Greetings! First, a note of thanks to all of you who have wished me well, offered advice, and shared with me your views on legislation and issues. I am learning that serving effectively in the legislature requires very long hours and hard work, but there is nothing I would rather be doing. It is a tremendous responsibility and privilege to serve you as your representative and I deeply appreciate the opportunity to do so. Thank you, and please continue providing your input and your good wishes. Updates on a Few Key Issues Currently Before the Legislature Health Care: The "No Child Left Uninsured Act" I am a co-sponsor of HB140, legislation that would make more children eligible for Denali Kid Care, a state/federal program that provides health insurance benefits to lower-income working families. Currently, nearly 18,000 Alaskan children have no health insurance and the number of children who do have private healthcare coverage has declined by 31% in the last decade. In addition to improving health and quality of life for Alaskan children, I firmly believe that making sure more kids have access to health care will save The State Operating Budget: The House Budget subcommittees are currently wrapping up the process of scrutinizing the Governor’s proposed operating budget, department-by- department, and making their recommended changes. Next, the subcommittee recommendations go to the full House Finance Committee, which will craft its proposed overall state operating budget. This is where you, the public, can play an important role in the budget-writing process. Public testimony on the budget will be taken from Ethics After many weeks of hard work, the House State Affairs committee, of which I am a member, passed HB109, a bill that rolled a number of the proposed ethics-related bills into one. That bill is now before the Judiciary committee. The Senate is dealing with ethics issues in a series of separate, smaller bills, two of which passed the full Senate last week (SB 19 & SB20). I anticipate a great deal of debate within and between the House and the Senate before a final package is adopted. The challenge is to clearly define what constitutes ethical behavior without making rules so stringent that they would keep many good people from being able to run for office or participate as members of the public in the legislative process.
HB 42 Increasing the Minimum Wage: I am a co-sponsor of this bill. After one brief hearing in the House Labor and Commerce, the bill currently remains stuck in that committee. I remain hopeful that enough of my colleagues will find the backbone to get this bill moving. I believe ensuring that working Alaskans can make a living wage is not only fair, but makes good economic sense for the state as a whole. You can find additional information about this bill at http://www.akdemocrats.org/index.php?bill=HB42. HB 3 Issuance of Identification Cards: As a member of the State Affairs Committee, I was one of just 2 votes against moving this bill out of committee. The bill is a spin-off of the controversial federal "Real I.D. Act." Although it is touted as a means of cracking down on illegal immigration, it reaches far beyond that, setting our state Motor Vehicle Division up as an entity to collect data on all of us. The committee denied my request that we hear from immigration authorities on the matter. I was not convinced that the downsides of this bill are worth what it is intended to accomplish. HB 51 Recorking of wine: Here again, I did a little swimming against the tide when I voted against this bill on the House floor. I fully understand the appeal of allowing restaurants to recork a bottle of wine served with a meal so the patron can take the remaining portion with them from the restaurant. However, I could not, in good conscience, vote for a bill I believe will encourage even more consumption of alcohol in a state with some of the worst rates of alcoholism, alcohol-related accidents and crimes, and domestic violence in the nation.
As you have undoubtedly been reading in the papers, the state is planning to conduct a statewide advisory vote on the subject of amending our state constitution with regard to providing benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees. I am a co-sponsor of HB122, a bill pertaining to the expenditure of state funds for this vote. If you would like to know about that bill and my reasons for co-sponsoring it, and my views on the advisory vote and the issues it addresses, please click here: http://www.akdemocrats.org/index.php?ed_id=123. Keeping in Touch In order to keep you updated on things happening in the legislature, I will be sending these newsletters out periodically by email. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please hit "reply" and simply type "no" in the subject line. If you'd like to be added to the distribution list, please call or email my office with your email address and we'll be happy to add you. My contact information is listed below and I welcome and encourage you to contact me or visit my office anytime. Take care, and take heart... the snow will go away SOME DAY!
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![[SIGNED] Andrea Doll](../../doll/2007_signature_blue.gif)