Press Release: Ogan Bill Says, "Move It or Lose It" - House Bill 95 Would Evict Governor To Make Room In Capitol

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Session:
State Capitol, Room 108
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: (907) 465-3878
Fax: (907) 465-3265

Interim:
600 E. Railroad Ave., Suite 1
Wasilla, AK 99654
Phone: (907) 376-4866
Fax: (907) 373-4724

For Immediate Release: January 25, 2001

Contact: Representative Scott Ogan at (907) 465-3878

(JUNEAU) -- With space in the aging Capitol building growing ever tighter and Southeast Alaska resisting moving the capital, Rep. Scott Ogan (R-Palmer) today introduced House Bill 95, his "move it or lose it" legislation to bring the entire Capitol building under legislative management and move the governor to new offices elsewhere.

"If the Legislature stays in Juneau, the people who travel here should be able to participate in the process," Ogan said. "Our committee rooms are woefully undersized and poorly ventilated, and they're smaller than most school classrooms. Our staffers are crammed into spaces that violate national workplace standards, and at least two staffers work in old bank vaults instead of modern offices."

Current law gives the governor control over the third floor, and the governor, lieutenant governor and their support staffs take up the entire floor of the six-story structure. The rest of the building must accommodate offices for 60 legislators and their staffs, committee rooms, legislative chambers and public galleries, pressroom and other public facilities. In 1993, the Legislature moved the attorney general from the Capitol's fourth floor, allowing legislators to leave the Courthouse Plaza building and consolidate in the Capitol.

"This bill is not about picking on this or any other governor, but if we need the third floor for better public access in our Capitol something has got to give," Ogan said. The 70-year old building was not designed as a Capitol, but as a Territorial federal building, and it later served as a postal facility before being converted to the Legislature's home at Statehood. The structure no longer adequately serves the Legislature or the public.

"Our galleries are a disgrace compared to those in other capitols," Ogan said. "When high profile bills or issues come to the floor the galleries are packed like sardine cans and members of the public don't have a chance competing against professional lobbyists or government functionaries to get a seat."

The bill would give control over the entire building to the Legislature, which could use the third floor to relieve overcrowding in the rest of the building. Ogan has also introduced House Bill 28, a bill to allow the Legislature to meet in other Alaska communities in alternate years.

"It's a long shot to make that happen, and if it doesn't we need options for more space here," he said. While he acknowledged moving the governor from the Capitol is an uphill battle, and that the decision is ultimately up to the Legislative Council, he envisioned a transition in as little as two years.

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