House Passes Supplemental Budget, After Serious Disruption One Lawmaker Held up Business for Over an Hour
News Sports Neighbors Capital City Weekly Alaska Outdoors Opinion Letters Obituaries House speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, left, speaks with Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, during the House floor session on Wednesday, Feb. 26. 2020. (Peter Segall | Juneau Empire) House passes supplemental budget, after serious disruption One lawmaker held up business for over an hour By Peter Segall Wednesday, February 26, 2020 5:36pm ❙ NEWS STATE & LEGISLATURE The Alaska House of Representatives nearly unanimously passed the supplemental budget introduced by Gov. Mike Dunleavy earlier this month. Members of the House added no amendments to the governor’s budget, and representatives from both parties commended the governor in his choice of appropriations. / But Wednesday oor session was signicantly disrupted by Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, who was nearly ejected from the chamber. Eastman’s rst disruption came when he introduced an amendment that would have removed $5,000 meant to go to a court settlement with Planned Parenthood. Eastman objected on the ground the money was meant to go to an organization that provided abortions, but many of his colleagues noted the state had lost a case in court and was simply following the law. “This has absolutely nothing to do with where you fall on this issue,” said Rep. Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage. “Just because we are the state and we do not like it, doesn’t not mean we cannot pay it.” House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, admonished Eastman several times for veering o topic as Eastman began to discuss abortion rather than the specic appropriations within the bill.
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