“The intent is to go tonight even if it’s a little bit later than we normally would like and take a vote on the crime bill,” Rep. Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage, told the Juneau Empire. “It’s just kind of a weird special session delay.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
[Beyond Senate Bill 91: New bill would put more people in prison longer<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, agreed the delay was an odd one in light of the sunny weather in Southeast Alaska.<\/p>\n Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, speaks about the House’s work on the crime bill at the canyon Monday, May 20, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t “I don’t think anyone thought they’d have any problems with getting in,” Wilson said in an interview with the Empire.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Additionally, public testimony for House Bill <\/a>1001<\/a>, a bill appropriating money for public education, was scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday, which Wilson expected to push a vote further back.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “It could be quite a bit later,” Wilson said. “I don’t think we’ll be lonely.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t While legislators had yet to see the bill late Monday afternoon, Wilson said she anticipated that both legislators in favor and opposed to the bill will be “content” with HB 49. The bill is expected to result in putting more Alaskans in prison for longer sentences.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Both Wilson and Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, said the impact of the bill would be expected to create more prisoners than Alaska’s facilities could contain, which would necessitate sending prisoners out of state.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “We’re going to open up Palmer, and that still won’t be enough,” Wilson said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Hannan, who had not yet seen the most recently revised version of the bill, said she took issue with its approach to addressing crime.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “For all political regards, it remains the repeal of Senate Bill 91,” Hannan said in an interview. “I’ve been burglarized and I’ve been assaulted, so it’s not that I don’t care about crime, but my concerns always were with the bill, as it is written, is all it’s doing is increasing punishments.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t She said while individuals would be expected to receive longer sentences, the bill does not provide more funding for police officers or additional resources for prosecutors.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “If we don’t put more police into enforcement, if we don’t have more defense attorneys, we still don’t end up with any reduction in crime, just longer punishments,” Hannan said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Wilson said she hopes the extension the Legislature has received in the form of the special session allows for some of those issues to be addressed.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “There’s no treatment in this bill whatsoever,” Wilson said in reference to programs that could help rehabilitate inmates.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t![\"Tammie](\"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/16922582_web1_Attach37504_20190520_161036.jpg\")
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