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LIFE IN JUNEAU
It was great to be visited by many constituents over the past couple of weeks. I was very pleased to be able to accompany Bailey Richards and her father
Skip through the Capitol and to the Mayor's Breakfast, where she read her award-winning "If I Were Mayor" essay. District 35 can be proud to have one of
its sixth-graders win third place in the contest and receive statewide recognition! Both the Kenai Peninsula Borough and Homer Electric Association have
visited Juneau, as well as proponents of the Seward Laminated Veneer Lumber Plant project. Thanks to the Kenai Peninsula Borough for a really nice
legislative reception. I was very pleased that no District 35 mayor voted for the Alaska Municipal League’s resolution concerning no confidence in the
legislature. I have a very good working relationship with all the mayors in District 35 and hope they or any other constituents will come directly to me if
there is a problem. I recently participated in the Native Health Board legislative roundtable discussion on health care. It was unfortunate that only 8
legislators were able to attend the event. However, our days are packed with overlapping meetings that are all important.
DISTRICT 35 VISIT REMINDER
I will be back in Homer February 20-24th. I am including a list of the activities I will be attending in hopes that you will be able to join me at one of them.
Please give me a call if you would like to meet with me individually while I’m in town. On Saturday, February 21st, I will be attending the District 35
Republican meeting at the Oceans and Islands Center. Sunday the 22nd, I will fly to Seldovia to visit and answer questions at the Community Center from
2:30-4 pm. Later on Sunday, I will be at the Anchor Point Senior Center from 7-8:30 pm to talk with folks. On Monday the 23rd, I am going to attend a
meeting at the Alaska Marine Conservation Council to discuss fisheries issues from 9-11 am; please contact Alan Parks at 235-5680 for questions on this
meeting. I will be having lunch on Monday at the Homer Senior Center beginning at noon, followed by a question and answer session until 2 pm. From 3-5
pm on Monday, I will be having an open house for local media contacts at my Homer office. Monday evening I will be attending the Homer City Council
Meeting, where I will give an update on how the legislative session is progressing thus far. I will attend the Spruce Bark Beetle Symposium at Land’s End
on Tuesday the 24th until my afternoon flight back to Juneau. Please call my office for more details. I hope to see you at one of these events.
RECOGNIZING DISTRICT 35 MILITARY MEMBERS
I am endeavoring to send Alaska State flags to District 35 service members who are currently serving in the Middle East, if you know of anyone, please
contact Lauren in my office. We are working with the Department of Military and Veteran's Affairs on this project and we want to make sure that all
regular military, reserve and National Guard service members serving in the Middle East receive a flag. Ray Kranich inspired this project, and I would like
to thank him for his idea.
HESS COMMITTEE
The House Health, Education and Social Services Committee discussed , a bill which would allow optometrists limited prescription authority to treat
their patients eye conditions. I support this bill because ophthalmologic services are not always readily available in our state. Optometrists should be able to
treat basic eye infections and HB 306 would allow them to do that, saving the patient the unnecessary discomfort of traveling, paying for another
appointment and possibly having to wait to visit an ophthalmologist. I am a co-sponsor of HB 337, which establishes an anatomical gift registry through the
Division of Motor Vehicles. The committee passed with several small changes from the bill’s sponsor, Rep. McGuire. establishes a new
program under the Department of Environmental Conservation for food handlers and focuses on training food service workers in safe food handling
procedures. Many details about the program will be developed through the regulation process after the bill becomes law. The Committee passed this bill
because it aims to further protect public safety through education.
EDUCATION FUNDING SUBCOMMITTEE
The Education Funding Subcommittee, chaired by Representative Dan Ogg, had its first meeting last Thursday. Although the Subcommittee only has three
members (Reps. Ogg, Seaton, and Gara), the meeting was well attended by other legislators who are concerned about the very serious issues facing our
school districts. The Subcommittee discussed , , , , and (see BASIS to read full text of the bills). Specific figures were
discussed with respect to filling holes in district’s budgets. Ideas included: a one-time $35 million appropriation for the purpose of instruction, inflation
proofing the foundation formula, catching funding up with the inflationary erosion of the past several years, and holding districts harmless for this years
Public Employees’ Retirement System/Teachers’ Retirement System contribution increases. Proposed changes to the specific Base Student Allocation
increases ranged from $100 to $400. I thank all of the people who took the time to testify to the committee on this issue, especially our own KPBSD
finance officer Melody Douglas. The Education Funding Subcommittee will meet again on Tuesday February 11th, from 11:00 am—1:00 pm. Please
contact your local LIO if you would like to testify at this meeting.
