Legislature(2019 - 2020)KODIAK LIO
12/22/2020 01:00 PM Senate LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
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| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
DECEMBER 22, 2020
1:00 PM
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Stevens, Chair
Representative Louise Stutes, Vice Chair
Senator Tom Begich
Senator John Coghill
Senator Cathy Giessel
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Bert Stedman
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Representative Neal Foster
Representative DeLena Johnson
Representative Jennifer Johnston
Representative Chuck Kopp
Representative Steve Thompson
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Natasha von Imhof
OTHER MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson
Senator Jesse Kiehl
Senator David Wilson
Representative Sara Hannan
Representative Geran Tarr
AGENDA
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
COMMITTEE BUSINESS
EXECUTIVE SESSION
SPEAKER REGISTER
Jessica Geary, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs Agency (LAA)
1:00:18 PM
I. CALL TO ORDER
CHAIR STEVENS: I will call this meeting of the
Legislative Council to order. It is December 22, 2020, 1:01 in
the afternoon.
Jessica, would you call the roll?
MS. GEARY: Senator Begich?
SENATOR BEGICH: Here.
MS. GEARY: Senator Coghill?
SENATOR COGHILL: I'm here.
MS. GEARY: Senate President Giessel?
SENATOR GIESSEL: Here.
MS. GEARY: Senator Hoffman?
SENATOR HOFFMAN: Here.
MS. GEARY: Senator Stedman?
Senator von Imhof?
Speaker Edgmon?
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON: Here.
MS. GEARY: Representative Foster?
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER: Here.
MS. GEARY: Representative DeLena Johnson?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON: Here.
MS. GEARY: Representative Jennifer Johnston?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON: Here.
MS. GEARY: Representative Kopp?
Representative Thompson?
REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON: Here.
MS. GEARY: Vice-Chair Stutes?
VICE-CHAIR STUTES: Here.
MS. GEARY: Chair Stevens?
CHAIR STEVENS: Here.
MS. GEARY: Senator Stedman, did you join us?
SENATOR STEDMAN: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Okay.
SENATOR STEDMAN: Stedman is here.
MS. GEARY: Senator von Imhof?
Representative Kopp?
12 members present.
CHAIR STEVENS: Well, we have a quorum. We can continue
business.
*Representative Kopp joined at 1:05pm.
II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
CHAIR STEVENS: Representative Stutes, would you present
us with a motion?
1:03:05 PM
VICE-CHAIR STUTES: I would be happy to do that, Mr.
Chair.
I move and ask unanimous consent that Legislative
Council approve the agenda as presented.
SENATOR BEGICH: I object, Mr. Chairman. This is Senator
Begich. May I speak to my objection?
CHAIR STEVENS: Yes. Go ahead, Senator Begich. I can't
hear you.
SENATOR BEGICH: I said I object. May I speak to my
objection? Can you hear me?
CHAIR STEVENS: Yes, I do hear you.
SENATOR BEGICH: All right. My objection is I would like
us to have an additional business item, which is a discussion of
the Governor's boards and commissions appointments.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you. Actually, I was going to
announce that we are adding an executive session at the end of
the agenda, and we'll be discussing the Governor's appointments.
Thank you for that, Senator Begich.
Any other objections or changes to the agenda? Then
the agenda is approved with that addition of an executive
session.
I did want to point out that I believe you've seen
Katrina was sending out the letter from the City and Borough of
Juneau. They were prepared to do a presentation, but we've got
sort of a full schedule, so I've asked them to wait, and we'll
have an opportunity for them to speak to any and all legislators
to discuss this; but it's very good to hear what Juneau has
done. It's good to see that they are the lowest in terms of any
new cases at this point, and they're making every attempt to
help us organize and with testing and that sort of thing. So I
hope have a chance to read that letter.
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP: Thank you. Senator Stevens, can you
hear me? This is Chuck Kopp. I just wanted to let you know I'm
on.
CHAIR STEVENS: Representative Kopp, thank you. Thanks
for being here with us.
