Politics

As special session looms, Juneau worries about location

JUNEAU -- Juneau's promoters say the Capitol will be ready to hold a special session of the Alaska Legislature this fall and is very nearly ready today after a summer full of work winds down.

Rep. Cathy Munoz, R-Juneau, said that because special sessions require 30 days' notice, the multi-year renovation and seismic retrofit will be mostly done by the time the not-yet-called session begins.

"Most of the work is wrapping up and we're getting very close to being done for the season," she said.

There may be some inconveniences, such as a few legislative offices and small conference rooms being unavailable, but nothing that can't be worked around, she said.

Gov. Bill Walker has said he intends to call a special session of the Legislature to discuss unspecified natural gas pipeline issues but hasn't said where the session would be held.

The Alaska Constitution gives the governor the power to name a location when he or she calls a special session.

Senate President Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, said neither he nor most senators would advocate for a location outside Juneau.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I personally don't care and I don't think most of the Senate members care," he said. "Juneau is the capital and that's where we have our offices."

Concerns about the availability of lodging have ended with the conclusion of the summer tourist season, Meyer said, though a concern about parking remains as construction crews have used the two-level Capitol parking structure as a staging area.

Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, said the city has offered replacement space in its downtown parking structure.

The issue of where the Legislature meets is of great concern in Juneau, which is always alert to threats of a capital move.

When the Legislature calls itself into session, it has sometimes chosen to do so in Anchorage, heightening those fears.

That's what it did last spring at the new Anchorage Legislative Information Office, but Munoz said that Anchorage session may have strengthened Juneau's position.

"There were issues with holding the session there, practical issues that we don't encounter in Juneau," she said.

Communications issues were among the challenges, including the ability to broadcast legislative action to the state and a lack of adequate meeting rooms for committee actions.

Munoz acknowledged that the construction would have made it difficult to hold the extended session in Juneau earlier this year.

"As much as I wanted it to be in Juneau, the Capitol was under extensive renovation work at the time and there was a lot of noise and disruption that meant it just wasn't practical to have it in the Capitol," she said.

If the session is in Juneau, she said, television and online coverage of the proceedings will be far superior, she said.

"We are very fortunate to have ('Gavel Alaska') and the excellent coverage that they have here in Juneau," she said.

That coverage, provided by KTOO-TV, gets funding from the city's Alaska Committee as part of its capital retention effort.

KTOO public affairs manager Jeremy Hsieh said the station is planning full coverage of any Juneau session, with manned cameras covering the proceedings.

Meyer said legislators may not even need to be in Juneau for the full 30 days allowed in a special session call because Walker plans to provide background information to the legislators before the session begins.

"During this 30-day notice period he's going to try to get us all the information so we're pretty much up to speed and when we get down to Juneau we can hit the ground running, and hopefully won't need the whole 30 days," Meyer said.

ADVERTISEMENT