Contact Information:
Toll Free:(800) 665-2689
In the Homer Area:(907) 235-2921
Via Mail or in Person: 345 W. Sterling Hwy., Suite 102B
Homer, Alaska 99603
Fax:(907) 235-4008
Website: http://www.RepPaulSeaton.com
Email: Rep.Paul.Seaton@Legis.state.ak.us

SPECIAL SESSION SUMMARY

The sweltering weather and unventilated Capitol building motivated many legislators to get down to business, and work through the special session agenda in three days. The June special session went much the way I had anticipated. The Senate had fully considered constitutional amendments to POMV and a constitutional spending limit during the regular session. It would have been necessary for nine Senators to reverse their regular session votes on POMV to allow the proposal to pass in the special session. Since no significant developments have taken place since the end of the regular session, those Senators did not change their positions. During the regular session, the majority of House members, including myself, voted to put both the propositions of POMV and a constitutional spending limit before the voters in November. The POMV proposal, which passed the House of Representatives in May, would have included about $70 million (5%) for local communities.

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BILL

The Workers’ Compensation proposal only received one vote to move out of the House Labor and Commerce Committee where it subsequently died. I had not supported the bill during the regular session because it would have increased contribution rates for the assigned risk pool, which is basically any small business with 10 or fewer employees. The new version of the bill, introduced in the special session, also removed the 25% surcharge cap for the assigned risk pool and mandated that the pool "operate on a self-funded financial basis." The sixty-nine page bill was introduced after the start of the special session, so legislators were not able to review it before arriving in Juneau. The new version of the bill mostly dealt with the appeals process for injured workers who did not believe they received a fair settlement. Workers’ Compensation needs reform but most Representatives thought this complicated bill did not address the range of issues for reform nor did it receive the long needed consideration and development through the committee and public testimony process that is only possible during a regular session.

TOBACCO TAX

The legislature did pass the "tobacco tax," or more aptly, the "cigarette tax," during the special session. The version we passed, SB/HB 1001, was not the same version as the one proposed by the governor for the regular session. I supported both proposals, though the governor’s original plan would have more significantly reduced the state’s net expenses on tobacco related illnesses. The governor’s plan did not have the support it needed to pass both bodies and the bill we passed was an acceptable compromise. SB/HB 1001 increases the tax on cigarettes by sixty cents the first year, twenty cents the next year and nothing the following year with the last twenty-cent per pack increase becoming effective the fourth year. The governor’s proposal would have implemented the one-dollar tax all at once. The bill we passed does not increase the tax on smokeless tobacco or cigars. The following quote from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services report entitled "Tobacco in the Great Land: A Portrait of Alaska’s Leading Cause of Death," sums up the main reason for increasing the tax on cigarettes. "Tobacco use is Alaska’s number-one public health problem. In terms of death, chronic illness and disability, no other cause comes close. Tobacco cuts short the lives of more Alaskans than all infectious diseases combined." The same report also states, "The annual economic cost of tobacco-related mortality exceeds $260 million in Alaska." You can access this report online at: http://www.epi.hss.state.ak.us/pubs/tobaccofeb04.pdf. SB/HB 1001 is projected to generate $29 million the first year and $35 million each additional year after its implementation. I’m glad we were able to pass this important piece of health related legislation, which will help reduce the drain on the state’s general fund from illnesses associated with tobacco.

PROJECT BONDS

I was disappointed that bonds submitted by the governor for the special session were changed from Revenue bonds to General Obligation (GO) bonds. The projects funded in the new bond proposals were also severely reduced from their previous amounts. As GO bonds, neither education nor highway/harbor bonds were considered by either body, as no funding source for paying them off was available without the passage of POMV. As a Revenue bond through the Student Loan Corporation, the education/university bond had an identified repayment source and could have been considered, regardless of POMV or other long-term fiscal measures.

NEWSLETTER SURVEY REMINDER
I designed an online survey regarding your use of this newsletter. Your comments and feedback on this survey will help me structure future publications. The survey is nine multiple-choice questions with space for you to add your own comments after each question. The results of the survey will help me to improve its usefulness to you, the reader. Thanks to those of you who have already taken the time to fill out this survey. For those of you who have not yet filled it out, I would appreciate it if you could take a moment to complete it. You can find the survey on my website at www.RepPaulSeaton.com by clicking on the link entitled "Newsletter Survey." I have attempted to use these newsletters over the last two legislative sessions to keep in touch with you while I am in Juneau. I hope the information I have passed on has been helpful. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

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 can access the system from the website below:
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/start.asp

LIVE ON THE WEB
Remember that you can hear most committee hearings or tune into just about any legislative session, present or past, by going to Gavel to Gavel, which transmits TV and public radio broadcasts of the state legislature as they occur. Gavel to Gavel also has an online archive of past meetings. Click on the link below to connect to Gavel to Gavel:
http://www.ktoo.org/gavel/schedule.cfm

If you need to contact the staff please click on one of the links below:

Lauren Radcliffe,
Lauren_Radcliffe@legis.state.ak.us
Cameron Yourkowski,
Cameron_Yourkowski@legis.state.ak.us

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