The 28th session of the Alaska State Legislature is underway.
Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell gaveled in the House of Representatives a few minutes after 1 p.m., and the Senate about 2 p.m.
“The House of Representatives assembled here for the first regular session of the 28th Legislature is hereby called to order,” Treadwell said.
Then the lieutenant governor administered the oath of office to all House and Senate members. Twelve legislators have not previously served.
“And I will faithfully discharge by duties as a state representative…to the best of my ability…to the best of my ability.”
The first day of the 90-day session is largely ceremonial. And Treadwell took time to note a one-hundredth year milestone for Alaska:
“Come March 3 of this year, it will be a century that the Alaska Legislature, beginning in territorial times has convened to carry out the democratic ideal of protecting the liberty, promoting the health, welfare, safety, education and prosperity of Alaskans. You, the group just sworn in, are the centennial class of the Alaska Legislature,” Treadwell said.
Some committees begin their work Wednesday, but the big event is Governor Sean Parnell’s State of the State speech at 7 p.m.
Parnell will address a joint session of the House and the Senate for the fourth time as governor. The annual speech to the legislature and public is the governor’s sense of the health of the state and his proposal for spending and legislation.
APRN will provide Gavel Alaska’s live coverage of the speech to all Alaska public radio stations.
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Rosemarie Alexander is a reporter at KTOO in Juneau.
