Unit One: Who's the Boss?

Under the state Constitution, redistricting is accomplished every 10 years after the reporting of the decennial federal census. A redistricting board appointed by top state officials draws up the new map. If a Senate district is substantially altered by redistricting, the seat is placed on the ballot in the following election even if the incumbent senator is in the middle of his or her four-year term. In 2002, only three of 20 senators weren’t required to run for re-election. Therefore, 57 of 60 legislative seats were on the ballot.

A member of the Legislature must be a qualified voter who has been residing in Alaska for no less than three years, and a resident of the legislative district for one year immediately before filing for office. A senator must be at least 25 years old and a representative 21 years of age at the time the oath of office is taken. Each house is the final judge of the qualifications and election of its members and may expel a member on a two-thirds vote.

A legislator formally becomes a member when the oath of office is taken, usually at the convening of the next regular legislative session after the election.

In the event of a vacancy in the Legislature, the governor may appoint a member of the previous legislator’s party to the seat, with the concurrence of that party’s caucus in the Legislature. Gov. Murkowski filled his daughter’s former legislative seat this way in December 2002. He appointed Nancy Dahlstrom to represent House District 18 after naming Lisa Murkowski as a U.S. senator to fill the vacancy he created when he resigned from Congress to become governor. (It should be noted that the appointment of his daughter was not without controversy. Although she was elected to the U.S. senate in 2004, voters approved an initiative that took away the Governor’s power to appoint a U.S. senator.)

The state constitution requires that legislators be paid an annual salary and provides that they may be paid a per diem and other allowances. Legislators’ salaries are determined by legislation. They receive an annual allowance for secretarial services, stationery and postage. Each member is entitled to moving expenses for the legislative session.

A legislature consists of two regular sessions which ordinarily convene on the second Monday in January, or on the third Monday in January following the election of a governor. In 2003, following the election of Gov. Murkowski, the opening day was moved to the third Tuesday because the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday fell on the third Monday.

The Legislature must adjourn from a regular session no later than 120 consecutive calendar days from the day it convenes, except that the session may be extended once for up to 10 days by a two-thirds vote of each house. Special sessions are called by the governor or by the Legislature and are limited to 30 calendar days. The procedures for convening and organizing the first and second sessions of a legislature are provided for by law and rule.

The Constitution requires that the Legislature operate under Uniform Rules of Procedure. Beginning with the First State Legislature in 1959, each legislature has kept its rules uniform both as to procedure and operation. By law each legislature, i.e., the legislature convening for its first of two regular sessions on the odd-numbered years, adopts its own uniform rules. After a new legislature convenes, the houses adopt permanent rules with the rules of the previous legislature serving as its temporary rules by provision of law until permanent rules are adopted. The Uniform Rules are implemented and interpreted by the use of Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure.

When each house convenes for the first of its two regular sessions, it elects its officers and selects its employees in accordance with the provisions of the Uniform Rules. The presiding officer of the Senate is called the president, and the presiding officer of the House of Representatives is called the speaker. The major political parties elect their leaders in party caucus.

There also are informal caucuses that operate outside of the formal legislative flow chart. For example, in 2001-2002, there was a bipartisan, bicameral Fiscal Policy Caucus that came up with recommendations for new state revenue. There also have been a Bush Caucus of rural legislators, a self-explanatory Anchorage Caucus, a Children’s Caucus and a Fish Caucus of legislators from coastal communities. None of these caucuses had actual power, but they were used to exchange information and refine policy positions among legislators with similar interests.

Each house elects a chief administrative clerk called the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House, respectively. These positions are not filled by legislators.

The Uniform Rules determine the temporary employees assigned to each house at the direction of the committee or legislator to which they are assigned. Many of the legislative services are centralized (payroll, purchasing, accounting, duplicating, distribution, mailing and enrolling), and the temporary employees assigned to these services work at the direction of the Legislative Affairs Agency.

When each house organizes, the presiding officer appoints a Committee on Committees to meet and report its nominations for assignments to the new standing committees in conformity with the Uniform Rules.

Standing Committees

The programs and activities of the Department of Community and Regional Affairs and other matters relating to political subdivisions.

All appropriation, revenue, capital improvement and bonding measures, the executive budget, and the programs and activities of the Department of Revenue.

The programs and activities of the Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of Education, and the University of Alaska.

The programs and activities of the Alaska Court System, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Law, and the legal and substantive review of bills referred to it for that purpose.

The programs and activities of the Department of Labor relating to labor management relations, industrial safety, unemployment compensation, and workers’ compensation, and the programs and activities of the Department of Community and Economic Development.

The programs and activities of the Department of Fish and Game, Natural Resources, and Environmental Conservation.

