House Republican group pitches plan for House

Reps. Sarah Vance, R-Homer; Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski; David Eastman, R-Wasilla; and Bart LeBon, R-Fairbanks, discuss a plan to conduct House business without a permanent speaker, Feb. 13, 2019. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)

A group of House Republicans has proposed limiting the rules to allow the House to operate until it has a permanent speaker.

Normally, bills are heard first in committee and then advance to a floor vote.

But under the proposal, every bill would be considered by all members of the House, on the floor. Temporary Speaker Neal Foster, a Nome Democrat, would continue to preside over floor sessions.

Reps. David Eastman of Wasilla, Ben Carpenter of Nikiski, Sarah Vance of Homer and Bart LeBon of Fairbanks attended a press conference Wednesday to present the idea.

It faces a high bar to be enacted, since two-thirds of both the House and Senate must approve suspending the rules. The House has been deadlocked for 30 days over choosing a speaker. Under the rules, there must be a permanent speaker for work on legislation to begin.

The leadership of the mostly-Democratic caucus declined to comment on the proposal.

Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.

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