Alaska Senate introduces more than 20 bills, refers governor appointments and an executive order to committees, adopts citation

The Alaska Senate convened with a quorum and on unanimous consent introduced 23 senate bills and multiple resolutions, referred gubernatorial appointments and Executive Order No. 136 to committees, approved the legislative journals and adopted a special order of business citation honoring Dorothy Brownie Thompson.

The Senate secretary read a message from the governor submitting two appointments to the University of Alaska Board of Regents: Karen Perdue of Fairbanks and Christine Ressler of Anchorage; the secretary said the appointments were referred to the education committee. The secretary also read executive order number 136 “establishing the Department of Agriculture and transferring functions of the Department of Natural Resources relating to agriculture to the Department of Agriculture,” and the order was referred to the Resources and Finance Committee.

Senators introduced a package of bills that the secretary read by number and short description; the bills were referred to committees for consideration. The package included Senate Bill 51 (establishing the Sunrise Review Board), SB 52 (changes to ballot…