90 days or 120 days to do legislative work?

It’s only been one session and already some state legislators say 90 days isn’t enough time to do the state’s work. Those representatives and senators would like to return to 120-day sessions.

It can be argued either way. Most voters who approved the 90-day session did so thinking three months is plenty of time to pass necessary legislation and reducing the term by 30 days would likely save taxpayers money.

There was also the thinking that not much got done the first 30 days of the 120-day session anyway. Maybe, the logic went, if they knew they only had 90 days, lawmakers would get to work once the first plane landed.

Well, one of the first pieces of legislation passed this past session was replacing Groundhog Day with Marmot Day.

Examining other states’ legislative session lengths reveals that many have 60- to 90-day sessions. Some meet every other year. How do they do it?

One answer is that most of these states have had decades, if not a century, more time to build their bridges, roads and other infrastructure while Alaska was still in relative infancy. Those states deal with annual or biannual budgets and a handful of other bills.

Alaska leaders, however, are still trying to accomplish a lot to make this place better.

With a 120-day session, it would seem our elected representatives could get things like Marmot Day done and other such bills passed in the first couple of weeks and then get down to business.

After all, we pay them to work year-round, so why not make them earn that money over four months?

Besides that, you would think legislators would be in favor of a shorter session. It keeps them away from family, home and friends for less time. Yet, they are the ones, at least some of them, who would like to return to the longer term.

Maybe we can believe them. Maybe they do need more time to work for us and get it right.

Ask your senator or representative to give their take on the session length. Maybe we were wrong in bringing them home early.

Either way, it’s a topic worth discussing. In about a month from now, they will head back to Juneau. We all should see what they get done — and not done — in 90 days.