Juneau -- Representative John Coghill (R-Fairbanks), spoke out against making the longevity bonus eligibility based on income today during the House State Affairs hearing on HB 55 today.

Coghill, vice-chair of the committee, said the program was established to honor the people who pioneered Alaska, but the governor's legislation would make receiving the bonus an intrusion to the privacy of the people we intended to reward. In this case Coghill agrees with Glenn Franklin of Fairbanks that "how much income seniors get is none of their business."

According to Coghill, the cost of the program is shrinking at the rate of approximately $2 million dollars a year and will eventually be phased out because of changes made to the program in 1996.

While the intrusion was a major factor in not supporting the legislation, Coghill said he felt the bill was a tax on senior citizens because it would eliminate income for about 8% of the current recipients.

He said the bill was also ill-conceived because while the governor sees this as a way to save money, it would actually create more government to process eligibility forms and establish an appeal process for those seniors denied.

"We didn't ask the pioneers if they wanted the longevity bonus, but we thought to thank old timers for their contributions to Alaska," Coghill said. "This bill attempts to turn that gratitude into an intrusive, demeaning insult."

Coghill felt Bob Hufman, a pioneer testifying in Fairbanks, put it best when he said "let's let it die a natural death."