HB 140-LEG SALARIES; STATE OFFICERS COMP COMM  3:04:03 PM CHAIR SHAW announced that the first order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 140, "An Act relating to the State Officers Compensation Commission; and relating to policies of the Alaska Legislative Council regarding allowances and reimbursement for moving expenses." 3:04:38 PM HEATH HILYARD, Staff, Representative Cathy Tilton, Alaska State Legislature, presented HB 140 on behalf of the House Rules Standing Committee, sponsor by request of Speaker Tilton. He paraphrased the sponsor statement [included in the committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: The goal of HB 140 was not to institute sweeping changes to the statute, but otherwise update and refine them with an eye to protecting and maximizing public transparency, de-politicizing the actions or lack of actions taken by the Legislature in responding to specific recommendations and allowing the commission adequate time to complete their work and the Legislature adequate time to thoughtfully deliberate on those recommendations. After conferring with several different parties who were directly involved in the recommendations or were otherwise involved in the process, it became apparent that there were several changes needed to the statutes governing the Alaska State Officers Compensation Commission (ASOCC) and the work they are tasked with. Among other things, HB 140 expands the amount of time ASOCC has to make recommendations and the amount of time the Legislature has to respond and dictates that changes to legislative salaries go into effect only after an intervening election cycle. MR. HILYARD summarized the sectional analysis [included in the committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: SECTION 1 & 2 Sections 1 & 2 codify existing practice that the Legislative Council is responsible for establishing annual allowances, including per diem and relocation expenses. SECTION 3 Section 3 establishes a new section in the statute articulates the policy and purpose of the commission to "attract and retain talented, capable individuals to serve in the highest leadership roles of the state". SECTION 4 Section 4 stipulates that ASOCC will review and make salary recommendations ONLY once every two years. SECTION 5 Section 5 does two things. First it starts the process two weeks earlier than current statute (from November 15th to November 1st); and secondly it structures the two-year cycle so that there will be an intervening election between when the recommendations are made by the commission and when those recommendations go into effect for the Legislature. SECTION 6 Section 6 also does three things. It expands the amount of time the Commission has to submit their recommendations to the Legislature, expands the amount of time the Legislature has to act in response to the recommendations, and stipulates that salary recommendations for the Legislature can only go into effect at the start of a new Legislature. SECTION 7 Finally, section 7 provides greater clarity about the amendment process, by providing clean-up language, creating a specific deadline for amendments to be submitted and expressly providing that an amended report does not reset the timeline by which the legislature must act. CHAIR SHAW invited questions from members of the committee. 3:09:22 PM REPRESENTATIVE STORY inquired about the meaning of "reasonable public notice" in Section 5 of the bill. MR. HILYARD said "reasonable public notice" was held over from the existing statutory language, adding that the phrase mirrored language in the Open Meetings Act. He noted that a forthcoming amendment would stipulate a 5-day public notice protocol. 3:10:37 PM REPRESENTATIVE ALLARD asked whether the commission had violated its own 20-day public notice requirement. MR. HILYARD answered no. He clarified that the 20-day notice referenced in the governing statutes applied to the commission members not the public. REPRESENTATIVE ALLARD asked whether the commission had suspended public notice. MR. HILYARD clarified that the commission had suspended the 20- day notice to themselves. 3:11:34 PM CHAIR SHAW opened public testimony on HB 140. After ascertaining that no one in the room or online wished to testify, he closed public testimony. He announced that HB 140 was held over.