Day 21: The bipartisan Freshman Caucus and worthwhile tension
“I get that you’re new,” he said, on a committee where four of the seven members are new.
Good morning, Alaska! It’s Day 21 of the 2023 legislative session.
In this edition: With 17 all-new legislators in the House this year, it’s the largest freshmen class we’ve had in two decades and they’re looking at changing up how things work. On Friday, Rep. Justin Ruffridge announced the formation of an informal caucus open to the new legislators with an eye toward collaborating across formal caucus lines. The announcement also happens to come the day after a bipartisan group of freshmen—including Rep. Ruffridge—voted to advance long-awaited pension reforms over the objections of hardline Republicans who fumed that this isn’t the way things should work. Also, the daily schedule.
Current mood: ☕️
The bipartisan Freshman Caucus
One of the early and most interesting rumors about the organization of the Alaska House was an organization united around freshman legislators regardless of their political affiliation. That didn’t ultimately come to pass, but it looks like the concept is still alive and well. On Friday, Soldotna Republican Rep. Justin Ruffridge announced the formation of the bipartisan freshman caucus, an informal organization open to the 17 legislators with no prior experience as a state legislator.
“These 17 individuals have different backgrounds and experiences, work history and represent diverse communities across the state. When many of us first met this last December during our first multi-day training, we came together as individuals looking to learn and understand not only the ins and outs of state government, but the departments and staff that make this place run,” Ruffridge said during Friday’s floor session. “We also were able to learn and understand more about one another. We began to learn what was important to each other, we talked about the number of issues that were important to the constituents in our respective districts. In many cases we were surprised about the similarities of the issues important to constituents around Alaska.”
Without highlighting specific legislative priorities, Ruffridge said while the group obviously won’t always see eye to eye on every issue he hopes it can result to better communication and understanding of differing viewpoints.
“There may be times we vote together, times that we vote apart,” he said. “Regardless of if we agree or disagree, I know we will maintain the highest level of respect for one another.”
On that front, it doesn’t sound like all 17 members are raring to join an organization, as informal as it may be, that is not only bipartisan but could get crosswise with the Republican-led House Majority, a group that has largely organized around being Republicans after years of bipartisan control of the chamber.
“I still think it’s going to cause some tension,” East Anchorage Republican Rep. Stanley Wright told the Anchorage Daily News, adding that he wasn’t sure he’d join.
Also, judging by the response to Ruffridge’s floor speech—desk-pounding applause from many members of the former bipartisan organizations with stony silence from hard-line Republicans—there’s certainly a mixed reaction to the idea of opening the door to bipartisan collaboration, especially when it has already undercut some of the chamber’s most conservative members (more on that below).
Why it matters: First, the formation of an informal caucus like this—especially ones that cross formal caucus boundaries—is a statement, signaling they could be a force to be taken seriously. In that regard, Wright isn’t wrong when he said it will cause some tension, but then again if it’s in service of getting something done for your constituents rather than playing nice with the political powers, then I’d think it’s worthwhile tension.
And, heck, we can already see plenty of places where that tension is already happening. On the House Finance Committee, for example, there are currently four freshmen—Reps. Julie Coulombe, Will Stapp, Frank Tomaszewski and Alyse Galvin—while hardliner Rep. Ben Carpenter (who sounded like his heart was set on co-chair of the powerful budget-setting committee) isn’t on the committee at all and has been relegated to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Second, this particular class of freshmen this year—produced by the state’s new open primaries and ranked-choice voting—appears to so far be generally more moderate and open-minded than their predecessors, who were produced in the rancorous system of the semi-closed partisan primaries. I think this class of freshmen is less interested in reflexively opposing any policy or idea that comes from a member of the opposing caucus. That’s good news for everyone… except the hardline partisans.
Pension bill advances over hardliner opposition
Speaking about the differences between open-minded, solutions-focused freshmen and hardliners who reflexively oppose The Other Side, the limited pension bill advanced out of the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee last Thursday thanks to the votes of a bipartisan group of freshmen legislators.
This is the bill to offer defined benefit pensions to most firefighters, police officers and correctional officers. House Bill 22 by Anchorage Democrat Rep. Andy Josephson is pitched as a conservative approach to addressing what most acknowledge is a major contributor to the state’s recruitment and retention woes, but has faced bitter opposition from hardline Reps. Kevin McCabe and Tom McKay.
McCabe, R-Big Lake, put up just about every reason to oppose and slow down the legislation that he could think of. Ranging from accusing the Department of Public Safety and other agencies of making up fake numbers, accusing police officers of putting the public at risk in order to take on overtime to pump up their final years of employment, complaining about the legislative process itself and going as far as attacking the freshmen for not knowing how the legislative process ought to work.
During prolonged debate on his amendment that would bar overtime hours from being considered in determining retiree benefits (which has already been cut back with a 5-year average rather than a 3-year average), McCabe whined that the legislation was moving too fast and caught him by surprise.
Freshman Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, noted that the bill shouldn’t be a complete surprise.
“I was just going to on this amendment point out I think this bill was pre-filed, so we’ve had quite a bit of time to get our ducks lined up, but I’m new to this,” she said. “It just seems like we’ve been here for a while.”
McCabe responded by arguing that pre-filing legislation doesn’t mean it gets heard and continued his complaints that the legislation was being rushed.
“I get that you’re new,” he said, on a committee where four of the seven members are new.
Himschoot responded that it has passed the Legislature before.
That same amendment also produced McCabe’s line about police officers essentially scamming the system to boost their retirement benefits, a point that Rep. Justin Ruffridge didn’t seem to appreciate either.
“Some of the comments around the amendment are that our police or public safety employees would potentially willingly put people in danger in order to personally benefit or get more money in retirement,” Ruffridge said. “I’m not certain what others’ experiences are with our public safety employees throughout Alaska, but I want to say that my experience with them is that these are the ultimate professionals. They would not put the public at risk in order to personally benefit.”
The measure ultimately advanced from the committee on a 4-2 vote with freshmen Reps. Ruffridge, Himschoot, Donna Mears and CJ McCormick voting in favor of it. The legislation still has three more committees between it and a floor vote, but it could be a sign of things to come.
Stay tuned.
The schedule for the day
The House Education Committee finally holds its first hearing of the legislative session at 8 a.m… with an overview of the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
The House budget subcommittee on Education meets at 9 a.m… with a budget overview of the Alaska State Council on the Arts
Senate Finance meets at 9 a.m. to continue its hearing on the supplemental budget
There’s a noon lunch and learn on the University of Alaska’s internship program
Senate Education meets at 1 p.m. to hear a presentation from the Association of Alaska School Boards
House Resources meets at 1 p.m. to get an update on the Cook Inlet gas supply
House Finance meets at 1:30 to hear from the Alaska Mental Health Trust
House Labor and Commerce meets at 3:15 to hear HB 51, use of designated refrigerants
House Ways and Means meets at 6 p.m. to get Legislative Finance’s overview of the 2021 Fiscal Policy Working Group’s report
The new freshman caucus sounds like a good thing to me. Like rank choice voting is will give freshmen leglisltors a chance to be heard and get important work down. I am sure the old moss backs don't like it, but it is no long their time to control everything and everyone. Kathrin