Gov. Dunleavy reintroduces bill to penalize unpermitted public protests as felonies
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a news conference on Friday, March 15, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
One year after a similar proposal failed to pass the state legislature, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has reintroduced legislation that could result in felony charges against homeless Alaskans and the organizers of unpermitted protests.
Senate Bill 74 and its companion, House Bill 71, were filed Monday in the state Capitol.
Each says that someone who 'obstructs or blocks a public place' by dropping a substance or using 'any other means' may be liable for a class C felony, the lowest-level felony in state law.
Both bills are substantially similar to proposals that Dunleavy introduced last year. Those concepts were criticized by civil libertarians.During legislative hearings, Attorney General Treg Taylor said that homeless Alaskans who block trails and sidewalks could also be subject to prosecution.
Neither of last year's bills advanced to a vote in either the state House or the state Senate.
In a letter sent to the state Senate alongside SB 74, Dunleavy said, 'Alaskans have a constitutional liberty interest in freely moving about the state. This bill will protect the right to freedom of movement against infringement by increasing and expanding existing criminal prohibitions on obstructing public places and rights-of-way and by establishing new civil liability for obstruction of public places.'
SB 74 and HB 71 have been referred to the transportation committees in the Senate and House, respectively. No hearings have been scheduled.
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