Following the conclusion of the Second Regular Session of the 32nd Legislature, Senate President Peter Micciche announced that he would not seek re-election, citing the need to spend time with his family. Micciche said that, during his time serving the constituents of (the former) Senate District O, he represented the interests of everyone on the Kenai Peninsula, including defending residents on state issues or upholding the interests of all Alaskans through a statewide view.
In a recent interview with KSRM, Sen. Micciche wraps up the legislative session
“On a positive spin, this session was like an NBA season. You know, it’s not the 89 games that count, it’s the last 30 seconds of game seven and we had one hell of a last 30 seconds. We passed a significant crime bill to battle the scourge of sexual assault in Alaska with an hour to go. We worked hand-in-hand with the governor to divide the Health and Social Services department, which is our biggest spend and will help us get a handle on that issue. We passed a Read By 9 bill on the last day of session. We passed a lot of workforce development bills, bills to support military licensing for spouses, and streamlining bills. We supported privatization of state construction projects. We successfully pushed the feds to give Alaska equal access to seafood markets.”
Some of the bills that the senate passed didn’t make it to the House of Representatives, including:
“The vaccination rights bill that we passed. The gun rights that we passed. We worked on election reform. We passed a school civics bill. We worked on a bill that didn’t allow biological males in women’s sports. We had a critical race theory bill. A lot of those bills ended up dying, even when they were passed by the Senate, were not heard again on the other side.
In discussing the capital budget, Sen. Micciche said their work was to prevent people from coming to the trough. A significant amount of funds came to the state this year and he said that the Senate passed a $5,500 PFD and a $3,900 PFD that weren’t supported by the House, stating that he wanted to get more money into the hands of Alaskans. Despite that, $3.2 billion was placed into savings, in the event oil prices crash in the future.
Micciche praised the Legislature passing the budget that’s balanced and said that Gov. Mike Dunleavy isn’t planning on calling a special session immediately, but implied that one could be called this fall to cover fiscal plan issues and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds.