The Senate, which had passed a slimmer version of the bill in April, will take up the version the House has sent it and must complete its work by the end of next week.
A staccato of amendments were offered over the course of the evening. Nearly every amendment failed, but none so spectacularly as one offered by Rep. David Eastman, which went down 40-0, with even Eastman voting against his own amendment.
In the end, those voting against SB 54 passage were Republicans Eastman, DeLena Johnson, Mark Neuman, George Rauscher, Colleen Sullivan-Leonard, and Cathy Tilton — from the Mat-Su Valley, and they were joined by Democrats David Guttenberg of Fairbanks and Sam Kito of Juneau.
The bill went too far for “soft-on-crime” Democrats Guttenberg and Kito, but for the Republican “Mat-Su Six,” the bill likely didn’t crack down hard enough on crime.
On Saturday, Tilton, from Wasilla-Chugiak, introduced an amendment repealing nearly all of Senate Bill 91, the criminal justice reform bill that many blame for the crime wave that has swept across Alaska. It was a bridge too far for most legislators and the effort failed by a 13-27 vote.
Amendments that passed the House over the past few days include one that allows judges to hand down longer sentences for Class C felonies. Those are the least heinous felonies and account for more than one third of the prison population in Alaska.
Rep. Lora Reinbold was able to win support for increasing sentences for up to two years for the first Class C offense, up to four years for a second offense, and five years for a third.
SB 54 has some important fixes to what many see as a flawed SB 91, but it also may have set up a constitutional problem by having the same punishment for different levels of crimes. That will have to be hashed out in the Senate and then in a conference committee between the bodies.
Gov. Walker from China issued an immediate press release saying he approves of the bill as passed by the House and will sign it in its current form if it gets to his desk.
Meanwhile, the payroll tax that Walker wants, which prompted him to call a Special Session in the first place, hasn’t gained much traction. House Finance Committee today will hear from Office of Management and Budget Director Pat Pitney at 1 pm.
Senate Finance will take up SB 54 tomorrow at 2 pm in a joint session with Senate Judiciary.
I don’t wish any physical harm to those that support these bills, but maybe Karma will see her way to let them experience some extreme mental anguish by letting their own stupidity wreak havoc in their lives as it has been doing to their constituents..
Walker may have made a mistake adding The crime bill to the special session. The house and senate members will be exhausted after dealing with this issue and likely will not have the will or energy to spend much time on Walker’s “payroll ” tax. Especially so close to when they will all meet in the regular session. I’m pretty sure they are aware that Brent Crude is now at $64 per barrel. And straight Crude almost $58. This is the highest in two years and will contribute significant revenue. By itself not enough, true. But the trend is very positive.
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