Two Juneau legislators preside over minute-long floor sessions Friday as gasline stalemate persists

Rep. Sara Hannan and Sen. Jesse Kiehl get very short promotions to House Speaker and Senate President, respectively, as nearly all lawmakers remain absent for latest special session

Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, gavels out a technical floor session as the acting House Speaker on Friday, July 31, 2026. (Gavel Alaska screenshot)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

Two Juneau legislators got promotions to House Speaker and Senate President for about a minute apiece Friday as they presided over technical floor sessions at the Alaska State Capitol as part of a third special session on a proposed gasline that remained mired in a stalemate.

Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, called the House session to order exactly at 10:30 a.m. in her first documented appearance as Speaker Pro Tem. The only other member present was Rep. Alyse Galvin, I-Anchorage, who in a brief promotion to acting majority leader immediately motioned the House stand in adjournment until another technical session on Monday.

"There being no objection the House will stand in adjournment until Monday, Aug. 3 at 10 30 a.m. for a technical session," Hannan said, gaveling the floor session to an end at 10:31 a.m.

The Senate floor session began at exactly 11 a.m. with Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, as the president pro tem and the lone legislator in the chamber for the second time since the current special session began on Monday. Both floor sessions, like those in the House, were quick technical sessions with no action on any legislation since no bill has been presented by Gov. Mike Dunleavy for lawmakers to consider.

Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, gavels out a technical floor session as the acting Senate President on Friday, July 31, 2026. (Gavel Alaska screenshot)

Grant Robinson, a spokesperson for Dunleavy, stated in an email to the Juneau Independent on Friday that "when legislation is introduced, we’ll make an announcement."

Dunleavy, set to depart in December because he is term-limited, is seeking to advance the long-proposed Alaska LNG Project by giving incentives to developers who say the project will be unaffordable otherwise. He has called three special sessions on the issue so far, but a significant bloc of legislators are expressing concerns about whether the tax breaks are excessive and what cost risks the state is facing.

With no legislation to consider — and thus no reason for the vast majority of the Legislature to be in Juneau — the task of presiding over the occasional technical sessions is largely being performed by default by members living here.

Hannan, in an interview after Friday’s floor session, said she wasn’t certain if that was her first time filling in as House Speaker since there were two special sessions in 2019 — her first year in office – when she stepped up to a presiding role. The journals for those sessions show she served as acting majority leader when attendance was sparse, but not as speaker.

When asked to describe the experience of sitting in the House Speaker’s chair — even if before a nearly empty chamber — Hannan called it "a whole different perspective" in more than just the direction she’s facing.

"I worked as a lifeguard starting at age 13 and it's that continual scanning of the whole horizon," she said. "If I started looking on the right and I've moved to the left, and you put up your mic [indicating a desire to speak] way over in the right-hand corner before I've scanned back to you, it might feel like I'm ignoring you. But really, I'm just trying to systematically look across the entire room and then come back and make sure you're not missing any indications. And the room looks pretty big when you're up in the Speaker's chair, how far across the room you've got to look back and forth on a regular basis."

Hannan said she didn’t have any anxiety about being in the Speaker’s chair since scripts of the day’s scheduled proceedings are provided to the presiding officers. Also, she noted, as a teacher "I spent 30 years in front of teenagers."

"When you walk up to the front of the classroom you got to be prepared for every ball to be thrown up in the air," she said.

Kiehl, a senator since 2019, said he has served as Senate president pro tem several times — and at least once during each two-year session.

The most notable difference between the House and Senate floor sessions this week is Kiehl has presided alone, without a majority leader making parliamentary motions such as adjournment. He said tradition dictates a majority leader be present for such motions during a technical session, but it is not mandatory.

There are strict limits on the authority he has presiding over a technical session, Kiehl said.

"I couldn't adjourn us sine die — I couldn't end the special session," he said.

Hannan said she doesn’t know yet if she’ll be in the Speaker’s chair for Monday’s technical session.

"What I have let the Speaker's office know is I am available and in town," she said.

Kiehl said he expects to again preside over the Senate floor session on Monday, but "it's not exactly something I'm clinging onto."

"If somebody else shows up desperate to do it I'll probably share the joy," he said.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.