I think the only person absent right now is Senator
von Imhof.
III. COMMITTEE BUSINESS
A. ADOPTION OF A SESSION PLANNING WORKING GROUP DOCUMENT
CHAIR STEVENS: So let's move ahead with our committee
business, and I'd ask Representative Stutes for a motion.
1:05:24 PM
VICE-CHAIR STUTES: Certainly, Mr. Chair.
I move that Legislative Council approve the Session
Planning Working Group Document.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you. I will object for purposes of
discussion.
You should have that document in front of you. It
should have been sent to you. I do want to thank the
subcommittee that has been meeting. They just met a few hours
ago, actually, to finalize this plan. I appreciate all of their
efforts and work, and you should have that in front of you.
It's a document that is horizontal. The page is titled -- the
subject is First Day of Session, just to remind you that
Legislative Council has the power to take appropriate action.
That's what we're doing here.
So, Jessica, would you explain that first page?
MS. GEARY: Absolutely.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the Council.
For the record, Jessica Geary, executive director, Legislative
Affairs Agency.
As you mentioned, the working group came up with a
few recommendations. The first one, First Day of Session, it
was decided that the oath of office could be administered to
members individually on a staggered schedule which allows for
social distancing as well as camera close-ups, that whatever
schedule would be coordinated with the Lieutenant Governor's
office and immediate family members would be allowed to watch
from another location.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you. And if you go on, then, to the
Floor Session Location.
MS. GEARY: Yes. For Floor Session Location, it was the
recommendation that both bodies should meet in their respective
chambers, but they should consider staggering House and Senate
floor session times to minimize close contact in the second
floor hall.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you, Jessica.
So those first two items are issues that are
appropriate for Legislative Council to take action on for
pre-convening. Any discussion or comments on that first page?
SENATOR BEGICH: Mr. Chairman?
CHAIR STEVENS: Senator Begich?
SENATOR BEGICH: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a brief
comment. I want to reiterate that I had had concerns presented
to me about the House chambers being so tightly packed that the
potential of creating a health situation is one that should be
considered. And I would just note for this record and for the
incoming House Speaker, whomever that might be, that they should
consider those concerns and comments in their deliberations as
well. Thank you.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you, Senator Begich. Absolutely.
It will be up to the presiding officers to figure out specific
actions. You know, we did consider moving folks to the gym, but
the problem with that is that there's no voting screen, and
there would only be one microphone. And we could wind up with a
much longer meeting, people being in that room much longer than
they might be on the floor.
So this is, I think, the compromise that the
committee came up with. Again, I think it's probably the best
we could do at the time, but certainly I hear what you have to
say, Senator Begich. Thank you for those comments.
Any further comments on page 1?
Let's move along, then, to page 2. Now, again, these
are items that we can only make a recommendation to the 32nd
Legislature. It's not in our purview, but Legislative Council
wanted to make sure that they had all the options that we knew
of in front of them so they would not have to reinvent the
wheel. They could start out with recommendations. They could
accept them, reject them, or come up with their own document.
So, again, Jessica, would you go through that page 2?
And page 2 begins with Remote Voting, Floor Sessions.
MS. GEARY: Of course this issue will be decided by the
floor vote of the 32nd Legislature, but the decision of this
working group will allow staff to prepare for and continue to
test a remote voting system under certain desired circumstances.
So by agreement of the presiding officers of both
houses, the presiding officer may authorize members to attend a
session by video conference when a quorum is needed to conduct
the body's business. That's similar to SCR16, which passed the
Senate last year. A member participating by videoconference
must be physically present at a Legislative Information Office
or their legislative office unless otherwise approved by the
presiding officer.
There was some discussion about sick members should
be excused from the call, as is consistent with current
practice. A couple other considerations -- sick people are not
allowed in legislative facilities. The ability to debate may
not be possible, depending on choices made about location of a
remote voter. There may be no IT support available, and the
scope -- Megan Wallace is preparing a draft resolution to
highlight on some of these, but the scope must be extremely
narrow, and the circumstances must be spelled out to describe a
specific location, whether or not a state-issued device must be
used, and the circumstances in which a member would be able to
participate remotely.
