Rep. Kawasaki’s Juneau Note: Legislation is moving fast
Education: Oh yeah. That happened.
“School vouchers” is a term you will hear discussed regularly this session. If education and school funding are important to you and your family then I urge you to pay attention. There are proponents of Constitutional changes to adopt a voucher system for corporate schools - but the danger hidden within this legislation is the number of children who will lose educational opportunities that are currently provided through a robust public education system. Right now, SJR9 is being fast-tracked through the Senate after being stripped of its Education Committee referral and is heading instead straight from the Judiciary to Finance committee.
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Rep. Kawasaki’s Juneau Note: The Democratic Alternative & Legislative Pay Raises with 60 Days Left
Thirty-Sixty!
The session is moving rapidly and our office is working hard to put information and issues out to our constituents back home. Since we are already 30 days through with 60 days remaining, the ideas and issues change daily. Here’s an update of what I’ve been working on.
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NEWS: Anti-Frankenfish Measure Advances in Alaska House
Effort to Protect Wild Alaska Salmon Moves Forward
JUNEAU - Today, the House Fisheries Committee approved House Joint Resolution 5, a resolution sponsored by Representatives Geran Tarr (D-Anchorage) and Scott Kawasaki opposing the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the sale of genetically modified (GM) salmon in the United States. This would be the first time the FDA approves a GM organism for human consumption.
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Rep. Kawasaki’s Juneau Note: HB 80: Rolling Back a Citizen’s Initiative on Cruise Ship Wastewater Requirements
This week a major piece of legislation that will have widespread impacts on the state of Alaska passed quickly through the House of Representatives without much public input. HB80 and SB29 were introduced by Governor Parnell to roll back the citizens’ 2006 initiative. The public initiative held the cruise ship industry accountable for the ship discharge in Alaska waters by setting standards for discharge. The industry had from 2006 to 2015 to implement the upgrades to the ships to meet the outflow standard goals.
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House Bill 43 Sponsor Statement “University Institutes of Law and Medicine”
Link to the sponsor statement from the office of Rep. Scott Kawasaki.
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