Senate panel advances civil rights commission bill with new settlement tool

The Alaska Senate Finance Committee voted Friday to advance a bill that renames the state's human rights commission, expands its jurisdiction to roughly 40,000 nonprofit employees, and adds a new settlement procedure.

The committee adopted a substitute version of House Bill 23 that adds language allowing predetermination agreements within the commission's investigation and conciliation process. Liz Harpold, staff to Senator Olson and the Senate Finance Committee, told members the change adds a new section for the allowance of and procedure for predetermination agreements.

The bill passed out of Senate Finance without objection and now moves to the Senate Rules Committee, the final stop before a floor vote. The Finance Committee first heard the measure April 21 and took public testimony at that time.

A committee member moved the bill forward with individual recommendations and the attached fiscal note after no members raised questions or concerns about the new language.

Rep. Andy Josephson, presenting the bill to the committee, described its principal changes. The bill renames the Human Rights Commission to the Civil Rights Commission, a title used in other states. Josephson told lawmakers the current name causes confusion, with the commission receiving calls about international human rights concerns and incarcerated people, matters outside its jurisdiction.

Josephson said the most significant change extends commission jurisdiction to nonprofits other than religious and fraternal organizations. About 5,800 nonprofits employ roughly 40,000 Alaskans currently outside the commission's reach. The gap affects workers outside Anchorage especially, since the Municipality of Anchorage operates its own Equal Rights Commission. Under current law, a worker in Palmer with a civil rights complaint against a nonprofit employer has no state commission to turn to.

The bill also makes the annual report electronic rather than paper and moves the deadline from early in the legislative session to November 15. The commission has sought the nonprofit jurisdiction expansion for at least six years, Josephson added.

Josephson reminded members that Alaska's constitution, in its Declaration of Rights, requires a civil rights commission. "This is a constitutional requirement," he said.

The Senate Rules Committee will determine when the bill comes to the Senate floor for a vote.