A lawsuit is seeking to give absentee voters in Alaska a chance to fix mail-in ballot errors that would prevent their votes from being counted. The lawsuit was filed last week by the Alaska Center Education Fund, Alaska Public Interest Research Group and Sitka resident Floyd Tomkins. While voters are able to fix ballot mistakes in some municipal elections, Alaska …
Leg With Louie: two things you can do today
The Dunleavy Administration has officially squashed hopes that it will pursue a broad vote at home effort anytime soon. The announcement by Lt. Governor Kevin Meyer that Alaska will not conduct a vote at home for the August primary. The legislature provided the Administration with authority, but no mandate to conduct a statewide vote at home in its COVID-19 response …
Leg with Louie: Toward an Electric Tomorrow
Imagine, some future day after a bruising legislative session, our legislators and staff head homeward from Juneau, in quiet vehicles that require little maintenance, have zero CO2 emissions, and that glide lightly along the highway. By the time they reached their home districts, all of the accumulated malice, rancor, and ill-will of a typical session would be gone, replaced by …
Leg With Louie: Building the new economy starts now
Yours may be cowboys, Willie, but my heroes have always been journalists. Even today, in the middle of the daily whirlwind of sheep-dip and gibberish from our highest officer in the land, with uncertainty on all horizons and a pandemic at our door, journalists are out there asking questions, arranging facts, allowing citizens a foothold of logic in the world …
Anchorage nonprofit hosts open house on climate change
More than a dozen organizations will come together for an open house-style event to talk about climate change in Alaska on Tuesday. The event is hosted by Alaska Common Ground, a nonprofit that aims to facilitate community discussions on important public policy issues. “Climate change is obviously one of those issues,” said Kari Gardey, the program coordinator for Alaska Common …
Governor’s cabinet-level picks all confirmed by the Alaska Legislature
JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) — Three of the governor’s controversial picks to run state agencies have been confirmed by a joint session of the Alaska Legislature. Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Jason Brune had come under scrutiny for his previous work as a public face of the Pebble Partnership, with some lawmakers voicing concerns that he may struggle to regulate the …
Leg With Louie: No time for big cuts
The Legislature passed the FY 21 operating budget and FY 20 supplemental, and the FY 21 Mental Health Budget up to the Governor before going into recess. By the constitution, the Governor has 15 days, Sundays excluded, to take action on a bill while the Legislature is in session – and the Legislature is still technically in session. The Governor’s …
Leg With Louie: COVID-19 Legislative Response update
By the time you receive this email, the Alaska State Legislature may be in recess, allowing them to leave Juneau and practice effective social distancing, which is not possible during floor sessions and hallway discussions. We should commend their efforts to date. A series of important bills have proceeded in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its mounting impacts on …
Leg with Louie: Before the Session Ends
The Legislature is coming to a close, with pandemic and economic headwinds and more than a little uncertainty ahead. For the safety of our representatives, we need them to pass a budget and go home now. The session will likely adjourn or recess after a budget deal is struck sometime next week. In the meantime, why are legislators, like Sarah …
Leg with Louie: Staying Engaged in Uncertain Times
It is to their credit that our legislators have an eye on the pandemic, and an eye toward closing shop early, and are discussing processes to vote on the budget and governor’s appointments by phone. Taking it week by week is the way to go, or probably more like day to day if yesterday’s spate of event, class, gathering, and …