Legislature(2021 - 2022)
05/14/2021 12:30 PM Senate LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
MAY 14, 2021
12:30 PM
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Sara Hannan, Chair
Senator Lora Reinbold, Vice Chair
Senator Click Bishop
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Mike Shower
Senator Bert Stedman
Senator Gary Stevens
Representative Louise Stutes
Representative Bryce Edgmon
Representative Chris Tuck
Representative Matt Claman
Representative Neal Foster
Representative Cathy Tilton
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Shelley Hughes
OTHER MEMBERS PRESENT
Representatives Eastman, McCarty, Merrick, and Rasmussen
AGENDA
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
COMMITTEE BUSINESS
ADJOURN
SPEAKER REGISTER
Sant Lesh, Deputy Executive Director, Legislative Affairs
Agency (LAA)
Megan Wallace, Legal Services Director, LAA
12:33:05 PM
I. CALL TO ORDER
CHAIR HANNAN called the Legislative Council meeting to
order at 12:33pm in the House Finance Committee Room.
Present at the call were: Representatives Claman, Edgmon,
Foster, Hannan, Stutes, Tilton, Tuck; Senators Bishop,
Micciche, Reinbold, Shower, Stedman, Stevens.
Members absent were: Senators Hoffman, Hughes.
Thirteen members present.
II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
12:34:15 PM
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD moved and asked unanimous consent that
the Legislative Council approve the agenda as presented.
III. COMMITTEE BUSINESS
CHAIR HANNAN noted the single item of committee business,
the adoption of a COVID-19 Mitigation Policy.
12:34:32 PM
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD stated that she had never been happier
to make a motion in her life and moved that the Legislative
Council adopt the COVID-19 Mitigation Policy dated May 14,
2021.
CHAIR HANNAN objected for purposes of discussion and gave
the floor to Senate President Micciche.
SENATE PRESIDENT MICCICHE thanked Chair Hannan and stated
that this greater legislative family had weathered the
pandemic well, in no small part to the policies put in
place prior to the Thirty-Second Legislative Session. He
stated the testing, screening, and masking policies were
stricter than some businesses, but that they paid off and
resulted in very few cases within the building. He cited
the previous day's CDC guidance that fully vaccinated
people need no longer wear a mask or physically distance in
most settings. Given that the Capitol's vaccination rate
had recently surpassed eighty percent, he stated that the
Legislative Council's working group on COVID-19 mitigation
policies met this morning and agreed that masking within
the building could become voluntary. He stated that within
this community, many sacrifices had been made for the
health and safety of friends and colleagues, however, the
time had come for these efforts to be rewarded and to pass
back to normalcy. He thanked everyone who was involved with
these efforts and thought it could be called a success.
CHAIR HANNAN invited Sant Lesh, Deputy Executive Director
of the Legislative Affairs Agency and Megan Wallace, the
Legal Services Director, to give a walk-through of the
updated policy document before members.
MS. LESH stated her name and title for the record. She
spoke to the newness of the policy and that it would take
the place of the previous operating policies for face
coverings and masks.
Under Item I, Face Coverings/Masks, these would become
optional in all legislative facilities. The working group
mentioned above outlined the following exceptions: an
individual legislator may require masks in their office(s),
a Legislative Information Office may require masks to be
worn during the delivery of in-person services, and other
requests that are not covered by these exceptions may be
considered by the Legislative Council Chair or designee.
She stated that the thought behind the above concerns was
that some communities may experience very high rates of
COVID-19 spread, and how there may be an LIO within those
communities that could not operate safely without mask
requirements for in-person services. A disclaimer from the
original mask policy remained in the update which stated
that if a person declined to wear a mask because of a
disability or a medical condition, this policy would not
require them to produce documentation of their condition,
however it would be asked (though not required) that
legislators and legislative staff work through the
confidential Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation
process with Personnel if that was the case.
Item II, Screening, said that daily screening remained
required to ensure that people are safe, were not bringing
potential contagions into the Capitol, and were helped to
catch it at the door if they were not feeling well.
