The Alaska Legislature is looking to revise last year’s law that overhauled the criminal justice system. But lawmakers don’t appear likely to repeal it.
The House Judiciary Committee heard a variety of proposed changes to Senate Bill 54 on Tuesday. The bill would scale back some of the reductions in criminal sentencing enacted last year.
Anchorage Republican Rep. Charisse Millett is seeking to amend the bill. She expects that some representatives will introduce a repeal of last year’s Senate Bill 91.
“Reading the tea leaves, I see that we probably don’t have enough votes to do a full repeal, so I’m going to work on things that I see in the bill that are great changes that could significantly change what SB 91 has done to my community,” Millett said.
Millett said the largest change she’s seeking is to nix the reductions in criminal sentences made last year.
The House Judiciary Committee began considering amendments Tuesday. Public testimony on the bill was underway Tuesday night.
Andrew Kitchenman is the state government and politics reporter for Alaska Public Media and KTOO in Juneau. Reach him at akitchenman@alaskapublic.org.
