The Alaska Legislature is moving slowly to address the state’s $4 billion annual deficit, but it will move quickly this weekend as proceedings are displaced from the Alaska Capitol to the Bill Ray Center in the Juneau Flats.
On Thursday afternoon, the noise of tape guns and screw guns reverberated off the tape-marked walls of a building that last housed the Juneau offices of the Alaska Department of Corrections and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Lawmakers face a May 1 deadline to leave the Capitol to allow renovations scheduled for this summer. This last year of a four-year effort will complete a project to stabilize the 85-year-old building and reinforce it against earthquakes, but the work requires the building to be empty.
[4-year renovation plan eyed for Capitol building.]
With lawmakers past the 100-day mark of their 90-day session and still working, they faced a need to continue work and no space to do that work. Places outside of Juneau were considered but discarded; legislators felt that since they are still within the constitutionally defined bounds of the regular session, it made sense to stay here.
[Lawmakers likely to stay in Juneau as session continues.]
In the city, Centennial Hall and the Juneau Arts and Culture Center were considered, but putting Legislative sessions in either location would involve displacing other previously scheduled events.
About two weeks ago, city manager Kim Kiefer (who has since retired) and staffers from the office of Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, approached First National Bank Alaska, owner of the Bill Ray Center, and asked about its availability.
Luke Fanning is Southeast regional vice president of the bank, which has been backing the #letsfixitak campaign urging lawmakers to find a budget solution this year.
“The truth is that the bank recognizes that Alaskans are faced with a $4 billion deficit,” he said. “I guess you could say that providing our building is a good way of putting our money where our mouth is.”
The bank cut lawmakers a sweetheart deal ─ 50 percent of market value ─ for a month-to-month lease.
Previously owned by the University of Alaska Southeast, the center previously housed state offices displaced by construction on Douglas Island. Because of that, it was already wired and ready for access to state telephone and computer networks.
“I’ve seldom seen any leases come together as quickly as this did,” Fanning said.
On Thursday, the building was still mostly empty, but workers were busily preparing for the move to come. Some were disassembling cubicles left behind by previous tenants, others were putting down cable or measuring space for desks and computers to come. The Capitol’s hallway benches, already removed from their normal location, sat incongruous atop thin teal carpeting, stained and rumpled.
In a corner office marked by a sign taped to the doorframe, Rep. Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage, examined the available space with two of his staff.
He’s one of the few lawmakers who won’t share a room; many lawmakers ─ particularly those from the Democratic-led House and Senate minorities ─ will share space.
The House and Senate finance committees will occupy the only group meeting spaces in the center, former classrooms now repurposed. Floor sessions will take place in the gymnasium of the Terry Miller Building. The gym was last used for that purpose in 2008, when Gov. Sarah Palin brought lawmakers into special session to discuss a natural gas pipeline plan.
The process of physically moving into the new building is expected to take place from Friday through Sunday. Committee meetings have been scheduled for Monday.
Tom Wright, chief of staff to Speaker of the House Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, called the new space “certainly not plush,” and Chenault added that the austerity of the Bill Ray Center might encourage lawmakers to get their work done more quickly.
From the bank’s perspective, the Legislature’s lease is open-ended. It’ll last as long as the Legislature wants it to. As a Juneau resident, Fanning said he’s happy to see lawmakers keep the Capitol in the capital, even if their normal location is inaccessible.
“I’m really happy to see this. I think it’s a good thing for Juneau,” he said.
• Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com.
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Tim Powers, right, and Brian Heimbigner of Legislative Affairs set up a committee hearing room at the Bill Ray Center on Thursday. The Legislature is moving to the center as construction at the Capitol ramps up for the summer.
Rep. Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage, left, and his staff member Dirk Craft take a look at their new space at the Bill Ray Center on Thursday. Legislators are moving into the center as construction at the Capitol ramps up for the summer.
