I hope you’re enjoying the sunshine! As I had hoped in my last update to you, we haven’t finished up with the session yet. I wanted to write and give you a quick update on what’s happening in Juneau and a few community updates.
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This week students, friends, and families all across Anchorage are coming together to celebrate high school graduation. Congratulations to all of Alaska’s high school graduates and best wishes on all of your future endeavors!
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Tomorrow the House Rules Committee, which normally does not hold hearings, is holding public and oil industry testimony on a new version of the Governor’s bill to reduce oil & gas company “tax credit” subsidies. The Governor’s original bill included a modest tax increase to generate needed revenue in his bill, and much of that has been eliminated in the Rules Committee version of the bill.
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Last week, after dozens of hearings, the House passed SB 91, a bill relating to criminal justice reform. I support this legislation and believe that SB 91 is smart on crime because it reduces recidivism, yet maintains that offenders are accountable for their actions.
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I’m still in Juneau, and we are working almost exclusively on the budget. I say almost because Representative Keller was able to bring up House Bill 156, that aims to end sex education, in a last minute procedural maneuver and get the one vote he needed for it to pass. This controversial bill received strong opposition statewide and hundreds wrote or testified to ask for a no vote. Most opposition discussed how critical this information is if we ever want to address our chronically high rates of sexual assault. Our rate of rape in Alaska far exceeds the national average.
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