May

05-01-98

1. House Finance Committee Member, Represenative Vic Kohring, comments on two measures. HB 469, which just passed out of House Finance Committee, would approve the sale of Prudhoe Bay Unit royalty oil to Mapco. Rep. Kohring voted against this measure to put Mapco on notice that Alaska gasoline and home heating oil prices are still too high. Rep. Kohring also talks about his HB 400, which seeks to combine two existing departments into a new Department of Commerce and Rural Development.
   = Vic Kohring, 98 K
2. Representative Mark Hodgins discusses the passage of HB 473 by the House Friday. The measure seeks to establish the Alaska Fire Standards Council. The body would be responsible for adopting minimum standards for employment and curriculum requirements for firefighters and fire service personnel across Alaska.
   = Mark Hodgins, 47 K
3. Representative Jerry Sanders comments on the House's passage of HB 488 Friday. The measure increases public participation in the Alaska Royalty Oil and Gas Development Board.
   = Jerry Sanders, 42 K
4. House Speaker Gail Phillips and Representative Pete Kelly speak at the bill transferal ceremony for HB 334. The measure next goes to the Governor for signature. The bill seeks to waive University of Alaska tuition for immediate family members of Alaskan police or firefighters slain in the line of duty.
   = Gail Phillips and Pete Kelly, 104 K
5. Senate Labor and Commercie Committee Chairman, Senator Loren Leman, discusses the House passage of his SJR 40 Friday. The measure urges the Governor and Alaska's Congressional Delegation to help eliminate a proposed tax on commercial fisheries for the 1999 federal budget.
   = Loren Leman, 70 K

05-02-98

1. House Labor and Commerce Committee Chairman, Representative Norman Rokeberg, discusses the Senate's passage of his Clean Drinking Water measure. HB 51 sets up administrative penalties required by the Environmental Protection Agency that allow Alaska to retain management and control of public drinking water systems under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
   = Norman Rokeberg, 60 K
2. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, Senator Robin Taylor, announces a third hearing on the subsistence bill, HB 406. The hearing will take place Monday at 1:30 p.m. in the Beltz room on the second floor of the Capitol Building.
   = Robin Taylor, 74 K

05-04-98

1. Senator Dave Donley comments on his SB 197, which passed the House Monday. the measure prevents Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) from placing gag orders on physicians and requires disclosure of treatments that may be denied.
   = Dave Donley, 72 K
2. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman, Senator Jerry Ward discusses SB 352, which passed the Senate Monday. The measure approves a plan to expand the Anchorage International Airport by increasing the limit on International Aiport revenue bonds the State of Alaska may sell. Plans call for a new 717,000 square foot domestic terminal and improvements to the current facility to support the projected increase in passengers and cargo business.
   = Jerry Ward, 86 K
3. Senator Robin Taylor talks about the House's passage of his SB 192 Monday. The measure provides that vessels owned by the state of Alaska will be maintained in Alaska owned and operated facilities.
   = Robin Taylor, 23 K
4. Senate Finance Committee Co-Chair, Senator Drue Pearce, also comments on the House's passage of the Anchorage International Airport bonding package.
   = Drue Pearce, 42 K

05-05-98

1. Senator Rick Halford describes an amendment he co-sponsored and offered to the state capital budget during floor action Tuesday. The amendment, which passed, places a projected $586 million of this year's Permanent Fund investment earnings into the principle of the Alaska Permanent Fund.
   = Rick Halford, 25 K
2. Senator Robin Taylor also comments on the amendment.
   = Robin Taylor, 20 K
3. House Finance Committee Member, Representative Vic Kohring, expresses his opinion on this year's budget cuts and draw against the Constitutional Budget Reserve.
   = Vic Kohring, 45 K

05-06-98

1. Children's Caucus Chairman, Representative Fred Dyson, comments on the child protection omnibus measure, HB 375, that passed the House. Representative Dyson carried the legislation on the House Floor Wednesday. The bill rewrites Alaska's laws and statutes affecting children in need of aid and foster care.
   = Fred Dyson, 87 K
2. House Health, Education, and Social Services Chairman, Representative Con Bunde, also talks about HB 375s passage. The measure establishes child protection as the top priority for DFYS and allows earlier intervention in child abuse and neglect cases.
   = Con Bunde, 94 K
3. Senate Labor and Commerce Committee Chairman, Senator Loren Leman, announced Wednesday that the Legislative will not meet in joint session to consider an override of Governor Knowles' veto of SB 299. Senator Leman, sponsor of the measure, states an agreement reached last Friday between the DEC and the International Association of Drilling Contractors regarding Alaska's air quality program accomplishes the same goals as called for in the legislation.
   = Loren Leman, 90 K
4. Senate Finance Co-Chair, Senator Bert Sharp, comments on the Senate's passage of the Capital Budget Wednesday. Senator Sharp explains some of the Budget's highlights.
   = Bert Sharp, 69 K

