Former representative’s lawsuit prompts Alaska Legislature to redo bills in session’s final days

Rep. David Eastman lost his bid for reelection last November, but the Wasilla Republican’s legacy is still affecting the Alaska Legislature.

On Friday, the Legislature passed four bills that are attempts to redo legislation that passed the Capitol last year. The redo was encouraged by a lawsuit filed by Eastman against the Legislature in November. 

At the end of last year’s legislative session, lawmakers combined multiple bills — dealing with child care, state boards and hunting guide changes — in an effort to get them passed before the session’s constitutional deadline.

Legislative attorneys and even some legislators said at the time that the combination would be a violation of Article II, Section 13, of the Alaska Constitution, which says that “every bill shall be confined to one subject unless it is an appropriation bill or one codifying, revising, or rearranging existing laws.”

Eastman cites that section of the constitution in his lawsuit. With the suit moving forward, thus raising questions about the legality of the policies within the contested bill, legislators reintroduced each of the contested bills separately when the Legislature reconvened in January.

One of the bills creates a concession program for hunting guides, allowing the state to more tightly regulate the big-game hunting industry in Alaska. Two others are intended to help Alaska’s child care shortage, one by offering additional tax credits to companies that offer child care for their employees.

Each of the bills started in the Senate, and each passed the House on Friday, all by wide margins.

Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, called the redo “part of doing business” in the Capitol.

Last year’s state House was led by a predominantly Republican coalition majority. This year’s House is led by a predominantly Democratic coalition. Lawmakers traditionally feel pressure to finish their work before the end of the second year of the session and adjournment “sine die,” or without a fixed date to return.

“Being able to roll bills together on the sine die session can be a valuable tool, but I know at times it’s misused, which on occasion it is, (and) it can be a real sort of nuisance,” Edgmon said. “So I think more legislators support having that tool available if it’s used sparingly and sort of judiciously. But there are some who think that it’s not a necessary tool. So it’s been interesting to see that sort of juxtaposition.”

House Majority Leader Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, said he feels good that all of the needed bills passed “unscathed.”

By phone, Eastman said that he doesn’t disagree with the policies in last year’s bill, but he does worry about the process and is concerned that lawmakers could be doing things in a way that the constitution’s framers didn’t intend.

Even though replacement bills have passed, the lawsuit should continue, he said, in order to prevent future legislatures from trying to repeat what happened last year.

“It’s not about whether I liked (the policies in the bill) or didn’t like them politically. It’s about whether or not we’re going to create a new normal where you can put any kind of things into a bill you want from whatever source, topic or subject matter, and you can just call it good,” he said.

Eastman said the Legislature’s actions last year raised a question that still isn’t resolved: “Are we going to build on that in the future and start a new direction, or are we going to go back to more the way that we’ve done things in the past? I hope that we go back to the way we’ve done things in the past.”

Attorney Joe Geldhof is representing Eastman in court.

“I’m glad it appears the Legislature enacted things according to the Constitution. This doesn’t end the case. David Eastman wants, David Eastman deserves, and I’ll try to get a declaration that what the Alaska Legislature did last year was unconstitutional,” Geldhof said by phone.

While the multi-subject legislation was aimed at wrapping up work before the end of the last day of the 2024 session, the House still passed five bills after midnight on that day. Gov. Mike Dunleavy later vetoed them, saying that they missed the deadline.

All five have been either re-introduced or introduced as part of a broader bill, and each of the five has either passed the Legislature or is on track to do so.

Eastman’s lawsuit and the resulting legislative process are likely to change the Capitol, Kopp said. “I think that there is going to be more of a concerted effort, not only with the single-subject rule, but also with the timing of passage of bills, not letting things get stacked up against midnight.”