HB 355-APOC: MEMBERSHIP; USE OF REPORT INFO  8:09:57 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that the next order of business was HOUSE BILL NO. 355, "An Act relating to the membership of, and member qualifications for, the Alaska Public Offices Commission; prohibiting certain uses of names and addresses contained in certain reports to the commission; and providing for an effective date." 8:10:20 AM REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GUTTENBERG, Alaska State Legislature, as sponsor, presented HB 355. He said when a person goes to a commission that oversees the work he/she does, there are people in that occupation serving on that commission. Alaska appoints members to the Alaska Public Offices Commission as follows: two members of the Republican Party, two members of the Democratic Party, and another member at large. He said he was perturbed when he saw the list of Democrats appointed to APOC, because none of them had campaign filing experience. He said reporting can be problematic; it is all about disclosure. REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG directed attention to language on page 2, lines 8-9, of the proposed committee substitute (CS) for HB 355, Version 27-LS1388\I, Bullard, 4/3/12, which would ensure that one APOC member from each political party would have "extensive experience in the financing of political campaigns  and compliance with disclosure and reporting requirements." He said there are three opportunities for that definition to be vetted: when the parties decide whose name to put forward, when the governor decides who to appoint, and when the legislature makes the final decision whether that person has enough experience. He said the rest of the language pertains to "having two non-voting members on [the commission] as advisors until all the members have been replaced with people with the campaign experience." 8:13:28 AM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON moved to adopt the proposed committee substitute (CS) for HB 355, Version 27-LS1388\I, Bullard, 4/3/12, as a work draft. There being no objection, Version I was before the committee. 8:13:46 AM REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG explained that the original bill version included language that mirrored language in federal law, which prohibits information from on line disclosures from being used for building a database for campaigning or any other commercial purpose. That language [formerly Section 11] was removed from Version I, which now focuses solely on the qualifications of the APOC board. CHAIR LYNN opined that the proposed legislation makes sense; the experience a candidate has needs to be brought to APOC. 8:15:46 AM REPRESENTATIVE PETERSEN noted that HB 355 would not require the people whose names are submitted by the parties to have been candidates. He asked if that means they could have been a campaign volunteer or manager. REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG answered that is correct. He said the point is not to influence the decision making process, but to have people on the commission with a shared experience. 8:16:38 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG offered his understanding that HB 355 is the only proposed legislation still in circulation related to APOC. CHAIR LYNN ascertained that no one else wished to testify. 8:17:55 AM REPRESENTATIVE SEATON offered his understanding that under HB 355 there would be seven members of APOC, instead of five, but there would still be five voting members; therefore, the actual decision-making process would not be changed, but there would be more expertise available. REPRESENTATIVE GUTTENBERG answered that is correct. He said the two, non-voting members "rotate out." He clarified, "When all the members have campaign experience, the two, non-voting advisory members are gone. They sit ... there to help the board; they don't vote." 8:19:07 AM REPRESENTATIVE KELLER moved to report CSHB 355, Version 27- LS1388\I, Bullard, 4/3/12, out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, CSHB 355(STA) was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.