Last year, the legislature passed a bill setting up a statewide "advisory vote," scheduled for this April, to gauge public opinion on the question of amending the Alaska Constitution to prohibit providing employment benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees. In taking that action, the legislature did not calculate or appropriate the state funds that will be required to conduct that advisory vote, which we now know will be $1.2 million.

Many of my colleagues and I believe the advisory vote to be an unwise and unnecessary process and expense. The stated goal of those who called for the advisory vote (that is, to measure public opinion) could be accomplished more effectively by hiring a reputable polling company for about $12,000 to conduct a statewide poll. Still, it appears there would not be enough votes to pass a bill this session to reverse the action taken by the legislature last year to order the April advisory vote. For that reason, I am a co-sponsor of House Bill 122, a bill that would make the advisory vote contingent upon a specific legislative appropriation. If a majority of legislators continue to support going ahead with the advisory vote, there should at least be a full discussion of the costs and a specific, conscious decision to appropriate the $1.2 million it will require. By introducing this bill, my fellow cosponsors and I are encouraging the full legislature and the public to weigh this expenditure against all the truly valuable things that could be funded with those state dollars: education, road maintenance, public safety, programs to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or any of the other important state services and programs that compete for limited state funds.

The April advisory vote would ask Alaskans if they want to vote on the question of amending the state constitution to keep some state employees from receiving a compensation package equal to that of their coworkers – a question of 'equal pay for equal work.' In fact, the constitutional amendment language proposed on the advisory vote ballot would go even further by also prohibiting municipalities and other political subdivisions of the state from making their own decisions about whether to extend equal benefits to same-sex partners --- essentially mandating that state government usurp local decision-making powers. If passed, the proposed constitutional amendment would take benefits away from some people who currently have them. Right here in Juneau, that would mean taking current benefits away from some of our residents who work for CBJ, the university, and the state.

While I am hopeful the People of Alaska will vote resoundingly against the advisory measure if the vote is conducted on April 3, I would prefer we not even go through that painful, divisive, expensive, and unnecessary exercise.