SB 89-LEGISLATIVE ETHICS ACT  8:07:56 AM VICE CHAIR KELLER announced that the first order of business was CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 89(JUD), "An Act clarifying that a legislator or legislative employee is allowed to accept certain compassionate gifts; allowing legislators and legislative employees who are representing persons in an administrative hearing to contact hearing officers and attempt to influence the outcome of the hearing if they are professionals licensed in the state, and allowing legislators and legislative employees who are not professionals licensed in the state to contact hearing officers for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the hearing in certain instances; requiring the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics to maintain a public record of certain ethics disclosures made by legislators and legislative employees; prohibiting a public member of the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics from disclosing confidential information without authorization; clarifying the ethics disclosure requirements for tickets to or gifts in connection with charity events; amending disclosure deadlines under the Legislative Ethics Act; relating to requests to refrain from disclosure under the Legislative Ethics Act; relating to the applicability of certain provisions of the Legislative Ethics Act to certain legislative employees, volunteers, and interns; establishing a seat for an alternate public member on the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics; clarifying the requirements related to participation by alternate public members and alternate legislative members in the proceedings of the committee; amending the definition of 'legislative employee' in the Legislative Ethics Act; and repealing a procedure for appointment of alternate legislative members." 8:08:17 AM RYNNIEVA MOSS, Staff, Senator John Coghill, Alaska State Legislature, presented SB 89 on behalf of Senator Coghill, sponsor. 8:10:03 AM MS. MOSS directed attention to the sectional analysis, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Sec. 1. Replaces "lawful gratuity" with "gift" to make section of law consistent with the usage of "gift". Sec. 2. Bright line for legislators or staff being actively involved in constituent problems with the State. Once the issue is assigned to an administrative hearing the involvement of the legislative office ceases. Exceptions are included for lawyers and provision for inadvertent exparte contact. Sec. 3. Eliminates requirement of committee to compile lists of financial disclosure statements. They must only maintain public records and forward them to chief clerk and senate secretary. Sec. 4. Adds public members to statute prohibiting disclosure of confidential information. Sec. 5. Clarifies that a ticket to a charity event from a lobbyist, or gifts received because of the ticket from a lobbyist cannot exceed $250. Sec. 6. Further describes "a contribution to a charity event" by clarifying it could be a ticket to a charity event or a gift in connection with a charity event. Sec. 7. Extend the reporting period for gifts of travel for the purpose of obtaining information on legislative matters and disclosure of gifts from charitable events from 30 days to 60 days. Sec. 8. Allows for exceptions from disclosure under the legislative ethics law if it would be in violation of the state or federal constitution or state or federal law. The State Affairs Committee added language that includes exceptions for disclosures for a rule, adopted formally by a trade or profession, that state or federal law requires the person to follow. A written request with justification must be submitted to the committee. Sec. 9. Requires anyone who is a volunteer or educational trainee for more than 30 days to take the ethics training. The 30 day guideline was added in State Affairs. Sec. 10. Adds cite for new section on Alternate Members to statute describing the committee, its structure and its duties. Sec. 11. Adds cite for new section on Alternate Members to statute describing the committee, its structure and its duties. Sec. 12. This is a new section describing the process for appointing alternates. The section adds a new provision that provides for the Chief Justice to appoint an alternate public member. Sec. 13. Adds legislative volunteers and educational trainees who are in that capacity for more than 30 days to the statute requiring the Legislative ethics course. The 30 day guideline was added in State Affairs. Sec. 14. Redefines legislative employee. Sec. 15. Repeals old statute describing the process for appointing alternates. 8:16:08 AM MS. MOSS, in response to Representative P. Wilson, offered clarification regarding Section 8. 8:17:17 AM JOYCE ANDERSON, Administrator, Select Committee on Legislative Ethics, referred to a possible amendment to AS 24.60.080(h)(2), and expressed her hope that the proposed legislation would pass on the House floor. 8:18:52 AM VICE CHAIR KELLER closed public testimony. 8:19:05 AM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON moved to adopt Amendment 1, labeled 27- LS0452\R.2, Wayne, 3/2/12, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Page 5, following line 26: Insert a new bill section read:  "* Sec. 3. AS 24.60.030 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: (j) In this section, "administrative hearing" means a quasi-judicial hearing before an agency; "administrative hearing" does not include an informal conference or review held by an agency before a final decision is issued or a rate-making proceeding or other nonadjudicative public hearing." Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. VICE CHAIR KELLER objected for the purpose of discussion. REPRESENTATIVE SEATON stated that the purpose of Amendment 1 is to provide the definition of administrative hearing to [AS 24.60.030]. VICE CHAIR KELLER removed his objection. There being no further objection, Amendment 1 was adopted. 8:20:16 AM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON moved to adopt Amendment 2, labeled 27- LS0452\R.3, Wayne, 3/2/12, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Page 10, line 24, through page 11, line 1: Delete all material and insert:  "* Sec. 9. AS 24.60.112 is repealed and reenacted to read: Sec. 24.60.112. Applicability to legislative  interns. A legislative intern shall be considered to be a legislative employee for purposes of compliance with AS 24.60.030 - 24.60.039, 24.60.060, 24.60.080, 24.60.085, 24.60.155, 24.60.158 - 24.60.170, 24.60.176, and 24.60.178. If a person believes that a legislative intern has violated the provisions of one of those sections, the person may file a complaint under AS 24.60.170. The provisions of AS 24.60.170 apply to the proceeding." Page 13, lines 5 - 15: Delete all material. Renumber the following bill sections accordingly. VICE CHAIR KELLER objected for the purpose of discussion. REPRESENTATIVE SEATON said Amendment 2 removes volunteers and uses the term "legislative intern", and makes the above listed statutes pertain to the legislative interns. He said the intent is to clarify that ethics courses must be taken by legislators, legislative employees, and legislative interns. 8:22:41 AM REPRESENTATIVE PETERSEN observed that the proposed Amendment 2 would also delete [Section 13], on page 13, lines 5-15, which addresses the legislative ethics course, and he asked for an explanation. 8:23:09 AM MS. MOSS explained that [Section 13] proposed changes to [AS 24.60.155]; therefore, deleting the language would keep that statute as it currently is. 8:23:41 AM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON said that under Amendment 2, a legislative intern would be considered to be a legislative employee and, thus, would be required to take the ethics course. 8:24:17 AM MS. ANDERSON, in response to Vice Chair Keller, said on-line training is available for legislative employees who begin their employment mid-session, and there is a checks and balances system to ensure that is completed. In response to a follow-up question, she said there have been no cases in which someone has not completed the required ethics course. VICE CHAIR KELLER said, "If I take on an intern, it seems to me like ... it's my responsibility to ensure this happening." REPRESENTATIVE SEATON responded that he thinks "we" ensure accountability by seeing that the correct hiring process takes place. 8:26:25 AM REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON said she likes [Amendment 2] the way it is worded, because legislators are so busy that it is good to have someone else following up to ensure rules are being followed. 8:27:00 AM VICE CHAIR KELLER removed his objection. There being no further objection, Amendment 2 was adopted. 8:27:23 AM MS. ANDERSON directed attention to AS 24.60.080(h), which read as follows: (h) A legislator, a legislative committee other than the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics, or a legislative agency may accept a gift of (1) volunteer services for legislative purposes so long as the person making the gift of services is not receiving compensation from another source for the services, or (2) the services of a trainee who is participating in an educational program approved by the committee if the services are used for legislative purposes. The committee shall approve training under a program of the University of Alaska and training under 29 U.S.C. 2801 - 2945 (Workforce Investment Act of 1998). MS. ANDERSON asked the committee to consider changing the word "trainee", in paragraph (2), to "legislative employee". In response to Vice Chair Keller, she confirmed that this amendment would be conceptual and result in language added to SB 89. 8:29:04 AM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON moved to adopt Conceptual Amendment 3, as follows: In AS 24.60.080(h), paragraph (2): delete "trainee" insert "legislative employee" REPRESENTATIVE PETERSEN asked if the language would be added as Section 16. VICE CHAIR KELLER said Amendment 3 is conceptual. 8:29:51 AM MS. MOSS offered her understanding that the language would be put in a new Section 8. She said, "It goes numerically." 8:30:07 AM VICE CHAIR KELLER objected to Conceptual Amendment 3, and then he withdrew his objection. There being no further objection, Conceptual Amendment 3 was adopted. 8:30:48 AM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON said he thinks the proposed bill, as amended, offers clarification. 8:31:22 AM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON moved to report CSSB 89(JUD), as amended, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HCS CSSB 89(STA) was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.