Prompted by security concerns forwarded to law enforcement by Republican leadership, a joint committee approved a rule restricting access to certain areas of the Capitol building Wednesday, which could remove some organizations from its headquarters.
The Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, made up of 10 lawmakers from both chambers, voted to restrict public access to Capitol building hearing rooms and legislative offices. Starting Saturday night, people would not be allowed to be in those areas between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 a.m unless they were legislative staff.
Protesters sleeping in the rotunda and hallways would not be affected.
The Teaching Assistants’ Association, an organization advocating against the governor’s budget repair bill for its effects on unions, has made its home in one hearing room on the third floor and would have to move an entire wireless network to a new location outside the Capitol because of the new rule.
“We probably can’t maintain that in a bunch of hallways,” Alex Hanna, TAA co-president, said. “We have some spaces planned, and there are some people who are sympathetic to our cause, members who have apartments around the Capitol.”
He added that he was not aware of any other organizations using hearing rooms as headquarters, although people are sleeping overnight in legislator offices. Not many Republican offices have been open, Hanna said.
That may be due to security concerns among Republicans who are at odds with a majority of the protesters in and around the Capitol.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald’s, R-Juneau, spokesperson Andrew Welhouse said Fitzgerald had personally received a number of threats to his safety that are currently being investigated by the authorities.
Although security concerns are real, law enforcement at the Capitol has complimented protesters and TAA members, Hanna said.
“All we’ve heard from police when we see them is about the great behavior of the protesters and the non-violence,” Hanna said. “There have been no reports of vandalism and very little complaints. In my own experience, police have been overwhelmingly positive about what we’re doing.”
The Fitzgerald brothers have sealed of a lot of the rooms to make sure labor and protesters do not reserve any of them, he said.
Welhouse said the new rule is not a restriction but a return to the Capitol’s standard operating hours.
“The building opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. – that’s the rule of the Capitol, and it hasn’t been adhered to over the past two weeks,” Welhouse said. “This ballot makes sure people aren’t using these rooms for purposes other than they are intended.”
Restrictions in the Capitol have increased starting Saturday, when law enforcement allowed protesters to enter the building through only two entrances. Entire wings were restricted on Tuesday, and Assembly gallery onlookers were required to empty their pockets and walk through metal detectors before being allowed up.
The escalating of restrictions has not gone unnoticed and could be leading to a showdown between protesters sleeping overnight and law enforcement within the Capitol, Hanna said.
Gov. Scott Walker’s spokesperson, Cullen Werwie, told reporters after a press conference that no decision had been made on closing the building Saturday.
