Last week, the ACLU of Alaska’s Policy team traveled to Juneau for the first time this session to begin to advance our legislative priorities. The 2025 session started two weeks ago, but the legislature is moving quickly to take action on its priorities on elections, education, and the budget. With the team, I spent three days meeting with legislators and their staff, going to hearings, and participating in plenty of planning huddles. Here are my takeaways from our first trip to Juneau.
There's always something new
The environment in the capitol building is never dull. Bills are introduced, hearings are posted, and of course, local and national news is ever-changing. Before the legislative session started, a lot of my work was in-depth policy research intended to help shape our priorities and legislative goals. I've been switching gears into more immediate tasks as the session has kicked off. Being right in the heart of everything was helpful to give me context, and also exciting!
No meeting is the same, nor should it be
Every meeting we had with a legislative office flowed differently. We came with relatively concrete goals – to introduce ourselves to legislators we hadn’t worked with before and continue conversations with those we had – but the individual meetings varied quite a bit. However, what I realized was that a good meeting doesn’t follow a strict agenda. Instead, it’s a conversation. The meetings we had were productive, and touched on everything from policy, to pets, to cooking, and more.
Preparation is important
Another thing I took away from our meetings with legislators is that it’s important to do your homework. It's often hard to predict what topics will arise in a meeting, so being properly prepared means informing yourself on the content of the bills a legislator has introduced, what’s happened in recent hearings and around the capitol building, and even what’s happening on the national level. It can be very helpful to hear a legislator’s thoughts about a wider range of topics, rather than narrowing in on something particular and not diverging.
Legislative staff are essential
Each office is organized differently, but staff members are often policy experts and are behind so much of the work that comes out of the office. The physical offices were also a new environment for me to experience. Each one was unique to their member of the legislature, but they were all full of energy amidst hectic day-to-day schedules.
Navigating the capitol building is a skill
The Alaska State Capitol feels like a maze, with five floors holding offices for all 60 members of the legislature, plus hearing chambers, the Governor’s offices, and more. The hallways are always crowded, and moving around the building feels like being in a small town: you can’t go a few steps without seeing someone that you know. There are also little quirks about navigating the building that made me glad I wasn’t doing it alone for the first time. For instance, as tempted as I would have been to knock on office doors before entering, no one does that – proper conduct is to go straight in.
The city of Juneau is magical...especially in the snow
Juneau has a quaint, hilly downtown full of coffee shops, galleries, and restaurants and surrounded by gorgeous mountains. It’s a great place to spend time, and after living in car-centric Anchorage, it reminded me how nice it is to be in a compact and walkable city! During our stay, we got a few inches of snow, making the sidewalks slippery, but the streets downtown looked magical draped in white.
We and other ACLU of Alaska staff will return to Juneau throughout session, and I look forward to continuing to advance our priorities via engagement with the legislative process.
Francesca is a Policy Fellow who comes to the ACLU of Alaska through the Alaska Fellows Program, a 9-month fellowship that nurtures the next generation of Alaska-based leaders by pairing talented young people with strong communities and professional mentors.