RepHarrietDrummond.com

E-News
January 29, 2016

As your representative,
I am here to listen and to help. Please don't  hesitate to contact me.

Rep.Harriet.Drummond
@akleg.gov

IN JUNEAU
Mid-January to mid-April
(907) 465-3875
State Capitol Rm  112
Juneau, AK 99801

IN ANCHORAGE
May to December
(907) 269-0190
733 W. 4^th Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99501

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Here are some way to make sure your voice is heard:

Write a Letter to the Editor
It's the most read section of the newspaper. Submit up to 175 words to the Anchorage Daily News at www.adn.com

Contact other officials

Governor Walker,
Anchorage Office:
907-269-7450
EMAIL: Gov. Bill Walker
www.state.ak.us

Senator Lisa Murkowski,
Anchorage Office:
907-271-3735,
EMAIL: Sen. Lisa Murkowski

Senator Dan Sullivan,
D.C. Office:
907-271-5915
EMAIL: Sen. Dan Sullivan

Congressman Don Young,
Anchorage Office:
907-271-5978
EMAIL: Rep. Don Young

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Week II update, or the ongoing saga of the budget

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Congratulations!

There are public servants...and then there are public servants. The Alaska State House Chief Clerk Suzi Lowell retired last week after 33 years of service. There was a nice gathering to send her off.

Legislators get all the press, but some of our closest collaborators are the excellent and indefatigable administrative staff in the House and Senate.

They literally dot the i’s and cross the t’s of every bill that is addressed in the session. Legislators come and go, but the administrative staff of the legislative branch are the institutional heart of the operation. I wish Suzi a wonderful retirement. She deserves it!

Week two

It’s been a good second week at the legislature. House Education continues with overview presentations of the department. We heard a proposal by Rep. Tammie Wilson (R, North Pole) to consolidate and reform the University of Alaska System. Rep. Wilson is the chair of the University budget subcommittee, and a member of House Finance—so as far as the budget is concerned she is very powerful. Some of her ideas about how to streamline administration and classes were intriguing, although they certainly require a closer look. (If you watch the meeting, or read the power point, let me know what you think, especially if you are, or know, a UA student.

We also heard  a presentation by Dr. Herb Schroeder who is the director ANSEP, the very successful Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program. Schroeder is proposing huge changes to the structure and mission of Sitka’s well respected Mount Edgecumbe High School. He would like to turn MEHS into a three year college prep science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) academy. His idea is sure to be controversial and requires a lot of further attention.

On the House floor, we passed the first bill of the session, an act by my neighbor in the Capitol, Rep. Bob Lynn (R, Huffman) establishing Alaska Military Families Day.

In the House and the Senate we celebrated the seventh anniversary of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act with a press conference on the need for equal pay legislation. This is an issue that I feel strongly about!

There’s an uneasy feeling in the building. Both the House and the Senate are weighing proposals for how to fix the budget freefall. My guess is there won’t be a consensus for a while, but the caucuses are meeting to try to figure out a plan.

Equal pay bill press conference

It's a unique dynamic. We have the financial numbers, people from the executive branch are testifying about those numbers, and we, the legislators, have to come up with a plan and ultimately do our most important (and only constitutionally mandated) job: pass a budget to fund state government.  

Thanks for reading,

Harriet Drummond

Mark Your Calendar!