Item III, Testing, was now only recommended under certain
circumstances per CDC guidelines. If an individual,
vaccinated or not, was experiencing symptoms of COVID-19,
they should get tested (especially upon traveling). She
mentioned Dr. Tom Hennessey specifically brought up the
issue of travel during the working group meeting as
something that the Legislature may want to consider still
testing for, as well as asking weekly cycle testing of
unvaccinated individuals. She stated that all of these were
recommendations, none were mandatory, and were made with
the goal of keeping people who work for the Legislature as
safe as possible.
Item IV, Positive Test/Close Contact, stated that the
Legislature would follow CDC guidance for individuals with
the above situations. Should someone come in and test
positive or be listed as a close contact of someone who
has, members wanted to have a guideline in place that could
keep up with whatever the most recent CDC guidance was.
Finally, Item V, Updated Policy/Effect, stated that this
policy supersedes all other policies that had been in
effect up until now. She said that she and Ms. Wallace
would be happy to answer questions members may have.
REPRESENTATIVE TILTON spoke to her gratitude for the
updated policy, then asked if access points would remain
the same in the Capitol or if there was any talk of opening
other access points as the lobby entrance can get backed up
at peak hours.
MS. LESH thanked Representative Tilton for her question and
said that it could be discussed with Beacon but the issue
with screening was that only so much space was available in
the building to set up a screening station, resulting in
the current stations in the lobby and on the second-floor
catwalk entrance. She stated that some legislators and
staff have requested and received accommodations as
necessary for building entry, but she believed that other
screening locations could certainly be worked out with
Beacon and said that it could be possible to screen on the
first floor and then re-enter the building from another
location to cut down on traffic in the lobby.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD stated that she was thrilled about this
change overall but was confused why members could not
discuss it Wednesday but could on Friday. She said she was
not in the work group, it was the two Presiding Officers
and two Rules Chairs, so any work that they had done to
change the policy she is grateful for, she just wished it
would have been done a lot sooner. She said she was
disappointed that the rules were arbitrarily applied; she
was fined, but yet at skits there was an event-
CHAIR HANNAN said she did not want to rule the VICE-CHAIR
out of order, but what members were speaking to was the
policy and she needed her to constrain her comments to
today's discussion about this policy within the building,
not in other parts of the community.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD said that one of the fines was given to
her in a State building and-
CHAIR HANNAN said that State buildings are not what the
discussion was about; that it was the policy that members
have before them. She asked the Vice Chair to constrain-
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD stated that she believes it was the
Thomas Stewart Building. She stated that in regard to the
EUA, the COVID-19 vaccines were still under emergency use
authorization, and also said that the PCR tests were under
EUA as well. She had not seen, to the best of her
knowledge, an approval to these without emergency use, so
they could not legally be mandated. She said she was very
happy to know that it was now in state law thanks to
everybody who voted for the amendment, that under state law
people could decline COVID-19 vaccines for their children
or for other adults-
CHAIR HANNAN asked the Vice-Chair to constrain her
comments, concerns, and history to the policy. This policy
did not deal with citizens instate being recommended to
vaccinate or not vaccinate; no vaccinations are required
and said that she needed the Vice-Chair to constrain her
comments.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD said she questioned cycle testing for
unvaccinated individuals and that was why-
CHAIR HANNAN said only members of this building, so not the
community.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD said that she guessed she was a member
of the community.
CHAIR HANNAN went on and said it was only recommended, not
required-
12:43:46 PM
A brief at-ease was called.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD said she was glad that weekly cycle
testing was just a recommendation, but her point was that
she did not want anyone segregated based on
vaccinated/unvaccinated status. She said she was very happy
overall with the policy changes, and as members know, she
did struggle with the earlier mask policies very, very much
because she does not believe in medical intervention, but
with that she was super happy that members are changing the
policy and would definitely be supporting it.
SENATOR STEVENS thanked Ms. Lesh for making sense of the
working group meeting recommendations and said this had
been a great success thus far. Efforts by all in the
Complex had protected everyone, even while it was a
struggle for everyone involved. The Capitol had seen very
few outbreaks and things could have, and likely would have,
been much worse without these protective measures. He asked
about the word, "Juneau" under Item III (Testing) and
stated that committee meetings, business, sessions could
all happen in places other than Juneau. He suggested
striking "An individual returning to Juneau," and beginning
with "after traveling."
