SENATE BILL NO. 172 "An Act relating to an annual report by the court system to the public and the legislature." This was the first hearing for this bill in the Senate Finance Committee. Co-Chair Donley spoke to this Senate Finance Committee sponsored legislation. He stated it places into statute, a provision requiring that the Alaska Court System prepare an annual report following certain perimeters. He qualified the Court currently does issue an annual report, and he referenced the latest version. However, he warned that this report is not mandatory and the Alaska Court System could decide to discontinue issuing it at any time. Co-Chair Donley noted this legislation would stipulate the reports include additional information relating to the "timeliness of decisions being made by the Judicial Branch" as well as specific information about travel expenses and per diem for judges and justices. He stressed the travel and per diem accountability provision is identical to that required of legislators and employees of the Legislative and Executive Branches. Co-Chair Donley surmised this information would provide the public with "valuable different information in evaluating how well the court system is actually performing and how individual justices and judges and courts are performing." Senator Green asked if similar legislation passed the prior legislative session. Co-Chair Donley emphasized the intent of this bill is not to change the Alaska Court System current practice with regard to the issuance of the annual report. He noted this legislation does require the Court to provide a copy of the reports to the Senate Secretary and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives as well be made available to the public. Senator Green remembered legislation passed a year before allows reports to be disseminated electronically rather then by hard copy. Co-Chair Donley remembered discussion on the matter, but was unsure if specific legislation passed. Senator Austerman understood most of the information stipulated in this bill is already provided in the report. Co-Chair Donley stressed the annual report issued by the Alaska Court System already contains most of the information required in this legislation. The only exceptions, in his opinion, is the addition of information showing the average mean, minimum and maximum periods of time between the disposition of cases and the issuing of a ruling classified by courts and by each justice. He noted the current reports contain general summaries for the entire court system of the average length of time before a decision is rendered, but the information is not broken down to show each court or judge. Co-Chair Donley continued that another exception would be a requirement that the report include information identifying how many times a judge or justice has failed to comply with the "warrant statutes". These statutes, he explained pertain to the withholding of pay when decisions are not issued before a specific deadline. Co-Chair Donley listed the final exception as the travel and per diem information that would be required under the bill. Senator Austerman asked why reporting of the travel expenses and per diem expenditures for each judge and justice is necessary. Co-Chair Donley replied it is for the same reason that the legislative and executive branches report annually. He expressed it is a "good accountability measure for government" and should be made easily available to the public. CHRIS CHRISTENSEN, Deputy Administrative Director, Alaska Court System, testified that the Supreme Court has issued an annual report since shortly after statehood. He noted for the record that the report is not produced under a statutory mandate but rather as part of the Supreme Court's constitutional authority to administer the Judicial Branch. In essence, he stressed, this report is "the Supreme Court's annual message on Judicial Branch operations." Mr. Christensen asserted, "The legislature is the best judge of the information that it finds useful to do its job." He noted the legislature has the authority to instruct the Alaska Court System to provide statistics and other information about court operations, and he assured this information would be provided. Mr. Christensen referenced the zero fiscal note, informing that the reporting requirement would involve information already collected or could be easily obtained using current resources. Mr. Christensen clarified that the document referred to as the annual report is the Supreme Court's Message and is "akin to the report that you as individuals and as organizations send to Alaskans describing your operations here in Juneau." He remarked, "Much as you are the final authority of what goes into those reports, we believe that the Supreme Court is the final authority on what this particular document contains." Mr. Christensen shared with the Committee that in correspondence between Co-Chair Donley and Chief Justice Dana Fabe in January 2001, Chief Justice Fabe committed to Co-Chair Donley that she would "raise this issue (of including the additional information in the annual report) with her colleges." Mr. Christensen qualified that this information may actually be included in a separate report, issued to the legislature and available to the public as required in SB 172. Co-Chair Kelly asked if Co-Chair Donley objected to the removal of "annual" before "report" in the bill. Co-Chair Donley did not. Mr. Christensen pointed out that much of the information is calculated based on the fiscal year, rather then calendar year, due to the manner in which the Alaska Court System is funded. He stated that most of the information stipulated in the bill could be provided on a fiscal year basis. However, he reminded of another statute requiring the Alaska Court System provide travel and per diem expenditure information in a calendar-year report, which has been submitted to the legislature every January. He stated that it has been difficult to obtain all the information before February, especially for travel in rural areas of the state. Because of this, he suggested the information could be provided on either a fiscal year basis or a calendar basis if allowed an extra 45 - 60 days to compile the information. Co-Chair Donley commented, "It would be nice to keep it consistent with the reports that we already do for the Executive and Legislative Branches, which are by calendar year." Therefore, his first choice was for additional time for a calendar report. AT EASE 10:19AM/10:23AM Amendment #1: This conceptual amendment deletes "February 1" in inserts "March 15" on page 1, line 6, deletes "an annual" and inserts "a" on line 7, and deletes "of" and inserts "regarding" on line 8. The amended language in Section 1 reads as follows. Sec. 22.20310. Court system annual report. The administrative director shall, not later than March 15 of each year, make available to the public and file with the senate secretary and the chief clerk of the house of representatives a report regarding the Alaska Court System. The report must include… Co-Chair Donley moved for adoption. Without objection the amendment was ADOPTED. Co-Chair Donley offered a motion to report SB 172, 22-LS0412\F, as amended from Committee with a zero Alaska Court System fiscal note. It was clarified that the changes made with the amendment are not inconsistent with the title of the bill. The bill MOVED from Committee without objection.