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Alaska House introduces six bills, approves memorial citations and grants excused absences
Summary
During a legislative session, the Alaska House of Representatives introduced six bills with committee referrals, approved in-memoriam citations, certified and approved the prior journal, and granted several excused absences, including an excusal through Feb. 2 for Representative Divert.
A session of the Alaska House of Representatives conducted routine floor business including the introduction of six bills, committee action on a pending measure, approval of memorial citations and certification of the journal, and several unanimous-consent excused absences.
The House clerk announced a quorum of 37 members present, after which the majority leader moved and members agreed without objection to excuse Representative Divert from the call of the House until Sunday, Feb. 2, at 9 p.m. The House also certified and then approved the journal for the ninth and tenth legislative days, and, by unanimous consent, approved two in-memoriam citations.
Why it matters: The bills introduced affect areas including criminal history checks, K–12 education policy, theft statutes, public-employee retirement options, state park naming, and residential building standards. Committee referrals and fiscal notes attached to some measures will determine the next steps in review and the timeline for possible floor action.
Most significant items and immediate next steps
- Committee report: Labor and Commerce reported on House Bill 68 (alcohol sale warning signs), recommending a due-pass report with amendments and further referral to the Health and Social Services Committee. The committee listing for that report named Representatives Kerrick, Nelson, Burke and co-chairs Hall and Fields; it noted amendments by Representatives Colom and Sadler.
- Bills introduced (titles and committee referrals as announced by the clerk): - House Bill 75 by Representative Bynum — addresses national criminal history record checks for certain Department of Revenue employees, allowable absences for permanent fund dividend eligibility, confidentiality of certain information on a dividend application, electronic notice of debt collection executed on a permanent fund dividend and provides for an effective date. Referred to the State Affairs and Labor and Commerce Committees. - House Bill 76 (House Rules Committee, by request of the governor) — omnibus education bill addressing school attendance, mobile communication devices, reading proficiency incentive grants, charter school authorization, student transportation, school bond debt reimbursement, funding and reporting for Alaska Technical and Vocational Education Programs, and lump-sum retention/ recruitment payments for certain teachers; attached fiscal-note information was announced by the clerk (fiscal-note details not specified in the record). Referred to the Education and Finance Committees. - House Bill 77 by Representative Colom — would make theft of mail or an article within mail theft in the second degree. Referred to the Judiciary and Finance Committees. - House Bill 78 (House Finance Committee) — relates to the Public Employees' Retirement System of Alaska and the Teachers' Retirement System, providing certain employees a choice between defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans. Referred to the Finance Committee. - House Bill 79 by Representative Fields — names the Vic Fisher Shoop Bay State Marine Park. Referred to the Resources Committee. - House Bill 80 (House Labor and Commerce Committee) — relates to minimum standards for residential buildings, construction contractors and contractor endorsements, and establishes the Alaska State Residential Building Safety Council. Referred to the Labor and Commerce Committee.
Procedural and floor actions
- The House accepted without objection a motion to waive notice and make two in-memoriam citations (for John Pickett Sr. and Yoko Schwingendorf) a special order of business and then approved the citations.
- Representative Story moved that the invocation be spread across the journal; the House approved that motion without objection.
- The majority leader submitted several requests for members to be excused from the call of the House on specified dates and times; those excusals were granted without objection.
- The session was adjourned by unanimous consent until Monday, Feb. 3, at 10:30 a.m.
Context and constraints
Most of the bills were introduced on first reading and assigned to committee; the transcript records committee referrals and, in one case, that fiscal notes were attached but did not provide detailed fiscal figures in the floor statements. The Labor and Commerce Committee’s due-pass report on HB 68 reflects committee-level action but no final floor vote on that bill was recorded in the transcript. Where the record lists only committee names or attached fiscal notes without detail, those specifics are reported here as stated: “referred to” or “fiscal-note details not specified.”
Ending
House business for the day was largely procedural; the measures introduced will proceed through assigned committees for further review before any floor debate or vote is recorded in the House journal.
