Rep. Doogan in Juneau: SPECIAL I’M THINKING ABOUT MAKING A RUN FOR IT EDITION
April 6, 2012
Four bills Nine Days = Chaos
Nine days from the scheduled end of the session and we’re sending House bills to the Senate. Not to be too inside about it, but that means one of two things: 1) those bills are D-E-D dead; 2) we are going to be here longer than 90 days.
All the talk here is about option #2. Here’s why.
There are four important bills left: the operating budget, the capital budget, the bill to greatly expand the power of a new agency to build an in-state gas pipeline (HB 9) and the bill to hand more money to the oil industry (SB 192).
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Note from Rep. Gara: The End (Of Session) Is Near. Or It Isn’t. An Update Anyway.
April 2, 2012
We have a number of priorities that have passed, may pass, or are on life support but could pass in the next 14 days. One of our priorities is NOT an extended Special Session that takes us past the voter-approved 90-day session. And when I say “special,” I mean it in the way an irritated woman in a bar calls an annoying drunk guy with unending and bad pickup lines “special.”
I think we can get our work done on time, but I’m one of sixty votes. I won’t detail these bills, but this week there will be a constitutional amendment to provide state money to private and religious schools – something I think will detract from needed support for public education, and will vote against.
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Rep. Doogan in Juneau: SPECIAL I REALLY NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE EDITION
March 30, 2012
Thomas Jefferson we ain’t
Welcome to constitutional amendment week. Please don your powdered wig and listen up.
I’m not a big fan of constitutional amendments. Some of them, like the one establishing a right to privacy, are great. The jury is still out on others, like the Alaska Permanent Fund. Still others, the one outlawing same-sex marriage, for instance, are a stupid mistake.
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Rep. Gara Repeats Call That Port Not Keep Returning For More Public Money
March 29, 2012
JUNEAU - Today Rep. Les Gara (D-Anch.) repeated his call to the Port of Anchorage that it promise not to come back for more public funds if it gets $350 million from the state. The Port project has been plagued with hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns.
“This project started out as a $275 million proposal. Then it was $500 million. Then $700 million. Then the former Port Director said it would be $1 billion more for three needed sections. When does it stop? I’m not comfortable putting unlimited funds into a project until I know it’s been efficiently designed,” said Gara.
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Berta’s Briefings from Rep. Gardner: PFD Application Due Saturday
March 29, 2012
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
This is just a reminder that PFD applications are due this Saturday, March 31, by 11:59 PM. You can either file online or by mail.
FILE ONLINE. The online application is available HERE at the PFD homepage. Once you are on the PFD homepage there are two ways to file…
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