Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The Capitol has limited access to the internet, and I have none at home until the outage is fixed. But the work continues apace!

Read on (perhaps belatedly, if you only got this after your data service was restored) for more AMHS news, a pension bill update, and the governor's newest budget requests—some of which are old!

Aurora & I talked with representatives of AARP. They do great work!

Save Our System

Here's your chance to weigh in on the future of our ferries. The Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board is taking public comment on the 20 year plan for the ferry system. You can send in your comments through Sunday, March 30.

We've sorely needed a long-range plan. Our ferry system has an unfortunate history of lurching between priorities and competing visions almost as often as the governor changes. The Tazlina and the Hubbard, for instance, were built as day boats for about $60 million each to sail a run that didn't end up existing. They both needed new doors cut in the sides for a few million dollars apiece, and have or are getting crew quarters welded to the top with a combined price tag of around $42 million.

So I'm excited to see the board put out a draft.

It just hit the street Friday, so I'm still paging through it. Clearly, the board understands the importance of reliability. When we public a schedule, we need sound ships and enough sailors to keep to it. With multiple vessels aged 50 or even 60 today, the plan starts with heavy investment in replacements.

And it calls for a lot more focus on recruiting and training mariners. Ideas like referral bonuses, scholarships, and recruiting in Alaska high schools are all good starts.

They board also listened to where Alaskans want to go. The plan calls for a road connection north of Bellingham, whether at Prince Rupert, B.C. or Hyder.

Other elements may still need some thought. Today, we have two mainliners plus the Kennicott, which can sail anywhere from Bellingham to Unalaska. The plan calls for replacing those three ships with one limited to the Southeast mainline route and one that can go cross-gulf. That leaves us without the standardization we need to keep mainliner maintenance costs low and with no ship to back up the Tustumena.

I'll probably submit a comment about that, among other things. I'd love to know what strengths and weaknesses you find, too!

Whatever we settle on, we'll need to stay focused. AMHOB is advisory, and governors don't legally have to listen to it. Boards and plans can't dictate where future legislatures spend money. But if we build a solid plan and stay disciplined implementing it, Alaska can have a solid, reliable ferry system for generations to come.

The Associated General Contractors talked more about the serious trouble the state has getting transportation projects done this summer. We're looking for fixes.

Volunteers from Moms Demand Action visited the Capitol this week. Their work on safe firearms storage is saving lives in our region.

Extra Expenses

The governor filed his first round of amendments for next year's budget recently. It's a standard step to account for changes since he gave us his main proposal in December. Some are technical tweaks, some are for unexpected cost overruns, and a few are wacky new ideas.

Starting with the good stuff, he proposes adding 15 new eligibility technicians for public assistance. Our state has needed this for at least three years. The SNAP crisis was a symptom of chronic understaffing. This is late in coming, but very welcome.

Other amendments come from the reality of rising costs. $10 million more for wildland firefighting this spring assumes a pretty average fire season. (Though with low snowfall in the Interior this year the actual cost may be higher.) It will take a minimum of $11 million more for the Disaster Relief Fund, which is so overspent right now that it's borrowing money from other places in state government. Then there's almost $20 million for Medicaid state match. That number assumes there are no federal changes. If Congress shifts a lot of costs to the states, we could be in for a massive price tag.

The governor's amendments also include some new spending I'm not sure we need. You know my thoughts on a new Department of Agriculture. The folks at the Department of Natural Resources are looking at ways to cut costs, but the governor's official prediction is an extra $2.7 million per year.

He also wants to start taking 404 primacy. If that sounds familiar, it's because the legislature rejected it two years ago. The request is to spend millions of dollars every year permitting wetland dredging and filling that the feds pay for now.

Then there's one request that would make Jeremiah weep: fines for errors in public assistance. Two years ago, with food assistance backlogged for months and Alaskans going hungry, the Dunleavy Administration asked for a little money to try and get caught up. The end of the pandemic meant the same frontline state workers responsible for that were also going to have to re-qualify hundreds of thousands of Alaskans for their Medicaid benefits. I'd worked on the department for almost two years at that point to fix public assistance, and the request didn't seem like nearly enough to me.

At the Senate Finance table I asked whether we'd be better off investing enough money to solve the problem, both for Alaskans who need help and to avoid the likelihood of federal fines for doing a bad job. The administration said the risk of penalties was low and the request was enough. It's hard to get a state agency more money than they say they need, so that's all they got. The governor is now asking for $12 million to handle the federal penalties. I'm glad the feds are letting us put almost half of that into tech improvements at Public Assistance so we can do better in the future. But the other $6 million is a check Alaskans have to write to Uncle Sam that you get nothing for—a $0 value.

