Ever since the 2014 vote to legalize recreational marijuana in Alaska, there’s been the question of how convictions for what’s no longer a crime should be handled today. Both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature have carried bills to limit access to those old conviction records, and earlier this year, the Alaska Court System moved to restrict access to such cases on its online database.
House Bill 28 by Anchorage Republican Rep. Stanley Wright would enshrine that court decision in state law and go a step further by sealing convictions from some background checks conducted by the Department of Public Safety. Under his bill, the state would be barred from disclosing old marijuana convictions if a person requests it and they were 21 or older at the time of the crime and were not convicted of any other crimes in that case.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, had one more suggestion: They pay $150.
When the legislation emerged from the House Judiciary Committee in late April, that was one of the few changes the deeply conservative committee made to the bill. At the March 24 hearing, Vance said it was important that people pay to have their records sealed and noted that it would essentially cover the cost of staff needed to process the requests.
“Because this is essentially a big ask to have their prior convictions sealed that they have to show this is serious and they’re willing to help pay for the associated costs,” said Rep. Vance.
Much of the reason behind the legislation, though, is that these convictions serve as a barrier for people to find jobs and housing. At previous hearings, Rep. Wright argued that people should be given a second chance.
“I think right now a bill like this can give folks an opportunity to reach their full potential. Right now, they’re being held back by some low-level infraction, and they can’t get jobs; they get stopped at the door whenever they try to apply for things to try to take care of their families,” he said. “This is an opportunity to help them further their lives and reach their full potential.”
Legislators in the House Finance Committee agreed with Wright.
On Friday, as the committee wrapped up work on the legislation, Fairbanks Republican Rep. Frank Tomaszewski put forward an amendment to remove the fee altogether.
“This was not part of the original bill; it was added in later, and through discussions with other committee members and the sponsor of the bill, it was egregious to have a fee,” he said. “We’re going to go ahead and eliminate the fee completely.”
The fee was removed by a unanimous vote, with several legislators noting that they didn’t need to put any more barriers to success in front of people. The committee advanced the legislation without objection. Its next stop is the House floor.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.