Dear Neighbors,

Anchorage School District Summer School:

If you know a student who needs extra help in reading, writing, math, or other topics, please note. The Anchorage School District will be offering Summer School classes to elementary, middle and high school students beginning June 21st. However, classes are filled on a first come, first served basis. To ensure your child gets a spot, please note the following registration periods. The first elementary registration ends today; the second elementary registration is May 10 through June 4. Middle school registration ends June 3, and high school registration ends June 4th. For specific information on the programs that are available and registration, please go to http://www.asdk12.org/summer/ or call your child's school.

Legislative Work on Budget and Fiscal Gap:

Speaking of deadlines, the Legislature has until midnight on Tuesday, May 11th to finish our work. That gives us just six days after today. Committees are working hard to move those bills they can and are beginning to close out their schedules. The main work yet to do is to negotiatethe various budget and fiscal gap bills. Yet to be negotiated are:

• HB 375, The Operating Budget. HB 375 is in Conference Committee where House and Senate negotiators are working out the differences between the two versions. Even with the anticipated substantial increase for education, it looks like total state spending will be about $20 million less than last year. If you have a question about a specific detail under negotiation, please contact me.
• SB 257, The Capital Budget. This budget bill funds projects around the state and is still in negotiation. My and the Senate's position is to keep the capital budget minimal. However, some members of the House appear to want more.
• HJR 9, the House version of the Constitutional Spending Cap resolution moved out of Senate Finance this morning. It will likely be on the Senate floor tomorrow.
• HJR 26, the "pure" POMV resolution, is also active in Senate Finance. This resolution would only ask voters if they would approve the Percent of Market Value management plan for the Permanent Fund. I anticipate that HJR 26 will be on the Senate floor tomorrow.
• HB 298 is the bill that would allocate funds to specific entities if POMV passes. The House-passed version would allocate 50% to PFDs, 45% to public education and 5% to local governments. HB 298 is also in Senate Finance.

If you are interested in any bill being considered by the Legislature, you can track it at www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/. Remember that we are under the "24-Hour Rule" which means that committees only have to give 24 hours' notice before hearing a bill.

Survey Responses to Date:

My staff has tallied approximately half of the surveys sent back. Of those tallied to date, 79.5% would approve the POMV plan. Seventy-two percent have indicated their support for using the earnings of the Permanent Fund to help pay for essential state services after PFDs are paid. My staff is working overtime to finish tallying the surveys, but I suspect the support for POMV and use of the earnings will remain high.

Of the surveys tallied, respondents also indicated which services they use regularly and that are essential enough to deserve funding from the Permanent Fund's earnings.

• Roads, Airports, Ferries, Ports: 66%
• K-12 Schools or University: 61%
• Troopers, Courts, Prisons: 56%
• Seniors, Children, and Disability Services: 49%
• Air, Water & Environmental Quality: 41%
• National Guard, Homeland Security, Emergency Services, Veterans’ Services: 41%
• Fishing, Hunting, Wildlife Issues: 36%
• Agriculture, Mining, Forestry, Oil & Gas, State Parks: 33%
• Services to Promote Business & Employment: .2%

I do read each and every survey, e-mail, letter, and fax that my constituents send. So please do continue to communicate with me. And if you have not yet returned your survey, it's not too late. It's available on my website at www.akrepublicans.org/bunde/23/pdfs/bund2004021601i.pdf.

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