So I know that's a lot of information, and I'm sure
there's some discussion to be had about this topic.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you, Jessica.
I want to thank Jessica and her staff for working on
this document and for the quick turnaround after our committee
meeting, our subcommittee meeting, and having this prepared in
front of you so you know exactly what the subcommittee has been
talking about. We want to have an opportunity now -- does
anybody have any questions or comments on this particular page,
Remote Voting, Floor Sessions?
Okay. Thank you. We'll have an opportunity at the
end if anything comes up you want to talk about.
Let's move on to page 3, which is Remote Voting,
Committee Meetings. Jessica?
MS. GEARY: Yes. So committee meetings, as you know, are
less formal than a floor session and could allow for fewer
restrictions. Again, decisions need to be made, what triggers,
and there's some technical aspects that need to be worked out,
some IT development of an electronic committee report and
signature.
The working group discussed allowing for remote
committee voting under any circumstance, and that all committee
reports will be signed electronically, regardless of whether the
committee is meeting in person or remotely, to allow for a
uniform process.
As a side note, an LIO can only host one meeting at a
time.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you, Jessica.
And, again, Megan is preparing a concurrent
resolution for both the House and the Senate to consider.
Any questions or thoughts on this page 3, Remote
Voting, Committee Meetings?
Okay. We'll move on to page 4, which is Session
Limits, Timing Length, Subject Matter, et cetera. Again, this
needs a concurrent resolution by the House and the Senate.
Jessica, any thoughts on page 4?
MS. GEARY: So the working group made the determination
that they would not set a limit on or a deadline for personal
bills, that the resolution would not set a time limit on debate,
and that any amendment deadlines should be considered in
conjunction with a remote voting option, whatever is decided.
It's strongly recommended that the incoming
Legislature limits time on the floor and in committee to the
greatest extent possible, using COVID-19 Safe Session Ideas as a
guide. That Safe Session Ideas document listed out some -- the
invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance, doing that from your
individual office, limiting the daily order of business. And so
that would require some changes to Uniform Rule 17, so that
could be part of the resolution Megan is drafting.
CHAIR STEVENS: Okay. Thank you, Jessica.
So that resolution is being prepared now. Any
comments or discussion on page 4?
Okay. Let's move on, then, to page 5, which is
Access to the Capitol.
Jessica?
MS. GEARY: Thank you.
The 32nd Legislature will be responsible for making
any changes to capitol access once session begins. The rule in
place at the beginning of session will stay in place until
amended or revoked.
As a reminder, in March of 2020, the Legislature
delegated to the Legislative Council chair or vice-chair, in
consultation with leadership, the authority to make all
decisions regarding access to the capitol in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic. At that point, access to the capitol was
closed off to the public and only certain individuals are able
to be in the capitol. The decision was to stick with that
current practice until the next Legislature convenes and changes
that.
CHAIR STEVENS: Okay. Very good. Thank you, Jessica.
And so that will be the rule until organization and
the next session begins and the 32nd either amends or revokes
it. Any question on page 5?
Let's move on, finally, to page 6, which is the
Policy Enforcement of Members.
Jessica?
MS. GEARY: So, of course, this is a very political issue.
And, really, it's how to accomplish policing members and their
following the Legislative Council COVID-19 established policies
and guidelines.
Basically, to minimize distractions during session
and provide necessary guidance to nonpartisan staff,
consequences need to be determined, if any, for members who fail
to follow the pandemic-related policies. It's recommended that
incoming presiding officers consider ways to enforce compliance
with policies.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you, Jessica.
This has always been difficult throughout our history
to police members, and an issue like this -- I know that
particularly, like the issue of wearing a mask or not, there are
members who have not worn the mask in the Legislature. We'll
see what they do. That's their right, I suppose. And then it's
up to the presiding officers to try to deal with that, however
they wish.
Any further discussion on page 6?
Okay. Well, let's go back, then. I think we've
covered all those pages, Jessica, all the recommendations.
