Alaska Legislature: Senate Judiciary, 4/27/26, 1:30pm

Oops, now it's 3 o'clock. Let's call this meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee to order. It is 1:30 PM on Monday, April 27, 2026. Before we begin, I want to thank Juliana Singh, the Senate Judiciary Secretary, who makes sure we have a transcript of our meetings, and Doug Bridges from the Juneau LIO, who makes sure we have sound. At this time, I want to remind committee members and all those in the room to please silence your cell phones.

Present day, we have Senator Tilton, Senator Tobin, and myself, Senator Clayman. We have a quorum to conduct business.

Our first and only item of business today is confirmation hearings. The president referred the following governor's appointments to the Judiciary Committee: Violent Crimes Compensation Board. Members have received the resumes from today's two appointees. Today we have Anna Cometa and Joel Hard. First, Ms. Cometa.

I see that you are on the phone. So— oh, you're on Teams. Okay. So go ahead, identify yourself for the record, and begin with your testimony, and we'll go from there. Thank you, members of the committee, and to the chair, thank you very much for having me today.

I'm very grateful to be able to have the opportunity to continue my work with the Violent Crimes Compensation Board. This will be my second term if confirmed, and I really feel that my time on the board has opened my eyes to just how valuable the Violent Crimes Compensation Board is and the services that the board can provide to victims in the state of Alaska is really invaluable. And it's been a great honor to be able to continue my work when— from when I was a prosecutor and assisting victims, particularly in Special Victims Unit at the Anchorage District Attorney's Office to now reviewing claims and helping to alleviate some of the direct aftermath of violent crime alongside my fellow board members. We have an incredible group. The board works very well together, and we've— the, the— our executive director, as you probably already know, has made leaps and bounds in increasing access and and to far, you know, far-flung corners of the state.

And we've seen a 32% increase in new applications since 2022. So we really are doing exciting work here, and I hope that if I'm, you know, if confirmed, I can continue to be a part of that progress. Thank you.

Thank you.

I see no questions from members of the committee. I will just ask, in looking at the interests, I'm trying to figure out the balance between ski racing, yoga, and boxing.

You know, in Alaska, I think you have the opportunity to do so many things that you wouldn't have maybe in the Lower 48, and I have had the great pleasure and opportunity here to really kind of expand my horizons. So I think as a lawyer, it's important to be well-rounded and to understand the community and, you know, have good emotional intelligence. And doing yoga and engaging in skiing and, um, and also boxing can relieve stress and, and help you, uh, I think help me be a good lawyer. And are you ski racing on downhill skis or cross-country? Well, this was a past, past life for me.

I was a downhill ski racer beginning at 5 years old until about— I think I was 21 when I left, when I retired. All right, well, I will only hope that the boxing doesn't interfere with your singing voice. And, uh, but that's not a question, just a Just a comment. I appreciate your service. No other questions.

We will next turn and thank you very much. We'll next turn to—. Thank you. Yes, absolutely. Joel Hard, who's also with us on Teams.

Mr. Hard, if you want to make your presentation, identify yourself for the record, make a presentation as you wish, and we'll see if there are any questions for you. Very good, sir. My name is Joel Hard. Chair Clayman, members of the committee, thank you very much for the opportunity to introduce myself. I'm the new appointee proposal here.

You know, and I believe you have my work history, so let me just say that after 4 decades of serving the public good in state and federal positions of law enforcement and Resource Conservation. I hope I'm not done. I hope my experience might be useful to the Violent Crimes Compensation Board. I have had the opportunity over the last few months to participate in the last 3 meetings with Dr. Jurata and Anna Cometa. They are truly dedicated people, and I'm pleased to work with them.

Director Shanklin and her staff are obviously devoted to helping victims through financial hardships of violent crimes.

My background thus far seems useful and welcome, and I hope that, that this works out and confirmation follows. I've lived in Alaska since 1964. I've worked in every region of the state and lived in most of them. Most relevant to this board appointment is my long career as a state trooper, criminal investigator, and director.

Those assignments took me to just about every corner of Alaska and gave me a very close look at crime and our system designed to prevent it or bring justice to victims when it can't. And unfortunately, that's far too often. But supporting victims is an important way to continue to contribute to that purpose which began for me a very long time ago. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have, and again, I thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself and speak with you this morning— or this afternoon.

I see no questions, and I see you didn't offer boxing, ballet dancing, and and yoga is some combination of activities. So that makes it easier and we won't have tough questions for you. Have you—. Just a quick question— have you found anything about your first few months on the board challenging? Not challenging, but anything that you had difficulties with the process and the people on the committee and how you all work together?

No, sir.

You know, this, this group is a small group and it has the opportunity to really engage intimately on some pretty difficult cases, but they do so with such reverence to victims and sincerity that I found it to be very, very pleasing. Sometimes you can get hardened in public safety and crime has this way of sort of over a long period of time taking people's compassion away, but there's no evidence of that in this group or in this staff or this executive director. They're all very, very committed to what they hope they can do for victims of violent crimes.

Thank you. I don't see any other questions, so I'm going to see if there's anyone who would like to— I'm going to open public testimony on the Violent Crimes Compensation Board. Is there anyone in the room who would like to provide public testimony on the Violent Crimes Compensation Board? I note that Senator Keel joined us at 1:38 PM. Please come forward.

