SB 71-2019 REVISOR'S BILL  1:09:42 PM CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the next order of business would be SENATE BILL NO. 71, "An Act making corrective amendments to the Alaska Statutes as recommended by the revisor of statutes." 1:10:12 PM JEAN MISCHEL, Revisor of Statutes, Legal Services, Legislative Affairs Agency, Alaska State Legislature, introduced SB 71. She provided context for the bill by explaining that Legislative Legal Services attempts to present a revisor's bill each year. She noted that this has not been possible the past few years due to the demands of special sessions. She said this explains SB 71's considerable size, weighing in at 102 sections. She noted that AS 01.05.036 requires the Legislative Affairs Agency to review existing statutes for errors, deficiencies, conflicts, or obsolete provisions and to recommend improvements related to the form and substance of the law according to the current drafting manual standards. She addressed the sectional summary document included in the committee packet. She characterized many of the changes proposed in SB 71 as "fairly minor and technical in nature," including the addition and removal of commas. She said one of the larger changes would be the removal of all references to telegraphs. 1:12:08 PM CHAIR CLAMAN noted that the committee received an e-mail pertaining to language located on page 14, line 14 of the bill. He pointed out that one mention of a telegraph is proposed to be removed but another is not. MS. MISCHEL observed that the second mention of a telegraph should also be removed. She suggested that it can be done so via a conceptual amendment. CHAIR CLAMAN said he does not intend for the bill to be moved out of committee today. He asked her to request the change be made so that the committee could take it up as an amendment during the next hearing. 1:13:16 PM MS. MISCHEL said SB 71 also contains changes to some references to federal law. She explained that one of these references was an error while another was to the Code of Federal Regulations, which is discouraged as it can be changed and be out of alignment with legislative intent. She said SB 71 would also delete cross references to statutes that have been repealed. She explained it would also update references to agency names that have since changed. She stated that SB 71 would also consolidate repetitious definitions, insert missing definitions, and repeal definitions of terms no longer used. She said the drafters have also eliminated "but not limited to" following "including," as that is provided for in AS 01.10.040(b). She said references to "Alaska state" or "this state" would be changed to "the state." She said some terms would be reworded to fit their definitions. MS. MISCHEL noted that the most significant technical changes proposed in SB 71 pertain to AS 17.38, "the marijuana initiative." She explained that the person who drafted the marijuana initiative was not necessarily familiar with the Manual of Legislative Drafting, to which SB 71 would conform the language. As an example, she pointed out that instances of the words "shall not" would be replaced with "may not." She noted that SB 71 would also remove obsolete provisions of AS 17.38 pertaining to the possible adoption of regulations because they were dependent upon a 2015 date that is long past and has no future significance. She noted that all the provisions that would be repealed by SB 71 are listed in the back of the sectional summary document. 1:16:42 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked if obsolete references to things like telegraphs and telegrams would be replaced with modern equivalents such as e-mail. MS. MISCHEL said SB 71 is not a bill to substitute language; its purpose is to clean up language. She said if there is a provision that he thinks should contain reference to a more modern form of communication, that can be accomplished via a substantive bill. She noted that the affected provisions often contain references to another form of communication, such as a telephone or facsimile machine. She said the exceptions to that are the provisions relating to crimes involving transmittal of telegrams. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked about the process by which the revisor's bill is created. MS. MISCHEL said it is a laborious process. She described how drafting attorneys comb the titles assigned to them for errors, then submit memoranda suggesting corrections or modifications. She explained that the revisor of statutes also receives suggested changes from the publisher and office editors. She said it is ultimately a group decision between the revisor and the assist revisors about which provisions can or should be corrected by way of the revisor's bill. She noted that some corrections require substantive changes, so they are not included in the revisor's bill. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked what happens to the recommended changes that do not appear in the revisor's bill. MS. MISCHEL said some end up in substantive bills if a legislator or committee requests a change to a section where one was identified. She clarified that this is something Legal Services will discuss with the bill's prime sponsor. She noted that, most frequently, Legislative Legal Services asks the Department of Law (DOL) to include recommended changes in one or more of its bills submitted by the governor. 1:20:22 PM CHAIR CLAMAN opened public testimony on SB 71. 1:21:01 PM DONALD BULLOCK stressed the importance of the revisor's bill and commended the revisor's team for the work it has done in drafting it. He spoke to the importance of maintaining consistency across all statutes regarding style, language, punctuation, and other elements. He noted that those elements contribute to the way statutes are interpreted and offered the example of a term that could potentially have conflicting definitions across different statutes. He asked the committee to expeditiously pass the bill. CHAIR CLAMAN noted that Mr. Bullock is the person who had alerted the committee about the overlooked telegraph language mentioned earlier. 1:22:27 PM CHAIR CLAMAN, after ascertaining that no one else wished to testify, closed public testimony on SB 71. 1:22:43 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN drew attention to Section 29 and recommended the committee eliminate it from the bill or-- CHAIR CLAMAN interjected that the committee would not act on the bill today. He said the plan is to take up the bill at the next meeting. He said if a committee member wants to offer an amendment, it must be submitted to his office by 9 a.m. tomorrow. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN said he is not looking for an amendment at this point. He observed that the wording in Section 29 is such that it might impact policy. He said the committee should decide whether it wants to treat it as a policy change and, if not, he would entertain an amendment to remove it. CHAIR CLAMAN said the only way to meaningful address the issue is to propose an amendment. 1:24:11 PM CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the committee would hold SB 71 for further review. MS. MISCHEL asked if he would like the proposed change pertaining to telegraphs to be included as part of a new committee substitute (CS). CHAIR CLAMAN said it would be better if it were presented in the form of an amendment so as to allow other members the opportunity to offer amendments of their own.