JUNEAU -- Alaska Democrats say they intend to hold their own public hearings to hear from Alaskans.
The Legislature as been in special session since April 28, but spent most of that on a "recess" from the session that was adopted by the Republican-led majority caucuses in both the House and Senate. Now, leaders of both those bodies say they'll continue that recess informally by holding "technical" sessions.
Those sessions will meet the spirit of the law with a couple of members present, though no actions will be taken aside from gaveling in and gaveling out.
Democrats said Monday they'll hold hearings on the special session issues of the budget, Medicaid expansion and Erin's Law, a child abuse prevention effort in schools.
"After 12 days of doing little and accomplishing nothing, our caucuses have decided enough is enough," said Sen. Berta Gardner, leader of the Senate Democrats, at a Democratic press conference Monday at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office.
The first of the hearings will be held Thursday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Fairbanks and Anchorage Legislative Information offices, with additional hearings to be scheduled later, according to Gardner and House Minority Leader Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage.
When the House and Senate each voted to recess, the resolutions they passed authorizing themselves to do so said each body's finance committee would keep working. That's happened to an extent in the House, with four meetings held in the last week, though with only invited testimony. But Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage, praised the committee's co-chairs, Reps. Mark Neuman, R-Big Lake, and Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks, for continuing to work.
"Rep. Neuman and Rep. Thompson are the only people holding any hearings, and they should get some credit for that," he said.
House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said full floor sessions are not needed because they have no legislation to consider.
On the Senate side, there has been a single, one-hour meeting of the Finance Committee since the recess began. Committee co-chairs Sens. Anna MacKinnon, R-Anchorage, and Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, have not scheduled any additional meetings. MacKinnon was unavailable for comment Monday, and Kelly did not respond to an interview request left with his office.
The decision to not hold any public hearings comes as a surprise to those who heard supporters of the recess say that it was a way to talk directly to constituents away from Juneau. Several lawmakers have publicly doubted that the support for things such as education funding and Medicaid expansion that they were hearing in phone calls, emails, and letters from constituents is really representative of the public.
"One of the rationales for disbanding the session in Juneau and heading home was so people in the public could have an opportunity to talk with us," Gardner said.