SB 186-CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ADVISORY COMMITTEE  3:02:13 PM CHAIR COGHILL announced the consideration of SB 186. "An Act relating to the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee and providing for mandatory meetings of the committee at least twice a year." This was the first hearing. 3:02:52 PM SENATOR FRED DYSON, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor, introduced SB 186 speaking to the following sponsor statement: [Original punctuation provided.] SB 186 seeks to bring the State into compliance with current drug statutes established by the Alaska Legislature in 1982. Specifically, for the past 32 years the State has violated the law requiring a Controlled Substances Advisory Committee to be established within the Department of Law. This committee has never been formed, and has never met, even once, to carry out its statutory duties under AS 11.71.110, or exercised its authority to schedule controlled substances under AS 11.71.120. AS 11.71.100 established the Controlled Substances Advisory Committee (CSAC) within the Department of Law, and designated the Attorney General or his/her designee as the chairman of the committee. This nine- member commission is to be comprised of persons that combined have a significant breadth of experience to carry out its duties which include advising the Governor on the appropriateness of classification of controlled substances; recommending regulations for adoption by the Board of Pharmacy to prevent excessive prescription of controlled substances; evaluate effectiveness of controlled substance treatment programs; recommend to Alaska Court System alternatives to prosecution or imprisonment of offenders who have no prior criminal record involving controlled substance offenses; and review and evaluate enforcement policies and practices of the Departments of Law and Public Safety with regard to crimes involving controlled substances. The CSAC includes the attorney general or his designee, the commissioner of health and social services and of public safety, a pharmacist, a peace officer, a physician, a psychiatrist and two more public members. The committee is required by law to meet twice a year. Despite a clear legislative mandate for the CSAC to provide meaningful oversight of our controlled substance laws, and our treatment and enforcement policies, this has never happened. Today, the state of Alaska is reeling under an increasingly complex patchwork of controlled substance laws and regulations, high rates of incarceration and overcrowded prisons, and enforcement policies that have produced severe over criminalization and high recidivism of controlled substance offenders. The Department of Law recently argued in State of Alaska vs Patillo that the legislative language is "directory" as opposed to "mandatory", therefore, they do not have to comply with forming the committee as directed by the Legislature. SB 186 makes it mandatory the CSAC carry out the duties our state desperately needs it to. He asked Ms. Carpeneti if there was a record over the past 32 years of a systematic effort to accomplish the mission of the CSAC. 3:10:24 PM ANNE CARPENETI, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Legal Services Section, Department of Law, Juneau, Alaska, clarified that the litigation that Senator Dyson referenced was a motion on behalf of a defendant charged with a drug offense to declare all the drug statutes unconstitutional because CSAC was never formed. The Department of Law's position was that all the statutes couldn't be declared unconstitutional just because the advisory committee wasn't formed. She added that the Department of Law had no objection to the stronger language put forth in SB 186. SENATOR DYSON restated the question. MS. CARPENETI advised that DOL has trainings and district attorney meetings every month that include discussions about how the laws are working and whether they make sense under the circumstances. If a statute appears to be inadequate DOL is able change it by introducing a bill through the governor. That has been done over the years, but she couldn't attest that there had been a top to bottom review of all the drug laws. SENATOR DYSON stated that in his 18-year tenure in the legislation he had not seen a single governor's bill restructuring or rescheduling drugs. 3:13:40 PM CHUCK KOPP, Staff, Senator Fred Dyson, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of SB 186, advised that it would be incongruous for the prosecution to carry out the duties of CSAC. Sec. 11.71.100 provides CSAC with a breadth of professional experience and the duties outlined in Sec. 11.71.110 are specific to those professionals. The legislative intent was clearly to provide meaningful oversight of the controlled substance laws and that hasn't happened. The result is severe over-criminalization in many areas of the law. Under current law it is a class C felony to possess any amount of cocaine that is detectible in a narcotics test, even if it's 1/1000th of a grain. By comparison, it is also a class C felony to put a person in serious fear of their life being imminently taken by pointing a handgun at their head and discharging it into the wall. MR. KOPP noted that the packets contain 20 examples of class C felonies that are equivalent to simple possession of Schedule IA or IIA substances. The sponsor's point is that if CSAC had been formed, Alaska's drug laws wouldn't be in the state they're in. This commission is an ideal tool to address the schizophrenia in the system, he said. 3:18:02 PM SENATOR DYSON added that the debate in 1982 was about the tension between good treatment and incarceration. A fiscal note was passed with the bill but subsequent attorney general and governor budgets didn't include funding. He expressed disappointment at the resistance he'd received from some people in the Criminal Division of the Department of Law and clarified that this did not include Ms. Carpeneti. 3:21:41 PM SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI commended the sponsor for the find and highlighted that more than 90 percent of the crimes that are committed in the state are substance-abuse related. He posited that having CSAS in place would have made a huge difference. He asked Ms. Carpeneti how to move forward because the committee is needed today. 3:22:49 PM MS. CARPENETI agreed it would be a valuable tool and admitted to surprise when the lawsuit was filed and she looked at the statutes. SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if the legislature could expect appointments to this commission this session. MS. CARPENETI said she'd take this back to her superiors. MR. KOPP said the testimony in House Finance in 1982 was that 1 in 90 Alaskans were under supervision of the Department of Correction. The statistics today show it's 1 in 36 Alaskans. The sponsor's data shows that the primary incarceration drivers are misconduct involving controlled substance offenses, theft second offenses, and petition to revoke probation filings on felons on parole. CHAIR COGHILL noted the zero fiscal note from DOL. SENATOR DYSON asked the committee not to add a fiscal note at this point and suggested that DOL could get started with the compounded amount that was put in the budget in 1983. 3:27:51 PM MS. CARPENETI said she believes that the funds would have been returned to the general fund, but she'd check again. CHAIR COGHILL solicited a motion. 3:28:25 PM SENATOR MCGUIRE moved to report SB 186, Version A, from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). 3:28:41 PM CHAIR COGHILL announced that without objection, SB 186 will pass from the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee.