|
|
Dear Friends and Neighbors, |
T-minus 10 days until this legislative session ends. As the time dwindles, we have a lot of major policy pieces left to finish. We’re having high voltage discussions (literally & figuratively!) Here are key things to watch for the next week and a half: |
Thanks to the crew of the USS William P. Lawrence for a fascinating tour! I got to personally welcome the Captain to Alaska's capital city, and thank him and his crew for their service. The ship is in Juneau through Wednesday and offering public tours. I highly recommend it! |
High Voltage
Energy is the word of the (kilowatt) hour. There are several energy-related bills sparking discussion in the House & Senate Finance committees.
Last year we passed a bill to derive carbon credits from Alaska forests and soils. HB 50, which builds the structure for underground carbon storage is its more difficult sibling. It’s based on the idea people are going to ship carbon to Alaska to inject it into old oil wells. Just in case that makes economic sense someday, I have some questions, like whether the bill gives a sideways tax break to oil companies. What they spend to pump CO2 underground shouldn’t get deducted from their production tax. We also need to make sure Alaskans get the economic benefit of our resources, and the Alaska Supreme Court has already said the pore spaces in the underground rocks count.
The Senate Resources committee made at least one very good change to the bill by closing a loophole elsewhere in the law so all oil and gas companies pay corporate income tax the same way. The current loophole is costing Alaska something close to $150 million this year!
The next big energy bill, SB 217, is about transmission (plus a grab bag of other electricity stuff.) The core of the bill is about the Railbelt, where big lines run from Fairbanks through Wasilla and Anchorage down to Homer. Uncle Sam is pitching in big bucks toward the first phase of a major upgrade. It's past time for some guardrails and cooperation among the utilities that stand to benefit. The bill sets up a Railbelt transmission organization to manage the big 'backbone' lines. The goal is to eliminate “pancake" charges. (That's a silly way of saying right now every utility tacks on some costs when electricity moves over their lines, so power generated near Homer costs a lot more in Fairbanks than it does in Anchorage.) Those charges make it tougher to build solar farms in the Interior or hydro on the Kenai Peninsula, so they need fixing.
What about we non-Railbelt folks? Any decrease in Railbelt energy costs helps lower the cost for Alaskans in PCE communities. And since the bill has some incentives for new electric generation in it, I'm working to make sure they apply to all regions of our state.
Last and most controversial, there’s the proposal in HB 223 to lower our state's royalties on Cook Inlet natural gas. There were threats of brownouts this winter, which put our fellow Alaskans on edge. While energy security is crucial, I’m not yet convinced this bill would do the job. Cook Inlet gas burned in state already pays no production tax. And there's no way for the proposed royalty incentives to increase gas production for quite a few years—at best. In the interim, Southcentral will need to look at shipping in liquefied natural gas.
The Legislative Budget & Audit committee has experts doing financial modeling right now. I'll need to see that work before I can get behind another tax break for gas as the answer.
|
Thanks to all the firefighters and police officers who rallied for pensions! The bill gets a House hearing Tuesday. It needs to pass! |
Get a Ride on the (Omni)Bus
When the time pressure is on at the end of the second session, legislators sometimes put together “omnibus” bills. That’s when a bunch of policy ideas on a particular topic get rolled together into one extra long bill.
First up: HB 66 the public safety omnibus. The bill has some good pieces. A few clean up language past legislatures thought was clear, but that hasn't worked right when challenged. Another makes a symbolic-but-worthy fix, replacing “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material.” I’ve got mixed feelings about some of the other sections. At last count it had pieces of eight other bills in it. Some issues I was able to moderate in the Judiciary Committee, others still need work.
Next up is HB 129, the elections omnibus. First the bad news: there aren't enough votes for much-needed campaign finance reform. Nevertheless, it has good pieces like same-day voter registration and eliminating the witness signature requirement on absentee ballots. These will help more eligible Alaskans actually have their vote counted. The bill also requires more audits and clarifies how people get removed from the voter rolls if they leave the state. Bills on elections will need strong bipartisan support, so I'm watching it closely.
Finally there's education. Our first crack at an education omnibus got vetoed and we came up one vote short of an override. We put some one-time funding for schools into the budget, but we don’t yet have a second bill containing a BSA increase. A late session surprise came when some unconstitutional pieces of Alaska's correspondence allotment laws got struck down in court. We’re working on a new education bill to fix the constitutional problems. Homeschool families need strong educational opportunities just like those who use neighborhood schools, after all. We’ll see what other education pieces can hop a ride.
|
Ahoy! Rep. Hannan & I met with the Marine Exchange of Alaska high school interns. They're super smart, and tracking a surprising (inspiring!) number of public policy issues. |
That has to be all, right?
With those nickel summaries of seven really significant policy pieces we’re working on, you'd think that must be all the big stuff. But we have to pass the budget, too. The conference committee's job is to negotiate away differences between the House and Senate versions of the operating budget. They'll start meeting Monday or Tuesday. They face some big decisions. The House is also bringing its version of the capital budget to the floor later this week.
And the pension bill gets heard in the House State Affairs Committee Tuesday. That needs to pass! And we haven't talked about the bills I'm sponsoring yet. Those are pretty important, too!
You're up to speed. There are just two things left to say:
1) Don't get hung up on specific bill numbers. Things sometimes get added into other things pretty fast at the end of session.
2) Buckle up! From here until we adjourn, it only gets faster.
|
|
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?
|
|
Events & Happenings Around District B |
|
Juneau Ship Tour
Juneau Open Block Printing
Juneau Platypus Game Day
Juneau Brown Bag Concert
Skagway Garden City Market
Check out the awesome local art of your talented neighbors at the Garden City Market May 18!
Skagway Spring Kickoff
|
|
Haines Burger Feed
On May 10, head to the American Legion for the best burger in town! Support a great nonprofit and have a enjoy food, fun, and games for the kids.
Haines KHNS Cowboy Ball
Shine up your boots for the Cowboy Ball! Support KHNS and dance to live country, bluegrass, and folk music on May 18.
Haines Watercolor Butterflies
Klukwan Lingít Language Practice
Gustavus Jammin’ Game Night
|
|
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
|
|
Contact My Staff,
the people who power the work:
Aurora Hauke
907 465 5051
Ella Adkison
907 465 6419
Cathy Schlingheyde
907 465 6827
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