05-07-98

1. House Oil & Gas Committee Chairman, Representative Mark Hodgins, comments on the Legislature's successful veto override session on HB 380. "It appears that Governor Knowles is open and ready for business, but only if he sponsors the bill," Hodgins said.
   = Mark Hodgins, 34 K
2. Senator Robin Taylor talks about the Senate's passage of SB 340 Thursday. The measure would allow the University of Alaska to select 250,000 acres of state land and access an additional 500,000 acres of federal land proposed for distribution to the University under a measure sponsored in Congress by Senator Frank Murkowski.
   = Robin Taylor, 32 K
3. Senator Taylor further comments on HB 380.
   = Robin Taylor, 38 K

05-08-98

1. Senator Drue Pearce comments on the Governor's veto of HB 380. The measure would stimulate the safe and rapid development of old oil and gas reserves in and around Cook Inlet.
   = Drue Pearce, 32 K
2. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman, Senator Jerry Ward, discusses the impacts of the Anchorage International Airport Bonding measure on Anchorage's economy.
   = Jerry Ward, 45 K
3. Senate Resources Committee Chairman, Senator Rick Halford, comments on the veto override vote of SB 307. Senator Halford sponsored the measure. "When people vote for a candidate to represent them, they are also voting for a political philosophy. When a governor appoints someone from a different party, he’s voting for his own philosophy, not the voters’," Halford said.
   = Rick Halford, 25 K
4. Senate President Mike Miller also comments on the veto override vote and the measure.
   = Mike Miller, 44 K
5. House International Trade & Tourism Committee Chairman, Representative John Cowdery, explains the impacts of House passage of the Anchorage International Airport Bonding bill. SB 352 makes much needed improvements to Anchorage's International Airport. The expansion will be financed entirely by revenue bonds and federal airport funds.
   = John Cowdery, 73 K
6. Anchorage Airport area Representative Norman Rokeberg also comments on the measure.
   = Norman Rokeberg, 52 K
7. House Rules Committee Chairman, Representative Pete Kott, comments on the Legislature's veto override vote of SB 307. The measure would require the Governor to appoint a new US Senator who is from the same political party as the person originally elected for the position in the event the seat becomes vacant.
   = Pete Kott, 20 K
8. Representative Pete Kelly talks about the Senate's unanimous passage of his Juvenile Crime measure. HB 16 is a major peice of the Majority's "Commitment to Alaska."
   = Pete Kelly, 97 K

05-09-98

1. House Community and Regional Affairs Committee Chairman, Representative Ivan Ivan, comments on the Senate's passage of HB 370. The measure authorizes the expenditure of $7 million in federal funds through the Magnuson-Stevens act for relief of the 1997 fisheries disaster in Bristol Bay and on the Kuskokwim River.
   = Ivan Ivan in english, 47 K
2. Rep. Ivan also comments in Yupik.
   = Ivan Ivan in yupik, 66 K

05-10-98

1. The Senate passed subsistence legislation, HB 406, Sunday evening by a vote of 14 to 6. Excerpts from Senator Robin Taylor's floor speech follow.
   = Robin Taylor, 33 K
2. Senator Taylor further comments.
   = Robin Taylor, 153 K
3. House State Affairs Committee Chair, Representative Jeannette James, comments on the Senate's passage of her HB 264. The measure encourages state agencies to include those parties who would be affected by proposed rule and regulation changes early on in the regulation making process.
   = Jeannette James, 31 K

05-11-98

1. Bill sponsor, Senator Loren Leman, comments on the House's passage of his HJR 42. The so called "same sex marriage" measure seeks to place before Alaska's voters the opportunity to approve a constitutional amendment reaffirming the "one man, one woman" definition of marriage.
   = Loren Leman, 63 K

05-30-98

1. Senate President Mike Miller comments on the Senate's passage Saturday of subsistence legislation.
   = Mike Miller, 88 K