ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE  SENATE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE  April 12, 2010 1:35 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Senator Bill Wielechowski, Vice Chair Senator Dennis Egan Senator Lesil McGuire Senator John Coghill MEMBERS ABSENT  Senator Hollis French, Chair COMMITTEE CALENDAR  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 287(JUD) "An Act relating to the adoption of the Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act, and to the disclaimer of property rights under the Uniform Probate Code." - MOVED CSHB 287(JUD) OUT OF COMMITTEE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 355(JUD) "An Act relating to criminal fines for organizations." - MOVED CSSB 355(JUD) OUT OF COMMITTEE SENATE BILL NO. 46 "An Act relating to child support awards made by a court; and repealing Rule 90.3, Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure." - HEARD AND HELD PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION  BILL: HB 287 SHORT TITLE: UNIFORM ACT: PROPERTY INTEREST DISCLAIMER SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) RAMRAS, GRUENBERG 01/15/10 (H) PREFILE RELEASED 1/15/10 01/19/10 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 01/19/10 (H) L&C, JUD 03/01/10 (H) L&C AT 3:15 PM BARNES 124 03/01/10 (H) Moved Out of Committee 03/01/10 (H) MINUTE(L&C) 03/04/10 (H) L&C RPT 1DP 4NR 03/04/10 (H) DP: LYNN 03/04/10 (H) NR: BUCH, CHENAULT, T.WILSON, OLSON 03/11/10 (H) JUD AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 120 03/11/10 (H) 03/17/10 (H) JUD AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 120 03/17/10 (H) Moved CSHB 287(JUD) Out of Committee 03/17/10 (H) MINUTE(JUD) 03/19/10 (H) JUD RPT CS(JUD) 7DP 03/19/10 (H) DP: LYNN, GRUENBERG, HERRON, DAHLSTROM, HOLMES, GATTO, RAMRAS 03/23/10 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S) 03/23/10 (H) VERSION: CSHB 287(JUD) 03/24/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 03/24/10 (S) L&C, JUD 04/06/10 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg) 04/06/10 (S) Moved HB 287 Out of Committee 04/06/10 (S) MINUTE(L&C) 04/07/10 (S) L&C RPT 4DP 04/07/10 (S) DP: PASKVAN, BUNDE, THOMAS, MEYER 04/09/10 (S) JUD AT 8:30 AM BUTROVICH 205 04/09/10 (S) Heard & Held 04/09/10 (S) MINUTE(JUD) BILL: HB 355 SHORT TITLE: CRIMINAL FINES FOR ORGANIZATIONS SPONSOR(s): REPRESENTATIVE(s) GRUENBERG 02/19/10 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 02/19/10 (H) JUD, FIN 03/10/10 (H) JUD AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 120 03/10/10 (H) Heard & Held 03/10/10 (H) MINUTE(JUD) 03/11/10 (H) JUD AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 120 03/11/10 (H) Heard & Held 03/11/10 (H) MINUTE(JUD) 03/15/10 (H) JUD AT 1:00 PM CAPITOL 120 03/15/10 (H) Moved CSHB 355(JUD) Out of Committee 03/15/10 (H) MINUTE(JUD) 03/17/10 (H) JUD RPT CS(JUD) 6DP 03/17/10 (H) DP: LYNN, GRUENBERG, DAHLSTROM, HOLMES, GATTO, RAMRAS 04/02/10 (H) FIN AT 1:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519 04/02/10 (H) Moved CSHB 355(JUD) Out of Committee 04/02/10 (H) MINUTE(FIN) 04/05/10 (H) FIN RPT CS(JUD) 4DP 3NR 04/05/10 (H) DP: THOMAS, GARA, DOOGAN, N.FOSTER 04/05/10 (H) NR: KELLY, FAIRCLOUGH, STOLTZE 04/07/10 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S) 04/07/10 (H) VERSION: CSHB 355(JUD) 04/08/10 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 04/08/10 (S) JUD 04/09/10 (S) JUD AT 8:30 AM BUTROVICH 205 04/09/10 (S) Heard & Held 04/09/10 (S) MINUTE(JUD) BILL: SB 46 SHORT TITLE: CHILD SUPPORT AWARDS SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(s) KOOKESH 01/21/09 (S) PREFILE RELEASED 1/9/09 01/21/09 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS 01/21/09 (S) HSS, JUD, FIN 03/01/10 (S) HSS AT 1:30 PM BUTROVICH 205 03/01/10 (S) Heard & Held 03/01/10 (S) MINUTE(HSS) 03/10/10 (S) HSS AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg) 03/10/10 (S) Moved CSSB 46(HSS) Out of Committee 03/10/10 (S) MINUTE(HSS) 03/12/10 (S) HSS RPT CS 5DP NEW TITLE 03/12/10 (S) DP: DAVIS, THOMAS, ELLIS, PASKVAN, DYSON 03/24/10 (S) JUD AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg) 03/24/10 (S) Heard & Held 03/24/10 (S) MINUTE(JUD) 04/12/10 (S) JUD AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 105 (TSBldg) WITNESS REGISTER GRETCHEN STAFT, staff to Representative Max Gruenberg Alaska State Legislature Juneau, AK POSITION STATEMENT:  Was available to respond to questions on HB 287 and HB 355. DOROTHY SHOCKLEY, staff to Senator Albert Kookesh Alaska State Legislature Juneau, AK POSITION STATEMENT:  Explained the changes in the CS for SB 46. ALLEN BAILEY, Attorney Anchorage, AK POSITION STATEMENT:  Testified in opposition to SB 46. ACTION NARRATIVE  1:35:35 PM VICE-CHAIR BILL WIELECHOWSKI called the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. Present at the call to order were Senators Egan, Coghill and Wielechowski. HB 287-UNIFORM ACT: PROPERTY INTEREST DISCLAIMER  VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced the consideration of HB 287. It was heard previously. [CSHB 287(JUD) was before the committee.] 1:36:10 PM GRETCHEN STAFT, staff to Representative Max Gruenberg, offered to answer questions related to HB 287. SENATOR EGAN moved to report CSHB 287(JUD) from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). There being no objection, it was so ordered. HB 355-CRIMINAL FINES FOR ORGANIZATIONS  VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced the consideration of HB 355. [CSHB 355(JUD) was before the committee.] 1:37:24 PM GRETCEHN STAFT, staff to Representative Max Gruenberg, offered to answer questions related to HB 355. SENATOR COGHILL asked how often the court had imposed the maximum fine. MS. STAFT replied the Department of Law (DOL) doesn't keep that data, but Ms. Carpeneti provided several examples when the statute was used. The first was a Green Peace case where the charge was criminal trespass and the fine was $10,000. Another case involved liquor importation by Ambler Air. That fine was $85,000. The third case involved Strategica Import-Export. 