Lawmakers found they had less room and not enough desks or phones to go around on Monday. That’s because they’re sharing space in Juneau’s Bill Ray Center while the Capitol is being renovated.
They gathered for their floor sessions in a former school gym in another building – the Terry Miller Legislative Office. The House made slow progress on a bill that would overhaul criminal sentencing and prisoner re-entry laws.
The body added four amendments to the bill Monday afternoon before taking a break. It figures to be a long night of debate on the measure, which has raised concerns from some victims’ rights advocates. The legislation draws on recommendations by the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission.
House Speaker Nikiski Republican Mike Chenault says legislators are still trying to understand all of the changes that are being proposed to the bill.
“There’s a number of amendments – probably 20-some-odd other amendments – and some folks don’t know what they do, so they want to spend a little bit of time to decide what they do and how to either argue for or against them.”
The only other meeting Monday was the Legislative Council, which was scheduled to discuss office space in Anchorage. Governor Bill Walker has said he would veto money to buy the Anchorage Legislative Information Office.
Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.
