HOUSE BILL 257 "An Act relating to elections, to election officials and election workers, to voter registration, and to candidates for election; and providing for an effective date." Co-chair Sharp provided history of the bill, including changes made to meet federal guidelines on purging voting lists. GAIL FENUMIAI, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF ELECTIONS, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, provided an overview of the House version of the legislation. She reported that Sections 1 through 4 dealt with maintenance procedures for voter lists, which the Senate Finance Committee had heard and passed earlier in the session. The provision would bring the state into compliance with federal law and would eventually reduce the size of Alaska's voter lists as well as get them more accurate. She noted that the division was not currently able to remove people from the list unless asked to do so by the voter; the division had to follow the precise details outlined in the federal National Voter Registration Act. Ms. Fenumiai continued that Sections 5 and 8 of the bill would provide authority for the division to conduct elections using optical scanning ballot tabulation equipment, the new system the state would purchase in the current year. The division would then have authority to use the equipment and should thereby avoid legal challenges for using it. Ms. Fenumiai turned to Section 6 of HB 257, addressing absentee voting by personal representative. The process would streamline the absentee vote by personal representative, making it easier for both the representative and the voter. It would also add safeguards; the personal representative would be required to show identification and sign a register when using it for the first time. Co-chair Sharp queried the process. Ms. Fenumiai clarified that before the representative would be issued a ballot for the first time they would have to show identification and sign a register. Ms. Fenumiai noted that Section 7 of the bill would deal with absentee voting by facsimile; the division was proposing to extend the application deadline to 5 p.m. the day before the election. Currently, the deadline was four days before the election; after implementing that deadline into statute, the division had found there were many people who were not able to participate because of extenuating circumstances. The division felt the measure would better serve the needs of the voters. Senator Torgerson asked how municipal elections would be affected by the facsimile section. Ms. Fenumiai replied that local municipal ordinance would determine whether voting by facsimile was allowed. Ms. Fenumiai explained that Sections 9 through 12 of the bill would make technical changes to the official election pamphlet. Section 13 would add federal language from the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which would eliminate the state's requirement to pay unemployment taxes for election workers who made less than $1,000 in one calendar year (approximately 2,500 workers); there would be a cost savings of $10,000 to the division every election year (reflected in the fiscal note). Ms. Fenumiai added that the fiscal note attached to the bill was strictly for the list maintenance procedures. Co-chair Sharp asked whether the division was expecting to have the electronic voting devices available for the primary and general elections. Ms. Fenumiai responded that the devices would be available for both elections. Co-chair Sharp asked whether the devices were the ones that had been on display on the second floor. Ms. Fenumiai responded in the affirmative. Co-chair Sharp noted that completing the item was a priority for the lieutenant governor. Senator Torgerson MOVED to ADOPT Work Draft SCS CSHB 257(FIN) (Version "R" dated 5/6/98) as a working document before the committee. There being no objection, it was so ordered. JIM BALDWIN, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF LAW, spoke to the CS. He thought there were two sections that needed to be addressed on the record because the department expected litigation. He stated that the CS could prevent litigation in the next election cycle. Mr. Baldwin detailed that Sections 14 and 15 of the bill would retroactively forgive failure to file a legislative financial disclosure (LFD), a filing required for a candidate for office. Section 16 would have the effect of excusing the failure to file by an incumbent candidate. He referred to a situation in which a filing was not made by April 15 (as required by law); it was made six days late. Section 16 would make a retroactive change in the law that would apply to the particular candidate, make the filing timely, and remove any necessity for the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) from going forward and acting on the late filing. SENATOR MIKE MILLER reported that the CS had been introduced at his request to provide clear intent for the record. Currently, the deadline for filing conflict of interest statements was April 15. The section would move the date back one month; the conflict of interest statements would have to be filed on March 15. There would be a grace period of up to 30 days after March 15 as well, which was not allowed under current law. The intent was that APOC would immediately realize when someone failed to file and would notify the individual right away that the form was not on file. The individual would then have until April 15 to file the form. Currently, the form had to be filed by April 15; the new section would provide an earlier filing date and a grace period if there was a failure to file. He stressed that the net effect was that everything still had to be filed by April 15 under both the old and new laws. Senator Miller reported that he sat on the Conference Committee that had drafted the piece of legislation when it became law in 1992. He stated that it was not the intent of the Conference Committee that there would be the same penalty for willful failure to file as there was for late filing. The current law stipulated the same penalty for refusal to file as late filing, which was an oversight. He believed that someone could file a blank statement, with only their name, and comply with the current law, while someone filing on April 16 with a full statement suffered a drastic penalty. He added that Section 15 was a retroactive clause for the current year. Senator Phillips asked whether the lists would be purged for the current year under the bill. Ms. Fenumiai replied that the division would not be able to start working on the list until January 1999. Senator Pearce MOVED to REPORT SCS CSHB 257(FIN) out of committee with individual recommendations and the attached fiscal note. Co-chair Sharp pointed out that the fiscal note was about the same for the Division of Elections as the fiscal note seen previously. There being no objection, it was so ordered. SCS CSHB 257(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass" recommendation and attached fiscal note by the Office of the Governor.