Survey: Senator Drue Pearce's 2000/2001 Legislative Questionnaire

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Questionnaire from Senator Drue Pearce

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Session:
State Capitol, Room 111
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
Phone: (907) 465-4993
Fax: (907) 465-3872
Send E-Mail

Interim:
716 W 4th, Suite 500
Anchorage, AK 99501-2133
Phone: (907) 269-0200
Fax: (907) 269-0204

Senator Drue Pearce's
2000/2001 Legislative Questionnaire

I'm presenting this survey to the residents of my South Anchorage district and all of Alaska to get feedback on some of the upcoming issues facing Alaska's Legislature. Hearing from people in my district and from across the state is extremely valuable to me. I consider your opinions and concerns each time I make decisions affecting our state. Alaskan's face many tough decisions in the near future, so public input is more vital than ever. Thank you for taking the time to give me your comments and opinions.

Questionnaire

This year the Legislature's Republican-led Majority successfully completed the fifth year of our Five-year Plan to reduce the state's general fund budget by $250 million. In your opinion, what approach should the next Legislature take?

	Make budget cuts even deeper than those made in the previous Five-year Plan.
	Continue making modest, incremental reductions in state spending similar to those in the previous Five-year Plan.
	Do not make further cuts, but freeze the general fund budget at its current level.
	Make significant increases in spending for additional public services.
	Undecided.

The State of Alaska has not issued any general obligation (GO) bonds for over twenty years. Would you support a GO bond issue for school construction and deferred maintenance?

Would you support a Constitutional Amendment to establish a voucher system for Alaska's schools?

Do you believe non-profit organizations (e.g. Sierra Club, AKPIRG) that engage in political activities should be required to disclose their sources of income over $100?

Do you support lowering Alaska's legal limit for blood alcohol content from .10 to .08?

Do you support a constitutional amendment establishing a rural subsistence priority in times of shortage?

Do you support a constitutional amendment treating "rural" subsistence users differently than "urban" users?

The Alaska Supreme Court in a 3-2 decision in the case of John v. Baker found that a "tribal" court had jurisdiction over a state court in domestic relations cases. Do you believe the court overstepped its boundaries and made law in this case?

The Governor has officially recognized "tribes" as a state policy. Do you agree with this policy?

North Slope oil and gas producers, under the terms of their oil and gas leases with the State of Alaska, have a contractual obligation to develop and market the resources; including the State's one-eight royalty share of the oil and gas produced. The producers have studied several alternatives for producing the vast North Slope gas reserves over the years since oil production began there 23 years ago. However, they have always concluded that projects were too costly to complete, or that markets did not exist for Alaska gas.

Domestic gas prices currently are higher than ever experienced in the United States, and both prices and demand are projected to remain high for the foreseeable future. Earlier this month, the major owners of the North Slope gas reserves (BP/Amoco, Phillips, and Exxon) announced another joint study to evaluate alternative routes for a pipeline project to the Lower 48 States. The companies' analyses of whether or not to proceed, and if so, along which alternative route may take as much as a year to complete.

Should the producers decide not to proceed with the commercialization of Alaska's gas, the State could implement a reserves tax on the non-produced gas. The reserves tax would provide a method for the State to receive a portion of the delayed or foregone revenues, which it would otherwise receive as royalty and severence tax payments if and when the gas was commercialized. A gas reserves tax could provide an important source of State revenue for maintaining vital public services as oil production declines and/or during periods of prolonged low oil prices.

Do you support implementing a gas reserves tax in Alaska?

The Alaska Pipeline is owned and operated by transportation companies that are affiliates of the lessees (producers) of the Prudhoe Bay Field. The three largest of those producers, BP/Amoco, Phillips, and Exxon, are the majority owners of the TAPS pipeline system, as well as the pipelines and processing facilities that feed oil from the other North Slope oil fields into that pipeline.

In retrospect, some believe that these arrangments may not have been in the State's best interest. Producer ownership of the pipeline systems led to costly disputes and litigation between the State and the producers over the tariffs charged for transportation over those systems. Settlements of those disputes resulted in what many believe are inordinately high tariffs, which have the result of reducing State royalities and severence taxes.

Some lessess that do not own an interest in the pipelines and other facilities have suggested that these arrangements also have discouraged meaningful competition in the exploration and development of other North Slope lands. They suggest that the vertically integrated companies enjoy an insurmountable advantage from their abiltity to capture profits not only from their production operations, but also from their pipeline and marine transportation operations as well.

A central focus of the Federal Trade Commission in its investigation of the merger of BP/Amoco and ARCO last year was the potential effect on competition and access of further consolidation in the ownership of North Slope pipelines and facilities.

If Alaska's North Slope gas is commercialized who do you believe should ultimately own and control the pipeline that will be built to transport that gas?

What do you think is the most important issue or problem facing Alaska and/or our district? How would you address this issue?

What program(s) or service(s) provided by state government are MOST important to you?

What program(s) or service(s) provided by state government are LEAST important to you?

What is your name? required

What is your physical address? required

What is your e-mail address?

How many individuals are living in your household? required

Do you have any other comments you would like to share?

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