Other Voices

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

It’s hard to believe this year’s legislative session is halfway over. It sure doesn’t seem like it, judging from the amount of legislation that lawmakers have actually gotten passed.

Only five bills and three resolutions have passed both the House and Senate this session. Among them are the establishing of Susan Butcher Day, liability for airports and airstrips and the creation of a court brief about the right to bear arms.

The eight pieces of legislation passed this year are a small fraction of the total approved by both chambers since the 25th Alaska Legislature convened in January 2007. It could be that the small amount of legislation passed this year has something to do with the workflow and the amount of time allowed to get things done. There’s less time this year — 90 days instead of the usual 120 days.

The shorter session, called for by the passage of a voter initiative in 2006, surely has led legislative leaders to allocate precious time to small pieces of legislation that require little thought and little time compared to those that are important, complex and need more time to debate and discuss. That probably means that bills of regional or local importance — bills that still require some brain power and testimony to understand but are less important — aren’t getting attention. That could mean local needs might be going unmet. Bills that don’t pass this year die; they would need to be reintroduced when the next Legislature is elected and convenes.

Alaskans will know not long after the end of the session in April if they should regret voting in favor of the session limit.