Alaska State Legislature

News From The House Majority

Ken Freeman, Press Secretary
State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801
phone: (907) 465-3804
web site: http://www.akrepublicans.org
Actuality line: 1-800-478-6540

Legislature Creates Deferred Maintenance Panel

Task Force Established To Determine Alaska's Maintenance Needs

For Immediate Release: March 26, 1997 Contact: Ken Freeman (907) 465-4582

JUNEAU - A legislative task force to determine the extent of Alaska's infrastructure and public facility deferred maintenance needs and recommend funding options, will be announced Thursday. The resolution establishing the task force, HCR 8, unanimously passed the Alaska State Senate Wednesday.

House Speaker Gail Phillips and Senate President Mike Miller will announce the task force members at a press conference Thursday at 8:50 a.m., immediately prior to the House floor session in the Speakers Chambers on the second floor of the state capitol.

Speaker Phillips, sponsor of HCR 8, said deferred maintenance is the result of years of unmet maintenance on Alaska's public facilities.

"Meeting our maintenance needs is not about building a skywalk from the court building to the capitol. It is about a capitol building that leaks when it rains and ruins documents. It is about docks that are rotting and falling into harbors. It's about schools with inadequate fire protection," said Phillips. "It is about an infrastructure that needs mending."

HCR 8 establishes a Legislative task force to make recommendations to the Governor and the legislature on how to address Alaska's unmet maintenance needs. The Task Force will be made up of five members from the House and five members from the Senate. The Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate will also serve as non-voting members.

The Task Force is specifically charged with:

• reviewing and evaluating existing reports and publications about deferred maintenance recommendations previously made
• identifying and evaluating all current and deferred maintenance needs
• soliciting public comment about this topic
• submitting a report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and Legislature by the convening of the second regular session
• forwarding recommendations about funding all deferred maintenance needs

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