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 counting and absentee/early voting), SB 53 (accreditation standards for law enforcement agencies), SB 54 (registered interior designers and related board matters), SB 55 (employer contributions to the teachers retirement system), and multi-subject budget bills from the Rules Committee by request of the governor (SB 56–59). Additional bills included SB 60 (recognition day for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome), SB 61 (electronic product stewardship and electronics recycling advisory council), SB 62 (board of parole changes), SB 63 (local boundary commission), SB 64 (election-related measures including voter preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds), SB 65 (legal representation of public officers in ethics complaints), SB 66 (demonstration state tribal education compacts), SB 67 (procurement preferences for Alaska-harvested agricultural and fisheries products), SB 68 (employment and hours for minors), SB 69 (sexual assault examination kit tracking), SB 70 (regional educational attendance area elections and related election administration changes), SB 71 (pretrial services supervision agreements), SB 72 (authorization for Alaska Railroad revenue bonds for Seward passenger dock replacement), and SB 73 (marijuana establishment registration and related tax provisions). Each bill was read into the record and referred to the committee(s noted in the reading.

Senate business also included routine communications filed for the record: multiple annual and statutory reports from state agencies (for example, reports from the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development; Alaska Gasline Development Corporation; Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority; and the Department of Natural Resources) as read by the secretary. The secretary identified statutory citations associated with those reports while reading the communications into the record.

On procedural matters, the Senate approved the journals for the second and third legislative days by unanimous consent after the majority leader moved that they be approved “as certified by the Senate secretary.” The chamber also adopted a special order of business citation honoring Dorothy Brownie Thompson after unanimous consent to take up and adopt the citation. The Senate granted a number of cosponsor requests without objection: Senator Rae Jackson asked to be shown as cosponsor on eight bills (Senate bills 15, 18, 21, 22, 23, 28, 45 and 34) and Senator Dunbar was shown as a cosponsor to Senate Joint Resolution 6 relating to Washington, D.C.; those cosponsor additions were recorded by unanimous consent.

Senator Wilcox introduced the members of the Senate Records Office and the session’s pages and sergeants at arms, naming Heather Ramseth, Carrie Toupot, Marigwen Kawakami, Juliana Singh and other staff, and pages and interns including Isabel Braun, Olivia Smith, Ian D’Amour, Jubilee Henderson, Mary Henderson, Yara Platt, Jacob Pinnell and Matt Simpson. Senate staff members introduced included Catherine Hatch, Britney Kanamore, Liz Eilers, Max Goldrich, Sarah Ritter, Kira Akema and Liz Clark; the introductions were made on the floor and the Senate recognized the staff and pages for their service.

Finally, by unanimous consent the Senate agreed to stand adjourned until the date announced from the floor and the meeting ended after routine closing remarks.