HOUSE FISHERIES COMMITTEE
The Committee passed , which recognizes the importance of salmon to Alaska and again establishes June 28th-July 4th as “Alaska Wild Salmon
Week.” We also moved from committee; HJR 32 asks the federal government to label fish and fish products for their country of origin, presence of
coloring or additives, genetic modification, and if fish are farmed versus wild. passed out of the Committee and allows the Southeast Alaska
Regional Dive Fishery Association (SARDFA) to tax themselves at 2, 4, and 6 percent. SARDFA already has this ability at 1, 3, 5, and 7 percent. The first
hearing on , which would eliminate the 58-foot limit on the length of seine boats in statute, will be on February 9th. If HB 409 passes, the Board of
Fish would then control the size limit of seine vessels. The current draft of HB 409 requires a two-thirds vote of the seine fishermen in each administrative
district to change the length limit, however the two-thirds vote provision of the bill could be eliminated by amendment.
SHALLOW NATURAL GAS BILL UPDATES
Senator Gary Stevens presented his bill, - Shallow Natural Gas Lease Buy-back in the Kachemak Bay area, to the Senate Community and Regional
Affairs Committee last Wednesday. Senator Stevens voiced many of the concerns and grievances surrounding the leases and the process by which the
leases were let, and the Committee asked the Department of Natural Resources many good questions. No public testimony was heard but Senator Stevens
and I are hopeful that the Committee will hear SB 250 again in order to listen to the public’s comments.
and were heard in the House Oil and Gas Committee on Thursday. These bills address many of the concerns raised by the public
surrounding shallow natural gas leases and coal bed methane development; including, water quality protection and reimbursement of damages, public notice,
and local government control. Neither of these bills moved from committee, but much public testimony was taken, and I expect that these bills will be
revised into one comprehensive bill to address the public’s concerns on this issue.
A new bill will soon be heard in the Senate Resource Committee, which will revise the Shallow Natural Gas [SNG] leasing structure. The new proposal will
require leasing to be done through an area-wide lease sale and will require a best interest finding. The best interest finding should solve the problems that
occurred with excessive 'streamlining' under the old law. In proposing the new legislation, Senator Ogan recognizes that unintended consequences occur
through the current SNG lease process. We will still have Homer’s problem with existing leases but we may be able to mitigate those. We may preclude
DNR from extending the Homer three-year leases, which have only two years remaining. New leases in the Homer area would require the new best interest
finding process. We may also be able to limit the allowable depth of drilling on SNG leases to the 3,000-foot level, which was in effect at the time the
current leases were applied for. Since we have not yet been able to secure a hearing in the House on the Buy-back, this second option may provide us the
mechanism to actually accomplish that goal for the local community.
DOT AND PUBLIC FACILITIES FINANCE SUBCOMMITTEE
The new STIP [State Transportation Improvement Projects] list procedure is one that I have been trying to reform. The federal government now requires a
two-year project list instead of the three-year list we have used before; that may work better towards establishing a moratorium on the addition of midterm
projects because additional projects would only have to wait one extra year. Many people seem to be more comfortable with a two-year timeline. My goal
is to establish a system that will complete the road projects listed instead of continually delaying projects. The administration is committed to creating a
STIP list only for projects with available funding. Past project delays were created by listing more projects on the STIP than could be covered by identified
funds.
HOUSE BILL 322 STATUS
I introduced at the very end of last session in response to a problem brought to us by municipal clerks. HB 322 helps cash-strapped local
governments avoid costly special elections for initiatives and referendums by holding them at the annual municipal election. Under current law, local
municipalities and boroughs must hold a special election within 75 days of certification of a petition. This has cost local boroughs and municipalities time and
money. HB 322 does not limit a person’s ability to petition for an initiative or referendum, it simply coordinates costly elections. The bill passed from the
House State Affairs Committee with unanimous support and will next be heard in the Community and Regional Affairs Committee. To view the sponsor
statement on my web page please click the link below.
STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
The State Affairs Committee considered , which gives local governments the option to raise the residential property tax exemption up to $50,000
from the current $10,000 limit. I proposed an amendment to make it clear that any raise in the residential property tax exemption was optional for service
areas, the bill subsequently passed. was quite controversial, as it would take the place of the initiative petition. However, the initiative faces serious
legal challenges because amendment 17 of the US Constitution specifically gives state legislatures the power to replace congressional members. If the
legislature establishes a special election process to select the replacement of congressional members there will be no legal challenge. HB 414 also
incorporates the definition of a political party, which responds to the recent Green Party lawsuit and makes it easier for groups to qualify as a party. We also
passed - Rat Racing Charitable Gaming, and HB- 350 Crime Victim’s Compensation/Arson.
LIVE ON THE WEB
Remember that you can hear most committee hearings or tune into just about any legislative session, present or past, by going to Gavel to Gavel, which transmits TV and public radio broadcasts of the state legislature as they occur. Gavel to Gavel also has an online archive of past meetings. Click on the link below to connect to Gavel to Gavel:
Link to Governor's State of the State Speech:
If you need to contact the staff please click on one of the links below:
Lauren Radcliffe,
Cameron Yourkowski,
Chris Knight,
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