2022 Alaska legislative session

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2022 Alaska legislative session
General information
Session start:    January 18, 2022 Session end:    May 18, 2022
Leadership
Senate President Peter Micciche (R) House Speaker Louise Stutes (R) Majority Leader Senate: Shelley Hughes (R) House: Chris Tuck (D) Minority Leader Senate: Tom Begich (D) House: Cathy Tilton (R)
Elections
Next Election:    November 8, 2022 Last Election:    November 3, 2020
Previous legislative sessions
2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2022 legislative sessions
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In 2022, the Alaska State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 18, 2022 and adjourn on May 18, 2022.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2020 elections. Republicans won a 13-7 majority in the Senate and controlled the governorship. Republicans also won a 21-15 majority in the House, but did not establish a governing majority. Speaker Louise Stutes (R) joined a coalition of all the chamber's Democrats and independents, resulting in a power-sharing agreement and divided state government. Click here to read more about the aftermath of the 2020 elections.

At the start of the 2022 session, Alaska was one of 26 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2022 legislative session:

Republicans held a numerical majority in the Alaska state House and state Senate.

Alaska was one of 13 divided governments.

Alaska's governor was Republican Mike Dunleavy.

Leadership in 2022

Alaska State Senate

• Senate president: Peter Micciche (R)
• Majority leader: Shelley Hughes (R)
• Minority leader: Tom Begich (D)

Alaska House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House: Louise Stutes (R)
• Majority leader: Chris Tuck (D)
• Minority leader: Cathy Tilton (R)

Partisan control in 2022

See also: State government trifectas

Alaska was one of 13 divided governments at the start of 2022 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

Alaska was also one of 26 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Alaska State Legislature in the 2022 legislative session.

Alaska State Senate

Party		As of January 2022
	Democratic Party	7
	Republican Party	13
	Vacancies	0
Total		20

Alaska House of Representatives

Party		As of January 2022
	Democratic Party	15
	Republican Party	21
	Independent	3
	Nonpartisan	1
	Vacancies	0
Total		40

Regular session

The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2022 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2022. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Standing legislative committees

See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Alaska state government

A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

At the beginning of the 2022 legislative session, there were 23 standing committees in Alaska's state government, including three joint legislative committees, 10 state Senate committees, and 10 state House committees.

Joint legislative committees

• Armed Services Committee
• Legislative Budget and Audit Committee
• Legislative Council Committee

Senate committees

• Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee
• Senate Education Committee
• Senate Finance Committee
• Senate Health & Social Services Committee
• Senate Judiciary Committee
• Senate Labor & Commerce Committee
• Senate Resources Committee
• Senate Rules Committee
• Senate State Affairs Committee
• Senate Transportation Committee

House committees

• House Community & Regional Affairs Committee
• House Education Committee
• House Finance Committee
• House Health & Social Services Committee
• House Judiciary Committee
• House Labor & Commerce Committee
• House Resources Committee
• House Rules Committee
• House State Affairs Committee
• House Transportation Committee

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

The methods by which the Alaska Constitution can be amended:

See also: Article XIII of the Alaska Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Alaska

The Alaska Constitution provides two mechanisms for amending the state's constitution—a legislative process, and a state constitutional convention. Alaska requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments. Alaskans do not have the power to use a citizen initiative to amend the state's constitution. The power of initiative in Alaska is restricted to proposing state statutes.

Legislature

See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

A two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber of the Alaska State Legislature during one legislative session to refer a constitutional amendment to the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 27 votes in the Alaska House of Representatives and 14 votes in the Alaska State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Convention

See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

According to Section 3 of Article 13 of the Alaska Constitution, a question about whether to hold a state constitutional convention is to automatically appear on the state's ballot every 10 years starting in 1970. Alaska is one of 14 states that provides for an automatic constitutional convention question.

The table below shows the last and next constitutional convention question election years:

State	Interval	Last question on the ballot	Next question on the ballot
Alaska	10 years	2022	2032

Historical partisan control

The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Alaska.

