A bill by Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, that would place a $100 bounty on sea otters harvested legally in Alaska attracted vocal support in a Senate Resources Committee hearing Wednesday, despite Stedman’s admission that the bill as drafted appears to be unenforceable under federal law.

Stedman introduced Senate Bill 60 last month, calling it an effort to slow the booming population growth among sea otters in Southeast Alaska.

Tuesday afternoon’s House Finance Committee meeting offered mixed news for education funding in Alaska.

The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development saw its operating budget request cut by a House Finance subcommittee, which reduced Gov. Sean Parnell’s funding request for the department by $5.72 million in general funds and left it with $348.2 million in total authorized funding, slightly less than the $350.3 million authorized for the current fiscal year.

The Alaska State Legislature returned to its usual business on Monday, after a short break last week to allow more than one-third of the state’s legislators to travel to Washington, D.C., for meetings.

The Legislature takes a few days off every March for the annual Washington, D.C., meeting of the Energy Council, which brings together lawmakers from energy-producing states and provinces, as well as from other energy-producing countries.

This year, Alaska’s Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, is chairman of the Energy Council.

In 2006, Alaskans voted narrowly to cut down the 121-day legislative session provided for in the state Constitution by one-third, resulting in the 90-day regular session that is now the norm at the Alaska State Capitol.

But some current and former legislators said this week that they believe the longer length, most often referred to as a 120-day session, provided a better balance for Alaska’s “citizen legislators.”