1:39:41 PM SENATOR COGHILL asked if the sentence in the Ambler Air case was a class A misdemeanor. MS. STAFT replied it was a misdemeanor, but she didn't know the level. SENATOR COGHILL said he didn't expect answers now, but before the bill reached the floor he'd like: 1) examples when the fines for B misdemeanor and A felony offenses that were close to the maximum; 2) to know if anyone had looked at how this might impact the charging mechanism; and 3) information on the correlation between this and civil liability. SENATOR MCGUIRE joined the committee. MS. STAFT recalled that the Ambler Air offense was a class A misdemeanor and said it's her understanding that the statute isn't used very often because many of these cases are negotiated. The main function of this bill would be to let corporations know what the bottom line would be when they're negotiating, she said. 1:43:20 PM SENATOR COGHILL said he just wanted to know what affect this will have on bargaining and the fallout in civil liability. VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked if he would object to moving the bill from committee. SENATOR COGHILL said he didn't mind, but he wants clarification before he casts his vote on the floor. VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked Ms. Staft to facilitate the work between the two offices and the Department of Law. MS. STAFT agreed to do so. 1:45:00 PM SENATOR EGAN moved to report CSHB 355(JUD) from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). There being no objection, CSHB 355(JUD) moved from the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee. SB 46-CHILD SUPPORT AWARDS  VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI announced the consideration of SB 46. The bill was heard previously. [CSSB 46(HSS) was before the committee. 1:45:20 PM DOROTHY SHOCKLEY, staff to Senator Albert Kookesh, introduced herself and noted there was a new committee substitute (CS) for the committee to consider. VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI said he'd take public testimony while the CS was copied and distributed. ALLEN BAILEY, Attorney, Anchorage, said he's been a family attorney for about 26 years. He is chair of the child custody committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) family law section, and a former member of the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence. He said he is representing himself as a family lawyer whose practice consists primarily of child custody cases most of which are related to violent relationships. He told the committee that before getting Civil Rule 90.3, the practice of family law frequently consisted of primary parents effectively agreeing to receive lower child support in order to continue to provide care for their children. At the same time, there were parents who were willing to sell their time with their children in exchange for lower amounts of child support. That is not good public policy, he said. 1:48:58 PM He related that his experience in 36 years of drafting legislation is that some people for selfish purposes attempt to modify state laws to benefit themselves and others like them in a manner that is a disadvantage to others. The problem with making a statute of what now embodies Alaska Civil Rule 90.3 is that the rule would be subject to the vagaries of the political process. VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI assured him that that was not the sponsor's intent. SENATOR COGHILL asked him to tell the committee about the rule- making process in the court. MR. BAILY said his understanding is that the Alaska Supreme Court justices appoint a committee to make recommendations as to prospective changes in the court's rule. Most of the appointees are attorneys who are expert in the area of child custody and child support litigation. He said it's been his experience that the change process in the Alaska Civil Rules is much more finely tuned than the change process in some legislation. 1:53:56 PM SENATOR COGHILL said he agrees that they are two very different bodies that both make policy so there will always be a tension, but the Constitution gives primary authority of making laws to the Legislature. He appreciates that the court sees how the law interacts at the practical level, but the court also has its own internal politics. VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked for a motion to adopt the new committee substitute (CS). 1:55:49 PM SENATOR COGHILL moved to adopt CS for SB 46, labeled 26- LS0279\T, as the working document. VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI objected for discussion purposes and asked Ms. Shockley to explain the changes. MS. SHOCKLEY said on page 6, lines 24-25 and again on line 27, the phrase "and cash medical support" was deleted. On page 7, line 20, the phrase "For purpose of establishing a monthly support obligation for healthcare expenses," was inserted. The rest of subsection (e) remains the same. On page 7, line [29], "medical cost" was deleted and "health care expenses" was inserted. Page 8, line [4], following "oath" the phrase "accompanied by documentation verifying the statement" was inserted; page 8, line 6, following "This statement" the phrase "and documentation" was inserted; and page 8, line 9, a period was placed after the word "modify" and the phrase "and must be accompanied by documentation verifying the income." was deleted. 1:58:25 PM Page 9, line [2], "court" was deleted and "tribunal" was inserted. Page 10, line 15, "tribunal." was deleted and "court." was inserted. Page 10, line 13, following the word "all" the word "court" was inserted. VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI asked if these are technical changes. MS. SHOCKLEY answered yes. VICE-CHAIR WIELECHOWSKI closed public testimony and announced he would hold SB 48 in committee. 2:02:24 PM There being no further business to come before the committee, Vice-Chair Wielechowski adjourned the meeting at 2:02 p.m.