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Committee adopts substitute for bill expanding wage-theft, organized-theft and human-trafficking offenses
Summary
The House Judiciary Committee adopted a committee substitute for House Bill 97 that adds wage-theft provisions, revises organized-theft criteria and creates additional degrees of human trafficking; the committee then voted the bill out with fiscal notes after testimony and Department of Law explanation of statutory changes.
The House Judiciary Committee on April 30 adopted a committee substitute to House Bill 97 and moved the bill from committee with attached fiscal notes after staff and Department of Law officials outlined substantive changes to organized-theft aggregation rules, human-trafficking definitions and a new wage-theft provision.
Committee staff member Nate Graham summarized the changes: “This updated section ... says a person commits organized theft if they act with a group of 2 or more people and commit 2 or more thefts under Alaska's theft statute. And it also raises the bar by setting clear criteria that the theft must involve 750 or more in stolen property or services or involve specific types of high risk theft.” Graham told the committee that sections from a prior bill (House Bill 68) and technical fixes sent from the Department of Law were incorporated into the substitute.
Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore, Criminal Division, Alaska Department of Law, explained the substitute's human-trafficking provisions and the reasons for specific drafting choices. Skidmore said the substitute clarified language in the trafficking statutes and aligned terminology with existing law: “Within that, the words compels is taken out and causes is put in. That's done both because the laws for human trafficking in the second degree use the terms induce or cause ... So it's really a conforming amendment.” He also described removing sexual-conduct provisions from the human-trafficking definition in order to separate labor trafficking from statutes covering sexual offenses and said the substitute adds a third degree of human trafficking to address persons who assist or provide resources.
Staff explained changes to aggregation timelines for charging thresholds: the substitute allows prosecutors to aggregate commercial thefts over a one-year period to meet felony thresholds while retaining a separate 180-day aggregation limit for thefts from individuals under current statute (AS 11.47.980(e)), addressing a conflict flagged by the Department of Law. The substitute also adjusts the organized-theft offense to require either aggregated value of $750 or more or certain enumerated high-risk items (for example firearms or explosives) and reduces the group threshold to two or more actors with two or more thefts, rather than requiring proof the thefts benefitted the group.
The substitute also added wage-theft language and updated restitution provisions to require courts to order defendants to pay unpaid wages or compensation to victims; staff described the wage-theft component as a response to repeated public reports of unpaid wages across Alaska. Representative Vance and other members asked for clarification about how the trafficking degrees differ; Deputy Attorney General Skidmore explained the distinctions in culpability between first-degree (force or underage victims), second-degree (inducing/causing), and third-degree (assisting or providing resources), noting the third degree’s monetary threshold was based on typical intra-state travel costs.
Following discussion and when initial objections were removed, a member moved that the committee send House Bill 97 (work order 34-LSO0109\O) from committee with attached fiscal notes. After an objection was raised and then withdrawn, the chair announced, “Seeing no objection, House Bill 97 ... moves from committee with attached fiscal notes.” The committee authorized Legal Services to make technical and conforming edits.
The committee took no roll-call recorded vote during the hearing; actions passed by unanimous consent (no objection after discussion). Department of Law representatives remained available for follow-up questions as the bill proceeds.
