Ballot initiative to move Alaska Legislature's meetings clears early hurdle

Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer certified the sponsors’ proposed bill, meaning they’ll soon be able to collect the 28,501 qualified signatures needed to put the question to voters in 2020. After they get some official documents, they’ll have one year to collect the signatures.

One of the initiative’s sponsors, Camille Carlson of Fairbanks, said the more central location will save money and lives, because fewer people will have to fly. However, various analyses of federal transportation data show that driving is much more dangerous than commercial flight.

Wayne Jensen chairs the Alaska Committee, a nonprofit organization committed to keeping Juneau the capital. He isn’t alarmed by the proposal.

“And now they have a lot of work to do, in terms of getting signatures. It’s a fairly high bar,” Jensen said. “This is not the first time that this has come up. It’s come up, you know, 10, 12, 13 times before in some form.”

Read more: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/04/05/ballot-initiative-to-move-alaska-legislatures-meetings-clears-early-hurdle/