House Finance advances bill to rename Human Rights Commission, expand jurisdiction to nonprofit workers

House Finance Committee co-chair Representative Neil Foster on April 24 advanced House Bill 23 out of committee, saying the measure should be forwarded with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. The bill would rename the state Human Rights Commission the Alaska Commission for Civil Rights and make four substantive changes to the panel's reporting, membership-removal rules and complaint jurisdiction.

Representative Andy Josephson, sponsor of HB 23, told the committee, “House Bill 23 makes 4 reforms to the Human Rights Commission. 1 of them is it it would call the Human Rights Commission the Civil Rights Commission. Another is it would move its annual report to just before Christmas rather than or even Thanksgiving rather than the beginning of the session. And and put that, make that an electronic submission of the report. It also would allow that members of the commission could not be removed without cause. And I think the most important feature is that it would give jurisdiction to the commission, over, over complaints brought by, folks in non profits that work in non profits.”

Why it matters: the measure changes the commission's name and procedure and would explicitly give the commission jurisdiction over complaints filed by people who work in nonprofit organizations. The bill also changes when the panel submits its annual report (moving it to the period before the legislative session and specifying electronic submission), and would add a statutory protection limiting removal of commissioners to “for cause.”

Committee action and next steps: Representative Schrage moved HB 23 “out of committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes.” Co-chair Foster stated, "hearing no objection, House Bill 23 ... moves out of committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes." The committee did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript; the bill was advanced by unanimous consent/no objection and will proceed with committee paperwork to the next legislative step.

What the bill would do, as described in committee: (1) rename the Human Rights Commission to the Alaska Commission for Civil Rights; (2) move the commission's annual report timing and require electronic submission; (3) add a statutory limitation on removing commissioners so they cannot be removed without cause; and (4) extend the commission's jurisdiction to include complaints filed by people working at nonprofit organizations. The sponsor and staff said no committee amendments had been turned in and that fiscal notes were attached.

The committee did not debate implementation details such as statutory text, definitions of “nonprofit” or the specific standards for “for cause” removal during the recorded discussion; those items remain to be resolved in subsequent drafting or floor consideration.

The committee's action forwards HB 23 to the next stage with the committee's individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes; members were asked to sign the House Committee reports before the referral.