- Alaska Legislature
Infobox Legislature
name = Alaska Legislature
coa_pic = AlaskaStateSealTransparent.png
coa-pic =
session_room = Alaska State Capital July 2007.jpg
house_type = Bicameral
houses = Senate
House of Representatives
leader1_type =President of the Senate
leader1 =Lyda Green
party1 = Coalition Republican
election1 =January 4 ,2007
leader2_type =Speaker of the House
leader2 = John Harris
party2 = Republican
election2 = 2005
members = 60
p_groups = Democratic Party
Republican Party
election3 =November 7 ,2006
meeting_place =Alaska State Capitol , Juneau
website = http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/The Alaska Legislature is the state legislature of the
U.S. state ofAlaska . It is abicameral institution, consisting of the lowerAlaska House of Representatives , with 40 members, and theupper house Alaska Senate , with 20 members. With a total of 60 lawmakers, the Alaska Legislature is the smallest bicameral state legislature in theUnited States .The Alaska Legislature meets in the State Capitol building in Juneau.
Meetings
Annual sessions begin in January and are limited by statute to 90 calendar days. Special sessions of 30 calendar days may be convened by a consensus of two-thirds of the each house.
In the 2006 elections, a voter initiative was passed that reduced the statutory length of the session from 121 days. The 2008 session was the first 90 day session. Although the session adjourned on time, some members of the legislature claimed that legislation was rushed and public input was jeopardized. [cite web|url=http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/374722.html|title=Legislature adjourns on time|publisher=
Anchorage Daily News |date=2008-04-13|accessdate=2008-09-05]Non-professional legislature
Unlike other state legislatures with longer sessions, the comparatively short Alaska Legislature session allows many lawmakers to retain outside employment, especially in the state's many seasonal industries, such as fishing and
tourism . In this, the Alaska Legislature retains some of thevolunteer nature that characterized most state legislatures until the middle of the 20th century. This has led to recurring but minor controversy around the potential forconflict of interest inherent in legislators' outside employment. [cite web|url=http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:ULzEwaHp2dwJ:www.juneauempire.com/stories/011306/opi_20060113001.shtml+alaska+legislator+%22outside+employment%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1|title=Alaska editorial: Let a commission help decide legislator's pay|publisher=Juneau Empire |date=2006-01-13|accessdate=2006-08-23]References
External links
* [http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/ Alaska Legislature]
See also
*
Alaska State Capitol
*List of Alaska State Legislatures
*Alaska political corruption probe
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.