05-09-04: House Leaders Call for Interim Work on Big Game Commercial Services Board

12-04-03: Kott Swears In Stepovich
Legislators Shuffle Committee Assignments

HB 465 : Natural Gas Development Authority Projects
Sponsored by the House Resources Committee

An Act amending the purpose of the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority to include planning, developing, constructing, managing, or operating an economically viable gas pipeline project from the North Slope of Alaska by a route that parallels the Trans Alaska Pipeline System or the Alaska Highway; authorizing evaluation of opportunities for private sector involvement in the project; amending requirements related to the Authority's preparation of a development plan; and providing for an effective date.

HB 531 : Conventional & Nonconventional Gas Leases
Passed Legislature! Await Transmit to Gov.
Sponsored by the Hou. Resources Committee

An Act relating to natural gas exploration and development and to nonconventional gas, and amending the section under which shallow natural gas leases may be issued; and providing for an effective date.

Version: SCS CS HB 531 (FIN)
Contact: Eleanor Wolfe, 465-6585
Action: 05-09-04: Passed the Senate

Without HB 531, a subsequent gas development entity could immediately lease land relinquished by the original lessee. In addition, land not currently leased remains subject to current over-the-counter standards. This bill initiates a permanent solution to these problems. CS HB 531 (RES) scraps the separate leasing process for shallow natural gas leasing and treats leasing of that commodity under the conventional oil and gas leasing provisions. Repealed several non-conforming statutes and conformed to HB 524 (An Act relating to the protection of land and water from waste disposal; providing for the regulation of waste management). It has been brought forward in response to strong citizen interest in the Mat-Su Valley and on the Kenai Peninsula, with input from several public meetings held at one time or another by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and the Senate Resources Committee. Amended to add a section regarding miners the one time transfer of an application to a licenses and clarified bonding requirements.

| Sponsor Statement |

HJR 44 : Sea Otter Research/Endangered Species
Passed Legislature! Await Transmit to Gov.
Sponsored by the Hou. Resources Committee by Request

Relating to research into the decline of the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern Sea Otter in the western Gulf of Alaska.

Version: CS HJR 44 (RES) Am
Contact: Melissa Dover, 465-2487
Action: 05-08-04: Passed the Senate

HJR 44 requests that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the United States Congress provide $5,000,000 a year over the next five years to conduct research into the abundance of the Northern Sea Otter and the cause of the decline of the Southwest Alaska population of the Northern Sea Otter in the western Gulf of Alaska.

| Sponsor Statement |