Alaska Party Control: 1992-2025
No Democratic trifectas  •  Six years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Governor	I	I	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	I	I	I	I	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	S	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	S	S	S
House	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	S	S	S	S	S	S	S

Historical Senate control

Of the 32 Alaska State Senate elections held between 1958 and 2020, 18 left the Democrats and Republicans within four seats of each other. However, control of the chamber was not always determined by the partisan split. For example, from 2007 to 2012, a bipartisan coalition comprised mostly of Democrats controlled the chamber even though either Republicans had the numerical majority or the chamber was split 10-10. Only in the elections after 2012 did Republicans begin holding both numerical and governing majorities. The table below shows the partisan history of the Alaska State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2020. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Alaska State Senate election results: 1992-2020

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20
Democrats	9	8	7	5	6	8	8	9*	10*	10*	7	6	6	7	7
Republicans	10	12	13	15	14	11	12	11	10	10	13	14	14	13	13
Independents	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

*Chamber controlled by bipartisan governing coalition

From 1992 to 2020, Republicans had numerical majorities in the Alaska Senate after all but two elections that split the chamber 10-10, but they did not necessarily control the chamber whenever they had a numerical majority. Going into the 1990s, Democrats had not held a numerical majority since the 1980 elections. Republicans continued to maintain majorities, with their high point being a 15-5 advantage following the 1998 elections. Their control weakened after that as they saw their majority reduce to 11-9 after the 2006 elections. It was in the aftermath of that election that Republican Lyda Green assembled a bipartisan coalition that included all nine Senate Democrats and six Republicans. The coalition elected Green as president. She did not run for re-election in 2008, in which year the chamber reached a 10-10 split. However, the bipartisan group maintained control of the chamber, sometimes working against the priorities of Republican Gov. Sean Parnell.

In 2012, Republicans retook control of the Alaska Senate with a 13-7 majority, effectively ending the bipartisan group that Green had established. Although some rural Democrats joined with the new Republican majority, they did not have the same influence over the agenda that Democrats previously had. Republicans expanded their majority in 2014 and 2016 by winning a 14-6 majority, just one seat away from their 1998 high point. In 2018, Democrats regained control of one seat, and the partisan breakdown remained at 13-7 following the 2020 election.

Historical House control

From when Alaska gained statehood in 1959 to the 2018 elections, there were two eras of partisan control in the state House, one for each major party. From 1960 to 1994, Democrats enjoyed almost uninterrupted control of the chamber, losing their majority in just two elections: 1966 and 1982. 1994 marked the beginning of the next era, with Republicans winning control every year until 2016. That year, Republicans won a numerical majority, but Democrats gained effective control of the chamber through a bipartisan governing coalition. After the 2018 elections, the parties split control of the House. The table below shows the partisan history of the Alaska House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

Alaska House of Representatives election results: 1992-2018

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18**
Democrats	20	17	16	14	13	13	14	17	18	16	15	16	17*	16
Republicans	18	22	24	26	27	27	26	23	22	24	25	23	21	23
Independents	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	1

*17 Democrats, three Republicans, and two independents formed a 22-member governing coalition.

**15 Democrats, four Republicans, one independent, and Speaker Bryce Edgmon, who changed his party affiliation from Democratic to unenrolled on February 11, formed a 21-member governing coalition.

The Democratic-controlled era of the Alaska House began to unravel in the 1980s as Republicans closed the long-standing seat gap between the parties. In 1994, Republican gained a five-seat advantage and began their own period of control. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Republicans expanded their seat advantage to double-digits, controlling as many as 27 of the chamber's 40 seats after the 2000 and 2002 elections. The 2006 and 2008 elections gave a boost to the Democrats, putting them just four seats behind the Republicans. However, the elections from 2010 to 2014 widened the gap between the parties.

In 2016, Republicans lost two seats, bringing their caucus to 21 members — the bare minimum for a majority. However, their majority came apart when three Republicans — Paul Seaton, Louise Stutes, and Gabrielle LeDoux — left the caucus to join 17 Democrats and two independents in a majority coalition. According to Seaton, the majority coalition was constructed around a shared vision of fiscal policy, with members wanting to decrease spending, restructure Alaska's Permanent Fund, and institute a broad-based tax. The coalition elected Democrat Bryce Edgmon as speaker of the house.

After the 2018 elections, Republicans held 23 seats in the chamber, with 16 Democrats and one independent. On February 11, 2019, Edgmon changed his party affiliation from Democratic to unenrolled. Three days later, Edgmon, the chamber's remaining 15 Democrats, four Republicans, one independent officeholder voted to elect Edgmon speaker again. The parties then split control of key leadership positions in a power-sharing agreement.

See also

Elections	Alaska State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Alaska State Senate elections, 2022 Alaska House of Representatives elections, 2022	Alaska State Legislature Alaska House of Representatives Alaska State Senate Governor of Alaska Alaska Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2022 State legislative special elections, 2022 State legislative elections, 2020 State legislative elections, 2018	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures The State Legislative Decade

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Alaska State Legislature homepage

Footnotes

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