|
Please add your name, phone number, and full address to any correspondence you send to our office.
Easter Break
This will be an abbreviated newsletter in light of the Easter Break. Many legislators left town on the 18th, so regularly
scheduled committee meetings were not held. Friday and Monday, both days off for the legislature. Although, I did stay in
Juneau over the long weekend to take advantage of some quiet time and get caught up on office work. I hope you all had a
good Easter and got to spend some time with your family and loved ones.
HJR 25-new resolution
This past week, I introduced , which supports our commercial fishermen by opposing processor shares in the . This idea was developed by the North Pacific Fisheries Management
Council and attempts to rationalize the highly competitive and over capitalized Opilio and King Crab fisheries.
The controversial idea of granting exclusive rights to processors has gathered little to no support from local communities,
fishing groups, fishermen or coastal community residents. Recently, the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council
recommended a rationalization plan for the Bering Sea and Aleutians Islands’ (BSAI) crab stocks. The proposal opposed by
HJR 25 designates 90% of the BSAI crab to specific processors. Creating processor quota shares eliminates free enterprise
and further limits community access to the processing industry.
HJR 25 sends a clear message that the BSAI rationalization plan hurts local fishermen and limits the free enterprise system in
coastal communities. HJR 25 will be sent to our Congressional delegation and to the federal administrators overseeing the
crab rationalization plan. The resolution will be heard in the House Fisheries Committee April 23rd at 8:30am.
Recent House Action
Last week the House approved by a vote of 30 to 6. Sponsored by Rep. Chenault, HB 57 gives the Commissioner of Natural Resources the authority to negotiate royalty contracts on natural gas; the bill also includes manufacturers in the negotiating process.
The House also passed public safety legislation to help protect victims of stalking. Currently, an individual that is threatened
by an acquaintance or someone from within their household can get a domestic violence protective/restraining order;
however, there is no legal protection for those threatened by strangers. closes this potentially dangerous loophole in Alaska's anti-stalking laws. HB 1 also requires that perpetrators covered under the bill be included in the central registry for the Department of Public Safety; this provision helps protect public safety officers in potentially dangerous situations.
The Alaska House of Representatives approved by a vote of 24 to 12. As you may remember from previous newsletters, Rep. Norman Rokeberg is the prime sponsor of HB 11. This bill returns the percentage of all mineral lease, royalty, and sale revenues deposited into the Permanent Fund to the constitutionally mandated 25%. In 1980, the Legislature decided to deposit 50% of those revenues into the fund and has continued to do so; however, the State Constitution has always required only 25-percent.
The Alaska House passed by a vote of 24 to 11, this bill is also sponsored by Rep. Rokeberg. HB 9 requires home inspectors to register with the state.
The Alaska House approved by a vote of 34 to one. Sponsored by Rep. Anderson and Rep. Hawker, HB 49 requires all convicted felons and sexual offenders, including those in custody, to submit DNA samples to the Alaska State Database. Juveniles adjudicated and in custody on the same offenses must also submit samples to the database.
The House unanimously approved . Sponsored by Rep. Samuels, HB 98 allows the Board of Fish, when appropriate, to create special seasons and areas for sport fishing by people 16 years old and younger.
The House unanimously approved . Sponsored by the House State Affairs Committee, HCR 7 amends the Uniform Rules to allow an executive session among legislators when the discussion could pose a risk to state or national security.
Recent Senate Action
The Senate unanimously approved . Sponsored by Rep. Meyer, HB 82 requires anyone sending unsolicited commercial email with sexually explicit content to include the letters "ADV: ADLT" in the subject line. The House unanimously passed HB 82 last month.
Alaska Coastal Management Program Update
had it's first hearing in House Resources last Wednesday. Although not a member of that committee, I attended and asked numerous questions. This substitute bill totally changes the direction of the proposal. Instead of eliminating the local districts, they will remain in place but must rewrite their plans. Quite a bit of testimony identified the 6 month and one year time deadline to rewrite all plans was unfeasible. I presume this will be changed. However, the restrictions placed on what can be instituted as a "local enforceable policy' is so narrow that the local districts are almost devoid of authority. I anticipate further revision or there will be a lot of negative feeling from all the local districts in coastal Alaska when they fully analyze these provisions. Another major change may be that the original version specifically recognized that cities and boroughs local ordinances were enforceable within their geographic limits while this version seems to mean that no local zoning is enforceable if it deals with anything considered by the state DNR permit, but this is unclear and must await clarification at the next hearing.
