Alaska Legislature passes budget, energy and education bills to end session

Several senators speak to Andrew Jensen, Gov. Mike Dunleavy's energy policy adviser, shortly before a final Senate vote to approve a new Railbelt transmission organization in Juneau on May 15, 2024

However, the final days of the session were marked by tension between lawmakers, marathon floor sessions and prolonged debates that sparked heated anger from nonpartisan staff. On the penultimate day of the session, several House pages — responsible for passing notes among lawmakers and guarding the chamber doors during floor sessions — walked off the job, leaving legislative staffers to fill in.

In a rush to pass as many bills as possible, House members blew an hour past the midnight deadline, concluding after 1 a.m. Thursday. The Senate completed its work shortly before midnight. “No budget is perfect, but this is a collaborative product,” said Johnson, calling the dividend “balanced” and “responsible.”

Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage and chair of the Senate Education Committee, said she would cautiously support the home-school bill. She had previously proposed competing legislation that would have instructed the state board of education to write regulations with more guardrails on how annual allotments of up to $4,500 per student can be spent.

“I’m proud of being on that education committee. A lot of ups and downs over the last two years but I will say … with this passing out, I feel like we have accomplished enough,” said Allard.Allard and Ruffridge’s work on the committee earlier in the year was marked by persistent disagreements that caused the committee to pause meetings for several weeks.

Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, called the bill “historic” after several prior attempts to establish a Railbelt transmission organization failed over the past 50 years. The crime bill has attracted opposition from the ACLU of Alaska with concerns that extending involuntary commitment periods at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute could violate constitutional due process rights. The civil rights law firm also suggested that longer sentences for drug offenses would not act as an effective deterrent against trafficking.A last-ditch effort to advance election reform failed dramatically as the clock ticked past midnight.

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