HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE February 10, 1995 1:30 P.M. TAPE HFC 95-20, Side 1, #000 - 408. CALL TO ORDER Co-Chair Mark Hanley called the House Finance Committee meeting to order at 1:37 a.m. PRESENT Co-Chair Hanley Representative Kohring Representative Kelly Representative Martin Representative Mulder Representative Navarre Representative Brown Representative Parnell Representative Grussendorf Representative Therriault Co-Chair Foster was absent from the meeting. ALSO PRESENT Sheldon Winters, State Farm Insurance Company; Jack Chenoweth, Attorney, Legislative Legal Services. SUMMARY HB 9 An Act relating to recovery of damages from a minor's parent or legal guardian when property is destroyed by the minor. CSHB 9 (FIN) was reported out of Committee with a "do pass" recommendation and with six zero fiscal notes, three by the Department of Administration, two dated 1/30/95, two by the Department of Health & Social Services, dated 1/30/95, one by the Department of Law, dated 1/30/95; and with an indeterminable fiscal impact note by the Alaska Court System. HOUSE BILL NO. 9 "An Act relating to recovery of damages from a minor's parent or legal guardian when property is destroyed by the minor." SHELDON WINTERS, STATE FARM INSURANCE COMPANY detailed claims from 1/193 to 10/31/94. Of 334 claims processed by State Farm Insurance Company: 1 * 69% were less than $1.0 thousand dollars; * 84% were less than $2.0 thousand dollars; * 96% were less than $5.0 thousand dollars; * 99% were less than $10.0 thousand dollars. Mr. Sheldon stated that the State Farm Insurance Company does not feel there is a compelling reason to increase the recovery ceiling from $2.0 to $10.0 thousand dollars. Representative Parnell clarified that the statistics given by Mr. Sheldon refer to home owner policies. School buildings and vehicles were not included. Representative Mulder asked if the company has a general policy in regards to claim collections. Mr. Sheldon replied that the company has not been successful in their collection attempts. Representative Therriault provided members with Amendment 1 (Attachment 1). He explained that Amendment 1 modifies section 2, which exempts parents if their child is a runaway. The amendment clarifies that the parent would be exempt from responsibility for the child's actions after the parent reports, as authorized by AS 47.10.141(a), that the minor has run away or is missing. JACK CHENOWETH, ATTORNEY, LEGISLATIVE LEGAL SERVICES clarified that the legislation proposes an exemption for parents, legal guardians or persons having legal custody of unemancipated minors who are runaways. There is no provision in current statutes. The legislation is not applicable to minors who have already been emancipated. Representative Brown referred to page 2, line 7, "believes is absent from the minor's residence for the purpose of evading the minor's parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian". She thought the parent, legal guardian, or legal custodian would know if the minor was absent. Mr. Chenoweth illustrated examples where the parent legal guardian, or legal custodian would not know if the minor was absent with the intent to evade parental control. He accentuated that the intent is to identify minors that are attempting to evade parental control. Members discussed the time frame involved in reporting a minor as missing. Alaska Statute 47.10.141 requires that a law enforcement agency shall make reasonable efforts to locate the minor and complete a missing person's report. The agency is required to transmit the report, no later than 24 hours after completing it, for entry into the Alaska Public Safety Information. A parent may file a report at 2 any time if they reasonably believe that the minor is missing in an effort to evade their legal authority. Representative Therriault MOVED to adopt Amendment 1. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Representative Therriault provided members with Amendment 2 (Attachment 2). He explained that Amendment 2 clarifies that the person liable for the actions of the minor is the person having the legal custody of an unemancipated minor under the age of eighteen. He observed that "person" as used in the statutes refers to person or persons. Representative Therriault MOVED to adopt Amendment 2. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. Representative Parnell suggested that in the case where a mother has full custody of a minor and the father still retains visitation rights, the father would be the legal custodian in regards to any action which takes place while the minor is visiting the father. He stated that the fact that the father has retained visitation rights indicated that he would have some legal interest in custody. Representative Brown agreed with Representative Parnell's interpretation. Mr. Chenoweth recognized that it is up to the courts to determine the scope of "person having legal custody". He stated that custody could be based upon the natural relationship between parent and child, an adoptive relationship, a guardianship, or a custody determination as contained in AS 25.39.00. He pointed out that AS 25.39.00 includes visitation rights in regards to a custody determination. Representative Navarre MOVED to report CSHB 9 (FIN) out of Committee with individual recommendations and with the accompanying fiscal notes. Representative Kohring spoke in support of CSHB 9 (FIN). He felt the ceiling could be raised to $15.0 thousand dollars. Representative Therriault noted that with the addition of inflation $2.0 thousand dollars would equate to $10,832 thousand dollars in 1995. Representative Kohring concluded that it was appropriate to garnish permanent fund dividends of perpetrators. He suggested that perpetrators could be required to perform community service obligations. There being NO OBJECTION, CSHB 9 (FIN) was moved from 3 Committee. CSHB 9 (FIN) was reported out of Committee with a "do pass" recommendation and with six zero fiscal notes, three by the Department of Administration, two dated 1/30/95, two by the Department of Health & Social Services, dated 1/30/95, one by the Department of Law, dated 1/30/95; and with an indeterminable fiscal impact note by the Alaska Court System. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m. 4