Postcards Home: Trevor carries two bills for Sen. Lesil McGuire

After the first few weeks of running around the building doing various tasks-assisting Sen. Lesil McGuire as a committee aide, doing research on issues my office is dealing with, responding to constituents through email, and sitting in on meetings and taking notes-I finally got assigned to carry two pieces of legislation.

The two topics are an issue relating to the Arctic and an issue relating to juvenile speedy trial. I have a very strong interest in the Arctic because it is still so untouched, and there are many issues with it that are good and bad.

I did not have much familiarity with juvenile justice in Alaska, so when this opportunity came my way, I was excited. It allowed me to learn about something totally new to me. And at the end of the day, this experience is all about expanding our learning. So when Sen. McGuire asked if I wanted to carry these two issues, I was all over it!

When it comes to carrying legislation there are many things that have to be done. First you will get assigned an issue. You will go over it and get familiar with it. After getting familiar with the issue and doing the proper research on it, you send it off to legislative legal.

In legislative legal they make a working draft for you. This is an important part of the process because whatever you do not like you can take out, and whatever you would like to add, you can. Once you are happy with all the language and have everything that you and your boss want, you send it off to make the final form.

Once you have the final version, you take it up to the Senate Secretary's office where they prepare it for presentation on the Senate floor. Once your bill gets presented to all the senate members, it gets assigned a number and the fun begins!

After your bill is addressed to the floor, it gets assigned to a few different committees where you will present it.

Before this opportunity of coming to Juneau and working for the Legislature, I thought I had an idea of how the process of government works. Not that I was totally wrong, but I definitely underestimated how much work goes into getting legislation passed. You have to make everyone happy.

One committee might love the bill. When it gets passed on to the next, you might have to change some things to make them happy.

With that being said, this is teaching me to be patient and willing to compromise with many different individuals because it's all about keeping our communities safe and making Alaska as prosperous as it can be.

I feel very fortunate to be able to see how the process works from this side and to be a part of Alaska history!

This was written by UAA student and legislative intern Trevor Gutierrez. Here are links to Postcards Home from other interns: Mark Simon, German Baquero.