SB 23-INITIATIVE SEVERABILITY  3:55:35 PM CHAIR SHOWER announced the consideration of SENATE BILL NO. 23 "An Act relating to proposing and enacting laws by initiative." He noted the drafter was available to answer questions. 3:55:54 PM SENATOR JOSH REVAK, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, sponsor of SB 23, introduced the legislation paraphrasing the following sponsor statement: SB 23 seeks to ensure ballot initiative language that appears before voters at the ballot box is the same as the language circulated during the signature-gathering phase and to restore the legislature's important role in the initiative process. 3:56:26 PM Alaska's constitution details a very important right of our residents - the right to enact legislation through the voter initiative process. The legislature also has the right to enact legislation substantially the same as the proposed initiative thus removing it from the ballot. The proposed ballot initiative language must be submitted to the State of Alaska for review. The Alaska Department of Law reviews the proposed language then provides the Lieutenant Governor a recommendation whether to certify or deny the language. The Lieutenant Governor's certification is a key step in the initiative process. Only once certification happens will the state print petition booklets for gathering voter signatures. The petitioner then circulates the booklets to gather signatures and submits those to the state for verification. Once signatures are verified, an initiative can be prepared for the ballot. Per our constitution, some issues are off-limits for ballot initiatives and initiatives can only cover one subject. But while a cursory legal review of language occurs before the Lieutenant Governor's certification, it has sometimes been the case that further review finds constitutional concerns with proposed language. In those cases, a party can file a lawsuit to force the issue through the court system. This can happen simultaneous to the circulation of signature booklets. 3:57:22 PM Under current law, if a court determines that language in a proposed initiative is unconstitutional and/or severed, an amended version of the language can appear before voters. This results in voters seeing a different initiative than the one they supported with their signature. Furthermore, if the courts revise/sever the language after the legislative review process, they deny the legislature its right to review the initiative as revised. The net effect of a court's severance is that an initiative can move forward to the voters that is substantially different than the initial version reviewed by the legislature. SB 23 would rectify this situation. Under this bill, if a court determines that language in a proposed initiative is unconstitutional or severed, the Lieutenant Governor must reject the entire initiative petition and prohibit it from appearing on the ballot. Voters should be assured that language on the ballot has not changed from the language in the petition booklets supported with voter signatures and further, restores the legislature's right to review and enact substantially similar legislation to stop an initiative from moving forward. 3:58:53 PM SENATOR REINBOLD asked if he would describe the bill as an improvement in transparency and an increase in integrity of the initiative process. SENATOR REVAK replied that is the intent of the legislation. CHAIR SHOWER expressed appreciation that the bill includes the concept of legislative supremacy. 4:00:59 PM DIRK CRAFT, Staff, Senator Josh Revak, Alaska State Legislature, Juneau, Alaska, advised that SB 23 has just one section that amends AS 15.45.240. [The new subsection (b)] states that an initiative is not severable after it is circulated under AS 15.45.110, which is the statute that governs the circulation of petitions. It further provides that an initiative petition may not contain a severability clause. If a court finds a provision of an initiative unconstitutional during a review, the lieutenant governor must reject the entire petition and prohibit the placement of the initiative on the ballot. 4:01:50 PM CHAIR SHOWER held SB 23 in committee for future consideration.