Maybe the next special session won’t be in Wasilla after all.
Must Read Alaska has learned that legislative leaders in the House and Senate are polling members to determine whether they want to hold a special session in Wasilla, as has been called for by Gov. Michael Dunleavy by proclamation Or maybe they’ll just call their own special session in advance of July 8.
If they can get 40 votes between the House and Senate, they could move it to Anchorage or reconvene the special session in Juneau, where nearly all of them can continue to receive up to $285 a day in per diem.
House and Senate Majorities gaveled out of the first special session today, and Gov. Michael Dunleavy called them into a second special session to deal with the Permanent Fund dividend, which they have not been able to decide on in the 149 days they have been in session and special session.
One of the options on the table is to call themselves into special session preemptively, before the governor’s chosen date of July 8.
In 2015, the Alaska Legislature moved its business to Anchorage after having been called into special session in Juneau by Gov. Bill Walker.
At the time, the Legislature’s own attorney said that the move could be unconstitutional. The Walker Administration did not challenge the constitutionality of the maneuver, however.
