Page 20 - Lora Reinbold News Today

Dormant Alaska government spending database to be revived by The Associated Press Last Updated Feb 4, 2021 at 10:28 am EDT ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The state of Alaska plans to resurrect an online tool for tracking government spending that was shut down last year. The Checkbook Online system is scheduled to be available to the public again by Friday, Alaska Public Media reported Tuesday. A fiscal note drafted by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration estimated establishing the new system...

Print article JUNEAU — After a testy hearing that saw a Alaska state senator questioning the state health commissioner’s constitutional loyalties, the administration of Gov. Mike Dunleavy has twice declined to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee led by Sen. Lora Reinbold, R-Eagle River. On Monday, Reinbold said on the Senate floor and in an email to fellow legislators that she has canceled two hearings because the administration refused to testify in person about public hea...

Print article The Eagle River lawmaker who last fall criticized Alaska Airlines for their mask policy on Wednesday expressed “constitutional concerns” about Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s COVID-19 health mandates. Republican state Sen. Lora Reinbold, in her first meeting as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, invited testimony from a Harvard professor who co-authored a disputed treatise by three infectious disease specialists who oppose broad lockdowns and school closures. Wednesday afterno...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska lawmaker has introduced a bill to partially dismantle...

Print article JUNEAU — The first bill to be heard in the Alaska Legislature this year would partially dismantle voting-by-mail systems used by Anchorage, Juneau and other cities across Alaska. Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, said Senate Bill 39 is intended to strengthen the security of Alaska’s election system in a nonpartisan way, but several legislative observers began circulating alarmed emails on Friday, with Native Peoples Action asserting that Section 22 of the bill “may ban municipa...

Print article JUNEAU — The new version of the Alaska Senate that organized this week has placed Republican moderates in charge of the state budget and put conservative Republicans at the head of policy committees. Those conservatives say they intend to work as part of a “caucus of equals” including more moderate Republicans, but minority Democrats contend that the conservative Republican senators are now in position to advance long-held goals, including limits on abortion and new electi...

Wed, 01/06/2021 - 9:03am With the 32nd Session of the Alaska Legislature set to convene on Jan. 19, neither the House nor the Senate have organized into majority caucuses or chosen leadership positions. (Illustration/AJOC) The Alaska Legislature is still struggling to pick its new leaders in the wake of the 2020 elections. While members of the Alaska Senate believe they will pick a new Senate president before the Legislature convenes Jan. 19 in Juneau, members of the Alaska House of Represent...

Alaska lawmakers say state House is unlikely to choose a leader before session Share on Facebook Print article The Alaska Legislature is still struggling to pick its new leaders in the wake of this year’s elections. While members of the Alaska Senate believe they will pick a new Senate president before the Legislature convenes Jan. 19 in Juneau, members of the Alaska House of Representatives say they expect their leadership deadlock to extend through the session’s start. Several legisl...

Print article The public will be barred from the Alaska State Capitol, members of the news media will be prohibited from entering the House and Senate chambers, and lawmakers must wear masks under a set of new anti-COVID rules approved Monday by a committee of the Alaska Legislature. Any legislator that refuses to submit to a health screening at the Capitol’s entrance “will be denied entrance to the Capitol.” Any lawmaker who refuses to wear a face covering on the floor of the House or ...

December 24th, 2020 |     Theres just more than a month until the Legislature returns to session in 2021, and nearly every issue that plagued lawmakers in 2020 looks likely to be the same or worse. The partisan rifts are deeper. The states budget situation is more dire. The COVID-19 pandemic is raging on, with grave impacts to both public health and Alaskas economy. And, as in the last Legislature, the challenge of organizing majority caucuses in the House and Senate looks daunting. On ...