CSHB 375(JUD)-REVISOR'S BILL  SENATOR DONLEY reminded members that the committee held a hearing on CSHB 375(JUD) the previous week. MS. PAMELA FINLEY, Revisor of Statutes, Alaska State Legislature, said she would like the committee to focus on Section 2 because it is misleading in that it appears to change the statute of limitations. She explained that last year a floor amendment changed the statute of limitations but did not change this related piece. Section 2 is an attempt to amend the action that was taken via the floor amendment. MS. FINLEY said before the floor amendment was adopted, the statute of limitations for sexual abuse and sexual assault was defined in terms of specific criminal statutes. The statute of limitations was three years for civil actions. The floor amendment repealed and reenacted it so there is no statute of limitations for felony sexual abuse or sexual assault and it's not defined in regard to any criminal statutes. As a result, the question then becomes what applies to misdemeanor sexual abuse and sexual assault offenses. The statute of limitations was three years but now it is not covered at all. Because no special statute of limitations exists, she understood that to mean the standard two-year tort statute of limitations applies. If the crime occurs when the victim is a minor, the statute of limitations does not start to run until the victim hits majority. Section 2 is a subset of that so that if the victim is under 16, special provisions apply, the main one being the discovery provision on page 2, lines 9-16. MS. FINLEY said when this statute was originally written, the statute of limitations was three years. Then when it changed to two years for misdemeanors and no limitation for felonies, this was not amended. SENATOR DONLEY expressed confusion and said it didn't seem there was any affirmative act of the Legislature to change the statute of limitations to two years, it's just that the issue was ignored so that the existing presumption of two years for everything else then applied. MS. FINLEY said the floor amendment did not specify that the statute of limitations for misdemeanors would become two years but that is what happened. SENATOR DONLEY said he believes a strong case could be made to do just the opposite of what CSHB 375(JUD) does, and that is to say that the intent of the Legislature was not to shorten the statute of limitations for misdemeanor sexual abuse offenses, but to leave it as it was. He noted the revisor's bill could actually incorporate that as the correct intent of the Legislature. MS. FINLEY said to do that, the underlying statute of limitations would have to be rewritten. She said she is reluctant to do that because the sponsor of that floor amendment showed no inclination to do that and the bill had been through the House Judiciary Committee. SENATOR DONLEY asked who sponsored the floor amendment. MS. FINLEY answered Representative Berkowitz. She said she put Section 2 in because she felt it was her duty to deal with the issue but Section 2 could be removed from the bill. SENATOR DONLEY said he would prefer to take Section 2 out of the bill. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR said that taking it out of the bill will leave the statute of limitations at three years. However, it could be argued that it could be two years because it is a gray area. MS. FINLEY said she is not sure what a court would do. She assumed if the victim is not 16 or under, the court would have to conclude that the statute of limitations is two years for a misdemeanor sexual assault because the issue is basically when the clock starts running. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if this is for civil purposes. MS. FINLEY said it is. She said she would be perfectly happy to remove Section 2 but hopes someone will deal with the question because it is problematic. SENATOR DONLEY asked Ms. Finley to give him a copy of the original floor amendment and information describing the inconsistency so that he could work on it. MS. FINLEY agreed. SENATOR DONLEY moved to delete Section 2 of CSHB 375(JUD) because he does not support shortening the statute of limitations for these sorts of crimes. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR announced that with no objection, the motion carried. He then thanked Ms. Finley for her great work as she does a high quality job that often goes unnoticed. SENATOR DONLEY agreed and said Ms. Finley is one of the best attorneys in the Division of Legal Services. There being no further questions, SENATOR DONLEY moved SCS CSHB 275(JUD) from committee with individual recommendations. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR announced that with no objection, SCS CSHB 375(JUD) will move to the next committee of referral as soon as it is prepared.