While none of Juneau’s three Democratic state legislators were in competitive races, Rep. Andi Story nonetheless is emerging from the Nov. 5 election as a clear winner as she was named co-chair of the House Education Committee under a majority now led by Democrats instead of Republicans.
Juneau Rep. Sara Hannan’s top assignment remains the House Finance Committee she sat on for the past two years, although she will now be in the majority bloc rather than the minority. State Sen. Jesse Kiehl of Juneau, returning to a coalition similar to that of the past two years, will remain on the Senate Finance Committee as a majority member.
The leadership changes in the House announced Saturday, combined with the continuation of a bipartisan Senate majority where Democrats also have an edge in membership, means top priorities of the delegation such as reviving a traditional pension system for public employees and a permanent increase in the education funding formula are far more likely to get through the Alaska Legislature.
But their ultimate fate with Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy still holding a veto pen — or current Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, should Dunleavy get one of the rapidly dwindling remaining open posts in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration — remains uncertain.
Story, a former Juneau Board of Education member for 15 years who has made education a cornerstone issue during her six years in the Legislature — will co-chair the House Education Committee with Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, a like-minded Sitka independent. During the last session the committee was co-chaired by Republicans Jamie Allard and Justin Ruffridge, with the most notable non-funding legislation being a “parental rights” bill restricting references to gender and sex that resembled various “don’t say gay” bills nationwide.
Story successfully sponsored a bill last year expanding the number of official state languages to include additional Alaska Native dialects and was among those involved in successfully expanding Alaska Performance Scholarship eligibility. But other bills seeking to boost reading improvement programs and establish a pilot program for public employees such as teachers to repay student loans failed to advance.
A primary stated goal of Story’s — and legislators now representing the leadership of both the House and Senate majorities — is a permanent increase to the $5,960 Base Student Allocation, which is an amount nearly unchanged since 2017. Dunleavy signed a budget with a one-time increase of $680 for the current year, after vetoing a bill with an increase of that amount earlier during the session that the Legislature failed to override by one vote.
Story, in an interview after Election Day, attributed the change in House leadership at least in part to residents’ voting out lawmakers who opposed the education funding increase, thus raising hopes a Republican governor will be more willing to accept one during the coming session.
“He’s looking at the races too and what was important to people,” she said.
The current House majority coalition has at least 21 members — the bare minimum — including Republicans Chuck Kopp of Anchorage as House Majority Leader and Louise Stutes of Kodiak as House Rules Committee chair. There also are a handful of independents, including Bryce Edgmon of Dillingham who was named House Speaker, after he co-chaired the House Finance Committee as part of the Republican-led majority last year.
Edgmon is part of the four-member “Bush Caucus” representing Alaska’s most remote districts in the northern and western parts of the state, with all four members joining the Republican coalition last year — although three of those members including Edgmon frequently cast votes differing from the more conservative top leaders of the majority.
This year the entire Bush Caucus is part of the Democrat-led majority, due in part to Democrat Robyn Burke defeating nonpartisan incumbent Rep. Thomas Baker — a Dunleavy appointee who generally aligned with the majority’s more conservative members last session.
Other House leadership positions announced Saturday were Nome Democrat Neal Foster, Anchorage Democrat Andy Josephson and Anchorage Independent Calvin Schrage as the House Finance Committee co-chairs, and Anchorage Democrat Zack Fields as the House Majority Whip.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
