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Senate committee advances bill to expand Board of Parole and add specialty seats
Summary
Senate Bill 62 would increase the Alaska Board of Parole from five to seven members, require specific specialty seats and add reporting obligations; the Senate State Affairs Committee reported the bill out with individual recommendations and a fiscal note after supportive public testimony.
Sponsor Lukey Gale Tobin told the Senate State Affairs Committee on April 8 that Senate Bill 62 would expand the Alaska Board of Parole from five to seven members, require dedicated specialty seats and add reporting requirements intended to increase transparency and public understanding of parole decisions.
"The first section of the legislation seeks to expand the number of seats on our Board of Parole," Tobin said. The bill as explained by Tobin and staff would reserve one seat for a member of a federally recognized tribe, one for a licensed physician, psychiatrist or psychologist, one for a member with drug-and-alcohol rehabilitation experience and one for a victim-advocacy representative or a victim of a crime; it also would impose a 10‑year term limit on board members.
Tobin and witnesses framed the change as a way to broaden expertise on the board and to encourage participation in rehabilitative programming. Tobin noted state corrections spending of about $73,000 per incarcerated person — about $202 per day — when discussing the bill's context. "Parole at its very core is hope for those who are incarcerated," Tobin said.
Public testimony supported the legislation. Christina Fedura, Anchorage Reentry Coalition coordinator, said the expansion could "increase access to parole and approval success rates by incentivizing rehabilitation and educational programming among incarcerated individuals statewide." Nicole Zygzkowski, a master's-level mental-health professional, told the committee that adding a board member with substance‑use treatment experience could help the parole board account for the high prevalence of substance‑use disorder in the incarcerated population.
After public testimony, Senator LV Gray Jackson moved the committee report the bill out with individual recommendations and attach the fiscal note. The committee chair announced no objections. The committee record shows the bill was reported out of committee with individual recommendations and the attached fiscal note.
The bill will move forward with the committee's recommendations and the fiscal note attached; members asked staff to provide additional fiscal and operational information as the bill proceeds.