While we've officially passed the deadline for budget amendments, all governors send more proposals—often right up to the last few weeks of session. Between the supplemental costs for this year and the added costs of next, we're already struggling to pay for services. There will be some tough decisions ahead.

The UA Coalition of Student Leaders are great advocates for the University!

Hoisted With Our Own Petard

Alaska still hasn’t fixed our public employee retirement system since the legislature broke it 20 years ago. While I introduced a bill again this year, the ones to watch will be HB 78 & SB 28 by Rep. Chuck Kopp and Sen. Cathy Giessel. They pick up where SB 88 left off last year, after a then-unfriendly House Majority buried it in a subcommittee.

This year, the House is a much friendlier place, with a coalition majority that includes independents, Democrats, and Republicans. The House Finance Committee has already heard HB 78 several times.

Yesterday's hearing was particularly powerful, with presentations from the school boards, administrators, NEA, and Haines school superintendent Dr. Roy Getchell.

They all touched on the stark reality: Alaska can’t hire or keep teachers these days. Across our state there are about two and a half times more vacancies in our schools today than five years ago. And that’s after cuts and desperately filling classrooms with long-term substitutes and not-yet-certified teachers who are supposed to be working under more experienced teachers, not taking a whole class. It’s a problem because teacher quality is closely tied to student achievement. Don’t even get me started on turnover rates.

Superintendent Getchell shared his on-the-ground experience with teacher turnover in Haines. He pointed out that not one of the district's teachers in the defined benefit pension system left for better opportunities in other states. That was the single most common reason given by teachers in the defined contribution system. He also personalized the information, lamenting that his own adult children left Alaska and are teaching or planning to teach in other states that have better retirement systems. But the most difficult part of his testimony was that he and his wife ran the numbers and concluded they couldn’t keep living and working in Alaska if they wanted to retire at any point.

That’s how bad retirement systems cost our district Alaska's 2024 Superintendent of the Year.

It’s costing us even more going forward. I often talk about pensions more as a tool to retain good workers than to recruit them in the first place. But the head of the statewide school administrators group, Dr. Lisa Skiles Parady, shared a picture of a flyer other states' recruiters are handing out at teacher job fairs Outside. It warned teachers about Alaska’s worst-in-the-nation public retirement system. Recruiting is competitive these days, and other states have figured out how to beat Alaska at it. We need to fix this problem.

Any bill that deals with state retirement systems needs an actuarial analysis before it can pass. The House Finance Committee held last week’s hearing while waiting for two: one from the Executive Branch's actuaries and one from an independent actuary contracted by the committee. Once those are in hand, I predict the bill has the votes to move on to the House Floor.

Juneau Play

Perseverance Theatre is putting on The Thanksgiving Play, a hilarious comedy directed by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse! Playing from February 28 - March 16.

Juneau Barn Dance

Swing your partner 'round with the Juneau Contra dancers: Feb. 22 with the Stinging Nettles and Mar. 15 with Full Circle.

Juneau Carving

There’s an opportunity coming up to work on your block printing—swing by the Makerspace on March 4, all skill levels welcome!

Gustavus Fiberpalooza

Are you crafty? Want to make some art with like-minded community members? Get to the Community Center on February 28!

Gustavus Band

Have an instrument? Like to jam? Head to the Library on Thursdays and join the Everybody Welcome Band!

Gustavus Saturday Market

Support your community artists on March 8 at the Community Center!

Skagway Gamers

Do you enjoy a night of D&D, MTG, or other geeky acronyms? Lumberchaun Axe Throwing is hosting the night for Saturdays throughout the winter.

Skagway Music

There are instruments waiting for you to play at the library every Saturday afternoon!

Skagway Skiing

Know your way around a pair of skis? Want to ski race wearing a costume? The Buckwheat International Ski Classic is coming up March 15!

Haines Tacos

Who doesn’t love a taco? Join folks at Taco Tuesday at the American Legion!

Haines Gardening

Dig in with the Chilkat Valley Gardening Conference Mar. 14-16! Expand your knowledge and get inspired for the coming planting season!

Haines First Friday

Local artists show their best on March 7. Enjoy the talent of the Haines community! 

Is there an event in our district I should know about? Please call or email!

Want to Send Snail Mail?

Alaska State Capitol

Room 514

Juneau, AK 99801

You Can Call:

800 550 4947

907 465 4947

Or Email Me!

Contact My Staff,

the people who power the work:

Aurora Hauke

907 465 5051

aurora.hauke@akleg.gov

Ella Adkison

907 465 6419

ella.adkison@akleg.gov

Cathy Schlingheyde

907 465 6827

cathy.schlingheyde@akleg.gov

Cole Osowski

907 465 4947

cole.osowski@akleg.gov