Bills I have filed:

• SB 270: Avalanche Awareness-In order to educate the public about the risks associated with living in avalanche areas, I have introduced legislation deeming November Avalanche Awareness month.
• SB 269: Parent Access to Child's Library Records-Existing law states that parents can have access to their children's library records at public school libraries. This legislation clarifies the intent that parents have access to their children's records at any public library as well as a public school library.
• SB 285: Targeted Case Management-This legislation broadens the ability of the Alaska Medicaid Program to utilize targeted case management (an approach where services to individuals are coordinated in a comprehensive, cost effective and long term manner) and also changes the State definition of rehabilitative services to make it as inclusive as the federal definition.

Bills I plan to introduce this week:
Emergency Child Custody Placement-this legislation is necessary to bring a state law into compliance with federal requirements that must be satisfied in order to receive federal funding. The bill mandates that the Court specifically state that continued placement in the home is "contrary to the welfare" of the child when exercising its authority to remove a child in need of aid. The Court's explicit "contrary to the welfare of the child" findings will enable the State to maximize federal Title IV-E funding for the support of children in out of home care. The Office of Children's Services estimates that passage of this legislation will result in an increase in federal Title IV-E receipts of $500,000 in fiscal year 2005.

SESA Reauthorization-The Special Education Service Agency makes it possible for special education services to be delivered (in a cost effective manner) to school districts that could not otherwise hire specialists, thus allowing students to remain with their families instead of in costly out-of-district residential programs. This bill reauthorizes SESA under the sunset program.

Key Issues:
Shallow Gas Drilling-Currently there are a handful of bills under consideration in either the House or the Senate that effect Shallow Gas (Coal Bed Methane) Drilling.

• HB 364 & SB 250: Companion bills establishing a moratorium of the issuance of State shallow natural gas leases in the vicinity of Kachemak Bay, and directs the commissioner of natural resources to reacquire shallow natural gas leases on the Kenai Peninsula within the moratorium area.
• HB 370: Empowers local communities and protects Alaska's waters in the development of coal bed methane resources.
• HB 395: Requires public comment and other routes of access to be considered prior to executing a lease; protection of the integrity of the affected water supply; public notice prior to the award of a lease; monthly fee payment to owner per wellhead/compressor; and mitigation of noise from field operation.
• SB 240: Prescribes a definition of "damages" that a landowner may claim for injury to or interference with the owner's use of property by a person entering upon the land under the state reservation of oil, gas, mineral, or related interests and require the Department of Natural Resources to notify individual property owners of subsurface leases on their property before any activity occurs on the property. (Note: State statute currently requires coal bed methane exploration companies and other subsurface leaseholders to pay property owners for any damages to their land, although it provides no definition for damages.)

PERS/TRS: Many of you may know that the PERS and TRS funds are short of solvency (for future liabilities) by about 26% each, or $4.2 billion, as of June 30, 2002. At a recent presentation the Director of the Division of Retirement and Benefits addressed the status of the PERS and TRS funds and explained the 5% PERS and 4% TRS increase in employer contributions. The underlying reasons for this situation include three consecutive years of poor investment performance (two years negative and one year minimal) plus the increasing costs of health care that have doubled since 1998. By statute, the employers' contributions can only be increased annually by 5% maximum. Without changes in market conditions and health care costs, this situation will require another four years of increases. Another actuarial evaluation of the retirement funds is due out in late March.

Workers' Compensation Insurance: In July 2003, California-based Fremont Indemnity Company was declared insolvent by the Los Angeles Superior Court and put into liquidation. Although they quit writing coverage in Alaska in 2001, Fremont had 27% of the Alaskan market at that time. That left Alaska's businesses with about 700 outstanding workers' compensation claims estimated to be about $60 million. The likely result is that this burden will then fall back upon the employers, probably through legal action by the injured workers. This raises the issue of whether the State will be requested to step in and pay for the claims. Two bills were introduced last week by the Rules Committee at the Request of the Governor, HB 403 and companion SB 276, changing the rates assessed on insurers (payments into risk pool) from 2% to 4% so that there will be enough funds in the pool to cover future occurrences of insurer insolvency.

Occupational Licensing: HB 389 (and its companion SB 272) establishes occupational licensing for businesses that deal in deferred paycheck deposits and sets a maximum amount that can be charged on each loan. The proposal is $15 for every $100 loaned and a maximum outstanding loan amount of $1,000.