MEGAN WALLACE acknowledged his suggestion and said she did
not know at present what the testing availability was
outside of Juneau. She was unsure if someone could be
covered by Beacon OHSS through this contract to be tested
somewhere other than Juneau. She said the intent was for
legislators and staff who were traveling out of Juneau and
returning to the Capitol for session to test upon return to
town before coming back to the building to ensure they had
not contracted anything during their travels.
SENATOR STEVENS thanked her for her answer but said it did
not really answer his question. If members had committee
meetings in Anchorage, which happens often in the interim,
if members had a session in Wasilla, for heavens' sake,
members would have to find a way to solve that to protect
people. He said it remained a question for him.
CHAIR HANNAN reminded Senator Stevens that both of Governor
Dunleavy's calls yesterday for special sessions were in
Juneau.
SENATOR STEVENS spoke to committee meetings still being
elsewhere.
CHAIR HANNAN said it would be up to the will of the
committee to change that.
SPEAKER STUTES said she was unclear on one thing even
though she attended the meeting this morning: testing. The
policy said that individuals would still be screened at the
door, but if somebody was at the door and they appeared to
have a fever, would they be required to test before they
were admitted to the Capitol? She noted that the policy
said "recommended," it did not say that an individual would
be required to test if they had symptoms.
MS. LESH said she believed the intent of the policy was
that if someone was symptomatic upon screening at the
Capitol, they would be asked to test prior to being allowed
to enter the building, so members may want to add language
that says that specifically so there is no confusion.
However, testing overall has been recommended and not
mandatory. Perhaps, depending on what the Legislative
Council thought should happen, she could adjust the
language to reflect that.
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON thanked Speaker Stutes for her
question and stated his support of the measure. He said for
the record that this should not represent a victory lap as
the pandemic is ongoing, and as he saw it, there are still
one or two out of every ten in the Capitol who remained
unvaccinated. Members of the House, possibly the Senate, as
well as staff within the building have underlying health
issues that put them at risk, and there are also people who
medically cannot vaccinate due to health issues. He stated
that he shared the exhilaration of the celebratory members
but felt that there was still a long road ahead of this
community, especially due to the unpredictable nature of
viral variants and other aspects of this pandemic.
SENATOR SHOWER expressed his gratitude for the chance to
look at and discuss this policy, and said he agreed with
Representative Edgmon that remaining cautious is important,
but also that members must remain flexible in the event of
things taking a turn for the worse. He asked for
clarification on a few things, and said he has a staff
member who adheres to a religion and inquired about
religious exemptions for masking. He said he promised his
staff member he would discuss it with the Council.
MS. LESH asked if he means a religious exemption to decline
wearing a mask, which Senator Shower confirmed was the
case.
CHAIR HANNAN asked if he meant an exemption to masking in
an LIO or in his own office.
SENATOR SHOWER said he was asking if a religious exemption
could apply outside of the office, as there are already
medical and disability exemptions available for individuals
to decline wearing a mask in public spaces. He stated that
his staff member was currently wearing a mask but under
protest and hoped that policy could be changed to allow him
exemption. Senator Shower said he did not want to make a
big point of it, his employee said he would live with the
masking if he had to, but that he said he would inquire, so
that was what he was doing.
MS. LESH said that she believed the policy was written to
give as much flexibility as possible to allow those who
have underlying conditions and cannot be vaccinated some
measure of protection. She believed that this case could be
considered by the Chair or her designee.
SENATOR SHOWER thanked her for the answer and asked,
regarding screening, what would be required, as screening
could take up a lot of time. He said one of his staff
members wife worked in a hospital in Portland, where five
thousand employees went through screening daily. He spoke
briefly to his support of screening and that his other
occupation required screening, and that he questioned
anyone who would come to work while feeling ill. He asked
what the screening would entailwould it be the same, would
there be any way to speed up the process as it took many
hours away from members the previous session.
MS. LESH said that the working group did not specifically
address this, but since this new policy superseded all
older policies and because social distancing was included
in guidance by the CDC as being unnecessary for vaccinated
individuals, she assumed that the six-foot social
distancing may be determined no longer necessary at the
discretion of the Council which could help with the time
taken screening. Depending again on the Councils
decisions, she said that as testing would be less
necessary, it was possible that Beacon might be able to put
more staff on screening, also lessening the time taken.
