An Anchorage lawmaker has proposed an amendment to the Alaska Constitution that would prohibit the Legislature from working more than 90 days in regular session.<\/p>\n
House Joint Resolution 27, sponsored by Rep. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage, was among the 10 bills and resolutions released Friday by legislators in the second batch of prefiled legislation released before the 29th Alaska Legislature convenes on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Alaska Constitution allows a regular legislative session of up to 121 days, but voters in 2006 approved a ballot initiative limiting the Legislature to a 90-day regular session. That limit was set in statute, rather than the Constitution, and several times since the initiative\u2019s passage, the Legislature has gone past 90 working days during the session.<\/p>\n
One week ago, Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, introduced a bill that would repeal the voter-passed 90-day limit. Claman and Kito spoke with each other, and each man knew the other would be working at cross-purposes.<\/p>\n
Kito said he sees the 90-day session limit as a regional issue as much as anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are more people outside of Southeast Alaska, I think, that would be interested in seeing the Legislature operate less expensively without understanding … that operating less-expensively doesn\u2019t just mean operating more quickly,\u201d Kito said.<\/p>\n
With a shorter session, Kito and other lawmakers have said, lawmakers can\u2019t vet legislation thoroughly; that creates a greater chance for flawed laws to make it onto the books.<\/p>\n
Claman said he believes the matter is about paying attention to the will of the voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the voters tell us they want us to finish in 90 days, we should finish in 90 days,\u201d Claman said.<\/p>\n
To become effective, Claman\u2019s legislation would have to be approved by two-thirds of the House and Senate each, then receive a majority of votes from Alaskans at the polls. Kito\u2019s legislation merely needs to be approved under normal House and Senate rules and signed into law by the governor.<\/p>\n
Claman added that if his amendment goes to the voters and is defeated, he\u2019ll take it as a sign that voters are open to the idea of a 120-day session.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t think that\u2019s likely. \u201cMy prediction is the voters will want us to stay at 90,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Also among the prefiled legislation was an unusual happenstance: The same bill was offered by two legislators on different sides of the political aisle.<\/p>\n
House Bill 237, brought by Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, and House Bill 238, brought by Rep. Adam Wool, D-Fairbanks, each would make Alaska part of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, a program that allows doctors from different states to practice medicine in another state without going through an extensive re-licensing program.<\/p>\n
The Federation of State Medical Boards is backing the compact and has produced model legislation that Wool and Seaton each used in their bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe that\u2019s a good sign it has a chance of passing,\u201d Wool said after being informed that the two submitted the same bill.<\/p>\n
Seaton is chairman of the House Health and Social Services committee, which is expected to hear the bill. Wool is a member of the committee.<\/p>\n
Wool also offered House Bill 239, which would require the state Division of Insurance to investigate any time a health insurance company proposes raising rates more than 10 percent in a given year. Last year, the division approved rate hikes averaging 40 percent for a pair of insurance companies.<\/p>\n
Opening an investigation would force insurance companies to open their books and be more transparent about rate increases, Wool said. That makes it more likely the state will push back against rate increases, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should be pushing back,\u201d Wool said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
JAN. 15 PREFILED BILLS<\/strong><\/p>\n HOUSE<\/strong><\/p>\n HB 237 \u2014 Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer \u2014 Implements the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, a program that allows doctors from different states to practice in other states more easily.<\/p>\n HB 238 \u2014 Rep. Adam Wool, D-Fairbanks \u2014 Does the same thing as HB 237.<\/p>\n HB 239 \u2014 Rep. Wool \u2014 If a health insurance company raises premiums by more than 10 percent in a year, the state director of insurance must conduct an investigation into why, and the attorney general could get involved on behalf of consumers.<\/p>\n HB 240 \u2014 Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham \u2014 If an Alaska Native village corporation is dissolved by the state for failing to properly file reports and paperwork, it can be reinstated before the end of 2017 with all its previous rights intact.<\/p>\n HB 241 \u2014 Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage \u2014 Clarifies that a nonresident (who has to pay extra fees) in the state\u2019s limited-entry permit fisheries is someone who doesn\u2019t collect a Permanent Fund Dividend.<\/p>\n HB 242 \u2014 Rep. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks \u2014 If the Legislature works longer than 90 days, lawmakers can\u2019t be paid or collect a per diem until they pass an operating budget.<\/p>\n HB 243 \u2014 Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage \u2014 Anyone whose conviction is overturned by the state is allowed to apply for a missed Permanent Fund Dividend (plus interest) if they couldn\u2019t apply because of their conviction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n RESOLUTIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n HJR 27 \u2014 Rep. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage \u2014 Proposes a constitutional amendment limiting the Alaska Legislature\u2019s regular session to 90 days.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SENATE<\/strong><\/p>\n SB 125 \u2014 Sen. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage \u2014 Adds two nonvoting members (one from the Alaska House and one from the Alaska Senate) to the board of the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, which is in charge of the trans-Alaska gas pipeline.<\/p>\n SB 126 \u2014 Sen. Costello \u2014 Stocks and bonds sold by an Alaska corporation in Alaska to an Alaskan are exempt from a handful of regulatory requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An Anchorage lawmaker has proposed an amendment to the Alaska Constitution that would prohibit the Legislature from working more than 90 days in regular session. House Joint Resolution 27, sponsored by Rep. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage, was among the 10 bills and resolutions released Friday by legislators in the second batch of prefiled legislation released before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[34,230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-24651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-alaska-legislature","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24651"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=24651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}