"Serving Western Legislatures"

Council of State Governments - WEST
121 Second Street, Fourth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 974-6422: PHONE
(415) 974-1747: FAX
csgw@csg.org: E-MAIL
http://www.csgwest.org

OFFICERS

Melvin R. Brown
Speaker, Utah
Chair

Jeannette Hamby
Senator, Oregon
Chair-Elect

Timothy Z. Jennings
Senate Majority Leader
New Mexico
Vice-Chair

Manny M. Aragon
Senate President Pro Tem
New Mexico
Immediate Past Chair

Kent Briggs
Executive Director

COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Electrical Industry Restructuring
Kathy Augustine
Senator, Nevada

Future of Western Legislatures
Joe Baca
Assistant Speaker Pro Tem
California

Energy & Minerals
Ramona Barnes
Representative, Alaska

Western Water Policy
Joseph E. Dini, Jr.
Speaker, Nevada

Southern Boarder
Denise M. Ducheny
Assemblymember, California

Smart States
Elaine Alquist
Assemblymember, California

Public Land Policy
Tom Hatch
Representative, Utah

Trade & Transportation
Ray Powers
Senate Assistant Majority Leader
Colorado

WESTRENDS
Raymond G. Sanchez
Speaker, New Mexico

Legislative Service Agency Directors
Carl Bianchi
Director Legislative Services, Idaho

1998 Western Legislative Meeting Ends

Resolutions & Election Forecasts Wrap Up Four-Day Anchorage Meeting

For Immediate Release: September 22, 1998

Contacts:

  • Wendy Lindskoog, Alaska Senate Press Secretary, 907-258-8184
  • Jerry Ritter, Alaska House Press Secretary, 907-258-8164
  • Kent Briggs, Executive Director, CSG-WEST, 303-572-5456

Anchorage—The 51st annual meeting of Western state legislators today culminated with the adoption of 10 policy resolutions and a lively debate on upcoming 1998 elections by a panel of national political experts which included the President of Princeton, New Jersey’s Gallup Organization.

Lawmakers from throughout the West met in Anchorage for four days of work sessions largely focused on the policy committees of The Council of State Governments-WEST. Committees meeting in Alaska were the Trade and Transportation Committee, Western Water Policy Committee, Energy and Minerals Committee, Smarts States (technology) Committee, Public Land Policy Committee, Electrical Industry Restructuring Committee, Legislative Service Agency /Research Directors Committee and the Executive Committee of the organization. Legislators are appointed by their leadership to serve on the various CSG-WEST committees.

Resolutions were adopted to:

  1. Promote Civic Education on Representative Democracy;
  2. Urge the President and Congress to reject a federally-authorized Western water policy report;
  3. Urge Congress to support the development of a plan to transport and market North Slope Natural Gas Reserves;
  4. Recommend that the Council of State Governments-WEST support state and local government legal actions exercising public access rights across federal public lands as granted by Congress to the states in the Mining Law of 1866;
  5. Urge EPA and Congress to refrain from defining carbon dioxide as a pollutant;
  6. Encourage Congress to enact legislation to require labeling of meat to identify country of origin;
  7. Urge the U.S. House of Representatives to adopt S. 1360 to maintain the free flow of people and goods across the U.S. border;
  8. Increase federal funding and timely completion of 12 Western transportation corridors;
  9. Urge Congress to respect the founding documents of sovereign states; and
  10. Urge the President, Congress and EPA to modify the proposed regional haze rule.

CSG-WEST is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that serves Western state legislators. The Alaska Legislature hosted the meeting, and Rep. Ramona Barnes (R-Anchorage), Sen. Tim Kelly (R-Anchorage), Sen. President Mike Miller (R-North Pole) and House Speaker Gail Phillips (R-Homer) served as key host legislators.

# # #

Broadcast note: Actualities are available by calling (800) 478-6540 or
 = Ramona Barnes, 137 K = Jeannette James, 43 K