Blog: Capital Focus
If you were in the Capitol today, you might have caught a little cat-and-mouse between lawmakers and the media.
House and Senate leaders were scheduled to meet at 12:15 to decide when to vote on AGIA. Sometimes leadership meetings are public and sometimes they aren’t, but lawmakers generally don’t like to slam doors on anyone. So when the media (radio, TV, newspaper) started loitering in the House Speaker’s chamber -- with Speaker Harris’ implied permission -- Senate leaders failed to show.
Cell phones emerged, and House leaders filed out, all headed in different directions.
Most reconvened a few minutes later down one flight of stairs in Senate President Green’s office. When I peaked my head in the door, Green said No.
So this is not an open meeting? I asked.
No.
A media stakeout ensued.
The question of whether closed meetings should be allowed is important, but not really timely. Today, the real issue was what the Senate was talking about.
Under AGIA, lawmakers have a few more weeks to vote, but many lawmakers are already calling for action, saying new information isn’t going to change anyone’s mind, and some suspect that opponents of AGIA are intentionally holding things up.
-The lawmaker in charge of the hearings and schedule, Sen. Charlie Huggins, is a strong critic of approving the TransCanada license. (Huggins says he still has questions and values the new information.)
-A delayed vote would benefit TransCanada’s main competitor, Denali.
-And hey, anything could happen! The old adage is, If you have the votes, vote. If you don’t, talk. (There’s widespread belief that most lawmakers support TransCanada.)
Another thing that could be playing into the timing is Palin’s package of proposals to provide energy relief. Lawmakers who wanted something specific in terms of energy relief would have some leverage over lawmakers who want to get AGIA passed. (That leverage would disappear after a vote.)
Oh, and the meeting.
Senate members stayed in for a long time, resuming today’s hearing about 20 minutes behind schedule.
They still don’t have a firm schedule, but Sen. Charlie Huggins, who chairs the Senate committee reviewing the bill, said he plans to hold a committee vote by the end of next week.
The House plans to hold a floor debate and vote on the license next Tuesday.
Thanks. I only got a quick peek, but I know Sens. Green and Huggins were there, and Reps. Samuels, Meyer, and Coghill. I know there were more, but can't say definitively who they were. "Leadership" is generally the Senate president, House speaker, majority leaders, and Rules and Finance chairmen.
Post a comment