HB 231-EXTEND BOARD OF PAROLE  8:06:32 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that the first order of business was HOUSE BILL NO. 231, "An Act extending the termination date of the Board of Parole; and providing for an effective date." [CHAIR LYNN handed the gavel to Vice Chair Keller.] 8:08:05 AM CHAIR LYNN, as chair of the House State Affairs Standing Committee, sponsor, announced his staff member would present HB 231. 8:08:47 AM ESTHER MIELKE, Staff, Representative Bob Lynn, Alaska State Legislature, presented HB 231 on behalf of the House State Affairs Standing Committee, sponsor, on which Representative Lynn serves as the chair. She stated that the Board of Parole currently serves in Alaska as the authority over determination of paroles. Under current statute, the board will be terminated on June 30, 2016. The proposed legislation would extend the date to June 30, 2022. MS. MIELKE stated that the Division of Audit conducted an audit on the Parole Board last year. The audit included an examination of the board's performance in light of the eleven sunset criteria points provided within Alaska Statute. The division found the board to be in good standing, but recommended four improvements to the board's operations, which address: Accuracy and consistency of information contained in parole files; documentation of victim and offender notifications; deficiencies in proposed regulation changes methods; and the security of the Department of Corrections' information system. Ms. Mielke concluded by stating that HB 231 would fulfill the constitutional requirement that the State of Alaska establish a parole system and accordingly assist in keeping Alaskans safe. She noted the following people were available to answer questions: Sherrie Daigle of the Department of Corrections, Kris Curtis from Legislative Audit, and Jeff Edwards from the Parole Board. 8:10:41 AM VICE CHAIR KELLER remarked that the work by the Criminal Justice Commission has increased the importance of the function of [Mr. Edwards on the Parole Board]. 8:11:21 AM JEFF EDWARDS, Executive Director, Parole Board, Division of Probation and Parole, Department of Corrections (DOC), in response to Vice Chair Keller, stated that the Parole Board has been working with the commission on a regular basis, and the commission has been keeping the board apprised of the recommendations made. He characterized the Parole Board as a quasi-part-time board whose members are appointed by the governor and work from their homes around the state and convene monthly to conduct hearings. He indicated that future legislation would create change wherein the board may be incorporated and have its work schedule increased. Further, he said he anticipated the board would be asked to dramatically increase the number of people who apply for parole, which is a goal already supported by the board. He said the board feels that its process is solid, in the fact that the board can conduct a good evaluation of candidates and, instead of warehousing inmates "in hard bed," which is very expensive, the board can conduct a thorough evaluation of the applicants and potentially offer early release. He said the board has found the process to be cumbersome; the applicants sometimes do not want to apply. New legislation could be introduced to demand that all eligible inmates apply for early parole, which would increase the Parole Board's docket significantly. He indicated there is other legislation that will affect the board, and the overall global scope is to reduce recidivism, free up hard beds, allow people to transition and reenter into the communities as returning Alaska citizens, and ensure there is fair and impartial review process of any parolees who commit parole violations on the street. 8:13:40 AM VICE CHAIR KELLER noted that the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission had been meeting for a little over a year, and he indicated that there had been ensuing legislation presented as a result. He related that both House and Senate leadership, as well as other various legislators, have asked the commission to figure out how the state is going to be able to afford to keep its prisoners in the future. He continued: Because of the projected increase in prisoners in the future, we were looking at another Goose Creek construction project, and it gave us the opportunity to do some reform considerations, and I was really impressed with the work that was done, and it puts a lot of focus on the Parole Board, because obviously when people get out they need those transition procedures and processes and programs there to help. 8:15:05 AM KRIS CURTIS, Legislative Auditor, Legislative Audit Division, Legislative Affairs Agency, offered to answer questions. 8:15:20 AM REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ directed attention to page 16 of the audit, which she observed shows "rate of replication decision" by the Parole Board. The decisions are broken up from 2004-2007 and show high rates, but she said the rates shown from 2011-2014 are higher. For example, she noted that the rate for 2011 was 74 percent "revoke and re-parole"; the rate for 2012 was 66 percent; and the rate in 2017 was 77 percent. She opined there is a problem - not in the Parole Board itself, but having to do with a lack of success in paroling people. She read a note below those statistics, as follows: "The board stated that past decisions 2004-2007 were heavily influenced by the elimination of various treatment programs during difficult budget years." She asked Ms. Curtis if it is her conclusion that it is the lack of treatment programs that is the cause [of the high rates]. 8:16:48 AM MS. CURTIS said the point to make is reflected in the column to the right: "revoke and deny." In terms of revoking and re- paroling an individual and allowing him/her to remain in the community as opposed to having the person return to prison, "from 2011-2014, compared to 2004-2007, they were re-paroling them at a much higher rate than in previous years. And the reason why we were being told they were being re-incarcerated at a higher rate in 2004-2007 was the lack of treatment programs in the community, as a result of budgetary restrictions during that time." She stated that the audit makes the point that "from our review, they were - during the audit period - being re-paroled at a higher rate." She offered her belief that that is what the communities wanted. VICE CHAIR KELLER noted that the handout to which Representative Vazquez had previously referred was "easily available." 8:18:37 AM VICE CHAIR KELLER closed public testimony on HB 231. 8:18:52 AM REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ asked what had been done to address the audit recommendations made in 2015. VICE CHAIR KELLER noted that "the justice commissioner" had done a lot of work, but said the issue was whether or not the deadline would be extended. He asked Representative Vazquez if she was recommending that the committee not act on the bill today. REPRESENTATIVE VAZQUEZ answered no. She opined that the work of the board is critical to both the criminal justice system and the community. She clarified that she was interested to know if the "good audit recommendations" were being addressed. VICE CHAIR KELLER suggested that the committee could, at a later date, invite the Parole Board to talk to the committee about what it had done in response to the audit. CHAIR LYNN noted that there would be an upcoming overview from the Department of Corrections, at which time the committee might be able to hear from the Parole Board. 8:21:17 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG noted that under HB 231, the board would be extended by only six years. He said he knows other boards that are extended for eight, and he questioned why the same was not proposed for the Parole Board. CHAIR LYNN said he did not have an answer to that question. 8:21:56 AM MS. CURTIS explained that the Legislative Audit Division recommended a 6-year extension because of the dynamic nature of "the corrections policy arena right now and ... how the board will change dramatically in upcoming years." She indicated that those changes, as well as the full recommendations of the division, could warrant oversight and monitoring at a more frequent rate than the maximum eight years. In response to Representative Gruenberg, she clarified that currently there are a lot of pending policy changes to the role of the Parole Board, in both its workload and procedures. Additionally, a new risk assessment tool was implemented recently and, because of the timing of the audit, the impact of that tool was not yet evident. She said the division settled on six years as a time when it would be able to see the implications of the policy changes and come back to review "the current status of the recommendations." MS. CURTIS, in response to a follow-up question, explained that the aforementioned new risk assessment tool was being used by the board to evaluate the suitability of parole for those who apply for parole. VICE CHAIR KELLER suggested Representative Gruenberg would have another opportunity to asked more in-depth questions but said that for now, he would like to move on with the bill discussion. 8:25:26 AM CHAIR LYNN pointed out that the overview from the Department of Corrections was scheduled for Thursday, January 28, 2016. 8:25:41 AM REPRESENTATIVE STUTES moved to report HB 231 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying zero fiscal note. There being no objection, HB 231 was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.