<\/a>Rep. Jennifer Johnston, R-Anchorage, gets her temperature taken as she enters the Alaska State Capitol on Monday, May 18, 2020. (Peter Segall | Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
The Senate’s session was even shorter, with no comments made by Senate President Cathy Giessel or any senators.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Bills approving Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s distribution of federal COVID-19 relief money through the revised program legislative, or RPL, requests process were drafted over the weekend, and legislators set to work right away on moving those bills through the Legislature.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Earlier this month, Dunleavy proposed allocating roughly $1.5 billion in federal relief money using the RPL process and despite warnings from some lawmakers<\/a> about the legality of doing so, the LBA committee approved the governor’s RPLs last week.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t That move was challenged in court by a Juneau man who submitted a lawsuit immediately following LBA’s approval of the governor’s proposal. That lawsuit, and the possibility of hamstrung relief funding, forced lawmakers to come back to Juneau and approve the RPLs through the legislative process.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t [Juneau man sues state over coronavirus relief distribution<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Monday afternoon, both the House and Senate held brief floor sessions in which each body’s respective bill was referred to the relevant committee, Finance Committee for the Senate and Rules Committee for the House.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Sen Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, sits at the head of the table for the Senate Finance Committee to hear a bill on ratification of Gov. Mike Dunleay’s appropriations of federal relief money on Monday, May 18, 2020. (Peter Segall | Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t The bills are identical Stedman told the Empire, and the two were introduced simultaneously because it would be faster, he said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “The prevailing bill would be whichever passed first,” Stedman said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t The bills are both ratification bills, meaning they are only an approval of the governor’s appropriations and do not allow for amendments.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t That was something of a problem for Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, who said the ability to change the appropriations would allow the Legislature to more effectively distribute the money.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “The constitution requires a legislative appropriation,” Wielechowski said in an interview. “I can’t stand up on the floor and make an amendment to this, that’s not a true appropriation bill in my mind.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t While he preferred an appropriations bill, Wielechowski told the Finance Committee, “I’m not going to let perfect get in the way of the good.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Public testimony was taken during the latter part of the Senate Finance Committee and city leaders from across the state called in to urge lawmakers to move as quickly as possible to distribute the funds.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>