SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE February 21, 2000 1:47 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Robin Taylor, Chairman Senator Rick Halford, Vice-Chairman Senator Dave Donley Senator Johnny Ellis MEMBERS ABSENT Senator John Torgerson COMMITTEE CALENDAR SENATE BILL NO. 259 "An Act relating to criminal impersonation." -HEARD AND HELD SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 30 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to the repeal of regulations by the legislature. -MOVED CS SJR 30(JUD) OUT OF COMMITTEE PREVIOUS SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION SB 259 - No previous action to report. SJR 30 - No previous action to report. WITNESS REGISTER Mr. Jim Pound Senator Taylor's Office State Capitol Building Juneau, Alaska 99801 POSITION STATEMENT: Presented SB 259 and SJR 30 Ms. Anne Carpeneti Assistant Attorney General Department of Law P.O. Box 110300 Juneau, Alaska 99811-0300 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 259 Lt. David Hudson Alaska State Troopers 5700 East Tudor Road Anchorage, Alaska 99507 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 259 Mr. Blair McCune Public Defender 900 West 5th Avenue, #200 Anchorage, Alaska 99501 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 259 Mr. Glenn Hackney AARP 1136 Sunset Drive Fairbanks, Alaska 99709 POSITION STATEMENT: Supports SB 259 ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 00-7, SIDE A Number 001 CHAIRMAN ROBIN TAYLOR called the Judiciary Committee meeting to order at 1:47 p.m. Present were Senator Halford, Senator Donley and Chairman Taylor. The first order of business to come before the committee was SB 259. SB 259-THEFT OF IDENTITY MR. JIM POUND, staff of Senator Taylor, stated the modification in SB 259 will add the words "commit a crime" rather than just using the word "defraud," allowing criminal intent for other uses of false identification (ID). The crime will be a misdemeanor. Criminal activity will include minors trying to buy alcohol and cigarettes with false ID cards and the use of false ID to obtain a checking account with the intent of fraud. SENATOR HALFORD asked if there is anything the legislature can do to help victims clear their record. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR commented the bill was drafted in a hurry and everything has not been included. The true victim in this type of crime is the person whose identity is stolen, and he would like this legislation to motivate credit card companies and credit reporting agencies to work with the victims in clearing their records. Number 370 MS. ANNE CARPENETI, Department of Law (DOL), stated DOL supports this legislation. With a stolen credit card number a person can obtain a social security number through a web site. With this information people can open checking accounts, buy cars, open accounts at department stores, etc. and do serious damage to a persons credit. It can take years to clear a credit report that has been damaged in this way. MS. CARPENETI said DOL has been looking at this issue in a bigger sense than just identity theft. The Governor has introduced a bill that makes criminal impersonation a class B felony if an identification item has been stolen and fraudulent acts are the result thereby harming the persons financial reputation making this person the victim of the crime. In the past the police have considered the credit card companies, banks, department stores, etc. the victims, rather than the individual with the problem. The Governor's bill makes it a class B felony to harm someone's reputation, bringing the current statute down to second degree criminal impersonation which is a class A misdemeanor. In addition, SB 259 fine tunes the theft and fraud statute by replacing the term "access device" for a credit card so if a person steals an access device, including a phone number, that person can be prosecuted for theft of a credit card or fraudulent use of a credit card. MS. CARPENETI noted the Governor's bill also clarifies the law in dealing with technology in regards to child pornography--creating child pornography includes making an electronic portrait of a child and putting it in a computer network. It also expands the criminal use of a computer, which is a class C felony, by providing that it is a violation of a statute to add misleading new information to a computer which a person may have access to but they are going beyond their authorization or they are accessing the system without authorization. It prohibits a person without authorization from getting proprietary financial information about other people and going in and changing information they have no right to change. It also prohibits encrypting (with no authorization to encrypt) and decrypting information. Number 662 CHAIRMAN TAYLOR thanked Ms. Carpeneti and asked her to work with staff to provide a committee substitute to incorporate some of the ideas she discussed. MS. CARPENETI responded she would be happy to help. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR introduced Lt. David Hudson, Alaska State Troopers, and asked him to work with Ms. Carpeneti and Mr. Pound in writing a committee substitute. MR. BLAIR MCCUNE, Deputy Director, the Alaska Public Defender Agency, stated this is a difficult area of the law and the bill will need some care in the drafting process. Banking and credit law practices have changed a lot in the last few years because of internet access and because of increases in credit card use. His main concern is that the law should be drafted narrowly so that minors purchasing alcohol and using false ID cards are not treated on the same level as someone who is using someone else's identity in a fraudulent way. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked Mr. McCune to assist in the drafting process to help develop a more comprehensive bill. MR. GLENN HACKNEY, AARP, stated that theft of identity is a real concern for the senior community of Alaska. Many members of the senior population have a long standing credit history and they are concerned that nothing happen to that history. There are seniors who will not use credit cards or the internet because of this concern. Mr. Hackney stated he supports SB 259. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR stated the bill will be held in committee until a committee substitute has been drafted. SJR 30-REPEAL OF REGULATIONS BY LEGISLATURE Number 1196 MR. POUND introduced the bill by saying the regulation process is creating laws without the process of an elected official. The process is based on a bureaucratic agenda with no one accountable. Through the previous attorney general there is a ruling that the Lt. Governor's signature is mandatory for a regulation. This legislation will correct the problem, allowing the legislature to change regulations that do not meet the original intent of statute. SENATOR ELLIS commented this is the same legislation that has been rejected by the voters several times, and he asked the Chairman why he feels the outcome for this bill will be any different. