Alaska House absences draw attention

Along with Alaska House members who’ve voted yea and nay on three major bills this week, there has been a third category: members who were absent.

Absences rarely receive attention, but there have been an unusually high number since Gov. Mike Dunleavy changed the location of his call for the second special session from Wasilla to Juneau.

The highest number of absences was 11, on Wednesday morning. The fewest was four on Monday.

But the Monday absences drew the most attention. That’s because the House reconsidered a bill to fund the capital budget. Thirty votes — or three-quarters of the House — would have been necessary to draw money from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, but only 29 voted yes. Any of the absent members could have changed the outcome.

Read more: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/07/26/alaska-house-absences-draw-attention/