SB 66-MEMBERS LEG COUNCIL; LEG BUDGET & AUDIT  4:23:38 PM CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS announced that the final order of business would be SENATE BILL NO. 66 am, "An Act relating to the membership of the legislative council; and relating to the membership of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee." 4:24:06 PM SENATOR TOM BEGICH, Alaska State Legislature, prime sponsor, introduced SB 66. He paraphrased the sponsor statement [included in the committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: As outlined in AS 24.20, the Legislative Council has the essential role of conducting internal business for the Alaska Legislature, while the Legislative Budget and Audit (LB&A) Committee plays a pivotal role in managing state finances and expenditures. Both committees are established in statute with authority to conduct business anytime throughout the year so that internal legislative business may be conducted in a timely manner. Alaska State Statute establishes membership on Legislative Council and the LB&A Committee to include "at least one member from each of the two major political parties of each house." However, the Alaska Legislature has a long history of coalition caucuses and unaffiliated legislators. In addition, following passage of voter initiative Ballot Measure 2 in 2020, candidates are not required to name a political party affiliation, and therefore may be elected to office without one. Senate Bill 66 seeks to update the membership statutes for both Legislative Council and the LB&A Committee to reflect these changes in law and practice to ensure fair caucus representation on these committees. Every committee established in the Alaska Legislature Uniform Rules ensures representation of organized minority caucuses. Under current law, there is no guarantee that these two joint interim committees will include representation of all organized caucuses. SB 66 also reflects the Uniform Rules definition of "minority" as constituting at least 25 percent of a chamber's membership. As all Alaskans have a right to vote for their legislators, who in turn have a right to form caucuses if they choose, those organized caucuses have a right to have their voices and visions represented on all committees. Senate Bill 66 seeks to ensure this fair representation is established in law. 4:27:29 PM MERCEDES COLBERT, Staff, Senator Tom Begich, Alaska State Legislature, on behalf of Senator Begich, prime sponsor, presented a sectional analysis of SB 66 [included in the committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Section 1. Amends AS 24.20.020 to include at least one member of the minority on the legislative council. Includes language from Uniform Rule 1(e) to entitle minority caucus membership on the council that is proportional to their total house membership. Section 2. Amends AS 24.20.161 to include at least one member of the minority on the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, and changes "chairman" to "chair." Section 3. Adds a new section to AS. 24.20 to define "minority" as a group of members who have organized and elected a minority leader and who constitute at least 25 percent of the total house membership. 4:29:09 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN directed attention to page 2, line 1, and asked what would happen if no one was appointed from each house within the 15-day deadline after convening the first regular session of each legislature. SENATOR BEGICH stated that the bill was silent on that matter; nonetheless, he indicated that he was open to suggestions from the committee. 4:30:59 PM REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN expressed his concern about the language on page 1, lines 9-14, and the provision on page 2, which defined the minority as having at least 25 percent of the membership in the body. He remarked: If you had a 16-member majority and a 4-member minority, under this definition, there is no minority, and yet, the first section of the bill would suggest that there should be some proportional representation. And A, you don't have a minority, so in theory, there's no minority entitled to sit, but in addition, if you had 4 minority members, you're at 20 percent and of 6 Senate seats, that would justify 1 Senate seat even though there's no minority. That seems like a math problem, but it's more than a math problem. SENATOR BEGICH contended that per the Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature, a minority was defined as having 5 members in the case of the Senate. He remarked, "If I and another of my colleagues had elected to lead my body, we would not have an official minority; consequently, when you look at the definition of minority on Page 1, they would have no seat because there would be no minority and that is consistent with Uniform Rules." He pointed out that currently, the Uniform Rules did not offer proportional representation, except by the goodness of a presiding officer to an unrecognized minority. REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN considered the scenario in which the Senate had 6 members in the minority. He asked how many seats would be entitled to the legislative council under this provision. MS. COLBERT stated that with a 6-member minority for a 7-member committee, 2 members would be appointed from the Senate minority. For the 18-member House minority, she reported that 3 members would be appointed to the legislative council. 4:34:45 PM REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN shared his understanding that the language in the bill made no reference to the Uniform Rules. Instead, it provided that the minority was entitled to the number of seats on the council proportional to the number of minority members compared to the total house membership. MS. COLBERT clarified that the language in question on page 1, lines 9-14, was adopted from uniform Rule 1(e). Likewise, the definition of "minority" in Section 3 was lifted from the Uniform Rules. Therefore, although the bill made no direct reference to the Uniform Rules, it essentially placed the Uniform Rules into statute. REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN maintained his belief that, per the existing bill language, a strict proportional analysis would be conducted to determine the minority's membership on the legislative council. 4:36:18 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN shared his understanding that the language in Section 3 was found in the Legislative Ethics Act. He shared his preference that the minority leader would appoint the minority members serving on the legislative council, as opposed to allowing the majority to make that selection. 4:39:26 PM SENATOR BEGICH said the intent was to make the legislation as consistent with the Uniform Rules as possible. He acknowledged that the language in Section 3 mirrored the Legislative Ethics Act; however, it was also taken directly from the Uniform Rules. He explained that the Uniform Rules directed the power of appointment to the presiding officers, which was a topic of debate in the Senate. He expressed his hope that the minority's preferences would be considered; nonetheless, he had no desire to codify that, as it would create another inconsistency with the Uniform Rules. He suggested passing the bill in its current form, pointing out that without some form of representation, the minority would be subject to potentially being denied a seat on the legislative council during the next legislative session. He suggested that the Unfirm Rules and how they were applied should be addressed in the future in the interest of fairness. 4:41:48 PM REPRESENTATIVE TARR wondered whether Legislative Legal Services would recommend further clarification of the language on page 1, lines 9-14. SENATOR BEGICH sought to confirm that Representative Tarr was suggesting that there should be a direct reference to the Uniform Rules in statute. He offered to follow up with a response from Legislative Legal Services. 4:42:56 PM REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN pointed out that Uniform Rule 1(e) only applied to standing committees, which excluded the legislative council, and the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee (LB&A). He asked for the bill sponsor's perspective on providing alternate members for the legislative council. SENATOR BEGICH conveyed that the statutes pertaining to the legislative council did not provide for an alternate while the LB&A statutes allowed for a single alternate. He shared a personal anecdote. He reported that at present, the alternates were of the majority, adding that he was open to the idea of allowing alternates from the minority. REPRESENTATIVE EASTMAN pointed out that if the minority leader was unable to attend a council meeting, the minority would have no representation without an alternate. SENATOR BEGICH agreed that it was a deficit that needed to be fixed. He welcomed a proposal from Representative Eastman on this issue to ensure fairness and equity. 4:48:23 PM REPRESENTATIVE STORY emphasized the need for bipartisanship. SENATOR BEGICH thanked the committee and expressed his hope that the bill would move forward. 4:49:02 PM CHAIR KREISS-TOMKINS aligned himself with Representative Story's comments. He highlighted the importance of having equitable systems in place. He announced that SB 66 was held over.