HB 128-INTRODUCTION OF MEASURES/FISCAL NOTES  HCR 8-UNIFORM RULES: MEASURE SPONSORS/READINGS  9:38:51 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that last order of business was HOUSE BILL NO. 128 "An Act relating to introduction of measures and to fiscal notes for measures."; and HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 8 Proposing amendments to the Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature relating to withdrawing measures, to sponsors of measures, to prefiling measures, and to the three readings of bills. 9:40:02 AM REPRESENTATIVE GATTO moved to adopt the proposed committee substitute (CS) for HCR 8, Version 26-LS0366\C, Cook, 3/25/10, as a work draft. REPRESENTATIVE SEATON objected for discussion purposes. 9:40:18 AM TED MADSEN, Staff, Representative Max Gruenberg, Alaska State Legislature, explained the changes that would be made to HCR 8, through Version C. First, he noted, on page 3, lines 10-14, language would be added to describe when a member may remove his/her name as sponsor, joint prime sponsor, cosponsor, or cross cosponsor of a measure. The second change would be the removal of Section 4, which addressed the first reading of bills and resolutions. He said that change was made at the recommendation of Representative Seaton. 9:41:13 AM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON removed his objection. There being no further objection, Version C was before the committee as a work draft. 9:41:23 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG, sponsor, said both HB 128 and HCR 8 are companion pieces that could be considered during the interim. He explained that HCR 8 is a vehicle for changes that would have to be made through a resolution, while HB 128 is a vehicle for changes that would have to be made in statute. 9:41:55 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG reviewed the issues of the proposed legislation. First he said, is the question of how many members it should take to move a bill out of committee, whether it should be a majority of those present or a majority of the full committee. He opined that whatever decision is made should be required for all committees and should not be an issue that can be overridden by the chair of the committee. A second issue to consider, he said, has to do with teleconferencing for those who are not present "or work during the interim." He said Tamara Cook, the director of Legislative Legal and Research Services, found related legislation, House Concurrent Resolution 60, from the Fourteenth Alaska State Legislature. Further issues to consider are the procedures used on the House floor. He explained that at one time, both Congress and the Alaska State Legislature addressed members on the floor by naming their state or district, respectively. Now, the U.S. Senate calls each other by name, but the Alaska State Legislature continues to call each other by district number. He said it would make the system more "user friendly" to call each other by name. 9:44:35 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG expressed interest in ensuring that the titles of measures are kept sufficiently narrow, to avoid the problems that result when unrelated issues get "tacked on" to legislation. In response to a question from Representative Wilson, he said the word "measure" is used in the proposed legislation, because it can mean a bill or resolution. He said the idea was raised when discussing prefiling of legislation. Representative Gruenberg stated, "If we leave one thing behind us, I would hope it's a legislature that's good, that's strong, that functions well, and that's user-friendly for us and the public." 9:46:40 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that both HCR 8 and HB 128 were held over.