Senate President Charlie Huggins has repeatedly expressed his wish that the current legislature wrap up its session before Easter Sunday.
In a Senate Majority Press availability today , Senators were asked if there would be a political advantage if this legislative session was actually extended by just one day.
A suggestion was made that an extension would kick any ballot initiatives back to November leaving the oil and gas tax referendum SB21, alone on the primary ballot creating an advantage for the VOTE NO campaign on 21.
Anchorage Senator Lisel McGuire’s response.
Sen. McGuire: “I think that the public of leery of places where the legislature intervenes and I worry that when you maneuver things like schedule and others where you start to get into an area where it can be viewed as electioneering and so I’m very protective of that and cautious, I would hope that we would not do that and get home to our families for Easter.”
Senator Huggins reiterated his desire to end the session before Easter…
Sen. Huggins: “If you went to see Noah, you would understand why I advocate us getting out of here before Easter. We need to revisit some of our fundamentals if you will.”
Huggins was referring to the Russell Crowe film “Noah”, which is currently the #1 movie at the Box Office even though the film has faced criticism from religious groups for deviating from scripture.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Chenault says lawmakers could still meet their goal of finishing their work before Easter “if things go perfect.”
He says things can move faster when the Legislature implements the 24-hour rule, when hearings can be noticed the day before. But he also said finishing early during a 90-day session was an optimistic goal.