HB 246-ACCESS TO MARIJUANA CONVICTION RECORDS  2:47:47 PM CHAIR CLAMAN announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 246, "An Act restricting the release of certain records of convictions; and providing for an effective date." He stated that Legislative Legal Services is authorized to make technical and conforming changes to the bill. 2:49:26 PM REPRESENTATIVE KREISS-TOMKINS moved to adopt Amendment 1 to HB 246, labeled, 32-LS1300\A.1, Radford, 1/24/22, which read: Page 1, line 1: Delete "restricting" Insert "requiring a notification with" Page 1, line 4, through page 2, line 28: Delete all material. REPRESENTATIVE SNYDER objected. 2:49:45 PM CLAIRE GROSS, Staff to Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Alaska State Legislature, on behalf of the prime sponsor, Representative Kreiss-Tomkins, explained that Amendment 1 would "clean up" language to be more consistent. She stated that the reference to "criminal justice information" has a separate definition from "criminal history records information." She added that the inclusion of a reference to the latter term could unintentionally result in the court system's involvement. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked for the definition of criminal justice information. MS. GROSS referred to AS 12.62.900, which defines criminal justice information as any of the following: a record of traffic offenses maintained for the purpose of regulating driver's licenses, or a record of a juvenile subject to the jurisdiction of a court under AS 47.12. She added that subsection (a) referenced criminal history record information, subsection (b) referenced non-conviction information, subsection (c) referenced correctional treatment information, and subsection (d) referenced information related to a person to be located, whether or not that person is wanted in connection with the commission of a crime. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked whether the proposed bill would result in a broader restriction of information which appears on a criminal background check. MS. MEADE suggested that the question should be directed to the Department of Law or to the Department of Public Safety. She stated that criminal background checks are not a function of the court system. CHAIR CLAMAN offered his understanding that the change from "criminal history information" to "criminal justice information" was proposed to reduce the amount of the implications to the court system's record keeping. MS. GROSS agreed with Chair Claman's understanding. 2:57:02 PM LISA PURINTON, Chief, Criminal Records and Identification Bureau, Department of Public Safety, answered Representative Eastman's question by explaining the difference between the two terms. She explained that, in AS 12.62.900, the primary difference pertains to identifying information and non- conviction information and that "criminal justice information" is broader and specifically includes non-conviction information, and "criminal history information" includes past conviction information and identifying information. She added that "criminal history information" would appear on the "any person" background checks. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN asked whether a larger body of information would be withheld, should Amendment 1 be adopted. MS. PURINTON offered her understanding that there would be no effect on the information to be released. REPRESENTATIVE SNYDER removed her objection. There being no further objection, Amendment 1 was adopted. [HB 246 was held over.]