Special Session Special Issue!

We're back!

On Tuesday, the Alaska Legislature is convening in Anchorage for a (hopefully brief) special session on assistance to Alaska's senior citizens. For lots of pretty silly political reasons, we in the House didn't do anything about this last session, and if we don't pull up our socks the current program, called SeniorCare, will end on June 30.

Faithful readers of this e-news know that I have been pushing for a needs-based senior assistance program since I got elected. And the Democrats in the House tried several parliamentary moves to save senior assistance on the session's last day, only to run into a brick wall of Republican no votes. Since then, apparently, things have gotten a little hot for the House Republican leadership, so - Shazaam! - we're going into special session.

Better late than never, I suppose.

We have three options (four, if you count doing nothing, but since we already tried that, I think it's safe to figure on just three).

We can just extend the current program. That pays $120 a month to any senior who makes less than $16,133 a year and has assets of less than $6,000.  The cost estimate for that is just more than $10 million.

We can approve a Senate proposal (SB 4) that would pay $175 a month to a senior making less than $12,770 a month; $150 a month for a senior making between $12,770 and $17,240; $100 a month for a senior making between $17,240 and $19,155. There would be no assets test. The cost estimate for that is just more than $16.5 million.

We can approve a House proposal (HB 198) that would pay $250 a month for a senior who makes less than $9,578; $175 a month for a senior who makes between $9,578 and $12,770; $125 a month for s senior who makes between $12,770 and $22,348. There is no assets test. The cost estimate for that is about $19.4 million.

(You'll notice that I don't include the longevity bonus among the options. That's not just because I don't support the bonus program, for reasons I've explained in the past. It's because I think that everyone wants a quick session, and dragging in the longevity bonus issue will just complicate things.)

I favor the House proposal, because it gives more money to poorer people.

But, naturally, nothing is that simple. The leadership has decided that we won't pass an appropriations bill, which means that the Palin administration will have to find the money somewhere for whatever we pass, at least until January when we can make a supplemental appropriation. So the more expensive the program, the sooner it will cause other budget problems and the faster we will need to pass that supplemental.

(Every time I run into one of these makes-your-head-hurt complications, I look at a little motto I have on my wall. It's a quote from Rep. Harry Crawford: “You knew it was a snake, and you picked it up anyway.”)

Session, session, who's got the session?

Anchorage does, this time. Nobody is sure exactly how this is going to work. We're supposed to have floor sessions in the Egan Center. When I heard that, I wondered whether they'd string a giant clothes line across the main hall and hang a blanket to separate the House and the Senate. But I guess they couldn't find a blanket big enough, so now the plan seems to be to have the House and Senate take turns using the room for floor sessions.

There is, of course, no electronic voting system available, so I have been practicing saying “aye” and “nay” in a commanding voice.

As far as I know, committee meetings will happen in the Legislative Information Office. Just what visiting legislators will be using for office space is not clear, although I've already offered to share the sumptuous office space a freshman member of the minority gets with one of my out-of-town brethren. Or sisthren, for that matter.

The process of jury-rigging this (supposedly) short special session casts new doubt on the idea of a month-or-more special session on oil taxes anywhere but Juneau.

What else is new?

Not much. Here's what I've been up to:

-- Rep. Nancy Dahlstrom and I are at work on a bill (HB 250) to deal with pre-adolescent sexual offenders. Yes, shockingly enough, there are such kids.

-- The powerful Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, of which I am a powerful member, met a couple of weeks ago to release some audits and talk about some others that are still double secret.

-- I sat in on the initial meeting of the legislature's Education Funding Task Force, of which I am not a member, and learned a little bit more than a human being should know about the bizarre and complex way the state funds public education.

-- I toured the city's food-for-the-needy operations and the Anchorage Community Health Center.

-- Aside from that, I've been writing yet another mystery novel and turning 59, which no doubt added a few new aches and pains to the collection I had already acquired.

Best wishes,