SB 8-ACCESS TO MARIJUANA CONVICTION RECORDS  2:30:37 PM CHAIR HUGHES announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 8: "An Act restricting the release of certain records of convictions; amending Rule 37.6, Alaska Rules of Administration; and providing for an effective date." 2:31:54 PM SENATOR TOM BEGICH, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor of SB 8, introduced himself and his staff, Sydney Lienemann. He thanked Chair Hughes for hearing the bill. This bill is identical to the bill that was considered, passed, and supported by the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee last year. This bill would restrict the release of certain criminal records for the possession of marijuana, which is a class B misdemeanor. These crimes would no longer be considered criminal based on the legalization of marijuana that occurred some years ago. He stated that the original bill was brought to him by a constituent who works on employment issues at the Mountain View library. His constituent witnessed people start to complete their employment forms but not finish the process. When he asked why, the response was that these applicants did not believe they could obtain employment or housing options because of a single prior conviction related to a crime that is no longer considered a crime today. He stated that employment and housing issues are critical throughout the state due to homelessness and situations in which people find themselves unable to get into housing or a job because they made a single mistake. SENATOR BEGICH said SB 8 would automatically remove the conviction from CourtView. The records would also be removed from some background checks administered by the Department of Public Safety, if requested by the individual. It would not fall on the state to proactively remove the conviction; the bill places the responsibility on the person. He emphasized that the records would be available for any criminal justice search, including employment checks related to the medical field or for those working with children or dependent adults. He has worked with the Department of Law (DOL), Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Alaska Court System (ACS), and non-profit providers on the bill. He reiterated that recurring issues adversely affect re-entry programs that work to ensure people do not come back into the criminal justice system. The governor recently spoke about opportunities for hope and success and this bill could provide an opportunity to Alaskans. He reported an estimated 700 people would be affected by the bill. He asked Dr. Lienemann to review some of the changes discussed for a proposed committee substitute. 2:35:28 PM CHAIR HUGHES stated that Representative Hopkins joined the meeting. 2:35:38 PM SYDNEY LIENEMANN, Ph.D., Staff, Senator Tom Begich, Alaska State Legislature, offered to review proposed changes to SB 8 for a committee substitute. DR. LIENEMANN presented sectional analysis of SB 8 on behalf of the sponsor, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Section 1: Describes the legislative intent to reduce barriers to re-entry for those convicted of low-level marijuana possession, which would no longer be considered crimes today. DR. LIENEMANN referred to page 1, line 9, and stated that the language currently states, "a criminal history background check," and the intent is to clarify certain types of background checks since this protection would be limited to certain parties requesting background check related to employment and housing, but the individuals' criminal history would still be available to law enforcement and prosecutors. DR. LIENEMANN continued. Section 2: Prohibits the Department of Public Safety, and any designated reporting agency, from disclosing any criminal records associated with possession of less than one ounce of a schedule VIA controlled substance conviction, covering both State Statute and municipal ordinance, if requested. These cases will be protected from disclosure only if marijuana possession is the only crime for which the person was convicted in a particular criminal case. A schedule VIA controlled substance considered to have the lowest degree of danger to users. Marijuana is the only VIA drug. DR. LIENEMANN explained that this prohibition would not include any search related to the criminal justice system. She referred to page 2, line 12, noting the DOL, DPS, and ACS suggested replacing "Notwithstanding," with "In a request under" for clarification. DR. LIENEMANN continued. Section 3: Limit access to Alaska Court System's records of criminal cases involving convictions for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana on Court View. DR. LIENEMANN explained that the departments requested removing the word "confidential" [on page 2, lines 6, and 7] in order to ease the ability to transfer records between agencies. She related the sponsor's intention is to replace "confidential" with similar language from Representative Drummond's bill that passed the House last year that will remove defining the records as confidential. She reiterated that this language would restrict this information from being available on CourtView but would allow the DOL, DPS, and ACS to have ongoing access to the records. 