Knik Area Bridge: This week I sent a letter to the editor of the Anchorage Daily News addressing published editorials minimizing the need for the bridge. The Alaska congressional delegation is unanimously committed to helping make this bridge a reality and it is important to keep everyone focused on this project. The bridge

1. allows Anchorage businesses to expand to the valley but to keep their ties to Anchorage;
2. opens up untapped land resources for new housing and commercial construction in the MatSu which will in turn pour more dollars into the regional economy;
3. opens up the port McKenzie area thus affording more options for resource development and transportation to global markets; and
4. will significantly alter the traffic and congestion between Anchorage and MatSu.

Finance and the Budget: the Senate Finance Committee began discussing the issue of a constitutional spending limit. This is an extremely important issue with numerous variables to consider. A spending limit must be crafted in such a way that it is an effective tool for budgeting and restrains excess spending without restricting the state's ability to encourage economic development and provide additional services that come with improved prosperity.

My staff and I continue to analyze the state's fiscal condition in regard to this year's budget and the upcoming discussion on the FY 05 budget request. Examination of what each department is currently doing to reduce costs and streamline their operations will assist us in determining what additional reductions and cost-saving measures can be taken in the upcoming year.

The Governor's FY 05 budget reduces spending of state revenues by $120 million, but general fund revenues are still projected to be insufficient by $475 million. To keep a CBR draw to $400 million, the Governor made some revenue proposals. As the budget process progresses, we will determine whether those proposals and assumptions on which they are based are valid and what the effect of legislation, bargaining union agreements, and actual oil prices will have on both the final budget enacted by the legislature and the actual CBR draw.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that when the FY 04 budget was enacted last year, the estimated CBR draw was also $400 million. Today, because oil prices have remained high, the actual draw is estimated to be less than half of that amount.

There is still time to have a deliberate and thoughtful discussion of how to solve the state's fiscal gap. There are several guidelines to follow and parameters to stay within; however it is also important to fund essential state services, streamline operations to reduce costs, eliminate those programs that are not required by the constitution or wanted by the majority of the public, and resist imposing taxes and fees against the will of constituents.

Legislation moving through the House and Senate that might be of interest:

• HB 337: Anatomical Gifts Registry-makes the process of organ donation easier by creating a registry of donor information so the donor's gift will not be contingent upon whether the donor has their license or state ID card with them at the time of death.
• HB 350: Crime Victims' Compensation for Arson-adds first-degree arson to the list of crimes for which a victim may receive compensation from the Violent Crimes Compensation Board.
• HB 374: SeniorCare-establishes the SeniorCare program. SeniorCare will provide prescription drug subsidies or cash assistance to low-income seniors until the new Medicare prescription drug subsidy administered by the federal government becomes fully effective in 2006. SeniorCare also includes a new Senior Information Office and a Preferred Drug List.
• HJR 30: Eliminate Social Security Offset-calls on the Alaskan Congressional Delegation to repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination provision which reduces social security benefits based on other retirement earnings from public servants who participate in other retirement and pension plans during their work history.
• SB 217: Genetic Privacy-defines the rights of individuals whose genetic information is collected, and the circumstances under which the information can be collected, retained or disclosed.
• SB 241: Appropriations: Natural Gas Development Authority-appropriates $2.15 million to the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority for cost, risk and benefit analysis, and for design of a pipeline to bring natural gas from the North Slope to market.
• SB 264: Repeal Pipeline Preapplication Deadline-allows applicants to reimburse the Department of Natural Resources for preliminary work on oil and gas pipeline right-of-way lease applications.

Making an Impact:
I was delighted to learn the following from one of my staff- "My grandmother is 86 years old, manages to live in her own home with some help and suffers from bi-polar disorder and a heart condition. Her income is approximately $900 per month, which puts her below the federal poverty threshold. She has no drug insurance, and her prescription medical costs average $600 per month. During the interim our office newsletter included information on resources for seniors. I decided to pursue those resources. Through the website www.needymeds.com and subsequent links, I learned about prescription drug programs sponsored by drug manufacturers. My grandmother is now receiving her bi-polar medication for free directly from Eli Lilly. Also, she is now signed up for North Carolina's Senior Care program, which provides annual assistance up to $600 for four diagnosed conditions, one of which is heart disease. Once she maxes out those benefits, she should be qualified for the heart medicine directly from Merck, which requires all other avenues of assistance to be exhausted before she can qualify. I am extremely pleased that the information brought to our attention by Leon Rafferty and other constituents and published in our newsletter put me in a position to help my grandmother. On behalf of my grandmother, thank you to Senator Green for sending this information to all the seniors in her district."

Thank You

Lyda Green
Senate District G

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