Our local lumber grading bill, SB 87, passed the Senate unanimously early this week and passed the House Finance Committee without objection. The bill would create economic opportunities for our local sawmill operators and give Kenai Peninsula residents (and all Alaskans) the opportunity to build their home with locally harvested dimensional lumber. Alaska homes should be Alaska Grown.

 

 

Like most industries in Alaska, our state is short on the truckers necessary to help transport our groceries and other goods that drive our economy. We recently heard SB 123 from Senator James Kauffman in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee. This bill would put qualified Alaskan commercial drivers to work faster by eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic requirements.

 

 

2023 could bring a record number of tourists to Alaska, including the independent visitors that benefit our Kenai Peninsula economy. Learn more about the tourism forecast and how Alaskans’ wages have fared against inflation over the last ten years in the April issue of the State of Alaska Department of Labor’s Trends Magazine.