2:38:29 PM CHAIR HUGHES related her understanding that one problem that arose with "confidential" is that the ACS would not be able to release records to the DPS. 2:38:42 PM Section 4: Indirectly amends Alaska Court System Rules of Administration by limiting access to certain criminal records. DR. LIENEMANN stated [on page 2, line 17] the word "confidential" would also need to be removed in that section. Section 5: Because Section 4 indirectly amends a court rule, this legislation will require a two thirds vote as described by the Alaska Constitution. Section 6: Provides 120 days for this legislation to take effect after bill signing, giving the Courts, as well as affected agencies, time to change their reporting protocols. 2:39:19 PM SENATOR BEGICH said he understands additional work still needed to be done on the bill. 2:39:39 PM CHAIR HUGHES asked the record to reflect that other concerns exist. She referred to page 1, lines 6-7, which read, "It is the intent of the legislature to reduce barriers to employment ?." She referred to the analysis of [Section 2], which read, "These cases will be protected from disclosure only if marijuana possession is "the only crime" for which the person was convicted in a particular criminal case." She pointed out that on page 2, lines 3 and 12, the language reads "was not convicted of any other charges in that case ?." She said that this language limits the application of the restriction of records to specific cases where the possession is the only crime resulting in a conviction, but it ignores the fact that an existing criminal history involving other crimes would remain a barrier to employment for that person. She asked for the rationale for ignoring the rest of a person's criminal history if the intent is to reduce barriers to employment for people convicted of low-level misdemeanor marijuana possession if the person's criminal history includes other crimes that already create barriers. She asked whether it was possible to reduce the number of people that would [benefit from having their records removed from CourtView]. SENATOR BEGICH answered that if the only crime the person committed was related to marijuana and the record had no other crime associated with it, the prior record would be cleared from CourtView. He said the person's record would still contain any other prior convictions. SENATOR BEGICH, after a brief reiteration of people charged with a single conviction of simple possession and those with multiple convictions, said he understood her point. He suggested that the only reason would be to remove these cases from the 700 or so cases. He was unsure of the total number SB 8 would affect. CHAIR HUGHES said in the materials or in discussion of other states, including Vermont, he stated the individuals could have [the record] removed by petition. However, Vermont also set out additional conditions, including that the person would only be eligible 5 years after sentence completion and that all restitutions must be paid. She said that in instances in which the person was convicted of a subsequent crime 10 years must have passed since the sentence was completed and restitution for all crimes had been made. She recapped that the bar in Vermont was much higher than a simple petitioning the court. She asked whether he would be open to raising the bar to be certain people were clean. She asked for further clarification on when the marijuana law passed. 2:44:39 PM DR. LIENEMANN recalled that the marijuana law went into effect in February 2015. SENATOR BEGICH pointed out that Vermont is not one of the states that has legalized possession and use of marijuana. He related a scenario in which a person committed a crime of possession of marijuana, first in 2012 and again in 2014. He pointed out that three years has lapsed since 2015. It is not currently illegal for a person to use marijuana so it would be difficult to assign a criminal penalty, and he was not willing to do so; however, he offered to sit down to hold discussions with the Chair's office. 2:45:35 PM SENATOR SHOWER asked how plea bargains are considered in the bill. He said it seemed like it might be a loophole, but he was unsure. DR. LIENEMANN related her understanding from discussions with the court system, that the final criminal record is reflected in the court system's database. She said if the person was charged with several crimes but pled down to the elements listed in SB 8, the charges would be removed from CourtView. She reiterated that the conviction would still remain in the system for most higher-level background checks, but it would no longer appear in CourtView. 2:47:14 PM SENATOR BEGICH added prosecutors would also have access to the records and case file. He recalled that had been discussed last year. SENATOR SHOWER offered to discuss this with the sponsor. He referred to the rights of the employer and what is restricted. He would like to better understand when the provisions would be specifically applied or excluded. He offered his belief that in certain fields an employer needs to know information about their employees, for example, in the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOTPF). 