The state legislative session starts Tuesday. However, the Alaska House is not yet organized. This means that representatives have not yet formed a majority coalition and assigned leadership roles.
The House cannot move forward with its legislative business if it isn’t organized before the session begins. The third consecutive session in which the House began the session without leadership is this. In November, the Senate announced its leadership structure. A bipartisan majority coalition was formed by 17 of the 20 senators.
The House is almost evenly divided along party lines with 21 Republicans, 19 Democrats, and Independents. The House majority in recent years has been a multiparty coalition. However, it is not clear if that will change this year.
Independent Rep. Dan Ortiz stated, “The question is… How are we going to find an organization that moves forward, since neither side can move independently without the support of the other.”
Ortiz, who represents Ketchikan and Wrangell, stated that he would prefer a wider majority to a smaller one.
He stated, “I wouldn’t be inclined to be part of a group that only had 21 members,” adding that a small majority could make it ineffective since any member could stall an act.
Ortiz stated that a perfect coalition would have between 24 and 30 members. Ortiz stated that he believes a larger coalition will also help to ensure a moderate agenda.
Forging a coalition requires a lot of discussions between legislators behind closed doors to find common interests and policy goals.
The House Republicans are somewhat reluctant to talk about how the process is going. Anchorage Rep. Tom McKay said, over email, that he could not comment on the organization process because it was “confidential” business of the caucus.
A second Anchorage Republican, Rep. Dan Saddler declined to comment on the dynamics in organization conversations with individual legislators or the potential size of a coalition.
Saddler stated, “I believe a lot people are very hopeful that there will be some organization so that the people’s representatives can hit it off on the first day. My guess is as good as yours as to when that will happen.
The House organization process took 24 working days in 2021. The process took 31 days to complete in 2019.
More than a dozen House members are represented in this legislative session. Saddler, who returned to the House in the last few years, stated that although the large number of freshmen may have less knowledge about “the mechanics” of organization, it’s also opening up new opportunities.
He said, “Frankly, it’s possible to find new solutions to old problems if you approach each situation with a fresh perspective.”
Independent Rep. Rebecca Himschoot (Sitka, Petersburg, Yakutat) is one of these freshmen. Himschoot and other moderate members could play a key role in the formation of a coalition.
Himschoot stated, “When I ran my first race, I did an assessment of myself and realized that I was someone who believes in the middle road.” “It was only later that I realized that this could be valuable for trying to gather a majority.”
Himschoot stated that so far, her conversations have been mainly one-on-one phone calls in which she laid out her priorities for education policy. However, she anticipates things will pick up when the body meets in Juneau.
She stated that while she isn’t certain a coalition will form by Tuesday, she is confident that the state’s best interests will be served by any structure.
“I think we are all frustrated individually. Himschoot stated that they would love it to work together. “But I believe we are also invested in making it work.”
