Greetings from the second session of the 34th Alaska Legislature! My staff and I are in our third week in Juneau, and the Legislature is picking up right where we left off last May. We began by attempting an override of Governor Dunleavy’s veto of SB 113, a bill which would have reapportioned taxes collected from internet companies like Amazon and Netflix by other states to Alaska. It would have brought in $20-60 million of revenue per year and passed with near-unanimous support last spring. Unfortunately, legislators that voted for the bill, but are aligned with the governor, were not willing to vote for the veto override.

 

 

As a reminder, in addition to my roles passing legislation and fighting for funding I also maintain an office dedicated to assisting my constituents. If you experience any problems with the state government, reach out to my office and we will do whatever we can to help.

 

This year I am continuing to chair the Senate Health and Social Services Committee, which will be busy this year with many changes to federal social programs and the new Rural Health Transformation Program. This is a multi-year federal investment to strengthen rural health care across Alaska. Alaska was awarded $272 million a year for 5 years ($1.36 billion in total) and as Chair of SHSS I will be looking to make sure this investment is used wisely and quickly by the Department of Health. Funding will support community-based and system-level projects aimed at improving access, workforce capacity, and care delivery statewide.

 

The Department of Health is hosting an informational webinar on February 10th on the upcoming application process. They are welcoming health care providers, Tribes and Tribal Health Organizations, community-based organizations, local governments, workforce and education partners, and others interested in participating in RHTP. Webinar Registration - Zoom

 

Lastly, I have started a (hopefully weekly) social media video series: Four Questions with Forrest. The first two instalments are posted to my Instagram and Facebook. If you have a question that you’d like to ask about the legislature, Alaska politics, or my personal interests, please leave a comment or send an email and I’ll answer in a future post.

 

 

 

 

 

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Office of Senator Dunbar | Alaska State Capitol 120 4th St, Ste 125 907-465-6944 | Juneau, AK 99801 US