2:48:20 PM SENATOR MICCICHE asked the record to reflect that simple possession and someone making a mistake is one thing, but a person with a long history of criminal behavior is different since it demonstrates judgment issues that a future employer may wish to know about. CHAIR HUGHES concurred with that point. 2:49:02 PM SENATOR BEGICH said Senator Micciche's comment was an appropriate one. He expressed a willingness to work with Senator Micciche to find a way to make it work. 2:49:25 PM SENATOR REINBOLD echoed Senator Micciche's concern. She asked to have Mr. Duxbury come before the committee to provide his perspective on the number of times an individual uses marijuana before being arrested as well as the number of cases that are typically dismissed prior to conviction. She recalled Mr. Duxbury discussed on KTVA the percentage of cases involving marijuana. He also indicated marijuana use was a gateway to so much more. She said she is not an expert and would like to hear his views on marijuana use. 2:50:11 PM CHAIR HUGHES expressed her concern about SB 8 creating a loophole for the 18-20-year-old age group, since marijuana is still not legal for them. She expressed further concern that a person could permanently lose eligibility for employment with the state if the person unintentionally or otherwise conceals a fact when submitting a job application. She did not want to set up a person to fail. [CHAIR HUGHES opened public testimony on SB 8.] 2:51:56 PM CATHLEEN MCLAUGHLIN, Director, Partners Reentry Center (PRC), offered to make comments to put this into perspective. She stated the PRC has served 7,500 high-risk high-needs individuals who would be homeless if the PRC had not assisted them. The PRC works with reentrants whose parole and probation conditions mandate that they do not use marijuana. That condition still holds true whether marijuana use is legal or not, she said. She offered her belief that SB 8 would only retroactively affect 700 people and the bill does not necessarily affect those being served in the criminal justice system. She related a scenario in which the PRC wanted to hire someone deemed as highly qualified, but the person had previously been convicted of simple possession of marijuana 10 years ago, prior to attending college. That banned the person from being employed in this industry, she said. She surmised that SB 8 intends to target this type of person rather than the clients the PRC serves. 2:54:17 PM SENATOR REINBOLD asked for further clarification on what she meant by high-risk and high-needs individuals. MS. MCLAUGHLIN said the PRC assists people who would otherwise be homeless, whose chance of recidivism is very high. She related that Alaska has a 66 percent recidivism rate and the PRC focuses on this population in an effort to reduce recidivism and enhance public safety. These are individuals with strong and lengthy continual felony and misdemeanor records. She stated that the PRC uses a tool called the LSIR, that those with a score of 29 or higher are considered high-risk high-needs individuals. These are individuals whose criminal behaviors create a risk to the community when they are released, she said. 2:55:20 PM CHAIR HUGHES asked her to explain the acronym LSIR. MS. MCLAUGHLIN explained the acronym LSIR helps the DOC classify individuals with a minimum, medium, or maximum risk-leveled behaviors. She offered to report back on the acronym. 2:55:46 PM SENATOR MICCICHE asked whether alcohol was also on the list of conditions for parole or probation. MS. MCLAUGHLIN answered absolutely, that the court establishes probation and parole conditions based on the underlying crime. SENATOR MICCICHE said she had previously mentioned the age group 18-20 and noted that the legislature treats minor consuming differently for that age group, which is worth evaluating. CHAIR HUGHES asked whether the 700 individuals were statewide. MS. MCLAUGHLIN said she was referring to an attachment by Nancy Meade that gave a ballpark figure. 2:56:43 PM CHAIR HUGHES asked the sponsor to provide information on the proposed 700 people potentially affected by SB 8 and whether these individuals had other convictions. 2:57:16 PM MS. MCLAUGHLIN reported that the acronym LSIR refers to level of service inventory revised. 2:57:22 PM SENATOR SHOWER related his understanding that the people with a higher risk and a demonstrated behavior are not necessarily the ones that SB 8 would clear, since those are the ones who would present problems for employers, housing, or other issues that the public would want to know about. He suggested that the potential 700 people SB 8 would address do not seem to be the people that PRC treats. He said it seemed like the intent of the bill and the people she serves are like "apples and oranges". MS. MCLAUGHLIN agreed. She said that none of the individuals the PRC serves or who work with the center have only one conviction. 2:58:48 PM CHAIR HUGHES closed public testimony on SB 8. She held SB 8 in committee.