SENATOR SHOWER suggested the Council could consider
studying larger hospitals and other workplaces that screen
large numbers of people to learn what methods might speed
up the Capitols process. He asked if there was any
discussion about allowing the public into the Capitol
through a different entrance or perhaps in a different
screening line as they are not employees or legislators.
MS. LESH stated that she was not sure she was the
appropriate person to respond to this question, but she
offers that the buildings closure to the public was a
decision made by leadership at the start of the pandemic
and was not necessarily included in any Legislative Council
policy. She recommended he inquire with leadership for an
answer.
SENATOR SHOWER thanked her and said he would like to
discuss the above with Legislative Council.
CHAIR HANNAN asked if anyone was seeking to amend or
clarify the policy, based on the suggestion of modification
to the screening process.
SPEAKER STUTES suggested that it might be pertinent if
someone was at the screening station with a significantly
high temperature that they be required to have a test taken
before they were allowed entrance into the building.
12:58:10 PM
A brief at ease was called.
SPEAKER STUTES asked to amend her motion with the help of
Ms. Wallace's legal guidance. Under Screening, she asked
to put an individual experiencing any COVID-19 signs must
test before entering the Capitol and under Testing, to
remove Item I that said an individual experiencing any
COVID-19 symptoms.
CHAIR HANNAN said that she wanted to make sure that the
folks who would print this up amend it or have it in a
significant enough form that they could follow as members
discuss. She then opened the floor to discussion by
members.
REPRESENTATIVE CLAMAN asked that with respect to the
amendment, if it was understood that individuals would
follow existing protocol if they had symptoms. He clarified
it was not a solely question of testing, because the
current protocol directed symptomatic people to go home.
MS. LESH said she believed that because the proposed policy
follows CDC guidance, fully vaccinated people would be
asked to go home and cooperate with contact tracing, and
unvaccinated people testing positive would be asked to
quarantine in addition to the above mitigation techniques.
She stated that in a sidebar with Ms. Wallace, they agreed
to leave contact tracing in under Item IV, and they believe
it should remain in Item III in case people who want to
test know that it is an option. Perhaps they have not come
to the Capitol, they are at home and experiencing symptoms,
so they have the option to call Beacon and have guidance
and testing provided before they enter the Capitol.
SPEAKER STUTES asked to amend her motion to leave in Item I
under Item III, Testing.
SENATE PRESIDENT MICCICHE wondered why members did not add
in individuals exhibiting symptoms will not be allowed
entry under Screening, which is what people should do,
because he does not care if they have COVID or not, he just
assumed people with a 101-degree fever that may or may not
be vomiting would not come to work. He stated that this was
just his opinion.
CHAIR HANNAN asked if there was any more discussion on the
amendment. When asked if anyone objected to what she
referred to as a conceptual amendment as members did not
have it in writing, except for Speaker Stutes.
SENATE PRESIDENT MICCICHE asked her to please repeat the
amendment.
SPEAKER STUTES read an individual experiencing any COVID-
19 signs must test before entering the Capitol.
CHAIR HANNAN clarified that the above amendment would be
added under Item II, Screening. She offered further
discussion to the Council on the above amendment.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD asked what all the symptoms of COVID-19
were and said she did not know that members could require
EUA tests. She said she understood and did not want people
to enter the building if they have a high fever, but she
believed it could get tricky as more was learned about
COVID-19 symptoms. She stated that she believed it was a
complicated conceptual amendment.
SENATOR SHOWER agreed with Senate President Micciche and
thought the amendment should be simplified to any
individual experiencing COVID-19 symptoms will not be
granted access to the building, because members did not
want people here who are sick no matter what they are
doing. He stated that this should have been a policy before
COVID-19.
CHAIR HANNAN said she believed the requirement to test was
to make sure that Beacon could do contact tracing. If
someone went home because they had a fever but did not
test, it would be unclear whether that fever was related to
COVID-19, other transmittable diseases, or perhaps an
infection.
SENATOR SHOWER stated again that he agreed with Senate
President Micciche in the creation of a policy that
individuals with symptoms should not be allowed entry to
the building.
