{"id":50302,"date":"2019-07-08T13:20:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T21:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/special-session-starts-with-a-manic-monday\/"},"modified":"2019-07-08T13:20:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T21:20:00","slug":"special-session-starts-with-a-manic-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/special-session-starts-with-a-manic-monday\/","title":{"rendered":"Special session starts with a manic Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t

Some days, state government moves slowly, but Monday was not one of those days.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The majority of lawmakers in both the House of Representatives and Senate convened at 1 p.m. Monday in Juneau for a special session, and within 90 minutes there was a new Senate Majority Leader, a Permanent Fund dividend bill was given a hearing, and a time and date were set for a joint session for veto overrides — 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“At this point, we’re looking at a single override vote,” said Senate President Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, during a sit-down with reporters in her office. “We’ll see how that comes out. It will be an opportunity for legislators to actually show to constituents where their support is.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Giessel and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, who joined Giessel in speaking to the press, each said it’s not totally clear what level of support exists for an override of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s more than $400 million in budget vetoes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

However, both Edgmon and Giessel said support is there from constituents.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

[Live: Senate and House leaders answer questions about action-packed first day of special session<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“The public is speaking loud and clear,” Edgmon said. “They’re greatly opposed to the huge vetoes that the governor administered. I think by and large, that’s the message I’m getting as someone who attended large meetings both in Anchorage and Fairbanks and who’s heard from rural districts such as I represent. ”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The Senate President and House Speaker said they expect more legislators to be present in Juneau Wednesday for the vote. A smaller group of lawmakers were in Wasilla Monday, which Dunleavy named as the site for a special session.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Edgmon said if representatives don’t show, then it’s up to them to answer to their districts as to why they stayed away from an important matter.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Giessel said she expects most of the six absent senators to be present Wednesday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

One of those absences led to a change in Senate leadership after the special session convened.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Leader Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, was ousted as Senate Majority Leader in favor of Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel. Hoffman also replaced Costello on the Rules Committee.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“I need a majority leader, so we changed her out,” Giessel said. “It’s a permanent change.”<\/p>\n

\"Sen.<\/a>

Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, right, is congratulated by Sen. Donny Olson, D-Golovin, after being named the new Senate Majority Leader, replacing Sen. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, on the first day of the Second Special Session of the Alaska Legislature in Juneau on Monday, July 8, 2019. Sen. Costello joined a minority of legislators that met in Wasilla in support of Gov. Mike Dunleavy. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>

\"Ron<\/a>

Ron Lumba, of the Alaska State Capitol’s maintenance staff, adds the Majority Leader plate to the front of the office of Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bewthel, on the first day of the Second Special Session of the Alaska Legislature in Juneau on Monday, July 8, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t

Earlier, Giessel said Costello would still be welcome to caucus with the Senate Majority.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Only one member of the House Majority was absent Monday, Edgmon said. Rep Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, was part of the Wasilla contingent.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“I think it’s going to be a topic of discussion with our caucus when she gets back,” Edgmon said. “It’s something that we’ll be addressing later on.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Will work pay dividends?<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

A bill establishing a $1,600 PFD, House Bill 2001<\/a>, was also given a hearing during the manic Monday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

That total is similar to last year’s PFD and about half of the $3,000 PFD supported by Dunleavy. It was among a handful of PFD options discussed by the Bicameral Permanent Fund Working Group to start the day.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

[Lawmakers call for Permanent Fund ‘grand compromise’<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“The issue before the Legislature is do you over-draw the earnings reserve based on long-term projections and based on the long-term health of the fund massively cut the budget and pay every Alaskan a sort of double-sized permanent fund dividend?” Edgmon asked. “Or do you strike a compromise within those goal posts?”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The $1,600 PFD bill will receive further consideration by both the House and the Senate Tuesday in a handful of committee meetings expected to dominate the day in the Capitol.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Edgmon said the legislators gathered in Juneau were there to do their jobs of ensuring there is a dividend today and tomorrow, which is a balance not everyone understands or appreciates. However, he said public sentiment seems to favor smaller dividends in exchange for more state services.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“Most people throughout the state are willing to accept a responsible Permanent Fund Dividend as long as we can do our job in the Legislature and provide for quality education, public safety, transportation — essential services that Alaskans come to depend on,” Edgmon said. “And when they are cut to the degree they were a few days ago by the governor’s veto <\/a>pen<\/a> … the public, I think are coming out en masse, like they did when the governor’s original budget came out Feb. <\/a>12<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\u2022 Contact reporter Ben Hohenstatt at (907)523-2243 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt.<\/b><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

<\/p>\n\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All roads — and planes — may lead to Wednesday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":474,"featured_media":50303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[174,34,230],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-50302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-news","tag-alaska","tag-alaska-legislature","tag-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50302","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\/474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50302"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=50302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}