Thread by @mattbuxton

For the afternoon #akleg, we've got concurrent hearings of the S. Finance Committee on Senate President Micciche's alcohol rewrite bill: w3.akleg.gov/includes/_play…

House Judiciary on a bill dealing with access to MJ conviction records by Rep. Kreiss-Tomkins: w3.akleg.gov/includes/_play…

JKT on his legislation, says it would remove some records of convictions for simple marijuana possession from the public record. You'd have to have been 21+ at the time with no other crimes committed in the act to have your record sealed.

He says it matches the current times.

Over in Senate Finance (I'm not sure why I'm doing this to myself), Sen. Micciche says not everyone agrees with everything in his alcohol bill but says it has broad support from the industry associations.

He's been carrying it since 2015. It's been sunk by industry many times.

Brewers' Guild, CHARR (which was the main culprit in sinking previous versions of this) and Recover Alaska all testify in support of Micciche's legislation. They all say that it's a smart compromise that meets both industry and public health needs.

Glen Klinkhart, the Director of the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, says the board and agency support the bill, adding that he was jealous of the fine schedules and "was so impressed that we stole the fine schedule" and implemented it for marijuana businesses.

I've covered this bill a bunch while back at the News-Miner but the underlying thinking is that a wider fine schedule will allow faster and more certain enforcement of minor rules. If everything's a big fee, then some tickets might not get written and behavior is not corrected.

Sen. Wielechowski, who's a home brewer who collaborated with beekeeping Sen. Wilson on some Mead, asks about the impacts on homebrewers.

Micciche says it's aimed at licensed operators, and home brewers would not be affected.

Good news, bad news for fans of brewery and distillery tasting rooms. The legislation would extend the hours for breweries, wineries and distilleries from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

It would however set limits on # of new businesses. No one gets closed down but limits new entrants.

That's it for the S. Finance hearing on SB 9. They've got it set up for a hearing tomorrow.

The Senate is keen on getting this bill to the finish line while everyone's aligned on it. The problem, though, has been the House where some legislators have ties to the industry.

OK, back to House Judiciary where I'm on a delay.

They're doing the very Judiciary thing where they're getting wrapped around the axle on some hyper-specific hypotheticals.

Eastman wondered whether there's a gray area where a MJ conviction would hide a murder conviction.

After a lengthy back and forth the answer is, no, a MJ conviction in 1990 would NOT hide from the public a 2000 murder conviction if this bill was to pass.

Rep. Vance wonders how many of the 700-or-so people who would be affected this have had their MJ convictions impede work.

JKT says, no, just anecdotal.

Vance says she's concerned about the cost, suggesting it should be a proactive application by the individuals.

The cost is about $300K, per the fiscal note, over two years.

Whether it requires a petition or automatic doesn't affect the cost of the bill. Rep. Kreiss-Tomkins says, though, they would be welcome to any cost-cutting approaches.

Aide for Rep. Kreiss-Tomkins says there's actually closer to 8,000 cases that would be affected by this legislation.

Ah, the motto of the Judiciary Committees: "Let's say..."

Rep. Kurka doesn't like that the bill would remove records off courtview but they'd still be at the courthouse. Asks if the #akleg has EVER done this.

Meade: Yes, in 2015 with a bill requiring any case that ends in a complete acquittal be removed from courtview.

Kurka: Hmm.