In our office, we are now working hard on our own bills.

HB 70 makes it very clear, in State law, that schools must get active permission from parents before surveying K-12 school children on personal questions. If this bill becomes law, hassles and discussions, similar to what the Anchorage School District went through last fall, will no longer be necessary.

Most of the pressure for last fall's survey came from public health officials who need the survey in order to secure Federal money. In addition, there is always the possibility that some of the quantitative information from the survey is valuable.

Rather than active permission at the time of the survey, perhaps there is another way to obtain parental consent. Should families be able to give blanket permission to the school at registration time rather than before each survey is administered; this would allow their children to participate in any anonymous survey given during that school year?

HB 119 requires high schools to accept qualified adult students who have not finished their high school education. It also provides a funding source from the State's education foundation formula. The local schools that admit adults in high school have found that those adults have a very healthy effect on the younger students.

This bill should also relieve pressure on our university and adult education programs. It would provide the services in our high schools and make it far easier for many rural adults to finish their education at, or near, home.

We will soon be having hearings on HB 33. This legislation would stop bounty hunters from operating in our state. This should preclude situations like the one in Kenai last year; two men, dressed in black, broke into an Alaskan home in the middle of the night to take a man to the South 48 for jumping bail.

Text on these and other bills is located on the Internet: http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis21.htm

We are working with the Division of Family and Youth Services (DFYS) in developing a brochure for parents. This will explain parents rights, administrative court procedures, and resources available to parents when the state takes custody of a child. We want this new brochure to be very helpful to parents and would appreciate your comments. Call us at 694-6683 or (800) 342-2199, and we will send you a draft to examine.

We hope to see you at the Legislative Town Meeting on March 20th. It will be held at the Chugiak Senior Center (off North Birchwood exit) from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. Legislators representing Chugiak and Eagle River will be available to answer any questions you may have.

We are eager to be of assistance to people in our area in dealing with state agencies. If you are having trouble or need help I can be reached by phone, (800) 342-2199 or (907) 465-2199; by mail, State Capitol Building, Room 104, Juneau, AK 99801; or via the Internet, Representative_Fred_Dyson@Legis.state.ak.us. You can also send us information via the Public Opinion Messages (POMs) by calling the Legislative Information Office at 269-0111 (TTY 269-0260).