JUNEAU — With the Alaska Legislature poised to continue its budget and revenue negotiations into next week, Republican lawmakers appear increasingly likely to miss their own party's biennial convention, set for late next week in Fairbanks.
"My duty first is to my constituents here," Rep. Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, said Thursday when asked if she plans to go.
Friday will be the Legislature's fifth extra day of work beyond its 90-day session limit, which was set by voters in a 2006 initiative but can be ignored by lawmakers until their 121st day — their deadline under the Constitution.
The House and Senate still haven't passed final operating or capital budgets, or either of the two biggest measures proposed by Gov. Bill Walker to reduce the state's $4 billion budget deficit — one bill to restructure the $53 billion Alaska Permanent Fund to help pay for government, and another to squeeze more money from state's oil tax regime.
Lawmakers are waiting to finish work on the budgets and Permanent Fund legislation until the House reaches a compromise on the oil tax legislation, House Bill 247. And that legislation still has to move from the House Rules Committee to the House floor, then through the Senate — a process that will almost certainly keep lawmakers in Juneau into next week.
The state GOP convention starts April 28 — next Thursday — and runs through Saturday afternoon.
Sen. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, said he won't make the convention even though it's in his own city.
"I'm not going," he said. "I'm a little busy here."
Kelly is not an official delegate to the convention, unlike Tilton, who's supposed to be representing her House district. She has no travel arrangements to either get home from the legislative session or to Fairbanks for the convention, and she'll adjust them "depending on where we're at," Tilton said.
"Your guess is as good as mine," she said.
If they're still in Juneau, lawmakers who double as delegates won't get to vote at the convention when new party leaders are selected, said Frank McQueary, the state GOP's vice chairman. He said the schedule for the convention was "driven by other timelines" — namely, the national party convention in Cleveland in July.
Of the state legislators, McQueary said, "We would love to have them — it would be very nice to get some firsthand information."
But, he added: "We would understand entirely if they felt it would be inappropriate to break to come up and visit with us."
Democrats could face a similar problem, but not for two more weeks, and not if lawmakers relocate their work to Anchorage after the Capitol closes for construction in early May.
The state Democratic Party convention is set for May 13 to 15 in Anchorage.