Bringing Workshops to Alaska’s Chambers
Juneau, Alaska – NICD’s State Legislative Program brought civility and warm weather to the Alaska legislature, facilitating workshops for the House and Senate as they began this year’s legislative sessions.
Amid the flurry of swearing in new members and beginning a busy legislative session, the NICD team joined 31 of the 40 Representatives and 18 of the 20 Senators for two separate half-day workshops focused on how they could engage political differences civilly and create a more collaborative and effective chamber. The workshops were facilitated by former Idaho State Senator Abby Lee and current Washington State Representative Sharon Wylie, who each brought a wealth of experience as elected officials to share with Alaska’s House and Senate members.
Abby and Sharon facilitated the personal journeys discussion for each chamber, allowing the members to continue growing the trust that is central to successfully passing legislation in Alaska. Both chambers brought significant engagement and curiosity to the sessions, allowing for earnest conversations about how to improve collaboration and civility in Alaska. Program Director Thom Little charged each participant to pursue a civil legislature not for civility and collaboration’s sake, but because the structure of our government necessitates the cross-party negotiation that Alaska often exemplifies.
Both of the Alaska legislature’s chambers are governed by a bipartisan majority coalition, made up of Republicans, Democrats, and Independent or unaffiliated members. No other state in the country has even one chamber governed by a cross-partisan coalition, and NICD’s team interviewed members to hear more about what factors are critical to the coalitions’ success in passing legislation. The NICD team was also recognized during the opening session of the House!
When partisan politics continues to dominate national news, Alaskan legislators have worked to recognize where they have room to agree and where party labels may serve as poor representations of the ability to work together. The structure of this success is enabled by the culture in the state, where there exist political incentives to cooperate instead of lean into partisan conflict.
The team was particularly glad to spend extra time meeting with Representatives and Senators about the unique success of Alaska’s bipartisanship. Thanks to the wonderful elected officials and staff for allowing us to work towards strong civility in Alaska and learn what we can take to the lower 49!
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About NICD, the National Institute for Civil Discourse
NICD works to build the nation’s capacity to engage our differences constructively. In 2011, the University of Arizona created NICD after the Tucson shooting that killed six people and wounded another thirteen, including former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In the weeks prior to the shooting, Congresswoman Giffords was already in discussion with the University of Arizona about creating a center that would focus on improving the quality of discourse. The galvanizing power of that event brought together founding honorary co-chairs George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and an impressive bipartisan group of other leaders to honor Congresswoman Giffords’ vision.
NICD’s State Legislative Program is one of our most important programs that creates and strengthens bipartisan relationships through mutual, trust-based, and effective communication in state legislatures around the country.
NICD offers Americans a variety of opportunities and resources to engage differences constructively at https://civildiscourseinstitute.org/.
