Issue Position: Legislative Process and Transparency

Issue Position

How the Legislature conducts its business is almost as important as what business its conducting. In 2006 voters approved a ballot measure to reduce the legislative session from 120 to 90 days. At that time, the merit behind this change was more obvious.

Fast forwarding to 2014, things look very different. The Legislature begins taking up legislation almost immediately, and many legislators choose to spend more time, during Session, in Juneau in order to get more work done.

Even with these encouraging changes, the Legislature is left to contend with some major pieces of complex legislation that can change in significant ways, on a daily basis. While legislative committees go to great lengths to provide time for public testimony, the Legislature's daily schedule is generally out of sync with the everyday lives of the constituents it seeks to serve.

It is ironic that the ballot measure approved in 2006 designed to make the legislature more responsive to Alaskans and do its business more efficiently has resulted in the public having less opportunity to weigh in on important legislation that will shape our future.

I believe we should continue a 90 day legislative session. However, I think the Legislature needs to adopt internal procedural reforms to provide the public with greater opportunity to testify and the Legislature more time to thoughtfully deliberate on the increasingly complex issues with which it is must wrestle.

I support maintaining the 90 day legislative session.

I will work with House and Senate leadership to make changes to the Uniform Rules to allow for greater committee work during interim periods. More work that can be done during the interim provides more time for public testimony and careful analysis by the House and Senate and their respective committees during the regular session.

I intend to set aside entire days of committee hearings designated solely for public testimony for any committees I char, and I will encourage other committee chairs to do the same.

My staff and I will be available to our constituents 7 days a week because legislators should have no greater priority than representing the people they were elected by.

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