Alaska politics roundup: Special session grinds on, pension board jets to NYC, gas line reps head to China

Hello from Juneau, where it's rained more than 3 inches in the past 24 hours downtown — and where the dank darkness seems to match the mood of most legislators, staffers and reporters who are still here for the special session.

A quick aside: We're looking for a name for the roundup. We called it The Agenda during the legislative session, but we'd like to have something a little more encompassing — reflecting a wide focus on government, politics and campaigns. Send suggestions to me at nherz@alaskadispatch.com.

Special session grinds on

Most Alaska House members are still in Juneau, where they've been grinding away at the special session that Gov. Bill Walker called on criminal justice and a tax proposal.

Most senators, meanwhile, are gone. They're waiting for the House to pass legislation that the Senate has already approved: Senate Bill 54, which would revise and reverse elements of last year's big criminal justice overhaul package.

The Senate could also take up Walker's tax proposal, which would raise some $300 million by deducting 1.5 percent from wages, capped at $2,200. But the Republican-led majority, which voted down an income tax proposal earlier this year, hasn't scheduled a hearing on the bill this week, or next week.

[New tax proposal from Alaska Gov. Walker would take 1.5 percent of wages up to $2,200]

Instead, the Senate Finance Committee is having a string of hearings in Anchorage next week on the state's broader financial outlook. (Spoiler alert: It's shaky, although just how shaky depends on your perspective.)

Eagle River Republican Sen. Anna MacKinnon, co-chair of the finance committee, didn't answer a phone call Friday morning. But an aide to MacKinnon said that the committee's deliberate pace shouldn't be seen as evidence that it won't ultimately take up the tax bill; instead, she said, the committee is trying to set a foundation for a debate on the proposal.

The House Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, finished a seemingly interminable debate on the crime legislation late Thursday, after days of wrangling over amendments. The legislation heads next to the House Finance Committee and on to a floor debate.

The House Finance Committee held a hearing Thursday on the tax proposal, and had one scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Capitol musical chairs

The Alaska Senate GOP majority expelled Wasilla Republican Sen. Mike Dunleavy earlier this year after he broke the caucus's cardinal rule by voting against the budget it crafted.

That decision came with a raft of consequences, including having his staff members fired and being stripped of his chairmanship of the Senate State Affairs Committee.

[Wasilla state Sen. Dunleavy risks exile from caucus as Alaska Senate approves budget]

But this week came perhaps the most ignominious result: Dunleavy lost his ground-floor office to Berta Gardner, the Anchorage Democrat who leads the Senate minority. Dunleavy will move to a tiny fourth-floor office currently occupied by Dennis Egan, the Juneau Democrat, who's moving into Gardner's old office.

"I'll miss the basement," Dunleavy said in a text message.

State gas line corporation heads to China with Trump

The state-run corporation trying to build a $40 billion natural gas pipeline in Alaska is headed to China on a trade mission with President Donald Trump next month.

The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. is among about 40 companies that have been tentatively approved to accompany Trump, Bloomberg Quint reported Friday.

AGDC has been soliciting investments from Asian companies.

Alaska pension trustees jet to New York

The nine members of the Alaska Retirement Management Board are holding an "educational seminar" next month at a New York City hotel, along with trustees and staff of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. and the University of Alaska Foundation.

The seminar — at the Hotel Kitano, on Park Avenue, on Nov. 9 and 10 — is open to the public, according to a public notice about the meeting. But Stephanie Alexander, a liaison to the board, said she doesn't think there will be a way for people to call in.

The retirement management board oversees the billions of dollars in investments that are supposed to generate returns to pay the pensions of retired state workers. A state law requires annual training for board members on "the duties and powers of a fiduciary of a state fund."

Gail Schubert, chief executive of Bering Straits Native Corp., is the retirement board's chair.

LeDoux accused of campaign finance violation

State campaign finance regulators have levied a $625 fine against a fundraising committee run by Anchorage Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux.

LeDoux's committee — Gabby's Tuesday PAC — filed its registration nearly two months late, staff to the Alaska Public Offices Commission wrote in a Wednesday letter to LeDoux. APOC could have assessed a $2,700 penalty, but reduced that because LeDoux reported the missing information herself.

LeDoux, a member of leadership in the largely-Democratic House majority caucus, can either pay the fine or appeal it.

—Alex DeMarban contributed reporting.