The Alaska House of Representatives, which is incredibly divided, stalled Tuesday morning at the 33rd state Legislature. It was adjourned without choosing a speaker and retreated for the day.
The Senate’s 20 members are controlled by a 17 person bipartisan supermajority. Legislators were sworn into Tuesday without incident except for the mysterious absence of Senator Mike Shower, R.Wasilla, who is a member the three-person minority.
The Senate’s organization was previously announced in November. Sen. Gary Stevens (R-Kodiak), was elected the Senate president.
After assuming the Senate President chair from the dais, he stated, “We will most definitely find areas of disagreement, but we know we have to cooperate to achieve the enormous tasks, and challenges ahead of our.”
The House did not make such announcements, as members were unsure what would happen to them after they took their oaths.
The 40-member House was governed for the last two years by a 21-person multipartisan coalition. However, control of the House is now uncertain due to the results from November’s general elections.
This is the third consecutive year that the House has been in a deadlock. In 2019, and 2021, the House went weeks without a permanent speaker. These deadlocks prevented the House from considering legislation and slowed down the pace of work on many projects.
Stevens stated that the Senate’s deadlock in the House “doesn’t have much effect on us.” He said this about the Senate, which is currently preparing for hearings on various topics. “In the meantime, they can be organized if they don’t have the right organizational skills. We aren’t going to tell them what they should do but we will help them get started when they do create an organization.
Speaker vote possible Wednesday
Although registered Republicans have more than half of the House seats, they include Rep. Louise Stutes (the Kodiak Republican who is the Speaker of the House for two years) and Rep. David Eastman (the Wasilla Republican accused disloyalty due to his membership in Oath Keepers.
Members said that Stutes and Eastman were excluded from the Republican caucus so far, but they participated in some negotiations independently.
This leaves 19 Republicans in a caucus. Two shy of the minimum required to elect a speaker.
The former coalition majority is on the other side of the aisle. It includes 19 members if Stutes has been excluded, and Rep. Josiah Patkotak (I-Utqiagvik) is included.
Republicans had been trying to court Patkotak, and on Tuesday they succeeded in nominating him speaker pro tem — an interim leader who has limited powers.
Some members of the coalition have done some personal courting. They failed to nominate Rep. Justin Ruffridge (R-Soldotna). Before a vote could be held on the nomination, Patkotak was elected.
The House immediately afterward voted to adjourn but not before two votes that showed its close division.
Rep. Andy Josephson (D-Anchorage) proposed that the House adjourned until Thursday afternoon. He said afterward that it was unlikely that the House would find a solution to its impasse tomorrow.
Josephson stated that it was unlikely that within 18 hours of sleeping, we would be able to make progress.
The Republican caucus members disagreed and voted by a 21-19 margin to adjourn until Wednesday morning.
Patkotak, Eastman and others joined the Republican caucus to support the vote. Some Republican caucus members have stated that they don’t know how to control the vote as long as Eastman is the deciding voter.
The 2018 Republican caucus members believed they had Eastman’s vote in favor Rep. David Talerico (R-Healy). held an news conference to announce the creation of a new House organization led by Talerico.
Eastman would have been the 21st vote for the group, but Rep. Gary Knopp (R-Kenai), withdrew his support from the group after learning Eastman was not unconditional. Eastman voted for Talerico later, but Knopp withdrew his support, and Talerico was unable to be elected.
The current Republican caucus members, who were granted anonymity to talk candidly, believe that Eastman is to blame for the 2018 failure.
Rep. Cathy Tilton (R-Wasilla) declined to discuss Eastman’s involvement, but spoke generally about the absence of a Tuesday vote on a permanent speaker.
Senate Priority: Education
In the meantime, Tuesday afternoon’s news conference saw the Senate majority outline its priorities.
Senators stressed that education is a priority. This includes adequate funding for public education, as well as ways to retain and recruit teachers.
The Senate Education Committee is being chaired by Sen. Loki Gale Tobin (D-Anchorage), a first-time legislator.
Tobin said that there was a lot of excitement and energy around focusing on (base student allocation increase) Tobin is currently pursuing a Ph.D. on Indigenous Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It focuses on education and culturally sensitive education.
She stated that the education effort includes inflation-proofing BSA (the amount the state pays to districts per student).
Tobin stated, “It will cause a major systemic change.”
So far, no legislator has introduced any bills to increase BSA. Tobin stated that she does not plan to introduce one. Instead, Tobin stated that she would introduce a bill to the committee. It will be presented to the Senate bipartisan coalition within the first four to five hearings.
Tobin stated that she expects legislation to be passed by the Labor and Commerce Committee. It is headed by Nikiski Republican Senator Jesse Bjorkman.
Tobin stated that mental health in schools is another important issue. He cited Anchorage Democratic Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson’s prefiled Senate Bill24, which would amend public school education to include mental health issues.
Cathy Giessel, Anchorage Republican Senator, stated that the teacher shortage in the state was a major issue during the news conference.
We need to ensure that our local teachers are able to grow, and that the university is adequately funded. She explained that when I speak about education, I also mean funding our university. “This is where we get our workforce for many professions. We need to ensure that we don’t shorten the university.”
Tobin stated that the first meeting of the Senate Education Committee will be held Monday, January 23rd. The Sens are also members of the committee. Stevens, Gray-Jackson, Jesse Kiehl (D-Juneau), and Bjorkman are all members of the committee.
Work with the governor
Stevens stated that the permanent fund dividend is “a key component of all that” when it comes to funding K-12 education, teacher retirement and retention.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget proposes the largest single expense: $2.5 billion Permanent Fund dividends. This is enough to pay about $3,860 per recipient for this fall.
Stevens stated, “How can we pay for the government people want while still supporting the amount of the dividend that the governor proposed?” Stevens said, “I don’t believe that’s possible.” One must choose.
Stevens expressed optimism about a positive working relationship with Dunleavy.
“I believe the governor in this term differs from the governor in his last term. His (first) budget was disastrous. The public was upset by it and cut deep. Stevens stated that the governor is now going to be much more easy to work with.
The governor’s proposal to increase revenue through carbon sequestration was also well received by members.
Senator Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, stated that “I believe it’s real cash.” It’s taking up resources for long periods of time and it’s not maximizing the potential. It is up to the Legislature to grasp it. Although it’s complex, there are some trade-offs. If you take a look at your resources, and tie them up for hundreds upon years, it’s obvious that they are tied up. However, revenues that can be used as an offset to expenses can be quite impressive.”
Senator Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) said that the idea of carbon credit is very exciting.
“If we have land that we aren’t going to use, and can make hundreds of millions of dollars, then why not?” It’s exciting to me, so I’m optimistic. He said that he was looking forward to hearing more about it.
The Alaska Beacon originally published this story. It is republished with permission.