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON said it was not a bad suggestion but
was concerned it might put Beacon staff in a precarious
situation, having to make that kind of a determination at
the entry points to the Capitol.
MS. LESH said she believed Beacon already did that, by way
of screening forms that ask individuals to report symptoms
or a fever over 100.4 degrees. If someone reported either
of these, or had their temperature taken by the screeners
thermometers, they were not allowed entry into the building
and were taken to get tested.
REPRESENTATIVE EDGMON said that his concern was that the
Beacon staff at the two entrance points, who were not
medical professionals, were making the determinations
rather than the individuals self-reporting symptoms.
MS. LESH said she believed that the Beacon staff were
indeed medical professionals, but that she would confirm
and get back to Representative Edgmon. She said that while
members could always put into policy that people should not
come to work while sick, that because of the nature of
seasonal work there might be individuals with fevers who
would not self-report honestly after taking Tylenol to be
able to come to work. She stated that the idea of testing
was to help catch anyone who might think they just have
allergies, but it turned out they had COVID-19. She said
she believed the best way to deal with this issue was to
really emphasize to staff and colleagues the importance of
staying home if sick, and that if one would like to test to
put their own mind at ease, that would be available to
them.
CHAIR HANNAN offered further discussion on the amendment.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD said because of the growing range of
symptoms, she supported using a 100.4-degree fever as a
good, easy, test for this issue.
SENATE PRESIDENT MICCICHE stated that members of the
Council were spending a lot of time on a non-issue, if
members wanted to vote the amendment, then they should, and
that this meeting could have been much shorter. He said if
the amendment is important to the maker, he would like to
take it to a vote, and either way, he did not think the
amendment made much of a difference.
CHAIR HANNAN offered the floor to any more discussion, then
called a vote to the amendment...
SPEAKER STUTES amended her amendment to read if one tests
at over 100 degrees, a COVID-19 test will be required.
MS. LESH said that if members left it to Beacon to make the
decisions, that their staff would follow CDC guidelines and
would be informed by the State Department of Health and
Social Services.
SPEAKER STUTES rescinded her amendment to her amendment and
reverted to the original amendment she arrived at with the
help of Ms. Wallace.
CHAIR HANNAN called for a vote on the amendment which would
be adding to Item II Screening, that if one is
experiencing symptoms they must get tested. She asked if
there were any objections, or if members even needed a
formal roll call.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD said she was going to, the only
reason...
CHAIR HANNAN asked if Vice-Chair Reinbold was going to
object.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD said yes, she was going to object.
CHAIR HANNAN said that it meant members would take a roll
call vote.
VICE-CHAIR REINBOLD asked if she would be permitted to
speak to her objection.
CHAIR HANNAN said that the Vice-Chair had already spoken to
her objections repeatedly, then asked for a roll call vote
on the amendment to the policy.
1:10:17 PM
A roll call vote was taken.
YEAS: Representatives Claman, Edgmon, Foster, Hannan,
Stutes, Tuck; Senators Bishop, Micciche, Shower, Stedman,
Stevens.
NAYS: Representative Tilton, Senator Reinbold
The motion passed 11-2.
CHAIR HANNAN noted the amendment to the policy passed and
requested a roll call vote on the policy.
1:11:28 PM
A roll call vote was taken.
YEAS: Representatives Claman, Edgmon, Foster, Hannan,
Stutes, Tilton, Tuck; Senators Bishop, Micciche, Reinbold,
Shower, Stedman, Stevens.
NAYS: none
The motion passed 13-0.
CHAIR HANNAN said that with 13 yeas and 0 nays, members had
a new COVID-19 mitigation policy.
REPRESENTATIVE TILTON asked to speak and said that earlier
she only asked one question as she was trying to be
observant to the time of others' but wanted to align
herself with Senator Shower's comments regarding this being
Alaskas Capitol that does not currently allow access to
all Alaskans and stated the importance of Alaskans being
able to enter their Capitol. She thanked Chair Hannan for
allowing her comment.
IV. ADJOURN
CHAIR HANNAN said if there is nothing further to come
before Council, we are adjourned.
1:13:29 PM
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