Representative Les Gara

2003 Mid-Session Report From Juneau

We’ve scheduled a constituent meeting at the Fairview Rec. Center on April 12 from 4:30 – 6:30.

Sen. Johnny Ellis has been invited as our guest. Please come, bring your family, share your concerns, eat pizza,and see your Downtown, Fairview, Rogers Park, Government Hill and Airport Heights neighbors!

Representative Les Gara reading at Harborview Elementary’s “Dr. Seuss” night in Juneau.

     Children do best in school when we reduce class sizes. The Governor has proposed a plan that will do the opposite. His education plan cuts approximately $35 million in funds from our schools, which are already strapped under new federal educational requirements. As a community, we need to create opportunity, not stifle it. That’s why I’ve proposed to bring educational funding up to account for inflation.
      Currently we fund schools largely through a mechanism called the “Foundation Formula.” That formula provides, on average, roughly $4,010 in funding for each K-12th grade student. Over the past decade funding has fallen behind inflation by over 20%. To simply keep up with inflation dating back to just 1998, when the latest version of this program was adopted, we’d need to increase per student funding by roughly $200 per student.
     The Governor proposes to keep funding at $4,010 per student, so that funding does not keep up with inflation for yet another year. But that’s not all. He also proposes to cut an additional $35 million from educational programs. If localities don’t make up for these cuts, then class sizes will increase. The largest cuts include $10 million from LOG funds used to keep class sizes down and help students meet testing requirements; roughly $10 million is school busing aid, which school districts will have to make up by reducing classroom funding; and roughly $4 million in funding for kindergarten. The Governor also proposes to close the state’s best, and only statewide, full-year correspondence school, Alyeska Charter School.

Limits on Junk E-Mail, HB 36: Junk e-mail is an invasion of privacy, and a huge bother. My bill, HB 36, and Sen. Ellis’ parallel Senate Bill, require that those who send junk e-mail take you off their mailing list at your request, and imposes penalties if they don’t.

Protecting Our Fish, HSJR 1: Senator Elton and I have filed bills to stop the Governor’s move to weaken the Habitat Division. Most experts feel the Governor’s move threatens our fish populations.

Enhanced Consumer Protection, HB 56: Allows the state to recover its full enforcement costs, in addition to penalties, when it proves consumer fraud. These enhanced recoveries will help fund staff to represent consumers without impacting the budget.

Group Health Insurance, HB 10: Aims to allow Alaskans who work for small businesses and non-profits to pool together to quality for health insurance.

Breast & Cervical Cancer Prevention, HB 21: Continues program to enable low-income Alaskans to be screened and treated for Breast and Cervical Cancer.

Clear Labeling of Prescription Drugs, HB 51: Helps prevent double-dosing by requiring the generic and brand name to be placed on the canister label so a consumer knows a brand and generic canister of pills are for the same drug.

Opposition to the Governor’s Habitat Plan

     The Governor has proposed to weaken the Department of Fish & Game’s Habitat Division. I’ve filed HSJR 1 to stop this plan. The Legislature has until April 15 to vote to stop the plan, or it will go into effect. We should listen to each of the Department of Fish & Game Commissioners from the last 30 years.These 5 Commissioners come from all political parties, and steadfastly oppose the Governor’s plan.
     Alaska’s fisheries are unparalleled. Nowhere else in the world can you find such a combination of 30-inch rainbow trout; 70-pound kind salmon; 10-pound dolly varden and arctic char; runs of millions of red, silver, king, chum and pink salmon; not to mention healthy populations of arctic grayling, sheefish, and whitefish.Our fish make life better for kids, sportsmen, commercial fishermen and those who live a subsistence lifestyle.
     Hundreds of Alaskans have testified and written to oppose the Governor’s plan to move the Habitat Division from the Department of Fish & Game, and for good reason.Taking authority to protect our fish from biologists, and giving it to foresters and others at the Department of Natural Resources, is poor policy. As a few former Department of Fish and game Commissioners have said, we need only look to places like Oregon, where natural fish runs have been decimated, to know why we should not weaken Alaska’s fisheries protection program.

