A disagreement in the Alaska House of Representatives left the body politic operating without the use of Uniform Rules for yet another day, after the floor session ended on Saturday.
Monday is the 61st day of the legislative session.
House minority member Rep. David Eastman and others said the House is supposed to adopt the Uniform Rules first, and then amend them.
Instead, the House Rules Chair and the House Speaker are allowing the rules to be amended before they are adopted. It seems arcane, but the Legislature is a rule-based organization, and the Uniform Rules and Mason’s Manual are the Bible for orderly operations.
In the forward of the Uniform Rules, the book informs readers how the Uniform Rules are required to be adopted:
Sec. 24.05.120. Rules. At the beginning of the first regular session of each legislature, both houses shall adopt uniform rules of procedure for enacting bills into law and adopting resolutions. The rules in effect at the last regular session of the immediately preceding legislature serve as the temporary rules of the legislature until the adoption of permanent rules.
Rule 53 seems to reinforce the importance of adopting first, amending later.
Rule 53. Adoption and Amendment of Rules. The Uniform Rules of each legislature shall be adopted in joint session by a majority vote of the full membership of each house. Thereafter the Uniform Rules may be amended only by the adoption of a concurrent resolution by a two-thirds vote of the full membership of each house. When the rules are affected by constitutional and statutory changes, the Legislative Council will effect the necessary formal revision in the next printing of the rules and inform the Rules Committee of the changes made.
Rep. Matt Claman, an Anchorage Democrat argued that this is how it’s always been done — amending the Uniform Rules before voting on their adoption. He added that the Legislature needs to show the public “we’re here to get the business done of the people and show that we can come together and move forward.” He urged a yes vote.
But the Uniform Rules needed a two-thirds vote to pass, and with 26 yeas and 6 nays, it failed to pass the House on Saturday and will be up for a reconsideration vote, probably on Monday, when eight absent legislators are expected to return.
The Uniform Rules needed to be adopted and updated because Mason’s Manual, the handbook for parliamentary procedures in the Legislature, had been updated and the Uniform Rules needed to accept the new version.
All of Saturday’s in-the-weeds debate came on the heels of Friday’s death-match between Speaker Louise Stutes and Rep. Chris Kurka, who had worn a “Government Mandated Muzzle” to the House floor, only to be told he needed to remove his political statement mask and replace it with a plain one. Stutes, as the presiding officer, is granted that authority by Uniform Rules and Mason’s Manual.
So it was no surprise that when the adoption of those governing rules came up on Saturday, the conservative caucus of Eastman, Kurka, Ron Gillham, Ben Carpenter, Kevin McCabe and Sarah Vance would drive home their point that the presiding officer is breaking the rules.
