Visitors to the Alaska State Capitol will soon have to go through a metal detector and have their belongings screened in an X-ray machine after lawmakers approved a new screening policy in a 9-4 vote on Monday.
Not everybody’s happy about the change after decades of unfettered access to the seat of government in Juneau.
But if you ask Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, screening Capitol visitors just makes sense. After all, at least 37 other states already do it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“Times have changed,” she said. “There are regular risks and threats of violence. (The) political atmosphere is very charged in general.”
Hannan said in an interview that a screening policy is something that’s been on lawmakers’ minds for years. Hannan chairs the Legislative Council, a joint House and Senate committee that makes decisions about the day-to-day business of running the Capitol complex in Downtown Juneau.
Hannan pointed to things like the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and an altercation outside a state House hearing room last year, which was ultimately broken up by a staffer, as evidence of the need to beef up security.
“I don't believe we can wait until we have an incident where someone is harmed or a weapon is drawn before we take action to make the buildings safe and accessible for anyone who wants to come in,” Hannan said.
Opponents of the new policy, meanwhile, say it makes the Capitol less accessible to the Alaskans lawmakers are elected to represent.
Big Lake Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe, who, as it happens, is a longtime airline pilot, said he doesn’t mind going through security, “but at the end of the day, I represent my constituents,” he said.
“They told me very clearly last summer that they didn't think that we should lock up the people's Capitol like that,” he said.
McCabe isn’t on the decision-making committee this time around, but he opposed adding a checkpoint while vice chair last year.
The opposition, though a minority of the 13-member council, crosses party and caucus lines. Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks, said she’s not so sure screening is needed.
“We don't have an extraordinary or unprecedented increase in security threats,” she said. “I … want to err on the side of keeping the Capitol as accessible as possible.”
Hannan was quick to point out that the new security screening policy isn’t quite like the TSA screening passengers have to go through at a major airport. Visitors to the Capitol will be free to come and go as they please, as long as they get re-screened. There’s no three-ounce limit on liquids or food, and no need for visitors to take off their shoes.
On the banned list are weapons, explosives, clubs, batons and other so-called “blunt-force objects,” plus things like fireworks, flammable liquids and corrosive agents. Pocketknives under three inches are fine, according to the new policy.
Anyone with an electronic key fob that gives them access to the building is exempt from screening. That includes legislators and staff, and even members of the Capitol press corps.
Lawmakers had considered an ID badge system that would clearly identify Capitol employees, reporters, executive branch and court system officials, lobbyists and contractors, limiting the need to screen frequent visitors. But instead, in something of a compromise, the council set the badge policy aside and decided instead to exempt anyone with a key fob.
The head of the nonpartisan Legislative Affairs Agency, Jessica Geary, said she expects screening to begin on April 14 at the earliest. Geary said agency staff are finalizing the formal wording of the policy after lawmakers amended it verbally during Monday’s meeting.
Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, chaired the Legislative Council last year when it rejected a similar policy. She said the new screening policy is a perfectly reasonable way to balance accessibility and security.
“It's going to take less than 30 seconds for people to walk through a metal detector,” according to estimates from legislative security, she said. “When it comes to folks not being able to get to Juneau, the good news is, everything we do is broadcast.”
But there’s a certain magic to being in the room where it happens, to steal a line from Lin-Manuel Miranda, and some lawmakers think the added security measures will keep constituents away. That’s the perspective of Rep. Mike Prax, R-North Pole, who voted against the new policy.
“I am willing to accept the risk of some crazy person coming in, disrupting things or beating somebody up,” he said. “That’s just me, because I think it is important to have a welcoming atmosphere at the state Capitol.”
Prax said it’ll be hard to assess whether adding a screening checkpoint actually winds up making the building safer. It’ll be awfully hard to say something didn’t happen because of the new screenings, he said.
“It's like, I keep garlic in my refrigerators because I don't want vampires in my refrigerator,” he said. “I haven't had … vampires for 40 years. So apparently that's working.”
But at the same time, Prax said, he gets it.
Not everyone shares his tolerance for risk, he said, and it’s important for the people who staff the Capitol building to feel safe at work.
