{"id":43004,"date":"2019-02-10T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/capitol-live-big-week-ahead-for-legislature\/"},"modified":"2019-02-11T17:35:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T02:35:09","slug":"capitol-live-big-week-ahead-for-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/capitol-live-big-week-ahead-for-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol Live: All eyes on House as buzz circulates"},"content":{"rendered":"

5:35 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Much ado about nothing. Tonight’s House session lasts about 20 seconds. Gavel in, gavel out. See you tomorrow.<\/p>\n

— Alex McCarthy<\/em><\/p>\n

5:20 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bells are ringing in the Capitol. That means the House session should begin in 10-15 minutes. There’s a palpable buzz here. Lots of optimism that tonight could be the night that ends the standstill. We’ll see.<\/p>\n

— Alex McCarthy <\/em><\/p>\n

4:50 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exciting moment here in front of the House chambers. Speaker Pro Tempore Neal Foster just walked into the chambers for a moment, and a small crowd gathered at the door. Foster came out a moment later, two cough drops in his hand.<\/p>\n

“That’s funny,” he says to the eager observers. “I was just getting cough drops.”<\/p>\n

We’ll keep waiting.<\/p>\n

— Alex McCarthy<\/em><\/p>\n

4:01 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Murmurs around the building and on social media that today might finally be the day the House organizes. That’s been the buzz before, but the optimists in the building are feeling good.<\/p>\n

The House still hasn’t met yet today. Just overheard someone outside the House chambers say they expect the representatives to meet at just about any time.<\/p>\n

— Alex McCarthy<\/em><\/p>\n

1:11 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s a packed room for the Senate fly-in Q&A with school districts from across the state. It’s a joint meeting with some senators and representatives sitting at the table, answering questions from over 80 people in the audience. Paul Kelly from the Juneau School Board is in attendance.<\/p>\n

So far comments from school districts have focused on budget strains.<\/p>\n

Pete Hoepfner, former Association of Alaska School Board President<\/a>, speaks about how Cordova School District is experiencing this strain.<\/p>\n

“A lot of it boils down to money,” he said. “One of the things that struck me recently was the health insurance, we’ve seen in the last four years a huge increase, 16 percent of our total budget is going to health insurance.”<\/p>\n

He said this is money that is being taken out of the classroom. He also mentioned how cuts to the ferry system affect the Cordova School District, because then schools have to fly in students or eliminate education services.<\/p>\n

— Mollie Barnes<\/em><\/p>\n

12 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At today’s Senate session, Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, requested that Senate Bill 32 (one of the four crime bills the governor introduced<\/a>) be dismissed from the judiciary committee, which she chairs.<\/p>\n

Her reasoning for this was that she has a conflict of interest with the bill, since her husband works at a health clinic as a primary care provider, and the clinic sometimes treats Alaskans with addictions who have been ordered by a court for treatment.<\/p>\n

“Am I frustrated? Absolutely,” Hughes said on the Senate floor. “I made a commitment to my constituents. (Crime) is the number one mission my constitutions asked me to take on.”<\/p>\n

[Ethics restrictions too broad, some lawmakers say<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n

The bill was reassigned to State Affairs committee, and will have to start over in the legislative process.<\/p>\n

Hughes said later in the floor session that the new ethics laws are overreaching.<\/p>\n

”When the ethics law erodes an essential function of the legislature there’s a problem,” said Hughes. “Yes, our laws should prevent self-enrichment by legislative measures, but the recent changes overshoot that target by quite a bit. The law needs to be fixed.”<\/p>\n

— Mollie Barnes<\/em><\/p>\n

11:55 a.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, introduced a bill Monday that would establish a $30 head tax to help raise money for schools.<\/p>\n

The bill would collect $30 from each person employed in the state, including nonresidents, and would bring an estimated $13 million per year for school construction and maintenance.<\/p>\n

Read more in the press release below.<\/p>\n

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