SB 53-COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN  9:53:50 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that the final order of business was CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 53(FIN), "An Act reestablishing the Alaska Commission on the Status of Women; and relating to the purpose and powers of the Alaska Human Relations Commission." 9:54:11 AM CELESTE HODGE, Staff, Senator Bettye Davis, Alaska State Legislature, presented SB 53 on behalf of Senator Davis, sponsor. She stated that SB 53 would reestablish the Alaska Commission on the Status of Women, a nine-member body devoted to improving the status of women in Alaska, established in 1978, renewed and renamed The Alaska Women's Commission in 1983, and absorbed into the Alaska Human Relations Commission along with Alaska Commission on Children and Youth. She said the Alaska Human Relations Commission still exists in statute, but was never funded and was declared inactive in 1996. She continued as follows: Staggering statistics for women in Alaska show the need to establish the Alaska Women's Commission to focus on a broad and diverse cross-section of issues effecting women. ... Alaska continues to have the highest rates of sexual assault and domestic violence in the nation and historically women are more likely to be poor than men. Poverty rates of unmarried female householders with children are particularly high and have ... consistently been two or three times as high as overall male and female poverty rates in 1996. Survey data compiled by the American Community Survey shows that of 26,518 families in Alaska with a female head of household, 22.6 percent live below the poverty level. The gender wage gap persists in Alaska and across a wide spectrum of occupations and industries. In 2009, according to [the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development], Alaska women on average earned only 66.6 percent of what men earned. And although more women than men in Alaska hold a bachelor's degree or higher, data shows that men's median annual earnings are higher in every educational level. Alaskan ... women, in particular women of color, experience health care disparities, and women living in rural Alaska have worse than average disparities on access and utilization of services. These statistics speak for themselves and fully justify the need to reestablish the Alaska Women's Commission. 9:57:08 AM JUDITH VAUGHAN-PRATHER, Member, Board of Directors, National Association of Commissions on Women; Executive Director, Montgomery County Commission for Women, testified on behalf of the National Association of Commissions on Women (NACW). She said NACW commends the legislature for addressing the issue and Senator Davis for sponsoring SB 53. She said NACW urges the passage of SB 53, which would reestablish the Alaska Commission on the Status of Women and provide both staffing and some funding to ensure the commission is able to carry out its mandate. MS. VAUGHAN-PRATHER relayed that there are close to 200 commissions for women and commissions on the status of women around the country at the state, county, and city level. She said the commissions are distinguished from other advocacy organizations and each commission is established by the jurisdiction it serves as an advisory board to the government of that state or county. She said commissions for women are the governments' way of assuring that the needs of women are identified and addressed in bodies that are largely constituted by men. She related having found out that in the Alaska State Legislature, only 9 of the 40 members of the House are women and only 3 of the members of the Senate are women, despite the fact that of Alaska's total number of females constitute approximately 48 of the general population of the state. MS. VAUGHAN-PRATHER said that when the voice of almost half the population is omitted from the discussion, important and often critical implications can exist. For example, she said until this year car manufacturers and the regulating agencies used crash test dummies that were the size and weight of an average man; it never occurred to them to design vehicle safety standards that would protect the other half of the population. She said there is documentation, including the sponsor's statement, which highlights other inequities that occur nationwide. MS. VAUGHAN-PRATHER said SB 53 proposes to create an advisory board with a staff of three at a total cost of $515,400 in fiscal year 2013 (FY13), with the cost decreasing in future years after the start-up costs are eliminated. The [initial] budget represents an investment of only about $1.50 per female in Alaska. She posited, "Surely that would be money well spent and a tiny cost to pay to ensure that their very real needs are not overlooked." She stated that NACW urges the committee to pass SB 53, and she offered the support of its collective membership and experience to help the staff and commissioners of the Alaska commission, so that they can "begin again providing informed, balanced, and valuable advice to the government and to the people of your state." 10:01:38 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that SB 53 was held over.