CALL TO ORDER AND HERE WE GO AGAIN

Speaker of the House John Harris called our State House of Representatives to order at 1:02PM today to begin our Second Session of our 25th Alaska Legislature. Here we go again!

Opening ceremonies included an Honor Guard from the Tongass Alaska Girl Scouts Council presented the Colors and led the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the Alaska Youth Choir (see photograph) singing "The Alaska Flag Song” under the direction of Ms. Missouri Smyth.

The Speaker appointed Representative Kawasaki and me to officially notify Governor Palin that the “House of Representatives is in session, and ready to do business.” Rep. Kawasaki is a Democrat and the youngest representative; I’m a Republican and the oldest representative.

This the first time I’ve been a participant in this legislative formality. We traipsed upstairs to the “third floor” (legislative speak for the governor’s office) to notify the governor as directed. In actuality, we notified the governor’s Chief of Staff Mike Tibbles. The governor was in the basement bomb shelter (now used as the capitol audio-visual center) practicing for her State of the State address she will deliver later this afternoon. I wisecracked that the bomb shelter was a good place for the governor to be, considering the Tempest-in-a-Teapot controversy between the administration and the Senate on whether the speech should be at six or seven!

After we returned to the House and delivered the message that the message had been delivered to “the governor,” some sixty-one new House bills were given their title only “first reading” (we call it “read across the floor”), and assigned to various House committees.

Now the work begins. Every bill or resolution filed is important to someone, and probably every bill or resolution is controversial to someone. Obviously (I hope it’s obvious), the most important issue is the gas pipeline. I hope everyone makes the gas pipeline their top priority, minus turf battles, “gotcha” politics, ego trips, and personality conflicts between the entities addressing the issues. Hope springs eternal!