The big surprise of the session came a few weeks ago when the Governor released his budget. The Governor has proposed to eliminate funding for some of the most important services this state provides. He has also proposed an array of taxes. There is a difference between cuts to government waste, which I support, and cuts to services Alaskans rely upon to live, learn and prosper.
In some sense many of the Governor’s proposed “cuts” simply shift the tax burden to the local level. For example, cuts to local services transfer the burden to localities, which in turn will be pressured to make up for the cuts by raising property taxes. Among the Governor’s cuts include proposals to: eliminate the Longevity Bonus, which 18,000 Alaska seniors rely upon; cut school funding by roughly $35 million; eliminate state support for 37 Anchorage human services organizations including the Food Bank, Neighborhood Health Clinic, the Caverly Senior Center, and ARC of Anchorage; cut support for Independent Living Centers relied upon by disabled Alaskans by roughly $600,000; and, cut municipal funding for local police, firefighter, and other city services under Alaska’s Municipal Revenue Sharing plan by 25%.
The Governor has also proposed a number of taxes and fees, which he estimates will raise $113 million. Here’s a quick run down: An increase to the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon; a sales tax or, alternatively, a flat tax of $100 per Alaskan; an increase in DMV registration fees; a studded tire tax; an increase in taxes on charitable gaming; an increase on business licenses from $25 to $200/year, regardless of business size; a wildlife viewing tax; and in increase in non-resident big game license fees. As the session continues, you may wish to comment on these or other issues.

This session our office worked with members of the community to convince the Governor to cut $27 in government waste. The $27 million was interest money that belonged to the State, but that the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) proposed to grant to a private power company, Chugach Electric Association. Chugach and other electrical companies have already received roughly $45 million from the State to build a new series of electrical lines from the Kenai Peninsula to Anchorage. Recent studies show, by Chugach’s admission, that the public benefit from this project will likely amount to roughly $60 million, but that the project will cost upwards of $140 million or more.
AIDEA had proposed to give an additional $27 million government subsidy to Chugach. This AIDEA grant appeared illegal to some members of the community, and I requested an opinion from the Legislature’s attorneys that confirmed these community members were correct. In February I called on the Governor to prevent this wasteful, likely illegal $27 million grant. The Governor at first decided to allow the grant. But when his budget came out a few weeks ago he changed course – for the better. I thank the Governor for coming around on this one.

The Longevity Bonus: A Promise To Alaska’s Seniors.

I do not support Governor Murkowski’s plan to eliminate the Longevity Bonus for Alaska’s seniors. The Longevity Bonus means the world to thousands of senior Alaskans, who use it to pay for groceries, prescription drugs, and the high cost of living.
To eliminate this program would be to break a promise. In 1993, after much debate, the state scaled back Alaska’s Longevity bonus Program. The promise made at that time was that we would allow seniors who currently received the Bonus to continue receiving it. That was a deal, which the Governor should honor. I believe it would be wrong to cut this program after never mentioning such a cut during campaign season.

Letters to the editor make a difference. You can send a 225-word letter to the Anchorage Daily News by e-mail (letters@adn.com); or by fax or mail (call them at 257-4300). Feel free to call us if you need information to help you write a letter.

Contact the Governor. The Governor can be reached at 269-7450; frank_murkowski@gov.state.ak.us; or www.state.ak.us.

Send a Public Opinion Message. You send a message to legislators by simply calling
269-0111, and telling the operator what you’d like to say.

Contact us. My office can be reached at: Alaska State Capitol, Juneau, AK 99801; by phone: 888-465-2647; e-mail: representative.les.gara@legis.state.ak.us; or visit my website at gara.akdemocrats.org.