Interpretation of the Uniform Rules, the calendar, the internal administration of the houses and matters pertaining to the management of the Legislature as a whole.

The programs and activities of the Office of the Governor and the Departments of Administration, Military Affairs and Public Safety, and programs and activities of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities relating to public facilities. The committee also can consider structural changes in legislative business, such as biennial budgets or shorter sessions.

The programs and activities of the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities relating to transportation, and other legislative matters relating to transportation.

Standing, special, and joint committees are governed generally by the provisions applying to them in the Uniform Rules.

House special committees during the 22^nd and 23^rd Legislatures (2001-2004) included Education, Fisheries, Military and Veterans’ Affairs, Oil & Gas, and Economic Development, Trade & Tourism. During the 23^rd Legislature, the House added a Ways and Means committee. The Senate had a special committee on World Trade and State/Federal Relations. It is likely that all these special committees will be continued during the 24^th Legislature.

Joint committees of the House and Senate included Administrative Regulation Review, Armed Services, Legislative Budget & Audit, Legislative Ethics, Natural Gas Pipelines, Ombudsman Selection, Salmon Industry Task Force and Victim’s Advocate Selection.

The Alaska Legislative Council is a permanent interim committee of the Legislature and is responsible for conducting the business of the Legislature when it is not in session. It was first established in 1953 and was given constitutional status at statehood. The council is composed of the president of the Senate and five other senators appointed by the president, and the speaker of the House and five other representatives appointed by the speaker. The council elects a chair and a vice-chair. Members continue to serve until reappointed or replaced after the organization of a new Legislature.

The Alaska Legislative Council constitutes the Alaska Commission on Interstate Cooperation, which encourages and arranges cooperation with other levels and units of government and carries out the programs of the Council of State Governments as they apply to Alaska. The council chair serves as chair of the commission.

The Legislative Affairs Agency executes the policy of the Legislative Council and handles other statutory and rule assignments made by the Legislature. The agency is headed by an executive director who serves at the pleasure of the council and is responsible for hiring and supervising agency staff.

The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee is a permanent interim committee, established in 1955. The committee has 10 members and two alternates: chairs of the finance committees, one member each of the finance committees appointed by the president and speaker, and three members and an alternate appointed from each house by the president and speaker.

(Finance chairs may choose not to serve, in which case the president or speaker appoints a replacement from the finance committee.)

The Legislative Audit Division is headed by the legislative auditor, a constitutional officer who is appointed by the committee with the approval of the Legislature.

The Administrative Regulation Review Committee is a permanent interim committee of the Legislature. After a regulation is filed with the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, a copy is submitted to the committee for review and comment. The committee may examine all administrative regulations to determine if legislative intent is being properly implemented.

The committee is composed of three members from the House appointed by the speaker and three members from the Senate appointed by the president. The membership from each house must include at least one member from each of the two major political parties. Members serve for the duration of the legislature and, if re-elected, serve until a successor is appointed.

The Legislative Affairs Agency provides any technical and administrative support required by the committee.

The Select Committee on Legislative Ethics has nine members: two from the House (one from the majority, one from the minority) who serve on a House subcommittee, two from the Senate (one from the majority, one from the minority) who serve on a Senate subcommittee, plus five public members who serve on both the full committee and each subcommittee.

Elected officials, who serve two year terms, are appointed by the leadership with the concurrence of two-thirds of the membership of that house. The public members, who serve three year terms, are selected by the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court and ratified by two-thirds of the membership of the Legislature

The full committee considers complaints against the conduct of an employee of an agency of the Legislature, while the subcommittees hold proceedings concerning the conduct by a member, former member, or employee of that particular house.

The committee does not oversee members of the executive branch.

To fulfill this mission, Information and Teleconferencing maintains two integrated programs -- a system of legislative information offices (LIOs) in Alaska communities from Ketchikan to Barrow and a teleconference network.

The LIO network distributes a wide range of data on legislative records, documents, schedules and events. In Alaska’s smaller communities, the LIOs serve as a one-stop resource center for information on the executive and judicial branches of government, as well.

During regular sessions of the Legislature, which begin in January and run for 121 days, the LIOs are staffed and equipped to provide Alaskans with up-to-the-minute information on the status of bills, as well as the particulars of committee and floor activities through the Alaska Legislative Computer System. Hard copies of bills are also available. In addition, the LIOs use the computer system to send public opinion messages from citizens to their legislators, although as use of e-mail has become widespread constituents are more likely to contact legislators without the middle man.

Alaskans may also participate in legislative committee hearings and informal meetings between constituent groups and legislators using teleconference facilities at the LIOs and other sites throughout the state.