Greetings,
This week marks the second to last week until the adjournment of the first session of the 26th Alaska State Legislature. Our last day of business is Sunday, April 19th. It is officially crunch time.
Today I had a hearing on House Bill 36, which is my main piece of personal legislation. HB 36 tries to shed some light on the initiative process here in Alaska. There are many loopholes in our initiative process that allow groups to hide money and contributors. This is unacceptable to me because I believe that Alaskan voters have the right to have all of the information – up front, uncensored, and prior to the election. This is essential to enable Alaskans to make informed choices in the voting booth. Another element of HB 36 is to require initiative sponsors to hold public hearings in 30 house districts. I think it is important to open the line of communication with the sponsors and the voters so more information can be obtained first hand. It seems that all we get is the flashy television commercials or colorful mailers, which don’t provide an avenue to ask questions, clarify issues, or give any sort of input. It is important that issues be debated in an open and transparent manner in a public forum. Just as the legislature is required to hold public, televised committee meetings because they are responsible for making law, initiative committees should be held to the same standard because they are also making law. I look forward to further debate on HB 36, in a clear and transparent fashion, of course.
Energy has been at the top of everyone’s priority list this session, and as I mentioned before, I sit on the House Special Committee on Energy. We have held field hearings in Western Alaska during this Legislative Session and plan on a few more during the interim. The Energy Committee is tasked with crafting a Statewide Energy Policy, and I feel that it is essential to visit different areas of the state to understand the needs of those regions. It looks like the Energy Committee will visit Ketchikan sometime in the fall of this year to hold a public hearing and take a few tours. We met on Saturday for four hours with a slew of different entities in the power generation, utility, policy, and research fields to discuss the development of our Statewide Energy Plan. It was a very productive meeting that provided insight from a variety of different interests.
Patty Mackey and Katie Montgomery came to Juneau last week to talk about tourism issues. Mayor Weinstein also visited earlier this week to discuss capital projects. I always enjoy seeing folks from District One in the Capitol.
Two bills that I co-sponsored passed the House on Thursday – HB 35 (parental consent) and HB 134 (wastewater discharge). They are now headed to the Senate for deliberation, and I hope to see them pass both bodies.
Also, tonight is the last of the monthly constituent teleconferences from 6-7 pm. This is an opportunity for you to call in and give me your input, opinion, and feedback. If you get the chance, please dial in at 1-888-295-4546 and ask for the Ketchikan Constituent Teleconference or visit the Ketchikan Legislative Information Office.
Best,