Again, I appreciate the subcommittee's work. We have spent a
lot of time on this, and earlier this morning, a couple hours on
it and had a lot of discussion, a lot of questions.
So at this point, does anyone have any comments or
thoughts about this working group document? Then I will remove
my objection and ask Jessica to take a roll call.
MS. GEARY: Senator Begich?
SENATOR BEGICH: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Coghill?
SENATOR COGHILL: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senate President Giessel?
SENATOR GIESSEL: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Hoffman?
SENATOR HOFFMAN: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Stedman?
SENATOR STEDMAN: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Speaker Edgmon?
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Foster?
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative DeLena Johnson?
Representative Jennifer Johnston?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Kopp?
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Thompson?
REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Vice-Chair Stutes?
VICE-CHAIR STUTES: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Chair Stevens?
CHAIR STEVENS: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Johnson?
12 yeas, zero nays.
CHAIR STEVENS: The vote was 12 to zero, and the motion
passes. I thank you all very much for your hard work on that
issue.
B. AMENDMENT TO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL MOVING AND TRAVEL
POLICY
CHAIR STEVENS: Let's move on to Committee Business B, and
that's the Amendment to the Legislative Council Moving and
Travel Policy and the concern that many had about maybe changing
that at our last meeting.
Representative Stutes, could I have a motion?
1:20:15 PM
VICE-CHAIR STUTES: Yes, Mr. Chair.
I move that Legislative Council amend the days
eligible for per diem upon arrival at the capitol for the first
session of the 32nd Legislature from 10 days to 15 days for
legislators, his or her spouse, and dependents at the same rate
in which they are paid travel per diem in accordance with
Legislative Council Moving and Travel Policy.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you, Representative Stutes.
And I'll object for purposes of discussion.
Jessica, could you give us the background on this?
MS. GEARY: Absolutely. Again, for the record, Jessica
Geary, executive director.
When we've been discussing testing protocol with the
contractor and trying to figure out the adequate length of time
in which members should get tested and quarantine and all of
those different logistics, we had discussed adding five days
onto the amount of allowed pre-session days just to allow
members and staff more time to arrive in Juneau and not have to
worry about whether they have given themselves enough time
before they can access the capitol.
So it's a simple motion, really, and this amendment
would expire after this first session.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you, Jessica.
So that's a good point to realize, is it's just for
this first session only. Any comments or questions that anyone
has at this point?
Then I will remove my objection and ask Jessica to
take a roll call vote.
MS. GEARY: Senator Begich?
SENATOR BEGICH: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Coghill?
SENATOR COGHILL: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senate President Giessel?
SENATOR GIESSEL: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Hoffman?
SENATOR HOFFMAN: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Stedman?
SENATOR STEDMAN: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Speaker Edgmon?
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Foster?
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative DeLena Johnson?
Representative Johnston?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Kopp?
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Thompson?
REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Vice-Chair Stutes?
VICE-CHAIR STUTES: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Chair Stevens?
CHAIR STEVENS: Yes.
MS. GEARY: 12 yeas, zero nays.
CHAIR STEVENS: I'm glad we have this done. I know many
folks want to get there early and be quarantined and be ready to
begin our session.
C. EXECUTIVE SESSION - DISCUSSION ON THE GOVERNOR'S APPOINTEES
CHAIR STEVENS: Let's move on to Item C, Committee
Business, Discussion on the Governor's Appointees. We'll now be
going into an executive session to discuss the Governor's
appointees.
Representative Stutes, could we have a motion on executive
session?
1:23:35 PM
VICE-CHAIR STUTES: Certainly, Mr. Chair.
I move that Legislative Council go into executive
session under Uniform Rule 22(b)(3), discussion of a matter that
may, by law, be required to be confidential. The following
individuals can remain online: Jessica Geary, Megan Wallace,
Emily Nauman, any legislators not on Legislative Council; and
the only staff to remain online would be Katrina Matheny, staff
to Legislative Council Chair.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you for that motion.
And would you do the roll call, please, on that,
Jessica?
