Summer’s gone, but I’m not

Hi there. Did you have a good summer? Mine wasn’t too bad, except I spent too much of it in my basement, writing a third mystery novel. This having to work for a living really cuts into your free time, doesn’t it?

On the plus side, I’ve been working away at my bill to deal with kids who sexually abuse other kids. (When I say “I’ve been working ...” I really mean my aide, Ryan Jager, has been working. That’s just the way we legislators talk.) Turns out no state in the Union has a complete program that requires reporting and investigation of allegations and treatment of victims and perpetrators. The problem is that our system is set up to deal with young children as victims, but not as offenders. We’re still trying to figure out how to do that, without sending six-year-olds to the graybar hotel. If you’ve got any ideas, pass them on to Ryan.

A few (yawn!) committee meetings

I’ve also been attending meetings of the powerful Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, of which I am a powerful member. LB&A is one of two committees -- the other is the Legislative Council -- that take care of legislative business when we’re not in session. As its name implies, LB&A handles financial matters, primarily requests to move money around and audits of how state money is being spent. We don’t actually do the audits, of course, because, well, for most of us math wasn’t our best subject. There’s a legislative auditor and staff who do the real work. And, from what I can tell so far, they do a fine job.

Coming soon: The oil tax that refuses to die

Now, of course, I’m trying to get my mind right to go to Juneau the middle of next month to wrestle with the state’s oil production tax. We’ve been called into a 30-day special session to try to fix a law that took an entire regular session and two special sessions to mess up last year. Frankly, I don’t like our odds.

But Gov. Sarah Palin says we have to go, so we’ll go. Palin made the official call last week, saying that the current law is broken. I agree with that, but I’m skeptical that what she’s proposing -- essentially, some tweaks to the current law -- is going to fix the problem.

What I want is a law that is simple -- by which I mean, not able to be manipulated by accountants and lawyers; a law that gets Alaska its fair share of revenue -- by which I mean more money from the big, producing fields; and a law that creates a surplus which we will then save for later. If we don’t do that, we’re going to have to cut government far more than most sane people want, and still have to institute an income tax or take money from the Permanent Fund.

The rest of the legislature seems to be all over the lot on this. Some people agree with me -- or maybe it’s me agreeing with them. Some like some version of the governor’s plan. Some don’t want any change at all in the oil tax. In short, there are 60 legislators and probably 70 opinions on the subject.

One problem is that nobody’s seen an actual piece of legislation yet. The governor did her press conference with story boards, but the legislature doesn’t do story boards. We do bills. Until the governor produces a bill, all we can do is sit, wait and ponder generalities.

All we know for sure right now is that we’re supposed to be in Juneau Oct. 18. And that’s where I’m planning to be. I’d complain, but as my pal Harry Crawford says: “You knew it was a snake, and you picked it up anyway.”

I’ll try to keep in better touch during the special session, so expect to see more of these e-missives around then.

The Hollis French Show

State Sen. Hollis French, who along with me represents the good people of Spenard, is holding a hearing on his bill to reform health insurance coverage this coming Monday, Sept. 10 at 1:30 p.m. at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office, 716 W. 4^th Ave., Rm. 220. I don’t know the ins and outs of the proposal yet, but anything that gets more people health insurance is worth considering in my book. You can read about Sen. French’s proposal at healthyalaskans.com.

Cheers,