May 8, 2023 — Alaska (Alaska Beacon) – Careful scheduling and greater use of Alaska’s 22 auxiliary legislative offices could fix the problem
The Alaska Legislature is changing some procedures after Capitol phone lines became overloaded by public testimony for a record fifth time this year.
The Capitol’s phones reached capacity on Tuesday, during a hearing about a bill that intends to repeal the state’s new ranked-choice voting law. The phone lines have filled more times this year than in the past six years combined, legislative statistics indicate.
Overall call volume hasn’t changed significantly from past years, but Alaskans’ habits have: Members of the public are now much more likely to call from home, rather than one of the legislative information offices scattered across the state.
That pattern, plus a series of high-interest bills, have repeatedly filled the Legislature’s 90 public phone lines.
Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, said that even her father couldn’t make it into the queue for one meeting.
“He’s like, ‘I tried, and I tried’ (to call in),” she said. “I’ve had numerous people reach out to me, I’ve had emails and texts, and they keep trying and trying.”
On April 21, with several committees simultaneously taking public testimony, the phone lines were so clogged that the Legislature’s own attorneys couldn’t connect to a House Judiciary Committee that Vance was leading.