Senate Finance advances public safety bill with parole board overhaul

The Alaska Senate Finance Committee adopted a public safety omnibus bill Saturday that restructures the state parole board, creates new protections for crime victims, and establishes a tribal liaison position in the Department of Corrections.

The committee adopted a substitute version of House Bill 239 and set it aside for further consideration. Staff described the measure as a public safety omnibus that will advance to the full Senate.

The bill shrinks the parole board from seven members to five and sets two-term limits. New expertise requirements say the board must include a licensed physician, psychologist, or psychiatrist, a member with personal or professional experience in drug and alcohol addiction, and a member of a federally recognized tribe in Alaska.

"We are increasing the number of members from seven to five, and instituting a two-term limit," said staff member Liz Harpold, who presented the bill to the committee. "And in addition of those new members, we are specifically saying that you need to have one who is a licensed physician, psychologist, or psychiatrist, one member with a personal or professional experience in drug and alcohol addiction, and one member of a federally recognized tribe in the state."

The existing requirement that the board include members from each of Alaska's three judicial districts and one member with criminal justice experience stays in place.

The bill creates an Address Confidentiality Program within the Department of Administration for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, peace officers, correctional officers, and their families. The program lets participants use a substitute address for public records while keeping a private address for mail forwarding.

The provisions come from Senate Bill 31, version N, with one change: making unauthorized disclosure of a participant's information a Class A misdemeanor instead of Class B.

Alaska already runs a limited address confidentiality program through the Division of Elections for certain protected groups. The new program expands those protections.

"You need an address to vote, drive, work, and that address can show up in a public record," Harpold said. "And due to the nature of how some of these people interact with criminals, for their safety, this program will help establish a way for them to have a private address for mail forwarding."

The measure creates a tribal liaison position within the Department of Corrections commissioner's office to work with Alaska Native communities on cultural programs and processes.

"Section 77 is where we establish a tribal liaison within the Department of Corrections," Harpold said. "This tribal liaison will be housed within the Commissioner's Office to facilitate internal communications and collaboration relating to cultural programs and processes and to interact between communities in the state and federally recognized tribes."

The bill also tightens who can qualify for medical release from prison and creates an exemption for employees of technology companies who handle child sexual abuse material as part of their work to identify and remove such content from online platforms. It tells the parole board to consider a person's age at the time of the offense when making discretionary parole decisions, a requirement drawn from recent Alaska court decisions on juvenile sentencing.

Casey Schroeder, a senior assistant attorney general in the criminal division, explained that the age-at-offense language comes from a recent Alaska Supreme Court case, Fletcher v. State, which addressed sentencing for juveniles tried as adults.

"The court has also said that the parole board future applications for discretionary parole, if the person was a juvenile and sentenced as an adult, needs to consider their age at the time of the offense when determining whether or not discretionary parole would be appropriate," Schroeder said.

The committee substitute also adds definitions for theft in the third degree and includes technical fixes flagged by the Department of Law.

Harpold described the bill as the product of collaboration between legislators and the Department of Law. "Additionally, I would like to note that given the scope of what this bill now contains, we ought to be referring to it as a public safety omnibus," she said.

The committee adopted the substitute version without objection.