Friends and Neighbors,

Sunday night around 10:40pm the Legislature was adjourned by Governor Parnell. This constitutional provision has never been exercised before.

The Alaska State Constitution states:

Article 2 Section 10- Adjournment.

“Neither house may adjourn or recess for longer than three days unless the other concurs. If the two houses cannot agree on the time of adjournment and either house certifies the disagreement to the governor, he may adjourn the legislature.”

This is exactly what happened. After negotiations continued to go nowhere both the House and Senate certified a disagreement on the adjournment date. The Governor issued a proclamation to call the Legislature back into a special session starting Monday April 18th at 1pm to take up a limited scope of issues. Please click here to read the Special Session Proclamation.

What Happens Now?

The House and the Senate will now meet to take up the 10 bills specified by the Governor. Only the legislation specified by the Governor can be brought up at this time. It is still unknown as to how long we will be here; up to 30 days is the only guideline we have.

Constitutionally the Legislature must pass an operating budget. The FY12 Operating Budget negotiations have been continuing. It is still unknown as to what will come out of the deadlock over the Capital Budget.

These are very remarkable times. I will do my best to update you on events. Also please check out Gavel to Gavel on 360 North or Alaska Legislature TV where you can watch the proceedings.

Susitna Dam Bringing Affordable Energy to the Interior

Today SB 42 “Power Project; Alaska Energy Authority” the Susitna Dam project passed the Legislature. This bill will now head to the Governor’s desk. There is still a long way to go and the public will have the opportunity to have a say.

This bill will lay out the ground work for obtaining land and producing engineering and design work in regards to the dam. The Susitna Dam project has the potential to greatly reduce the reliance on oil for providing electricity throughout the Railbelt. This is expected to make energy costs more affordable.

Thank you for reading and please feel free to call my office and share your ideas.