:26 PM MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 5, and advised that it contains a technical change as to the 4/4/18 adopted Amendment 1 and has been integrated into the bill to clarify that the attorney general may schedule a substance by emergency regulation only if the substance is currently listed on a federal controlled substance schedule. MS. KUBITZ advised that Sections 6-7 remain unchanged. 6:18:07 PM MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 8, and advised that it allows (audio difficulties) if the person has (audio difficulties) that the release of this person will not reasonably ensure their appearance in court or the safety of the community. 6:18:59 PM MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 9, (audio difficulties). 6:19:27 PM MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 10, conforming (audio difficulties). 6:19:52 PM MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 11, (audio difficulties). 6:20:15 PM MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 12, and advised that it makes conforming and technical changes to the mandatory conditions of release. MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 13, and advised that it makes conforming changes to clarify that the court shall consider out- of-state convictions when determining the conditions of release. MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 14, and advised that it changes the law so that when a defendant who would otherwise be mandatorily released on their own recognizance (OR) has an out-of-state criminal conviction or charge that is a felony, a crime against a person, or a sex crime, and has not been used in determining the person's risk assessment under AS 33.07, the judicial officer may require monetary bail upon finding on the record that there is clear and convincing evidence the other conditions are not sufficient to ensure public safety. MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 15, (audio difficulties). 6:21:36 PM MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 16, and advised that it makes conforming changes to ensure pre-trial services officers comply (audio difficulties) with the court (audio difficulties) with or without a warrant and request (audio difficulties) violations of conditions of release. MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 17, [audio difficulties continue throughout Sections 17-22]. MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 23, and advised that it integrates Amendment 2 [adopted on 4/4/18] clarifying that any (audio difficulties). 6:22:32 PM MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 24, and advised that it remains unchanged. MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 25, and advised that it is an indirect court rule amendment stating that Sections 9-13, and AS 12.30.011(m) enacted by Section 14, have the effect of changing Criminal Rule 41 by changing release conditions for defendants. MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 26, and advised that it relates to applicability. 6:23:05 PM MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 27, and advised that it is the conditional effect. MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 28, and advised that it relates to the effective date. MS. KUBITZ turned to Sec. 29, states that Sections 1, 8,15, 16, and 25-27 of this Act take effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c). 6:23:45 PM REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS moved to adopt CSHB 387, Version 30-LS1461\D as the working document. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN objected. 6:24:01 PM A roll call vote was taken. Representatives LeDoux, Kreiss- Tomkins, Reinbold, Kopp, Stutes, and Claman voted in favor of the adoption of CSHB 387, 30-LS1461\D as the working document. Representative Eastman voted against it. Therefore, CSHB 387, Version D was adopted by a vote of 6-1. 6:24:50 PM REPRESENTATIVE REINBOLD commented that she reviewed CSHB 387, Version D, and performed a comparison (audio difficulties) and she found the following three valuable issues in this legislation: prior to the attorney general adding an emergency regulation, the substance must be on a federal schedule; (audio difficulties) contention for two years and she is happy it is addressed in this legislation; and out-of-state convictions can be included, which is critical. In addition, she said, this bill unshackles the state's judges by offering more judicial discretion, and she will be a yes vote. 6:26:16 PM REPRESENTATIVE KOPP commended Chair Claman for addressing the following key pieces of public safety legislation in one bill: the attorney general's authority to control dangerous substances within the state's criminal law that are causing havoc on the streets; this bill deals with the out-of-state criminal offenses; it gives the prosecutors more time to make critical detention decisions; it gives judges the discretion they have been requesting; a defendant with a misdemeanor from an out-of- state conviction is no longer excluded by the risk assessment tool; and he truly appreciates the increase in authority for the pretrial officers to make arrests and request warrants. He described this legislation as a great piece of public safety legislation and he, again, commended Chair Claman for moving the bill. 6:27:28 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN commented that this legislation is asking the attorney general to take on a different type of responsibility than was previously asked, and he opined that it would be unexpected to find an attorney general who is already in possession of (audio difficulties) that the legislature is now expecting them to make decision. While the state has a Controlled Substances Advisory Committee that can offer input, there is nothing in the bill requiring that that input is listened to, or read. Under this bill, he commented, the attorney general can simply ignore that input and issue whatever scheduling of a drug or other items it feels is appropriate in its own discretion, which appears to be "an awful lot of authority" to give to one person. He said that he is hopeful that authority be well used, but he believes that experience has shown that "that hope is not always borne out and that those -- that large of a grant of authority is likely to be abused at some point so I am still holding reservations about that." 6:28:59 PM REPRESENTATIVE KOPP asked whether Chair Claman would clarify the concerns [of Representative Eastman] or whether the chair would like Representative Kopp to clarify that the attorney general has to use the controls of the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee. CHAIR CLAMAN clarified that as was discussed earlier in the amendments, the whole purpose of the adopted two amendments was to limit the drugs the attorney general can list to those that have already been considered by the federal government. Clearly, that significantly limits the attorney general's authority. Also included is the three-year sunset clause wherein if the legislature does not believe it is a good idea, it can stop that authority at any point. In the event the legislature has not acted within three years, then it lapses. Therefore, in both of those instances, the committee is putting significant restrictions on what actions can be taken by the attorney general and, he added, Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth joined the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee and would be fully informed as to the controlled substances at issue. 6:30:11 PM REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS moved to report CSHB 387, Version 30-LS1461\D, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN objected. 6:30:29 PM A roll call vote was taken. Representatives Stutes, LeDoux, Kreiss-Tomkins, Reinbold, Kopp, and Claman voted in favor of the passage of CSHB 387 out of committee. Representative Eastman voted against it. Therefore, CSHB 387(JUD) was reported out of the House Judiciary Standing Committee by a vote of 6-1.