I saw you in the audience and I thought you were here in your official capacity. You may be, but please identify yourself for the record and proceed. Thank you, Chair Kiliamann and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. My name is Laurel Shoup. I am a resident of North Douglas in Juneau, Alaska.

Thank you to Senator Keele for being my senator. I'm testifying on behalf of myself today. Full disclosure, I am the legislative liaison for the Department of Public Safety, but I feel it's really important to emphasize how important this board is. Mr. Joel Hard testified a little bit about the size of the board. There are 3 members total.

Dr. Urata, who you confirmed last year, is a member, so he's the medical provider. Anna Cometa lends that, um, legal lens for that particular board, and Joel Hard would hold that public seat. There is a report that is available. The Violent Crimes Compensation Board puts it out every year. They put fewer than— there are approximately 1,000 requests for payment.

Those average about $3,000, but these go to expenses like funerals for your loved ones who may have been, um, their lives may have been ended early due to some catastrophic violent crime. They do very meaningful work. And so Joel is being a little bit humble in his accomplishments. He was instrumental in improving the Village Public Safety Officer program. It's now a division, as you know.

So he has very extensive experience in rural Alaska. So a lot of those folks. I think he has a great perspective in that respect. Commissioner Cockrell would have liked to be here before you today to testify. However, his plane was a little bit delayed coming out of Anchorage.

But again, I'm here testifying on behalf of myself, and I just also want to thank both Joel, Anna, and Dr. Urata for all of their dedication and service for the Violent Crimes Compensation Board.

Thank you, and I would note that Dr. Urata testified last year when he was appointed, so thank you for coming in your unofficial capacity.

Is there anyone else in the room who would like to provide public testimony? Hearing— seeing no one, I have no one else online, so I'm going to close public testimony on the Violent Crimes Compensation Board.

Commissioner Cockrell, you just arrived. Your legislative liaison in her unofficial capacity individually has already provided testimony. I will reopen public testimony if you would like to say anything. All right. We are going to reopen public testimony.

Commissioner Cockrell. I am a little winded right now. That is okay. We heard you ran all the way from the airport, so you are looking not that sweaty for how far you have run. Stairs to the office, change clothes, and here I am.

I appreciate the opportunity. For a record, I'm James Cockrell, Director of the, uh, the Commissioner of Alaska Department of Public Safety, and I want to, um, basically say that I totally trust Joel Hard in the position he currently is holding with the Violent Crime Compensation Board. He and I have worked together within the Alaska State Troopers for over 20 years. He actually supervised me when he was the director. I was a major, and he's the most ethical, honest person that I've ever known.

He certainly is the most— um, gotta get my words here. Do you want to take a minute? Yeah, let me—. Yeah, let's take a brief release. Sorry about that.

On record. All right, again, James Cockrell, the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Public Safety. I actually asked, um, Joel Hard to take this position because we had a vacant, um, a vacant board position in BCCB. I couldn't think of a better person to take that responsibility than Joel. Joel is probably the most talented person that I've known, and a lot of the good things that's happened to the BPSO program is because of Joel Hard.

When I became the Commissioner of Alaska Department of Public Safety, he was the first person that I tapped on to actually look at the BPSO program, because when I took it over, it was essentially the commissioner before me was going to take it to Commerce, which I know didn't belong there, and it was pretty much falling apart. So I asked Joel for at least a year just to go through the BPSO program and come up with some really strong lasting recommendations to myself and to my staff. And certainly I owe him a lot. I don't think the VPSO program would be where it's at without his year that he worked for us and his leadership abilities to help to transition into the VPSO program. So again, I can't think of any better person to take this position than Joel, and I'm very proud of him.

And certainly we have a friendship that's lasted a long time. Again, he's the most gifted person I've ever known. So thank you for the opportunity to talk to you. Thank you very much. I don't see any questions, Commissioner, so we're going to go ahead and close public testimony.

Again, at this time we're really closed. Thank you very much. Now let me do this. So any, any comments from members of the committee? I, I will just note, um, in this committee in the last couple of weeks we've had at least one applicant for a committee that there were a lot of questions about that person's qualifications, and that person— I'm not naming any names— but that person ultimately withdrew their application.

And I just want to thank you, Commissioner, for working when we— both the doctor that is already on the board, Dr. Urrata, but Anna Cometa, as well as Joel Hardt. This is not where we get to vote. We wait for the joint session. But I just want to thank you for the work that you did in terms of getting folks to apply and to and in Ms. Cometa's instance, stay on the board— to really keep a really good group on these. This is a very, very important public service that needs to be done, but we really— it's vital to have people that understand the magnitude of the job they're doing on the Violent Crimes Compensation Board.

And I appreciate your work in getting good nominees. Well, thank you. I appreciate you guys' opportunity today.

All right. Seeing nothing else, Senator Keogh, may I have a motion? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Judiciary Committee, having reviewed the qualifications of the Governor's appointees to the Violent Crimes Compensation Board, recommends the following names be forwarded to the joint session for consideration: Anna Cometa and Joel Hard. This motion does not reflect an intent by any of the members to vote for or against the individuals during any further sessions for the purposes of confirmation.

The names will be forwarded to the joint session, and after we adjourn, please stay Stay put to sign the paperwork. We will adjourn for the day. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, April 29th at 1:30 PM. Our, our goal will be to be taking up House Bill 239 and passing it out of committee on that day. So with that, we will stand adjourned.

The time is now 1:45 PM.