We are officially through six weeks of the legislative session. According to a silly state statute, the Alaska legislature only meets for 90 days. The funny thing is, the Alaska legislature has never met for just 90 days. They always give themselves another 30 days. Mostly just to pass the budget. What does that mean for my work this session? Not sure. Maybe I’ll be needed for those extra thirty days, maybe not.
Here’s the story of a “regular” Friday:
8:00 am
Find out everything about deployment of one state’s national guard to another state. What state pays the costs, and if the federal government can intercede. Also if a national guardsman can remove their United States insignia during deployment. (This is in response to the Governor’s idea to send the AK National Guard to Texas, and my guy needs to be briefed before a meeting he is having in 45 minutes.)
9:00 am
Scrambling to get information about why ANCSA (AK Native Claims Settlement Act) and the state’s Natural Resources are at odds on this one.
10:00 am
Fellow staffer is printing out all the instances where a bill we are proposing to raise the age of consent will affect other statutes to prep for a Judiciary Committee hearing. I’ve finally received a bill we are putting forward regarding siblings in foster care for the legal department. Now I’ve got to get an official version of the bill printed on special paper hand delivered, then I will hand carry it to the Clerks office so it can be read on the House floor on Monday.
11:00 am
Rep Gray is on the House Floor. We watch from a television in our office. He gives a zinger of a Happy Birthday wish to one of his arch rivals on the floor. It gets hearty laughs.
12:00 pm
We watch our guy sitting through a tedious Dept of Law Finance Subcommittee meeting. I’m working on a response to a constituent who is upset about a Massage Therapist licensing issue and confirming the booking of State Senator Murkowski’s assistant to speak to my guy during their visit to the capitol next week.
Kayla sends some lunch to me from our homestay via courier.
I send a summary of what we’ve learned about deploying the National Guard to the only reporter/blogger who is covering that story.
1:30 pm
I staff the office while my coworker and Rep Gray sit in the Judiciary Committee. Our amendment to a bill to raise the age of consent gets voted down. At the very end of the meeting our guy throws some shade on his fellow representatives for not passing the amendment. He is chastised by the chair and gaveled out.
3:30 pm
In between meetings (Food Bank, ANCSA, etc) Rep Gray is managing the aftershock from the previous meeting. He’s getting calls and tweets of support, or non-support.
5:00 pm
The office gathers to go over strategies and plans for the next week. There’s a mountain of work to go with the foster care bill, and now we need to see if there’s a way to get the age of consent amendment written as a stand-alone bill before next week’s deadline.
5:30 pm
We all go home early.
And an entry into the new Desert Flowers series. From our favorite bar in Juneau, the Triangle.
Dear M & K, It was good to see you while visiting Juneau. Running into Kayla at the IGA. What a schedule, I wonder how gray your hair will be after the session. Hang in there, you are on the right side.
Thanks for not kicking me out of youi r office when I come say hello. Cheers, Jeff B
Even though I know English quite well- mind you I am not a native speaker of that language- I could not follow, what happened.🫣
Lots of love from India🇮🇳Eike