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR responded this is a continuing education process and he hopes that in the debate the public will understand that some of the regulations passed, such as RS 2477, are regulatory changes and not statutory changes which the legislature can not change promptly. SENATOR ELLIS asked if the Senate State Affairs Committee waived this bill and if the Judiciary Committee is the only committee considering this legislation. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR said last year the bill went through two committees and was passed by the Senate. The bill was sent to the House and went through the full committee process but did not pass on the floor of the House and, therefore, was not referred back to the Rules Committee. Chairman Taylor has been advised that the bill is not active and needs to be recreated. This is the same bill the Senate passed last year. SENATOR DONLEY moved SJR 30 out of committee with individual recommendations. SENATOR ELLIS objected. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked for discussion. SENATOR DONLEY stated one of the top complaints from his constituents concern regulations. It is hard to explain that the legislature has limited powers over regulations that are adopted by the executive branch. He feels if the public understood how difficult it is to correct a mistake in the law they would approve this legislation. SENATOR DONLEY said the only way for the legislature to correct a problem is by passing a bill that removes the authority of an agency to do a specific regulation--which will be subject to veto by the governor. SENATOR DONLEY feels this legislation is important and will empower the public by giving the legislature the power to act on their behalf. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR commented that in the past the legislature repealed regulations by resolution but a supreme court decision changed this. This legislation will be overturning that supreme court decision. SENATOR ELLIS asked if Senator Donley believed that in the three times the voters rejected this legislation they did not understand what they were voting on, and that it only takes legislators to educate them to change their minds. SENATOR DONLEY responded no, but he has been amazed that in all the people he has talked with no one remembers this issue being on the ballot or how they voted. Number 1605 SENATOR ELLIS commented that the issue has been on the ballot three times and the public's position seems clear. There are individuals who have problems with specific regulations but regulations are not made for individuals but are made for the greater public good. SENATOR DONLEY responded there are many members of the public who feel regulations are not made for the greater public good but are for the greater good of the bureaucracy that adopts them. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR commented that people are upset about the regulation the Department of Environmental Conservation(DEC) passed to raise the cost for a food permit from $75.00 to $400.00 annually for day care centers. SENATOR ELLIS asked if this is disconnected from this legislatures attitude toward DEC's budget. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR responded yes and that no one in the legislature imagined that DEC would have leveraged and utilized regulations to the extent they are today--using them as a revenue source. Nor did the legislature imagine that the Department of Fish and Game would be using regulations to demand cash from Ketchikan fishermen with the threat of being shut down. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR said many times after regulations have been adopted it is discovered they impact in ways that were not intended, and a correction can take years. SENATOR ELLIS asked if this is not why a governor is elected every four years--holding him accountable for the executive branch. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR answered that you cannot wait four years for accountability and there are laws against committing, before an election, who will be appointed by the governor. SENATOR ELLIS asked if some of the regulation problems could be avoided if the legislature did a better job in writing the statutes. Number 1880 CHAIRMAN TAYLOR responded that what he is looking for is an appropriate check and balance within the creation of the regulation system. SENATOR HALFORD stated that the public does not trust the legislature and that the referendum process should be changed to allow the initiative process to apply to the regulations. Once a regulation is repealed by initiative it cannot be reinstated for a longer period of time than the two years a statute takes. The standard for regulations is too weak and the constitution should be changed to say that no regulation should be permitted unless it is essential for the express purpose of the statute. The public will probably vote for this but it will hamstring the government. SENATOR HALFORD commented the bill should be changed in some way so that it will not be identical to the bill that passed last year. SENATOR DONLEY asked for unanimous consent to withdraw his motion. With no objection, the motion to move the bill was withdrawn. After discussion by committee members on the rewording of SJR 30, SENATOR HALFORD proposed that line 6 of SJR 30 be deleted and that line 7 read: A regulation found inconsistent with its enabling statute is repealed by a resolution concurred in by a majority of the members of each house. SENATOR HALFORD moved to amend amendment 1. With no objection, the amendment passed. SENATOR HALFORD moved SJR 30 from committee with individual recommendations. SENATOR ELLIS objected. The roll was taken on the motion. Voting yea: Senator Halford, Senator Donley and Chairman Taylor. Voting nay: Senator Ellis CHAIRMAN TAYLOR commented that there are two bills pending on the direct election of the attorney general. A report from the Privatization Task Force indicates the attorney generals office is not found within the constitution but is a job created through a legislative act. A bill is being drafted on the job description of the AG and will be before the committee at a later date. With no further business to come before the committee, CHAIRMAN TAYLOR adjourned the meeting at 2:37 p.m.