Halfway Through, 90% To Go
March 29, 2024
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Dear Friends and Neighbors, |
Happy Easter to those who celebrate it! Happy Purim to others. Happy several days in a row above 40 degrees to all!
The newsletter has been delayed so I don't use any unpleasant language about education funding. I think I'm ready to write about issues again... We're now past the halfway point in the session, so there are plenty!
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I had a great conversation with law students from Duke who put out the Alaska Law Review. Some of them were on their first trip to Alaska, but they were all schooled up on a lot of the big cases in the state and federal courts right now! |
Putting A Slant On It
We saw our first contested amendment at the Senate Finance Committee table this session! Generally, we work collaboratively and when a bill needs changes we come up with a committee version that addresses everyone’s concerns. Shockingly, the first one we couldn't agree on this year had to do with taxes.
We try our best to write laws with the future in mind, but sometimes the world changes more and faster than we can predict. Case in point: car rental platforms like Turo.
In case you're not familiar, they're a lot like AirBnB for cars. Alaska's car rental tax is due on these types of rentals, exactly the same as at a 'traditional' company. But because the money all goes through the website, while the individual car owner owes the tax, it often just doesn't get collected. Almost nothing has been coming in to the Department of Revenue.
A bill left Senate Finance to fix that by making the online company collect the tax for the Alaskans who list a car with them. But when it left the committee, it gave rentals through the digital platforms a lower tax rate, helping them rent out cars for a cheaper total price.
Tilting the playing field like that is a bad idea. Different businesses should compete and government shouldn't give either one an advantage. I'm all for making it easier for Alaskans to send in the tax (we mostly put this particular tax toward running state parks,) but I'm not for picking winners and losers in the marketplace.
The bill still needs to go through the House. I hope they keep the parts that make it easier on Alaskans, but take out the parts that put a thumb on the scales.
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On the Senate floor doing a deep dive with Sens. Bjorkman & Hughes about my proposal to put mariculture into a farming bill. They both voted yes. |
Fourth Time’s The Charm
In a typical year, we have several joint sessions to hear speeches, but only one to do business: we consider the governor’s nominees to boards and commissions. This year we’ll have at least four. We’ll take up the nominees later this year. We've twice met to try and override vetoes: first for last year’s education funding and most recently for his veto of the education funding bill. Neither of those succeeded. But we also held a very rare joint session to consider the governor’s proposed executive orders.
When an Alaska governor wants to reorganize the executive branch in a way that takes statutory changes, an EO is the constitutional tool. The constitution also allows a check on the power: a majority of the legislature in a joint session.
I was proud to carry the effort to stop him from dissolving the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Advisory Council. The council is an important, locally-driven solution to local issues. We disapproved it by a vote of 40-19.
The rest of the executive orders were a mixed bag. I looked at each one individually and listened to the public testimony. There was a lot, and I really appreciate every Alaskan who called, wrote, emailed, and spoke.
In the end, I voted to uphold four executive orders and to disapprove eight. That includes supporting one EO that took effect with no votes to spare. I know that surprised some of my colleagues, but I don't believe my constituents send me to the Senate to show blind allegiance or belligerence to anyone. I cast each vote on its merits.
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Thanks to the wonderful volunteers on the Juneau Area State Parks Citizen Advisory Board! They do a great job for our region's parks, & keep me up to speed on their issues. |
Good Grief!
Despite our best efforts, the legislature fell one vote short of overriding the Governor's veto of education funding. That's a very bad thing for our schools. So, what now?
$175 million doesn’t go to schools across the state. In our district, it means that we lose $5.5 million to Juneau schools, $430,000 to Haines, $410,000 to the Chatham district, and $250,000 to Skagway. That’s not even counting the amount we’re losing to transport kids to and from school. Or the flat $500 for each child who needs a reading improvement plan under the Reads Act. Without that funding, those K-3 students and the teachers who want to help them will continue to struggle with what the state has asked them to do.
After the vote, the Governor held a press conference to say he’s done working with us on education. That's both unacceptable and, I'm happy to report, not true. He continued meeting on the subject through this week. But progress is now tougher than before. The governor so far hasn't offered a different deal that can get 21 votes in the House and 11 in the Senate. Many legislators are content to try one-time funding again this year and let the governor doom many of his political allies at the ballot box by wielding his line-item veto pen.
I'm not willing to give up a year of educating Alaska kids. So I'll keep working with colleagues to try and find something that can work. But if the governor won't compromise, one-time funding may be the best we can hope for this year.
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I appreciate the advocates who participated in the Just Transition Summit! Thanks for letting me talk about my bill to help our neighbors who are reeling from natural disasters. |
What Fresh Hell Is This?
