Senate President Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, speaks to Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich, D-Anchorage, center, and Senate Majority Leader Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel the morning of Wednesday, May 20, 2020. (Peter Segall | Juneau Empire)

Senate President Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, speaks to Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich, D-Anchorage, center, and Senate Majority Leader Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel the morning of Wednesday, May 20, 2020. (Peter Segall | Juneau Empire)

Capitol Live: Senate approves federal funding, adjourns

Lawmakers hope checks will go out by Friday

9:40 a.m.

Summary: Without much ceremony, the Senate adjourns “sine die” or indefinitely, and lawmakers left the floor fairly quickly following the close of the session.

Yesterday, Giessel said the floor session had been scheduled for the morning in order to allow lawmakers to make the 1 p.m. flight to Anchorage.

9:24 a.m.

Vote passes, 19-1, with only Reinbold voting against.

The Senate is taking up closing business.

9:21 a.m.

In closing remarks, Stedman said without action by the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, the governor would have been able to disperse the money after 45 days without legislative input. He called the Legislature’s actions constitutional, legal and fast.

“We need not make the suffering continue while we squabble,” Stedman said.

9:17 a.m.

“Money is not for local governments, it’s for local communities,” said Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer. “I just want the public to know that by supporting this we are supporting our private sector and there are very clear guidelines.”

An appropriation process would have dragged the process out and she does believe the bill to be constitutional, Hughes said.

9:11 a.m.

“Today we’ve got a ratification bill dealing with over $1 billion coming to us from the federal government,” Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, said.” It has 137 RPLs involved in this, $568 million to 123 communities across the state, further funding for schools airports, fisheries, public safety.”

Any alteration to the bill would effetely block the bill because the House had already adjourned, Stedman said.

During closing comments, Reinbold continued her objections to the bill and the governor’s emergency declaration.

“This is setting a bad precedent for the future, that federal funds coming in are not an appropriation, this doesn’t even pass the sniff test,” she said. “I would like to know who made the decision that it was not an appropriation bill.”

The bill was a false attempt to fix any constitutional defects to using the RPL process to distribute money, Reinbold said, and would be subject to future legal challenge.

9:03 a.m.

Reinbold has attempted to add four amendments, one to end the governor’s emergency declaration, two to provide $1,000 stimulus checks to all Alaskans and another for a full Permanent Fund Dividend.

Giessel has ruled most of the amendments out-of-order and the Senate has taken several at eases to discuss the legislative rules surrounding Reinbold’s amendments.

8:44 a.m.

Senators are meeting at the Capitol this morning to approve a bill passed yesterday by the House that would ratify Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposals for allocating nearly $1 billion in federal funding.

Sen. Lora Reinbold, R-Eagle River, has tried to add several amendments to the bill, but because the House has already adjourned, one amendment was ruled out of order while another failed in a vote.

Reinbold, who yesterday spoke against the bill on the basis that it relents appropriating power to the executive office, is still attempting to add more amendments.

More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast for the week of March 25

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

The aging Tustumena ferry, long designated for replacement, arrives in Homer after spending the day in Seldovia in this 2010 photo. (Homer News file photo)
Feds OK most of state’s revised transportation plan, but ferry and other projects again rejected

Governor’s use of ferry revenue instead of state funds to match federal grants a sticking point.

The Shopper’s Lot is among two of downtown Juneau’s three per-hour parking lots where the cash payments boxes are missing due to vandalism this winter. But as of Wednesday people can use the free ParkSmarter app to make payments by phone. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Pay-by-phone parking for downtown Juneau debuts with few reported complaints

App for hourly lots part of series of technology upgrades coming to city’s parking facilities.

A towering Lutz spruce, center, in the Chugach National Forest is about to be hoisted by a crane Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, for transport to the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to be the 2015 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service)
Tongass National Forest selected to provide 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Eight to 10 candidate trees will be evaluated, with winner taking “whistlestop tour” to D.C.

Annauk Olin, holding her daugher Tulġuna T’aas Olin, and Rochelle Adams pose on March 20, 2024, after giving a presentation on language at the Alaska Just Transition Summit in Juneau. The two, who work together at the Alaska Public Interest Research Group’s Language Access program, hope to compile an Indigenous environmental glossary. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Project seeks to gather Alaska environmental knowledge embedded in Indigenous languages

In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, the word… Continue reading

The room where the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee holds its meeting sits empty on Tuesday. A presentation about an increase in the number of inmate deaths in state custody was abruptly canceled here. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
Republican lawmakers shut down legislative hearing about deaths in Alaska prisons

Former commissioner: “All this will do, is it will continue to inflame passions of advocacy groups.”

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Monday, March 25, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Employees at the Kensington Mine removing tailings from Johnson Creek on Feb. 17 following a Jan. 31 spill of about 105,000 gallons of slurry from the mine, although a report by the mine’s owners states about half slurry reached the creek 430 meters away. (Photo from report by Coeur Alaska)
Emergency fisheries assessments sought after 105,000-gallon tailings spill at Kensington Mine

Company says Jan. 31 spill poses no risk to Berners Bay habitat, but NOAA seeks federal evaluation.

Dozens of people throw colors in the air and at each other during a Holi festival gathering Monday night outside Spice Juneau Indian Cuisine. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Holi festival in Juneau revives colorful childhood memories for some, creates them for others

Dozens toss caution and colored cornstarch to the wind in traditional Hindu celebration of spring

Most Read