Alaska House deadlock continues, but ‘Group of Eight’ offers possible fix

JUNEAU — The Alaska House of Representatives will set a record for the longest organization deadlock in state history, but members of a tri-partisan “Group of Eight” say they have nearly finalized a backstop power-sharing arrangement that could end the impasse as soon as next week.

On Tuesday, the 22nd day of the stalemate, the House failed to elect a permanent House speaker, tying a record set in 1981 for the longest period the House has gone without choosing a leader. With the next vote not possible until Wednesday at the earliest, this year’s House will set a new record.

While Republicans, Democrats and independents are each struggling to muster the votes needed to pick a permanent leader, all sides have contributed members to a group of eight lawmakers that has been working for weeks to prepare a backstop plan if the impasse continues.

“Within the next week, we should have have the framework ready, if there was a decision to take action,” said Rep. Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage and one of the eight lawmakers tasked with drafting the arrangement.

Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka and the leader of the coalition negotiating team, was less willing to speak about the negotiations, but Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham and the overall leader of the coalition, confirmed details on the record and said it would be similar to an approach used successfully in Montana.

“By all accounts it worked well, but it involved a lot of sacrifice,” Edgmon said. “In the end, it produced budgets and essential legislation that needed to be passed.”

On the Republican side, the other members of the “Group of Eight” are Rep. George Rauscher, R-Sutton; Rep. Bart LeBon, R-Fairbanks; and Rep. Josh Revak, R-Anchorage.

On the coalition side, the other members are Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau; Rep. Grier Hopkins, D-Fairbanks; and Rep. Dan Ortiz, I-Ketchikan.

Twenty-one votes are needed in the 40-person House to elect a leader. That vote is crucial: It determines who sits in leadership positions, thus determining the agenda for the legislative session. Without a permanent leader, the House’s legislative machinery is idle. Lawmakers have been unable to introduce bills, hold committee meetings or formally prepare to consider Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget, which is expected to include $1.6 billion in cuts when it is released Feb. 13.

While the House includes 23 Republicans, 16 Democrats and one independent, two of those Republicans were members of last session’s coalition majority and remain in a bloc with the Democrats and the independent, Ortiz.

The 21 remaining Republicans would be enough to form a majority but for the actions of Rep. Gary Knopp, R-Kenai. In December, Knopp said a bare-minimum majority was not workable, and he announced that he would withhold his vote in an effort to force a larger, multipartisan majority.

That majority has not materialized. Twice so far, votes to name Healy Republican Rep. Dave Talerico as speaker have failed 20-20. On Tuesday, Edgmon was nominated to be speaker of the House but declined because he saw another 20-20 vote in the offing.

There has been no shortage of ideas to break the deadlock, which is part of the problem.

“There’s 40 members, but there’s probably 87 ideas. That’s part of why we’re sitting here where we are,” Pruitt said.

The profusion of ideas has meant lawmakers' support is scattered among different solutions, several House legislators said. One example, leaked to the Daily News and dated Jan. 21, called for Republicans and Democrats to draft members of the opposing caucus for an eight-member multipartisan leadership team.

In an effort to cut through the confusion, leaders of the Republican caucus and leaders of the Democratic caucus asked for volunteers. Four members of each caucus — two freshmen and two more senior lawmakers — were chosen to work in relative isolation on a solution.

Pruitt and Edgmon said the group contacted legislators and former legislators from other states to get ideas. The final draft isn’t finished, but the general approach is one of co-leadership.

Each side would choose the equivalent of a speaker of the House, and those two individuals would act as presiding officer. Each committee would have two committee chairs, one from each caucus. Committee membership would be changed to include an equal number of members from each caucus.

Making these changes would require 27 members of the House and may require the support of the Senate (lawmakers have offered different opinions on that last requirement).

Pruitt and Edgmon each said their preference is to have a traditional majority, but if that’s not possible, the power-sharing approach may be the best alternative. No date has been set for a decision.

Each said that when Dunleavy delivers his proposed budget next week, it will trigger an all-consuming debate over the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend and proper state spending.

“I think most people agree we need to have not just a governing majority but a majority that can function during what is going to be a tumultuous time period,” Edgmon said.