Both chambers of the Alaska Legislature are seeking to make changes to their sexual harassment policies, lawmakers said Thursday.
They’re seeking to increase training to prevent harassment and improve the procedures for addressing allegations.
The national reckoning with sexual harassment has reached Juneau.
Senate leaders have asked legislative staff to help implement mandatory workplace conduct training.
In a letter to the Legislature’s top legal adviser and human resources director, the Senate leaders also asked for procedures to handle complaints beyond the reach of political influence.
Senate President Pete Kelly, a Fairbanks Republican, said the letter was prompted by incidents both inside and outside of Alaska.
“In light of what’s going on all over the country – and there have been some things swirling around in this Capitol as well — what has dawned on me and leadership is that we don’t have sufficient procedures in place to deal with any kind of workplace issues that might have to do with positional power or sexual harassment,” Kelly said.
House leaders said they had been undertaking a similar review for a few weeks.
Anchorage Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux said the current policy hasn’t been revised since 2000.
“It really doesn’t seem to have any teeth or any mechanisms for reporting,” House Rules Committee chairwoman LeDoux said.
LeDoux said the policy should cover both workplace incidents and those involving legislators’ behavior outside of the workplace. And she said it should cover both sexual harassment and other physical harassment.
“We need a far more robust policy than we have right now,” LeDoux said.
LeDoux said she discussed a joint policy with a Senate staff member.
“I have no control over the Senate, but I will guarantee you that the House will adopt something,” LeDoux said.
Kelly said he’s not envisioning a policy that would apply outside of the workplace.
The Senate president said he wants to have a procedure to address complaints that would lead to a quick resolution.
“We just need to make sure, number one, that a stop is put to it,” Kelly said. “I hope we can. But human beings are human beings and when they break the rules, we want to be able to react quickly.”
Leaders from both chambers said they would like to have new policies in place by early next legislative session in January.
Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.
