Op-Ed Article

Published in the Alaska Star 06-18-98

by Representative Fred Dyson

This legislative session ended with some significant accomplishments.

The State’s foundation formula for schools was re-written under the leadership of Senator Randy Phillips. The new system is far more rational and fair than the past system. Under the new formula, Anchorage gets about 10 million more dollars this year and will get more in the out years.

The State’s laws on child protection were rewritten and should cause a significant improvement. More money was appropriated for investigators of crimes against children. I personally invested a significant amount of time to make more improvements.

The legislature has pared about $190 million from the State’s budget over the last three years, but we still ran $700 million in the hole this year. Much of this was because of North Slope Oil selling at $12.00 per barrel. The Capital Budget was nearly a billion dollars. This went for school construction, infrastructure repair, the Anchorage airport expansion and the new Anchorage jail. This budget was larger than I thought and was appropriate taking into account our financial situation.

I worked on some consumer protection and domestic violence issues as well as a bill to force the Anchorage School District to stop discriminating against part-time students.

Subsistence. We came close to agreement on this one. The issue is not as simplistic as the, so-called, "Alaskans Together" group maintains. The Eagle River delegation has been working to craft legislation that does not damage our Constitution and limits the amount of discrimination the Feds can force on us. I voted with Senator Halford on an amendment that would not take effect if our lawsuit is successful. I also voted for another amendment that would have allowed some urban residents to qualify for subsistence hunting and fishing during times of shortage. Unfortunately, both of these proposals fell short of the 2/3 vote needed. I expect that we will get enough votes when we reconvene in late July.

We will be working on new legislation before the next legislative session and we will be happy to consider YOUR ideas. Call us at 694-6683.