JUNEAU -- The Alaska Legislature has barely met since being called into a special session in Juneau and is now looking for ways to avoid meeting here at all, including calling itself into session in Anchorage.
Legislators are already on a nearly two-week "recess" from the special session that Gov. Bill Walker called to address the state budget and other issues.
But when the recess officially ends Tuesday, it may be hard to tell the difference, with the halls as quiet as they are now. Only a handful of legislators will return to Juneau for "technical sessions" of the House and Senate, leaders said Friday. They'll gavel in with the minimum of two or three members and gavel out without conducting business.
House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said there's little for the Legislature to do until lawmakers get bills through the process to consider.
"There's no point in having a floor session if we don't have a bill before the body," he said.
While the recess is continuing, each body's finance committee has kept working, if only just barely in some cases. The Senate Finance Committee scheduled a single hourlong meeting in Juneau over the two-week period. The House Finance Committee has held three meetings so far, all in Anchorage, and additional meetings are scheduled for Anchorage next week, including after the special session officially resumes Tuesday.
And legislative leaders are also exploring options for moving the full session to Anchorage, Chenault said.
That could happen if the Legislature adjourns the session Walker called for Juneau and then calls itself into a special session in Anchorage. That requires a two-thirds vote, or 40 of the 60 members, and they're now being polled on whether they'd support that move, said Chenault and others.
Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, may have been the only legislator in the capital city Friday, and said the Legislature should be at work solving the budget issues and doing it in Juneau.
"I'm really concerned about this; I think it makes everybody look bad," Egan said.
Walker spokeswoman Grace Jang said the governor doesn't want to see the session moved.
"He is hopeful that won't happen because his proclamation is for a special session in Juneau," she said.
Walker called the special session immediately after the regular session adjourned without a funded budget.
Chenault and Senate President Kevin Meyer asked Walker for permission to take a break and move the session to Anchorage. When Walker didn't support that idea, the majority caucuses that Chenault and Meyer lead took time off and moved the work anyway.
Disagreement over the budget is the main sticking point in negotiations, with Chenault needing votes from Democratic minority members to access the Constitutional Budget Reserve and balance the budget passed by the Republican majorities. But he leads a majority caucus that's unwilling to make changes to the budget sought by Democrats.
The budget they passed included $3 billion more spending than revenue, which Walker called unacceptable.
Jang on Friday said Walker would like to see budget work resume in Juneau.
"His proclamation to have it in Juneau hasn't changed," she said. "Obviously, the most important thing is that we get a fully funded budget passed."
Chenault said negotiations with Rep. Chris Tuck of Anchorage, the leader of the Democratic caucus, have not stopped.
"We continue to talk," he said.
Points of contention include money for education and expansion of the federally funded Medicaid program, he said.
While Chenault may be coming to Juneau on Tuesday to gavel in and gavel out, he may find Juneau's two representatives, Republican Cathy Munoz and Democrat Sam Kito, gone, as both are members of committees meeting in Anchorage.
If Munoz is in Anchorage with the House Finance Committee, Chenault said another member might have to return to Juneau as well.
"If she's not available, I'll bring somebody else with me," he said.
It appears that if the Legislature were to call itself into a special session it would take majorities of both bodies to return to Juneau and adjourn the special session Walker called. Special sessions also end automatically after 30 days.