A new Committee Substitute for HB 191 was released this afternoon. Many of the concerns addressed above still remain.
Their will be a hearing tomorrow, Wednesday the 23rd at 1:00pm in the House Resources room # 124.
Fisheries Committee
This past week in the Fisheries Committee we heard one Resolution sponsored by Senator Gary Stevens. , "Supporting the halibut by-catch utilization project of the Alaska Food Coalition," states that the Alaska Legislature supports the Alaska Food Coalition’s efforts to receive from the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council a special permit to utilize halibut by-catch. This permit would apply to vessels that already require observers to be on board, nor would it increase total allowable by-catch. Similar programs are currently conducted in Washington State. SJR 12 was passed out of committee without objection.
On April 23rd, the House Fisheries Committee will hear , "Supporting Alaska's independent commercial fishermen and Alaska's fish processing industry and opposing the establishment of processor quota shares."
Other Fisheries News
Under a plan announced last week by Governor Murkowski, Alaska's troubled salmon industry will receive a $50 million
shot in the arm. Funding will cover a full range of aid to the industry, including help for individual fishermen and fishing
families, aid to municipalities that have seen a drop in raw fish taxes, economic development projects, and a multi-year,
intensive marketing program, among other efforts. We really see this funding as an excellent opportunity for a national
education campaign on Alaska wild salmon products.
Other uses of the funding will go to economic development projects, such as chilling and freezing infrastructure, harbor and
transportation infrastructure projects, and small business assistance.
The funding includes $35 million in Fisheries Disaster Funds and $15 million earmarked for economic development through
the Southeast Sustainable Salmon Funds. Open this link to view the full plan.
Education Committee
This past week the House Special Committee on Education heard , "An Act relating to public school transportation; and providing for an effective date." This bill, sponsored by Representative Gatto, is an attempt to provide transportation funding to school districts in a manner that would give the districts some incentive to reduce transportation costs and also remove the transportation budget from targeted cuts. This bill would accomplish those goals by providing transportation
funding on an Average Daily Membership (ADM) basis and allowing any savings to be used at the discretion of the district. Although there seems to be wide support for the intent of this bill, it was held in Committee for further discussion and to give the districts more time to consider how the specifics would work at the district level.
HESS Information
We heard only one bill in HESS last week, , sponsored by Senator Wilken. This bill will make it easier for teacher’s to rent and purchase homes in Alaska. We held the bill in committee with hopes to extend the coverage of the bill. We should hear it again soon and hope to pass it out the next time we meet. We also confirmed the appointment of several members to the Teaching Practices Committee.
State Affairs Committee
We have had a plethora of bills in State Affairs the last few weeks, many of which would take multiple pages to fully explain.
, a bill allowing for the Dept. of Corrections to enter into agreements with local municipalities, passed from the committee. I am bringing this bill up specifically because this is the competing bill for prisoner facilities with the private prison bill. I was fortunate enough to work with the bill’s sponsor to include expansion of the Seward prison facility. In coordination with Seward’s Vocational Education Facility to develop a correction’s officer program. I am not overly optimistic this bill will pass, but it provides a great alternative to the private prison bill which continues to invoke criticism.
Bill Access System
All bills can be found on the State’s BASIS system. You can see what committee a bill is in, when it will be heard, how
committee members voted, and much more. You will find the system to be accessible at the website below.
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/start.asp
Live on the Web
Remember that you can hear just about any committee hearing or tune into just about any legislative session-present or past-by going to Gavel to Gavel, public radio and tv’s broadcast of the state legislature as it occurs. Click on the link below to connect to Gavel to Gavel.
http://www.ktoo.org/gavel/schedule.cfm.
Contact Staff
If you need to contact the staff please click below:
Lauren Radcliffe,
Cameron Yourkowski,
Chris Knight,
Subscribe to the Newsletter
If you know someone that isn’t receiving our newsletter, or if you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, please let us know. Email
and please put the word "subscribe" in the title. We also want to remind you that if you write to our office, please include your full name, address and phone numbers. Thanks again.
# # #
|
