JUNEAU -- Top legislators are acknowledging doubts about the legality of moving the special legislative session to Anchorage, but say they are still committed to the move.
And they say they hope Gov. Bill Walker, who called the Legislature into session in Juneau, will be more interested in getting a budget deal than where that deal takes place.
Both Senate President Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, and House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said Tuesday that they haven't reviewed an opinion by the Legislature's legal counsel, Doug Gardner, that said a court would likely find an Anchorage meeting improper without Walker's consent.
"That could be a concern, if the governor objects," Meyer said. "We're hoping the governor will accept and let us meet in Anchorage."
"I think we'll be fine," Chenault said, but "there hasn't been any agreement with the governor yet" about the move.
Both spoke in Juneau after "technical" floor sessions of their respective bodies. In such sessions, no work is done and only a handful of legislators are present, but technical sessions keep them in compliance with a requirement that they meet every three days, they say.
Walker criticized the move of the Legislature to Anchorage after Republican legislative leaders announced it Monday, but has repeatedly said that his top priority is passing a budget.
Meyer said legislators are taking that as an indication that Walker's only real interest is in the budget.
"He just wanted us to get the budget done and he didn't really care where," Meyer said.
The decision to move was not made by the Legislature, but by the Republican-led majority caucuses in each house in private meetings, Meyer said.
"It's a caucus decision. I'm not going to make it on my own, nor is Speaker Chenault going to make it on his own," Meyer said.
Democratic legislators in both houses have said the Legislature should have been meeting during the last three weeks of special session, and should have been meeting in Juneau.
Legislative leaders such as House Majority Leader Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, have denied that caucuses make decisions out of public sight. But Meyer described a process in which both houses used very similar secretive processes that excluded the Democratic minorities.
"Mike (Chenault) and I both surveyed our caucuses, and overwhelmingly they would prefer to be in Anchorage," he said.
Rep. Sam Kito, D-Juneau, was one of those saying legislative business should be done in the capital.
"I am concerned about breaking our rules, but I'm even more concerned with violating our Constitution by making what I believe is a political point in relocating special session to Anchorage," he said.
Chenault said that he hadn't read Gardner's opinion, but staff and fellow legislators had.
"I take a lot of stock in most things Doug Gardner tells me; occasionally I don't," he said.
Meyer said he'd prefer to get agreement from Walker and that the issue stay out of court.
"Like most laws it is kind of subjective and nebulous, and you never know until it goes to court and we don't want a judge to make a ruling on that," he said.
Meyer said that if Walker expresses concern about the Legislature meeting in Anchorage when his proclamation called for Juneau, the Legislature could adjourn or wait for the special session to end. It could then legally call itself into its own special session in Anchorage, he said.