House Speaker Mike Chenault told reporters Tuesday he was interested in moving the legislature’s ongoing special session out of Juneau.
That sort of talk causes heartburn in the capital city, but many legislators’ offices have already made the move for what’s supposed to be the off-season. A select council of legislators already contemplated this situation in November.
Juneau Mayor Merrill Sanford acknowledges that noisy summer Capitol renovations are imminent and is sympathetic to legislators and staffers who have exhausted their housing leases.
“Whatever we can do to keep them here, we would like to. I understand this is a special situation right now, with the Capitol being remodeled,” Sanford says.
Working through jackhammers isn’t realistic. But, he says, there are alternative meeting spaces in Juneau. Sanford says Centennial Hall has already been set aside for a possible October special session.
“We at the city level have been trying to foresee what they might need and foresee what might happen,” he says. “So yes, we’ve been talking about it and trying to figure out what we can do to facilitate them.”
Lawmakers also foresaw legislative business running into Capitol construction. The Legislative Council manages the administration of the legislative branch and discussed the scenario in November during an Anchorage meeting.
“I think I’d like to get on record that it would be a very difficult situation for us to conduct legislative activity in that building during the construction phase,” said Anchorage Rep. Mike Hawker.
North Pole Sen. John Coghill clarified that they were talking about a possible special session. Then, Anchorage Sen. Kevin Meyer reminds the council that the new Legislative Information Office in downtown Anchorage would be available.
“I think that was designed to accommodate a special session, if necessary–” Meyer began.
Hawker interjects, “That would be a correct statement.”
Meyer: “… so, if we have that situation, it sounds like we have some options.”
Meyer is now the president of the Senate.
Juneau Sen. Dennis Egan piped up at the meeting, too.
“I just wanted to point out that Juneau does have space available for special session as well, and we’ve done it before,” Egan said.
By statute, when the governor calls a special session, he controls where it takes place. The legislature decides where to meet when it calls itself into special session.