MS. GEARY: Senator Begich?
SENATOR BEGICH: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Coghill?
SENATOR COGHILL: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senate President Giessel?
SENATOR GIESSEL: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Hoffman?
SENATOR HOFFMAN: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Stedman?
SENATOR STEDMAN: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Speaker Edgmon?
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Foster?
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Johnson?
Representative Johnston?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Kopp?
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Thompson?
REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Vice-Chair Stutes?
VICE-CHAIR STUTES: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Chair Stevens?
CHAIR STEVENS: Yes.
MS. GEARY: 12 yeas, zero nays.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you. This passes by 12 to nothing.
I'll remind you that this is a very confidential issue, and
anyone who is not listed in Representative Stutes' motion should
now sign off.
Jessica, if you would give me the high sign when
we're ready to proceed, we'll start that discussion. So we'll
wait for that to get into executive session, Jessica.
MS. GEARY: All right. Absolutely. I'll give you the
green light.
1:25:12 PM
Council went into Executive Session at 12:25pm.
2:20:50 PM
Council came out of Executive Session at 2:20pm.
CHAIR STEVENS: We're back into our regular Legislative
Council meeting, and I'd recognize Senator Coghill.
2:21:16 PM
SENATOR COGHILL: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I move that under the power conferred under Alaska
Statute 24.20.060(4)(F), the Legislative Council utilizes
services provided by legal services to undertake litigation on
the behalf of the Legislature regarding the Governor's
appointees and alleged continuation of their appointments, and
that Legislative Council authorize the Chair to give direction
to the legal services regarding this litigation.
CHAIR STEVENS: I will then object for purposes of
discussion. Is there any discussion at this time on Senator
Coghill's motion?
Very well, then. Let's go ahead to a roll call vote
if you would, please, Jessica.
MS. GEARY: Senator Begich?
SENATOR BEGICH: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Coghill?
SENATOR COGHILL: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senate President Giessel?
SENATOR GIESSEL: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Hoffman?
SENATOR HOFFMAN: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Senator Stedman?
SENATOR STEDMAN: No.
MS. GEARY: Speaker Edgmon?
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Foster?
REPRESENTATIVE FOSTER: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative DeLena Johnson?
Representative Johnston?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Kopp?
REPRESENTATIVE KOPP: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Representative Thompson?
REPRESENTATIVE THOMPSON: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Vice-Chair Stutes?
VICE-CHAIR STUTES: Yes.
MS. GEARY: Chair Stevens?
CHAIR STEVENS: Yes.
MS. GEARY: 11 yeas, one nay.
CHAIR STEVENS: That passed, and we've done our agenda and
more. Thank you all so much for being with us throughout all
this discussion.
Is there anything else anyone would like to bring up
before we conclude?
SENATOR BEGICH: Mr. Chairman?
CHAIR STEVENS: Yes, please go ahead. Is that Senator
Begich?
SENATOR BEGICH: Yes, sir. I just wanted to thank you,
Mr. Chairman, for dealing with all of these complicated issues,
and to thank the Legislative Affairs Agency and their staff and,
really, all the folks who pitched in to help us resolve these
issues.
It's been a tremendously difficult time, and I just
can't commend you enough for guiding us through this process and
for the great support we've had from the House and Senate
employees, as well as from you and from all the staff here. So
thank you for that.
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you, Senator Begich. The staff has
done a tremendous job on all of this, working through all of
these ideas we've proposed, all of us individually and
collectively. And they have just managed to keep us on top of
everything.
Anything further to come before us?
IV. ADJOURN
CHAIR STEVENS: Thank you all for being here, and our
meeting is adjourned at 2:24 pm.
2:24:29 PM
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| CBJ readiness for the legislative session.pdf |
JLEC 12/22/2020 1:00:00 PM |
|
| Working Group Recommendations.pdf |
JLEC 12/22/2020 1:00:00 PM |
|
| 12.22.20 Leg. Council Meeting Agenda (002).pdf |
JLEC 12/22/2020 1:00:00 PM |