There's a rule in the legislature: Never impugn anyone's motives. But sometimes it's really hard to believe everyone is acting with good intent.
Back in December, the federal Department of Education wrote to Alaska. Uncle Sam gave the state $350 million or so to help schools through the pandemic. We mostly got to hand out that money the way we wanted. But the feds were getting a little weary of reminding the state about one of the grant rules: the poorest districts in the state couldn't lose money year-over-year.
Most other states had figured things out, the feds said, and had adjusted the flow of dough so districts with lots of poor kids were still OK. Or they appropriated some money afterwards to make up the difference. But Alaska was behind the pace, and so the USDOE needed a plan to make it right. The amounts? All in, about $7.8 million to three school districts.
When I learned about the letter in January, I found out some of the money was slated for the Juneau School District, which could really use the help. My team reached out to EED for information. I got in touch with the governor's Office of Management and Budget. I wanted to understand the rules and the timing, and help shepherd whatever appropriation was needed.
I mostly got silence back. But one helpful soul told me the feds had looked at the wrong set of numbers, and that the executive branch was straightening things out. I asked for a copy of the numbers, but nothing was ever forthcoming.
Eventually, after several contacts, I got a list of issues the state was working on. But with no numbers, I needed to understand more. So I scheduled a call with some of the federal agency folks. They told me how uncommonly flexible these grant rules were.
Alaska, it turns out, was allowed to choose which years Uncle Sam should compare to see whether the poorest districts lost money year-over-year. Our executive branch got to declare that some districts were too small or too remote to count at all—no matter how many poor kids they had. We even got to rejigger some of the census data. That was all fine with the feds.
The end result: Alaska EED adjusted and excluded and rejiggered the amount owed upward to more than $22 million. And Juneau's amount went down 90%.
I've asked the executive branch folks which small districts they just refused to look at. I've asked them for their reasoning. I've heard nothing back.
The commissioner did issue a press release saying the grant conditions on free federal money are somehow an affront to the U.S. Constitution. She blamed the feds for hurting poor rural districts, despite the fact that the state. not Uncle Sam, asked to exclude them from consideration. Then came the kicker: there is simply no way, she said, that Alaska owes anybody anything. (This was nowhere in the list of issues we were supposedly working on in the one and only email I got from the executive branch.)
And there's been nothing so far on why Juneau's share got so radically reduced.
None of this adds up. Who puts in an appeal asking to get their bill nearly tripled? What possible motivation could there be to stonewall a legislator who is trying to help? I'm looking really hard for some explanation that doesn't go to motives. I'll let you know what I find out.
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Did someone forward you this newsletter and now you want your very own copy?
Did you fall into it through the series of tubes but now you want it sent straight to you?
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Events & Happenings Around District B |
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Skagway Tournament of Books
Skagway Barbra Lica Quintet
Skagway Music
Every Saturday from 3-5pm, swing by the Skagway library and play around on the provided instruments—including a mandolin, ukulele, guitar, banjo, and piano!
Gustavus Paint and Sip!
Paint with Morgan Park at the community center March 30th 7:00pm.
Gustavus Gallery Opening Reception
Gustavus Hatha Yoga!
Head to the community center March 30th for Hatha yoga! 10:30-11:00am.
Haines Easter Egg Hunt
Haines River Talk
River Talk is back on April 18. This month's theme is Wrong Place/Wrong Time. Do you have a story to tell? Call now to sign up and join the fun.
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Juneau It’s About Time!
This weekend, come to the Marie Drake Planetarium for a family friendly film where robots explore time and cosmic cycles, followed by a look at Juneau’s springtime night sky!
Juneau Mamma Mia!
Come see the students put on Mamma Mia this weekend at TMHS!
Juneau 1964 Earthquake Film
The Alaska State Library will present a free screening of “Though the Earth be Moved” March 30th at 2pm at the Alaska State Library Andrew p. Kashevaoff Building.
Juneau Fireside Lecture
March 29th at 6:30, Join artist Youpa Stien for “In the arms of glaciers: voices of water, stone, and ice.” Mendenhall Visitor Center.
Klukwan House of Family & Friends
Klukwan Lingít Language Practice
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Is there an event in our district I should know about? Please call or email!
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Want to Send Snail Mail?
Alaska State Capitol
Room 514
Juneau, AK 99801
You Can Call:
800 550 4947
907 465 4947
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Contact My Staff,
the people who power the work:
Aurora Hauke
907 465 5051
Ella Adkison
907 465 6419
Cathy Schlingheyde
907 465 6827
John Goeckermann
907 465 4947
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